Prayer for Love and Mercy

 Last time, I reflected on God's strict command to offer one's firstborn as a sacrifice, and I'd like to share some of my thoughts on sacrifice. In religions, there are rituals in which humans offer a sacrifice to God. Whenever I hear about it,I always wonder,  "Would such a merciful God require something like that?" But then I remembered a scene in the Bible where a character was about to offer his firstborn to God, "Stop!!" and the moment God stopped him, I felt a sense of relief, thinking,  "Ah, God is merciful after all." In reality, God doesn't want a sacrifice. God tests humans by commanding them to offer what is most precious to them, but in the first place, everything in this world belongs to God. Since existence itself comes from God, everything is offered to God at the same time it exists. So what would we offer to God now? That said, we ordinary people believe that it would be unsightly to give thanks to God empty-handed. So we f...

 So, how can I talk about Christianity without opening a Bible once in over 15 years? Actually, there's no way I can do something so crazy, I'm trying to write this, but where should I start? I've been forgetting more and more, and while I say that love is all that's left, isn't the God of the Bible a strict one? Especially the Old Testament. Hmm, I suppose that's true, but in the end, love is all that's left. In other words, God's strictness is the strictness of a strict father, a strictness that comes from love, backed by true love. When I think back to my childhood, my father was strict. But looking back now, I feel like it was because of that that I am who I am today. Looking back as an adult, I'm actually grateful that it was strictness born out of love. I've pretty much forgotten that strictness now, but what I still remember is offering my firstborn to God. I thought it was a cruel request from God, but the moment I was about to kill my fi...