Jacob and Essau

This is your standard Achilles heel story in the bible, two children are born unto a woman and God says that the younger will rule over his elder. Jacob, the younger, ends up ruling over Essau from exiting the womb, holding onto his heel on the way out. As they grow older it comes to light that Jacob is a huge asshole momma's boy and just sits around the tent with the womenfolk all day while Essau is out doing important things like hunting and farming and herding. Unfortunately while Essau is a damned hard worker, he is a bit lacking in the brain department. He comes into the tent after work one day and asks for his supper as usual, Instead of being a good person and just giving it to him, Jacob demands that Essau give him his half of the inheritance. Essau is just too hungry to mull this over for the two seconds it would take for anyone to get that this is a bad deal, and shakes gladly. The moral of this is that God loves the worst of us, but not in a "God loves everybody" sense, lie a "God only loves Assholes" sense.

Jason and the golden fleece

Jason was the rightful heir to the throne when his father died but his uncle stole it from him. Then in an attempt to win the throne Jason agrees to travel to get the golden fleece which he would then trade for his coveted position. When he gets there Jason is given a series of tests he must pass in order to get the fleece. He plows a field with bulls that breath fire and plants some dragon teeth. Then from the earth comes an army of men that he must face.So, he tricks them all into fighting themselves by throwing a rock into the middle of the army. Jason then drugs a fire breathing dragon guarding the fleece in order to take it. He then returns home with a golden fleece and a new lover to take his place as king.
My favorite story about revenge is Rocky IV. Basically the same as all the other Rocky movies but he is motivated by revenge which makes it somewhat more intense than the previous 3. 

The Rumba, Zombomble and Scare

In the lion king, a very similar plot to this one exists. Mufasa, the wonderful ruler is killed in a mining accident and leaves his brother the throne to share later with Mufasa's son, zombomble. Scare, the nasty uncle lion does not feel ready to part with the power upon Zombomble's coming of age. So he sends him to find a warthog named Rumba. Zombomble does not find the Rumbaman and comes back empty handed. (This is where the previously synonymous plots diverge). Scare is furious and tries to cut Zombomble's mighty nails, but Zombomble is faster. Scare falls of a cliff and is pummeled by a herd of hungry elephants below. This is the real tragedy. This is how Rumba's came to be.

Jason and the Golden Fleece

Jason, whose family is horrible, gets challenged to get a golden fleece. He immediately commissions the ship Affleck that will be crewed by the Afflenauts and sets off gathering the finest collection of bulging biceps, terrific triceps, pulsating pectorals, affluent abdominals, heroic hamstrings, gorgeous glutes, and thunderous thighs in the entire land. Once this muscly gaggle was crammed aboard, they set off in search of the golden fleece. Many obstacles lay in their path, but, luckily, they were all awesome, and with little more than a mere flex, they were soon on their way again. Obviously it was slightly more complicated then that: there was a sorceress and another king and a dragon and a special appearance by Zeus, but in the end Jason recovered the fleece and used his guile and rugged good looks to become king. Yay.

I did some research into the Brooks Brothers logo, and apparently the Order of the Golden Fleece dates back to 1430 when Duke Phillip of Burgundy founded it because he thought the story was cool (and because it was more regal than GROSS: Get Rid Of Slimy girlS). The symbol was later used by European merchants who painted it on their ships to signify that they were selling wool. It became the logo of Brooks Brothers in the mid 19th century, but the Order of the Golden Fleece still exists and can claim such prominent members as Nicolas Sarkozy. Who knew?

Nicolas Sarkozy in Madrid at the induction
ceremony. I shudder at the hazing
that must have ensued.
[source]

This is the pendant he's wearing
[source]

Jason and the Golden Fleece

I think this is right, but Jason was the son of King Aeson and when he returned with the golden fleece, his uncle would hand him the throne. The fleece was guarded by a fire-breathing dragon, but Jason still went out on this quest. When Jason reached the dragon, he asked for the fleece but he was denied. Jason had to yoke a pair of fire-breathing bulls with brass feet and then use them to plough a field. After that he would them sow the field with the dragon's teeth, but the teeth would grow into warriors that would attack whoever planted them. Jason had gone to Medea for help. She gave him magic, but he had to promise to marry her and go to Greece. With her help Jason was able to beat the challenged, and Medea fed the dragon a sleeping potion so Jason could grab the fleece.

A story of love and revenge would be Cinderella. Cinderella and Prince Charming fall in love, which would be the love portion. The revenge would be when Cinderella moves up in life and leaves her evil step mother and step sisters to have to care for themselves.

Source

You Killed My Father, Prepare to Die

The tale of Jason and the Argonauts is rather complicated, but when broken down it essentially amounts to some surprisingly well-written fan fiction. The gist of the story is this: a hero named Jason gathers all the great heroes of Greek myth into a big group of Super Friends. They call themselves the Argonauts because they all sail on a ship named the Argo. The Argonauts have been gathered to go on a quest for a magical item called the Golden Fleece. The Argonauts have tons of wacky adventures on their journey until, finally, they arrive at the place where the Fleece is kept. Jason receives assistance from the local princess, Medea, who is also a powerful sorceress - she charms the dragon guarding the fleece to sleep so that she and Jason may escape with the fleece. The heroes escape from Medea's angry father and his army, and - because a sense of direction is not apparently a requirement for heroic deeds - they end up taking the long way home, going all around the continent of Europe until they (somehow) wind up back in Greece. After their return, things take a turn for the worse in Medea and Jason's relationship - Jason leaves Medea, Medea kills their children, and then - since apparently Jason still trusts a person who killed his kids a good deal - Medea manages to trick Jason into sleeping under the decaying hull of the Argo, which collapses on him and kills him.

I'm not really sure what to say about "stories of love and revenge." They are... certainly two genres of stories, with a great history behind each. I suppose I relate to stories of love more, since I have experienced much more love than I have urges for revenge. However, a revenge story is certainly cathartic when done well, because it taps into some primal urge or another for violent, immediate revenge. Perhaps it says something that creating a convincing and engaging revenge story is far easier, in my opinion at least, than crafting a convincing and interesting love story. Revenge is, after all, such a simple urge - I hate, therefore I must destroy. If one is to take a negative view of human nature, revenge is by far the most natural thing of all. Love, by contrast, is such a complex, such a nebulous human experience, it is nearly impossible to pin down in a truly satisfactory way.

By far my favorite story of both types is The Princess Bride, a film which rather seemlessly combines these themes of love and revenge, not simply by containing a story of love (that of Wesley and Buttercup) and a story of revenge (that of Inigo Montoya and the Six-Fingered Man), but also by making each of those stories themselves both stories of love and revenge - Wesley certainly loves Buttercup, but he is driven to take revenge on Humperdink as well, for his treatment of both Buttercup and himself (a revenge which, in my opinion, is the most satisfying of the movie despite its lack of a deadly finale); Inigo's story, conversely, is characterized as much by a love for his father as it is by a hatred for the man who killed him. One may also consider the character of Fezzik, who embodies love towards all of the protagonists. These three characters' dedication and love for one another and for others is what remarkably ties four disparate characters with rather different aims into a cohesive band of friends.

My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die

Jason and the Golden Fleece

There seems to be different versions of this story,  so I hope the one I am about to surmise is somewhat along the lines of the true story...
So, in order to claim his birthright as king of Iolcus, Jason had to bring back the golden fleece from the city of Colchis. The fleece was owned by King Aeetes, and was guarded by a serpent that never slept. Jason gathered a group of heroes to set sail and retrieve the magical fleece. They set sail on the ship Argo, which brought them to their name, the Argonauts. The Argonauts encountered many dangers along the way. As they neared Colchis, they came to an inlet where two giant rocks stood on each side of the way through. According to legend, these rocks would close together and crush any ship that came through. To test this theory, Jason sent a dove through the rocks, and before they closed together on it, the dove escaped, but its tail was pinched as it flew out the other end. Taking this as a sign from the gods, Jason went through the rocks. The Argo escaped, but the tail of the Argo was crushed. When Jason got to Colchis, he met with King Aeetes. The king was reluctant to give up his fleece, but he agreed that Jason could have it if he passed the test that would be set before him. The test was for Jason to plant a field of dragon teeth. He was to plow the field with bulls that breath fire. The dragon teeth would then grow into an army of men, and he must defeat them. The king's daughter Medea fell in love with Jason. Being a sorceress, she offered to help him pass the test. She gave Jason a lotion that would protect him from the bulls' flames. She also told Jason to throw a rock into the center of the army that rose from the dragon teeth. He did so and the men turned and fought each other. After the test, Medea again used her sorcery to tame the snake that guarded the goldenfleece. Jason returned to his home with the fleece, and was crowned king.

My favorite story of revenge would have to be the ABC show Revenge. This is one of my favorite shows, actually I'm watching it as we speak! It is way to complicated to describe quickly but to give you an idea, the show is about a girl seeking revenge on a family because her father had been wrongly accused of terrorism when she was little, and she is determined to make every person that framed her father pay for his actions. ahh I love this show. Everyone check it out, Sundays @ 9 on ABC.

http://images.tvrage.com/shows/29/28387.jpg

Jason and the Golden Fleece

Jason's dad was the Greek king, but when he died Jason's brother became king. His brother killed every descendant he could find. Somehow Jason manages to escape and fulfill a prophecy about himself. The prophecy was someone with one sandal will become the next king, and Jason lost a sandal while helping an old lady. So when he shows up to his brother his brother realized he was the one the prophecy spoke of. However, the king says for Jason to claim his throne he has to retrieve the Golden fleece. Jason gathered an all star team of Greeks like Atlanta, Hercules, Castor and Pollux and Orpheus and they go on a series of journeys. To get the golden fleece they drug the dragon then take it. Hopefully that fleece was the fashion statement of the century for all the crap Jason went through to get it.

Jacob and Esau

Back in the days of early Israel, there were two very different brothers: Esau and Jacob. Esau was a cunning hunter while Jacob stayed inside to do chores with his mother Rebekah. Their father Isaac loved Esau more because he embodied what a man "should" do to help his family making Jacob jealous despite his mother's deep affection for him. After a long day, a very hungry  Esau came out of the fields and asked his brother Jacob for some food to solve his problem. In a rather odd reply, Jacob proposed that Esau sell his birthright meaning the right to call himself the firstborn child in return for some food. In an act of impulsive behavior, Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of  lentils and bread then went on his way (what an idiot...) as Jacob claimed the title for himself.

Although traditional interpretations of this story have focused on the ramifications of impulsive behavior, I want to bring attention to the absurdity of labels such as a birthright. Studies have shown that parents typically have a favorite child because it natural for them to feel attracted to one child over another for a variety of reasons. In the case of Jacob and Esau, Isaac labeled his sons two categories defined by traditional gender roles of "helper" and "hunter" while "helpers" always serve the "hunter." Because of this arbitrary definition, Isaac helped empower the label "birthright" giving it credence to allow oppression thereby explaining Jacob's desire for the title if it can even be called that. In modern society, we see labels applied to every living thing on this planet, maybe we should be trying to understand the person behind the tile instead?

Jacob's even shorter than Esau...surprise...surprise 

http://theyeshiva.net/Article/View/47/Jacobs-Three-Step-Program-toward-Serenity

Jason and the Golden Fleece

Jason's father died and he was supposed to take the throne, but his rude uncle Pelias stole it from him. The only way Jason could get the throne back was if he stole a golden fleece from an island across the black sea. He gathered 50 men, built a ship, and set sail to Colchis. Plot twist: sharp bronze feathers fell from the sky. Somehow Jason lived (?) and arrived at the island, only to find out he had to plough a field with fire-breathing bulls and sowing it with serpents' teeth. If that wasn't enough, the serpents teeth turned into warriors that Jason had to fight. He's already established his role as a bad-ass, though, so he found a way to trick the warriors into fighting each other and had his lover distract the guarding snake. After all of this, Jason was able to steal the golden fleece and return home, narrowly escaping evil Sirens that sang men to their death. Golden fleece in hand, Jason tricked his uncle into getting killed and all was well in the kingdom.

Love and revenge? Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff and Catherine.

[source]

Thanks, Emma Commbs, for this really really really good drawing of Jason. 

Jason and the Golden Fleece

Jason was the son of the king of Iolcus, but at the time his uncle, Pelias had the throne. To get the throne he killed many, kept Jason's father hostage, and wanted to kill Jason. To trick Pelias, Jason's mom mourned as if Jacob had already died. In reality, he went to the cave of Chiron the Centaur. He taught Jason of plants and hunting. An oracle told Pelias that he would one day be usurped by a man with one sandle. When Jason had grown and returned to Iolcus, as he was helping an old woman cross the river, he lost a sandal. Pelias saw what was happening so he sent Jason on a quest to get the Golden Fleece, and says that if he gets it he can get the throne. Jason gathers people to go with him and Argus builds them a ship named Argo. The group was called the Argonauts.

LES MIS

IS REVENGE
AND LOVE
STORY

BCUZ THEY GET REVENGE ON SOCIETY
AND ALSO THERES LOVE AKA COSETTE AND MARIUS

THE END

Jason and the Golden Fleece

The story of Jason and the Golden Fleece begins with Jason's birth in the land of Thessaly to Aeson, the king of Thessaly, and Alcimede. After Jason's birth, Pelias (Aeson's half-brother) decided to overthrow the king and then declare himself ruler of Thessaly. Once he gained control of the throne, Pelias began to kill as many of Aeson's descendants as he could, but he spared the former king's life. Fearing for their son, Alcimede and Aeson entrusted Jason's care and education to Chiron, the wise old centaur who had raised countless other heroes before Jason. Years later, Pelias--the new king of Thessaly--announced that he would be holding games in honor of the sea god Poseidon, his alleged father. Upon hearing this, Jason ventured to Iolcus, Thessaly's capital, where the games would be held. Along the way, he came across an old lady who asked him for his help in crossing the river of Anauros. Jason, being the polite young man that he was, happily carried the old woman across the river. However, the old woman was actually the goddess Hera in disguise, and once Jason had carried her to the other side of the river, she revealed herself to him and blessed him for the difficult quest that lay in his future. When Jason entered Iolcus, he declared himself to Pelias to be the son of Aeson and therefore the rightful heir to the throne. Nonetheless, Pelias was unwilling to part with his kingship unless Jason could obtain the Golden Fleece, a coveted object with mysterious magical properties. Pelias did not expect Jason to be successful but Jason, determined to retake his father's former position, accepted the quest. In preparation for the quest, Jason assembled a legendary group of heroes who would later come to be known as the Argonauts after their ship, the Argo, including Heracles (or Hercules), Peleus (Achilles' father), and Orpheus (who was not much of a warrior, but was nevertheless a famed musician). Once ready, Jason and the intrepid Argonauts soon embarked on their perilous quest for the Golden Fleece, which was believed to be located in Colchis. In their journey, the Argonauts encountered various obstacles hindering their path to the Golden Fleece, including husband-killing women on the Isle of Lemnos and six-armed giants, known as the Gegeines, on some other island. After these encounters, the Argonauts eventually reached the court of Phineas of Salmydessus in Thrace whose ruler, King Phineas, had committed some crime against Zeus and was now punished for it by Harpies (mythical flying creatures) that stole food from him everyday. Taking pity on the famished king, Jason slew the Harpies as they came to steal Phineas' food once again. Expressing his gratitude for Jason's noble deed, Phineas revealed to Jason the location of Colchis as well as how to pass through the Symplegades, huge rock cliffs that came together and crushed anything that traveled between them, which happened to be the only route to Colchis. After passing through the Symplegades hardly scathed, the Argonauts finally landed at Colchis where they were greeted by King Aeetes, the owner of the Golden Fleece. Jason told the king of his journey, but Aeetus was only willing to part with the fleece if Jason could perform three seemingly impossible tasks. Hera realized that Jason would not be successful with these tasks unless he received external assistance, so she persuaded Aphrodite to make Medea, Aeetes' daughter, fall in love with Jason and help him in obtaining the Golden Fleece. Jason's three tasks included plowing a field with fire-breathing oxen, fighting a groups of skeleton warriors, and overcoming a dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece. While these tasks presented a considerable challenge to Jason, he was able to claim the Fleece with Medea's help. Jason, Medea, and the rest of the Argonauts then sailed away as Aeetes pursued them, but they were able to escape. The return journey was not as perilous as the original journey had been, yet it nonetheless contained dangers. The Argonauts had to contend with the Sirens, for instance, whose sweet, mesmerizing voices led ships and their crews to watery deaths. With the help of Orpheus, however, who played beautiful music from his lyre during this time, the Argonauts made it pass the sirens. On their return to Thessaly, the Argonauts were welcomed home as heroes. Scheming with Jason in an effort to reclaim his rightful title as king, Medea used her knowledge of sorcery to fool Pelias' daughters into believing that by cutting their father up and then adding him to a cauldron that they would be able to make him younger. This plan did not make Pelias younger; rather, it (unsurprisingly) killed him. For their murder, Acastus, Pelias' son, drove Medea and Jason out of Thessaly and into exile. The couple then settled in Corinth, where Jason became engaged to Creusa, daughter of King Creon, to strengthen his political ties. Medea was not happy with this and confronted Jason for his treachery. Medea then gave Creusa a cursed dress as a wedding gift that stuck to her and burned her to death when she put it on. Before Jason was able to act, Medea fled to Athens. Jason was able to later reclaim Thessaly as his with the help of Peleus when the two attacked and then defeated Acastus. As a result of breaking his vow to love Medea forever, Jason lost his favor with Hera and died lonely and unhappy when one day, as he was sleeping underneath the rotting Argo, the stern fell on him and killed him.

I have never really been particularly interested in stories of love and revenge--or love stories in general. Of course, if such stories have least a little bit of action in them, like in the case of Jason and the Argonauts, I can usually disregard any rather unexciting plot lines. For instance, I do not believe that I would be able to tolerate The Notebook or any such overly sweet romantic novels and movies. Book and movies like Top Gun that combine just the right amount of action and romance, however, are very entertaining to me.

Jason and the Golden Fleece

Basically Phirxus and Helle are in danger of being killed by Ino, their father, King Athamas's second wife, so they were carried off to safety on the back of a golden ram. Helle fell of and drowned, but her brother, Phrixus, was carried to Colchis, where he married the king's daughter, sacrificed the ram to Zeus, and hung up its fleece in a temple. Years later, Jason, son of King Aeson of Iolcus , showed up in Iolcus not long after his uncle had deposed his father, and that uncle dreamed up a mission to get him out of the way: to sail to Colchis and take the Golden Fleece. He had the Argo built and gathered up a crew of heroes (the Argonauts--Argo sailors) to go on the voyage with him. Among them were Hercules and Nestor, who as an old man also fought in the Trojan War, and the fathers of several other heroes of the Iliad. They had several adventures on the way to Colchis, including a stop on the island of Lemnos, where all the men had been killed and where all the women had become pregnant by the time the Argonauts left. When they reached Colchis, the king set Jason several tasks to perform before he could have the Golden Fleece, and the king's daughter, Medea, a sorceress, who had fallen in love with Jason, helped him complete those tasks. Finally, when the king kept stalling, Jason and Medea seized the Fleece and sailed off with it. They were married on the way back to Greece, and when they reached Iolcos, Medea used magic to restore Jason's father to health and vigor and then tricked the uncle's daughters into killing him in an attempt to use the same magic on him. 

A classic story about revenge is Tom and Jerry because one of em does something bad and the other one does something else to get revenge and that is literally the whole plot so yeh.

Jason and the Golden Fleece

Jason was born to another typical Greek family. His Dad, who had been king, was replaced when he died by his brother who killed every descendant he could find. Jason luckily escaped and one day the king had the "aha!" moment when a prophecy about Jason came true. The prophecy was someone with one sandal will become the next king and wouldn't you know Jason loses a sandal while helping an old lady. The king isn't just going to give up his throne that easily though, he makes Jason go on a path to retrieve the golden fleece. After gathering together a bunch of other Greek BA's like Heracles, Castor and Pollux, Atlanta, and Orpheus, they go on a series of journeys culminating in Jason getting the golden fleece by drugging the dragon that guarded what was either the most awesomest or least comfortable article of clothing in the world.

Then the worst thing ever happens...Medea the daughter of the king of the island of the golden fleece sails away with Jason. All well and good right? Wrong. To throw her pursuing father off the chase, she murders her brother, scatters his body parts in the ocean so that her father has to stop and pick up the bits of his son floating around. I can only imagine the tension in some of these Greek family reunions.

So...King Pelias.... I couldn't get the golden fleece... but.....

Jason and the Golden Fleece

What an interesting story on love and revenge.

Here's how it went down: Jason, a hero, was given the task of winning the fleece. He received help from all of the celebrated heroes like Orpheus and Hercules. After a bunch of adventures, Jason and the Argonauts eventually reached the land of the fleece. Here, Jason got help from the King's daughter, Medea. She was secretly a sorceress and drugged dragon. By doing so, she and Jason got away with the treasured prize. Later on, however, Jason and Medea had a "falling out" aka he deserted her and she grew vengeful. Medea slaughtered their own children and coaxed Jason into sleeping under an old tree - the same tree that the ship they sailed on had been made of.

A movie/book that tells a classic tale of revenge would be Stephen King's Carrie. Basically, Carrie is a very quiet girl raised by her extremely religious mother. One day, she discovers she got her first period. Being as sheltered as she was by her psychotic mom, she has nooooo idea wtf is going on. Okay, I'm about to go on a tangent. But to be honest, like, who wouldn't freak out? I've always wondered what the first women of the world thought when they just randomly started bleeding out of their vagina...like how do you NOT overreact...Anyway, Carrie gets made fun of by all of her terrible classmates and discovers that she holds telekinetic powers. Long story short, she is voted prom queen and in her moments of sweet bliss and happiness, she has pig blood splashed all over her. Now, this was just not okay. So she decided the best thing to do in the situation was to lock everyone in the gym and burn the school down...and her house...and a couple cars...oh and you can't forget about the ENTIRE FREAKING TOWN, TOO. So, if that's not just the greatest and most exaggerated story on revenge out there...I don't know what is.

LOOK AT HER FREAKING EYES

Jason and the Golden Fleece

Jason was the son of Aeson, a great king of Iolcos, whose half-brother Pelias desired the throne. Pelias usurped Aeson and killed every descendant that he was able to. This may seem like a harsh thing to do to a brother, but in Greek mythology, this is really just par for the course. Luckily, Jason, a newborn at the time, was saved when his mother and other women feigned that he had been stillborn (thank the Muses that they were such good actors). She sent him to be educated by Chiron, free of persecution. Pelias consulted an oracle and learned that he himself would be usurped by the man with one sandal. Grown up, Jason returns to Iolcos and helps an old woman to cross the river Anauros in the great tradition of good deeds, and what do you know, he loses a sandal. When he confronts Pelias, claiming to be the rightful king, Pelias realizes what shall happen, so he sends young Jason on a quest for the Golden Fleece, promising that success will mean the throne. Jason willfully accepts and builds an all-star team featuring classics like Orpheus and Heracles and even some dudes who could fly. He gets some dude Argus to build them a great ship, Argo, naming them the Argonauts. The rest is a Ben Affleck movie about Iran or something. Anyways, he probably gets the fleece. I don't care, I just like imagining this team of heroes setting off on an adventure.

That's a weak suit. Jason would be ashamed.

Dream Team

This is the story of Uncles being mean to their nephews and the assembling of the All Greek Hero Dream Team. Jason's father and uncle were the only two heirs to their father's kingdom, and Jason's dad, who was not an asshole, let his brother take over completely with the stipulation that when his son came of age he could take the throne. When that time finally did come around, Jason's uncle wasn't ready to give up the dream quite yet. He told Jason that before he became king and had to deal with all this mundane administrative nonsense he should go out and have an adventure, the really great time that they can write stories and sing odes about. Jason immediately accepted, what more does a boy want out of life?
In preparation he made an announcement for any young Greek men looking for adventure to make their way to his home. In the interim he offered a contract to the boatbuilder Argus, (also the name of the guardian of Io), to build him the first boat ever that wasn't just some dinky canoe. With the crew Jason was sporting, the Argonauts, there's hardly any point in telling you how they managed to overcome the obstacles they faced on their journey, they were just men and they did it. A lot of the Argonauts were more badass than Jason himself, considering he had to rely on the magic of Medea to help him do just about everything. Jason ends up getting the golden fleece and a new wife after much trial and consternation, but his prizes aren't what matter in the story; it's the fact that his uncle was an ass.

Abraham and Isaac

The story of Abraham and Isaac goes that God wanted Abraham to commit the ultimate sacrifice in the name of God to prove his faith - to sacrifice his son Isaac. He took his son up to the mountain and laid him down and just as he was about to commit the sacrifice, God told him to stop and said that he has proved his faith and now must only sacrifice a Goat.

I think while this may be an extreme it proves the ultimate testament to God and it stands as an archetype of the meaning of having faith. In my religion we have Eid al Adha which is when we celebrate this as the ultimate sacrifice and Muslims have a huge feast where the sacrifice goats.

Abraham and Issac

Abraham is blessed with one son named Issac whom he loves very much. God wants to test how much Abraham loves him,and wants to find out if he loves Isaac or the Lord himself more. He orders Abraham to go up the mountain and make a sacrifice. I really don't like this story....it makes me very sad. Anyways, Abraham takes Issac and some servants on his journey, but when they reach the final mountain, he has the servants wait behind. He and Issac make the final trek up the hill, and Issac wonders where the sacrifice is.(it's supposed to be a lamb) Abraham says that God will provide the sacrifice, but Abraham is left with his one and only son to sacrifice. Right before he is about to kill his own son, God provides them with a lamb because God realized that Abraham loved him more. As a result, God blesses Abraham's family for may generations. This is the one bible story I don't like- it freaks me out. Obviously I don't have children, but there is no way in hell I would sacrifice my best friend, boyfriend, or family members for God's approval. Sorry. I know God still loves me. I know there have been many stories of people making extreme sacrifices to save somebody else-maybe even somebody they don't know, but I don't want to talk about a particular story. They are all amazing. I want to talk about my mom. I know how much my mom loves me, and I know she would make any sacrifice in the world for my brother and me. She makes me feel very loved. Just knowing that she would do anything for me makes me realize how lucky I am to have her.

Echo and Narcissus

Echo is a very chatty, talkative woman, like me, that helped Zeus with his marital affairs. Soon though, his current wife found out and was not too happy. She puts a curse on Echo that made her only be able to repeat the words of others. She could never speak her own thoughts. This is where we get the word echo. Soon, Echo falls in love with a man named Narcissus who doesn't love her back. He wants nothing to do with her. Then, poor Echo dies alone and depressed. Narcissus continues to be cruel in the rest of his life. Well, somebody gets fed up. A maiden wishes on him a life of love with no returning affection. Artemis granted this wish, and made Narcissus fall in love with himself. This drove Narcissus crazy and he eventually killed himself. I know for a fact that I have no narcissists in my life. I make it point to avoid anybody I consider a narcissist. I don't allow those people into my life because I don't need that negativity. I don't make relationships with anybody that could be bad news because I have such good instincts. I pride myself on the fact that I keep narcissists out of my life. I respect myself too much to allow myself to be friends with somebody who is a negative nelly.

Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha

At the start of this story, three angles, disguised as men, come to visit Abraham. They plan on entering the city of Sodom and Gomorrha to destroy it and all its awful people. One man, who is actually God, stays behind and tells Abraham of his plan. Abraham begs to Lord to have the other two angels, disguised as men, to go into the city and make sure there are no good people left. When the angels entered the city, Abraham's son welcomed him into his home. He offered them food. but that night, people surrounded Lot's house demanding that the men, angels, come out and have sex with them. Lot outs a stop to this and he refuses to let the two angels leave his home. he even offers up his own daughters. God the realizes that Lot is a good man and should be saved. So, the angels took Lot and his family out of the city to Zoar as the city is being wiped out by God. After the city was destroyed, Lot's wife is in shock and she turns into a pillar of salt.The, Lot and his two daughters move away to the mountains and live in a cave. The daughters start to realize that their family will never continue of they didn't do something. So, they get their father very drunk and have sex with him. They become pregnant with his children, and their family lives on. Unfair punishment happens all the time becasue life isn't fair. Everybody gets wrongly accused of something at some point in their life. Personally, my brother tries to blame me for many of his screw ups. But life isn't fair and you have to get used to it, or you will spend your entire life unhappy.

Daphne and the Laurel wreth

Daphne was a beautiful woman that was more interested in hunting then pursuing men. Which of course, made all men lust after her. There was a man named Eros who was very angry at Apollo for doubting his arrows, so he shot Apollo with an arrow that made him fall in love with Daphne. Apollo tried to chase her, but she ran away. One day, when Apollo was close to finding her, Daphne prayed to turn into a laurel tree to avoid him. Those are pretty extreme measures if you ask me. When she turned into a tree, Apollo was still in love with her. So, he wore a laurel wreath around his head, and the wreath eventually became the symbol for Apollo. Now, as for eternal youth, bring it on. Wrinkles scare me, so I'm all for it. Wrinkles are actually one of my biggest fears. I could do all the things I love to do without worrying about being too old for them. I personally love this idea. As long as all my friends have eternal youth as well.

Tower of Babel

After the great flood in the bible, the earth was filled with Noah's descendants. In the plans of Shinar, the descendants decided to build a tower that would reach the heavens. It would be called the tower of Babel, and it would symbolize strength and unity. However, God did not agree with this plan. So, he decided to make everybody working on the tower speak different languages, making it impossible to communicate and extremely difficult to build the tower. So, the tower didn't work out and the people had to move on. I currently know Spanish and English, and for my next language I would love to French because it's so beautiful. France is one of my favorite places I've ever been, and I know I will be going back in the future. I need to know my French to do some expert shopping in Paris:) It would be a fun and pretty language to know. However, it would be useful for me to learn a bit of Thai before next summer. I will be there for a few weeks, and it would be amazing to be able to communicate. I'm sure I will learn a few words before I head off, but it would be cool to learn the whole language someday.

Pygmalian and Galatea

The story of Pygmalian and Galatea begins with Pygmalian's task a as sculptor to create the most beautiful young girl the world has ever seen. She is so beautiful that Pgymalian actually falls in love with her. He clothes her and gives her beautiful jewels to wear. Eventually, he prays to the Gods to bring his statue to life. Aphrodite answers his wish and turns the statue into a real person. Her name is Galatea. Pygmalian and Galatea marry and have a son named Paphos. I can completely understand Pygmalian's problem; it's easy to fall in love with something you create. I fall in love with characters I read about in books/TV shows all the time. If I could bring any fictional character to life, it would be Derek Shepard from Grey's Anatomy. I'm slightly obsessed. He is so beautiful and wonderful. He is an extremely insightful doctor, and I think it would be amazing to work with(or marry) him. Don't make fun of me, if you watched the show you would understand.

Noah and the flood

In Genesis chapters 6-9, the story of Noah and the ark unfolds. All of mankind has turned wicked and God is not pleased. He plans to flood the earth, kill off mankind and all the animals, and start over. However, there is one man that pleases him, and that his Noah. God instructs Noah to build a massive ark for his family and all the animals to survive the flood. Noah meets all of God's requests. He, his family, and two of every kind of animal gather on the ark as the flood begins. The flood goes on for forty days and forty nights, and everything but what is on the ark is gone. When god finally ends the flood and the ground appears again, Noah gets off the ark and makes an offering to God from the clean animals. God is pleased. He then promises to never flood the earth again by putting a beautiful rainbow in the sky. He then tells Noah's family to fruitful and multiply, and all is well. An animal that fascinates me is elephants. I'm seriously obsessed with them. They are so cute! I love them because they are one of the only animals that is able to express a large range of emotion like humans. They commonly show grief, humor, anger, and playfulness. They take care of the weak and grieve over a dead companion. They actually have death rituals. They dig a grave and surround it for five days. Elephants will never leave their herd unless captured by a human or die. Poachers all across Africa kill thousands of elephants every year for their ivory and have thus become very endangered. This makes me sad because I love elephants so very much. Elephants could be gone from Africa in 20 years. AH! Elephants have excellent memory and can remember pain and sadness. They never forget. So we can't forget them! I am so excited to ride on elephant next summer in Thailand!!! I will be so excited that I will probably cry.

Jason and the Golden Fleece

So this is one LONG story but here a goes...once upon a time Jason, whose father was killed by his uncle who then took the throne, was raised by a centaur named Cheiron in the mountains so he would be safe from harm. When Jason turned twenty, he returned to his homeland to reclaim his father's throne. On the way to the court, he met Hera who was disguised as an old woman and offered to take her across a river losing a sandal in the process. Eventually he meets his uncle Pelias from whom he demands the throne, but Pelias poses a challenge to Jason to prove his worth. Pelias requires Jason to get the Golden Fleece in a land called Colchis far, far away from Greece. Desperate to repair his family's honor, Jason agrees and assembles the greatest team of warriors ever seen in history sailing aboard the Argo giving them their name of the Argonauts. After many adventures around Greece and Asia Minor, Jason and the Argonauts arrived in Colchis where Jason asked the king to give him the Fleece because it belonged to his ancestors. In turn, the king gives Jason a series of seemingly impossible tasks that Jason completes with the help of his new wife, the sorceress Medea, who was the daughter of the king. Winning the fleece, the couple return to Greece claiming the throne, but the locals are uncomfortable with Medea's magical powers expelling Jason and Medea from the kingdom (talk about xenophobia...). Living in exile in Corinth, the king of Corinth offers Jason his daughter in marriage despite the fact that he is already married to Medea (what a jerk, right?). A furious Medea kills the woman and Jason's children moving to Mount Olympus where she marries Achilles (nice exit, Medea). After Medea's departure, Jason returns to his former kingdom where the Argo is on display. Weeping at the base of the boat, Jason was killed by the fall of a rotted beam.

We all make promises to one another and cheating on one's spouse is completely unacceptable, especially when he/she helps retrieve the key to a kingdom. From this story, the audience can gather that Jason's poor choices and abandonment of Medea in wake of the new girl in town leads to downfall (as in all Greek tragedies, death). While it may not always be easy, be faithful!

Just a little vengeful?...at least she married up...

http://www.paintermagazine.co.uk/show_image.php?imageID=24024

LATE: I Am a God

I'm starting to enjoy the way that the Greek myths we discuss on this blog allow some comedic relief from the absolutely depressing cruelty that tends to be characteristic of the Biblical stories. Echo and Narcissus is the story of two inconveniently beautiful people being punished for such. The perfect justice, really (not really). To summarize what seems to be a usually overcomplicated story, Echo is a nymph with a beautiful voice, who Hera curses (as Hera is wont to do) to only be able to repeat the last words said. Echo tries to win the heart of a beautiful man, Narcissus, but Narcissus rejects her, and in her sadness Echo prays to Aphrodite to make her disappear, until only her voice is left. Narcissus, meanwhile, comes across his own reflection in a river, and becomes so enamored with it (I guess Ancient Greece didn't have mirrors?) that he refuses to move from the spot. Narcissus starves there, and becomes a flower. A whole species of flower, all at once.

I'm going to rip off one of my classmate's ideas for this section, and I hope they'll forgive me. That is, I'd like to talk about a "narcissist" I admire, Kanye West. However, whereas my classmate seemed to focus more on Kanye's narcissism, which is a certainly a very easy and fun thesis to prove, I'd like to focus more on why he is so admirable. Kanye certainly thinks highly of himself - his new album is called Yeezus, for chrissakes. But it's important to understand the context in which Kanye is saying that - he's a black man in America. The whole of the culture is basically oriented in such a way as to deny him pride in his own existence, to deny him the right to feel that he is beautiful and inherently worthy. To think of himself as a God is an act of open rebellion. Kanye explained this sentiment during his current tour, when he proclaimed "When I say 'I am a god'….it’s because I believe God is in all of us." To say he is a God, then - to proclaim his importance and worthiness, is not an act of imagined superiority, but an ultimate act of self-love. And in a culture which tells you that you are not worthy of love, self-love is the ultimate rebellion.

Christiantiy Has a Trickster God, Too

Conclusion from a trend: Every Old Testament story is awful. Let's just move on to the New where at least there's an attempt at something resembling humanity. The long and short of the story of Abraham and Issac is that God decided he wanted to test his best bro Abraham's faith in him, so he.... orders Abraham to sacrifice his son to him. Yeah. Abraham, as any sane human being would, is highly distressed to say the least, but takes his young son up to a mountain as God wished. Right at the last second, God jumps out like Ashton Kutcher in an episode of Punk'd and said it was all a test, you don't actually have to kill your son. That Abraham didn't decide to take that knife and apply it to his jerkass God is one of the great religious mystery.

Pictured: The eternal wisdom and infinite love of God

To be absolutely clear, true sacrifice does not involve sacrificing the lives of others, even if they're people you care about. Sorry, but it's no real sacrifice to give up something that belongs to others - particularly their life, and I would probably suspect anyone who says otherwise as being a borderline psychopath. True sacrifice involves giving up something that benefits only us, for the sake of others or for the sake of something greater. I don't have any particular religious belief, so I'm not really experienced with religious sacrifice. But I have people and things I care about, and I think that I've likely sacrificed at least a little for those. Probably the greatest thing I've ever had to sacrifice - and believe me, I haven't done it nearly enough - is catharsis. When you have as strong feelings as I tend to do about certain things, particularly oppression, it's tempting to give into a need for catharsis, for revenge on those who have done wrong. It takes sacrifice - sacrifice of the gratification that catharsis so often provides - to set aside those desires in favor of doing what will get the best results in the long run. Again, this is hardly something I have perfected doing, but it's a sacrifice I recognize needs to be taken.

Abraham and Isaac

God tells Abraham that he needs to go up on a mountain and sacrifice his son, Isaac, as a burnt offering. Abraham is sad that he has to kill his son but goes ahead for his faith in God. He takes Isaac up on the mountain under the impression that they will sacrifice a lamb. When they get there Abraham ties up his son and right before he kills him an angel appears and gives him a ram. The angel told him that God knew that he feared him because he was going to sacrifice his only son.  So, instead of sacrificing Isaac he sacrifices the ram. God tells him that he is blessed and that he will make his descendants plentiful because Abraham did not withhold his son.

True sacrifice is doing something that is not in your own benefit but is in the benefit of others. The people that come first to my mind that give true sacrifices are the armed forces. They fight for their country every day knowing that it could end badly for them.

 

Humanity v1.0

I don't know if it's a mod that hadn't been installed or what but the capacity to get pissed off just doesn't seem to have been included in the Abrahamic version of humanity. There seems to be only one set of mutually exclusive options for people at that time: good, who seem to be automatons of the creator's will, or evil, who are somehow worse than the good people that have so far offered their daughters up for gang rape, twice performed father-daughter incest, and, in possibly the biggest display of self-righteousness ever, left the whole of humanity to drown in a divine flood while galavanting off in a floating circus.

But I digress. God commanded Abraham to kill his only son. Why? Silence inferior being!!! You are a mechanism of my creation! A conduit of my will! If the next words out of your mouth aren't beep boop I'll smite you where you stand! Beep Boop yes sir. Would you like him to be decapitated, burned at the stake, or stabbed through the heart Beep Boop? Abraham then marches Isaac up a mountain, and Isaac, who so far has only checked to make sure they haven't forgotten the sheep and not why his father is carrying a length of rope and a skinning knife and involuntarily twitching every few steps, gets promptly subdued by his elderly father. As he is about to be murdered, an angel swoops down to simultaneously reveal that this has all been an elaborate test and create the TV show Punk'd. So God summons an actual lamb to be sacrificed just 'cause and Abraham and Isaac beep boop back home, have lots of kids, and continue have a healthy relationship. The End

I was about to write a pretentious and thoroughly unoriginal paragraph of the tragedy and beauty of true sacrifice and blah blah blah. But we've heard all that before. In fact, I'd say we've heard it too many times. In fact, I'd say we've heard it so many times that the true meaning has become devalued, like currency or something. In fact, I think that the archetype of the ultimate sacrifice has been pounded into our poor suggestible psyches so much that we actually expect it to happen. Terrible situation --> quick! somebody sacrifice themselves to rescue someone in danger, someone give up everything they are and will be for the sake of someone else so that we all don't look like assholes and get to have survivor's guilt afterwards. I think that society would benefit from taking a step back from ultimate sacrifice, especially in fiction, and focus on it only when it happens in the real world so that we can appreciate it and better understand the true gravity of the action.

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Abraham and Isaac

God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. Abraham was to talk his son to the region of Moriah, where Isaac would be sacrificed as an offering. Isaac, Abraham, a donkey, and two servants embarked on their 50 mile journey. The servants were to wait with the donkey while Abraham and Isaac went up the mountain to worship. Isaac asked his father where the lamb was, as it was supposed to be sacrificed, but Abraham lied to his son and told him that God was going to provide the lamb, and proceed to bind his son to the stone altar with ropes. As Abraham raised his knife to kill his son, the angel of the Lord called to him to stop, and the angel knew that Abraham feared the Lord because he had brought his son to sacrifice him. Instead of his son, Abraham sacrificed a ram that had been caught in a thicket. Abraham and his people were blessed by the Lord.

I guess true sacrifice depends on what you define as a sacrifice. To some the ultimate sacrifice is giving up the last Oreo to someone else, while other find fighting for a country full of people who don't care about the armed forces is the one true sacrifice. I could take a whole religious approach to this but in all honesty, I don't even know what I believe. I can't surrender myself to something or someone that I don't even know if I believe in. I do believe though that society, especially today's, is all about the me, and the I wants. I get it, I do; I'm guilty of the "I wants," but there are thousands of people who are fighting or have fallen fighting for our freedoms and for the lives of people who are too lazy to get up and help someone out besides themselves. I'm very put out with people and their lack of ineciative. I get not everyone is a leader but everyone can't be a freaking follower either.

It's the blind leading the blind.

Isaac and Abraham

Abraham is commanded by God to kill his son, Isaac. Abraham is saddened by the request but decides he is ready to make the ultimate sacrifice, allow his beloved son to die to be in better faith with the lord. However God tells Abraham at the last second that it was all a test and he didn't actually want to make him kill his son to please him. Abraham has a good laugh over this little joke that became an instant classic among all-time pranks. Isaac is then replaced with some worthless lamb and the family returns down the mountain. As a reward for wanting to murder his son Abraham is promised he will have as many descendants as the stars, which I think Abraham and Isaac were equally excited about just for completely different reasons. A true sacrifice is when you give up something that will make you happy or your life easy in order to make another persons life happier or a little easier.

Abraham and Isaac

God tested Abraham's faith by asking him to sacrifice his son. Abraham was willing to do this and almost succeeded when an angel suddenly stopped him from killing Isaac.

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I've tried to hold back from sharing what I really think about Christianity, the Bible, and others' blog posts. I guess I didn't want to look like the obnoxious little religious boy who complains about everything. I've been afraid of judgment from my classmates, ironically from those who like to think they're open and accepting of everyone. But now I've come to the conclusion that I just don't care what people think, so I'm just gonna go for it.

I'm nowhere close to perfect, and neither is my religion. Christianity is a vast and complex belief system that is hard for anyone to understand. I was raised Christian and began really identifying myself as one when I was baptized in the 6th grade. I learn new things about my religion each and every day and I love digging into the true meaning and purpose of Christianity, including both the good and bad aspects.

This is why it saddens me to read a lot of the posts on this blog. I've spent my life trying to understand the Bible and its teachings, so it sucks seeing people tearing them apart week after week. I completely respect others' opinions and I believe that we should be able to post whatever we want on this blog, but I don't feel that respect coming back my way. I know people don't target me personally, but I can't help let the judgment and resentment that is conveyed in many posts get to me. I'd never rant about another religion or the lack of one because I know I can't understand it due to the way I live my life. No, I may not agree with whatever it is, but I have enough consideration to realize that it could be a very large aspect of someone's life and to not use my words to tear it down.

You'd never open a page of a book, read one passage, and make judgments about the book based the small fraction that you read. The stories of the Bible come together to paint the huge picture that is my religion, and the ones we've read only touch on a tiny piece of it. Yeah, some parts of them suck. Simply reading the passages and not having background knowledge of Christianity, you'd think God is this evil being who hates his followers (which I know is what many of you think). But I promise you that that's not the case. God didn't ask Abraham to sacrifice Isaac just for kicks. Faith (which is incredibly hard to understand, often even for me) is the backbone of Christianity, and God was testing Abraham's faith with his request. It's more than just Abraham attempting to murder his son. It's the fact that Abraham was willing to give up what meant the most to him in order to be obedient to God. I think that's pretty amazing.

I know many of you don't agree with that, and that's completely fine. But I promise that looking deeper into Bible stories and not taking them so literally will open your eyes to the ways of thinking of others and will help make some of your posts not sound so unfortunately ignorant.

I guess I just sacrificed an hour of my night to write this post. Fingers crossed it's worth it!

Happy bday meredith ily  

Abraham and Isaac

One day -- as Abraham was living his peaceful existence in perfect contentment, minding his own business like usual -- God decided to make life more interesting, for both Abraham and himself. When Abraham was alone, God appeared before him and commanded him to travel to a certain mountain in the land of Mori'ah, where Abraham would then offer Isaac, his only son, as a sacrifice to God. Abraham willingly obeyed, and he soon departed for the land of Mor'ah along with Isaac and two other "young men." Once the part arrived at the foot of the specified mountain in Mori'ah, Abraham directed the two other men who had traveled with him to remain at the bottom of the mountain while had Isaac journeyed to the mountain's peak to worship and pray to God. The two men conceded, and Abraham was therefore free to, according to the common expression, "lead the lamb (his own son) to the slaughter." Even before he and his father reached the mountain's peak, Isaac suspected some foul play. Noticing that his father had not brought along a lamb to sacrifice, Isaac voiced his observation to Abraham, who proceed to tell him that "God [would] provide himself a lamb for a burnet offering." Satisfied, Isaac did not question his father any further. When they reached the top of the mountain, Abraham built an altar and then apprehended Isaac by binding him with rope. As Abraham laid Isaac upon the altar and drew a knife to kill him, he was suddenly prevented from committing the act by an angel, who told him that God had never actually intended Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. Rather, had fabricated this pretense of sacrificing Isaac as means to test Abraham's loyalty to God's will. Apparently, Abraham passed the test with flying colors. God then revealed to Abraham the real offering, a ram caught in a bush, so Abraham sacrificed this ram in his son's place. And so Isaac soon forgave his father for nearly killing him and the two lived happily ever after.

I would not say that I am exactly experienced when it comes to true sacrifice. Although I have face many situations in my life where I have had to choose among a myriad of possible life-altering decisions, all of which had an equally significant impact on my life, such situation cannot even begin to compare to the sacrificed made everyday by those serving in the military. I have the utmost respect for such individuals. After all, I could never sacrificed my life to defend my country's interests and well-being; I am not nearly brave enough to do so. Risking one's life to defend others' lives represents the ultimate sacrifice. By that respect, those who serve in the military are perfect illustrations of true sacrifice.

The Marine Corps War Memorial: Honoring those who have served in the military.

Abraham and Isaac

I don't think that this is even remotely a reasonable story. God commands Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac, in what apparently amounts to a test. Abraham seems pretty game, so he prepares some wood for burning his son's corpse and sets off for Moriah to engage in some classic filicide. He binds his unwitting son (clearly trying to prevent him from escaping like any reasonable murderer would do). He takes the knife "to slay his son" (beautiful word choice here) but God reveals it all to be a big prank. Ashton jumps from the bushes. Abraham looks afraid and then laughs to himself, claiming he knew all along. The clip goes down in MTV history. Well, more accurately, life just goes on. God is glad to know that Abraham "fears" him (notice the word isn't "believes in" or the like). He gives him an actual offering which kind of seems to defeat the purpose of the sacrifice in the first place. Then he tells Abraham that because he was such an eager murderer, his descendants will be "as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore", which is a tall order still waiting to be filled.

True sacrifice isn't murdering someone you love. Their life was never yours to sacrifice. A true sacrifice is an act done against one's own interest in the duty of others - especially allowing oneself to die.

...but you don't understand

The story of Isaac and Abraham is one of my favorites in the Bible. There are a lot of details along with it, but the gist is that God wanted to test Abraham's faith and asked him to sacrifice his only son. He was willing, but only moments before, God didn't make him.

As soon as I read this post's topic, I immediately thought of this clip from The Bible series... please watch it for a little more emotion in your posts. Helen described my thoughts (as a Christian) perfectly. This is a little bit of a rant and share in my own faith. There are so many people, who never having read the Bible before, have no sense of what these stories mean. That's okay...I'm seriously not saying anything about anyone who hasn't read the Bible before. But what makes me frustrated is that is ACTUALLY someone's faith. This is what I've dedicated my whole life to living out, so when I see people that have only taking an ounce of what they think and turning it into a whole post of making fun of the Bible, it hurts me. This text that you're taking out of context are the the basis and soul of my being. I've read the Bible my whole life, and seeing things that take an ancient line and turn it into what someone wants to say really gets me going. Sure, that's what interpretation, analysis, and opinion is, and I'm fine with that. I'm open to that, and I'm open to talking about what each of us thinks it means, because goodness knows that I'm no Bible scholar.

So what does this story mean in the context of the Christian religion? Faith. That's what it means. It doesn't have anything to do with crazy fathers, murder, or God overall sucking. I promise. Because when you really look into the background and the emotion of why this story was put into the Bible, it's proving a point about having faith and showing true sacrifice. The ENTIRE basis of Christianity is God sacrificing His only son, which also happens to be extremely similar to this story. The Bible is based around a whole set of parables, not necessarily a thorough historical analysis. This didn't happen all the time.. God did this so that people today could read about how He made the point of being a completely selfless, serving disciple of Christ. If you look into the story, it's not about Abraham just being like, "Yeah, sure God, I'll kill my son!"...it was a true sacrifice that he didn't want to make. But Abraham was serving as an all-faithful leader that was living his life out for Christ, so he went along with it. He was willing to sacrifice the thing that meant the MOST to him because he knew that it was God's plan. It's a parable because God's trying to show that we, as followers of Christ, need to act in ways that glorify Him and are with His plan. 

God's not a murderer.

I never thought that I'd be defending Christianity like this...I just can't get over how sacred of a text this is and how my life, morals, and existence are based on something that you're just trying to get a joke out of or follow along with the crowd. Yeah, it's easy to laugh and go, "OH faith, what a silly thing! So old-fashioned!"... I don't blame you for seeing the easy way out, not one bit. What does hurt is that there are so many not willing to accept different opinions and not willing to be just a tad bit more open-minded. I'm not trying to look like a baby who can't take criticism, or an upset little Christian girl who only does what her parents tell her to (I've been called all of those), I'm trying to share that talking about Biblical references is only going to make you better as a writer if you understand what it means in an allegorical sense or in the background of the faith that it's being represented in. Think what you want to think, do what you want to do. Write what you want to write (because I clearly have), but keep in mind that when you write things that bash an entire religion, it looks a little ignorant.

And my true sacrifice? Probably my well-being in writing this post. Maybe it's my calling to share my thoughts on an AP Lit blog. Who knows? I'm sacrificing something right here.

Abraham and Isaac

One day, God spoke to Abraham calling upon him to sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham was extremely distraught and probably deeply shaken by this request, but he proved his faith to God because he went through with God's request up until the very last second. Then God commanded Abraham to stop, announced it was only a test, and provided a lamb for Abraham to sacrifice instead. I can only imagine how awkward the walk down the mountain was for father and son.

True sacrifice is hard to make. Giving it all for someone other than yourself is naturally against human instinct. To do in on a larger scale with even more of a sacrifice is that much more commendable. But I think the people that make the most difference, other than giving your life for a cause, are those that make little sacrifices every day. A combination of little things can go a long way over time. Like giving a little of your time to help someone with their homework, or asking your sibling how their day was. We make much more of a difference in each others lives than we can ever know, and it is always worth sacrificing a part of your day.

Abraham and Isaac

Summarized in haiku format for your enjoyment.

God was like "Hey, Abe.
Go and sacrifice your son.
I will show you where."

It was the third day,
For Abe had been traveling.
But then, Isaac said -

"Dad, where is the lamb?"
To which Abraham replied,
"God will provide it."

Isaac was tied up.
Abe had the knife to slay him,
But an angel screamed -

"Stop! Do not kill him!"
And Abe came to his senses.
So he killed a ram.

This sounds pretty wild,
But God was just testing Abe.
He had total faith.

True sacrifice? Yikes. That's a big commitment. I'll try to stray away from religious examples and focus on others. A police man sacrificing his life for his community, a soldier sacrificing his life for his country, a mother sacrificing her life for a child.. those are all commendable acts, if you ask me.True sacrifice is doing an action in a selfless manner without expecting anything back. Imagine what our lives would be like without the sacrifices of others.

Abraham and Isaac

Abraham has a son named Isaac. God decides he wants to test Abraham's faith, and demands that Isaac be sacrificed. Abraham travelled 50 miles to a mountain where he was supposed to kill Isaac as an offering. As Abraham was about to stab his only child to death, an angel popped out telling him to stop because he had shown his fatih by getting this far. God blessed Abraham and his descendants.

Every time I do one of these blogs it shows me what an ass God is. I've literally never read the Bible and when I read it for these assignments, I don't understand how anyone could follow it like it was sacred. If you want to, go for it, but it literally makes zero sense to me.

True sacrifice sadly happens all the time. Innocent men, women, and children are murdered or assaulted daily. While some people may argue that "everything happens for a reason" and that "they're in a better place now", I think it's just downright horrible and there's no way to justify it or make it better.