Many Christians on the forum have defended the story of Abraham almost sacrificing and making a burnt offering of his son Isaac to God at God's request as the ultimate test of Abraham's faith by God (BTW, in the Quran, Allah also tells Abraham in a dream to sacrifice his son Ishmael...what's that all about?). Never mind that if you believe the story as true, that you must also contend with the thought of the depths of emotional damage that was done onto Isaac by being the tortured victim in a game played on his dad by Yahweh. Anyway, to the Abraham/Issac example, many forum Christians have recently said that God would not have actually allowed Abraham to go through with the slaughter of his own son or that God would never tell someone to actually kill their child. If so, how do you guys respond to another Biblical story of human sacrifice by a father to his child that God did not stop? If you're not familiar, I'm speaking of when Jephthah kills his only child (a nameless virgin daughter in Judges ch.11) to honor his pact with God. The story ends with Jephthah killing his own daughter and cooking her in repayment for God's help in a military victory. What is the apologist's explanation for why God did not see fit to intervene on this occasion and save an innocent child? Also, what is the moral lesson of this particular sacrifice story?
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