I answered you with this:
"With all due respect, I disagree. The willingness was not to kill a child. The willingness was to obey the Lord God! Abraham trusted God and there was a sacrifice of a child. I aaume you know your Biblical history. It is important to always know the CONTEXT of a Bible passage or verse before espousing a view point. God never intended for Abraham to sacrifice his son. Also important to know is the fact that this particular portion of the Bible, found in the book of Genesis, is a foreshadow or a "type" of the future when God sacrificed His own Son in order to atone for the sins of the world. So, again, I respectfully disagree with you in that Abraham, in his obedience to God, is to be likened to 'Molech'"
Genesis 22:1~18 reveals that God only wanted to and did test Abraham's obedience to Him. The fact that the Lord provided a ram reveals His intention all along. This is further confirmed in Hebrews 6:1~20. Scripture, in several places, and in several different ways, points out that God, being God, knows the end from the beginning. In other words, in this case, the Lord knew that Abraham would be obeidient to Him. He also knew that no sacrifice; that is, no human sacrifice would be required. The only human sacrifice God ever approved of was that of His only begotten son on the cross of Calvary. (He was the only human, who have been in the form of a man and at the same time was perfect God, who could have and did provide the means for our salvation by taking on Himself the sins of the whole world.) All God wanted to teach Abraham was that He would provide the sacrifice, and Abraham believed that, did as he was told, and his faith in God's provision was rewarded. And the reward was not that he wasn't required to kill his own son...the reward is described in Genesis 22:16~18 and repeated in Hebrews 6:13~15.
This is my understanding of the these passages. This is consistent with with the Lord's directives concerning children throughout the Scriptures. (Matthew 18:6 "...but whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in Me to stumble, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea." and Psalm 139:13~16: "For Thou didst form my inward parts; Thou didst weave me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Thy works, And my soul knows it very well. A frame was not hidden from Thee, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth. Thine eye have seen my unformed substance; And in Thy book they were all written, The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them."
God has to be consistent, to be God. This is just the way I read the Scritpures. Thank you letting me share this.
Nancee
Thank you for cordial debate on a controversial topic.