Somebody here said once that, having kids is somehow a form of human sacrifice. Since we all know they're going to die like everybody else. Needless to mention the "sacrifices" that one will have to make to provide for them. Not that I'm totally on board with that vision of life, but that's what it is I guess https://youtu.be/j60l_BbQHJY?t=407 And what do I know? ... https://biblehub.com/bsb/genesis/22.htm God asked abraham to sacrifice his son. >>2“Take your son,” God said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. **Offer him there as a burnt offering** on one of the mountains, which I will show you.” https://pic8.co/sh/yxYC34.jpeg And then god sent an angel which told him to stop, "kidding, don't do that lol. You passed the test." >>11Just then the angela of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 12“Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him,” said the angel, “for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.b” >>15And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time, 16saying, “**By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your only son, 17I will surely bless you**, and I will multiply your descendantse like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies. 18And through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed,f because you have obeyed My voice.” God's intent with that move, was to test abraham's faith. Since that's what the scriptures clearly state. Now, that story also implies that, god doesn't want/ask for child sacrifices, especially after that episode with abraham, "everybody got the message". No child sacrifice, as opposed to what was going on with other deities/entities, like baal for instance. That's, in a way, how you make the difference between god and, "something/someone else". If god starts to ask you to do such things, again especially after the abraham episode, something's off with "that god", it is understood that he doesn't want such outcome. ... It's kind of echoes the first commandment, "You shall have no other gods before Me". Doesn't mean you have to worship god like a crazed madman. It means don't give into other deities, first and foremost, don't give into baal or whatever In the NT, there's passage, jesus talking: https://biblehub.com/bsb/john/15.htm >>18If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first. 19If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. And this one https://biblehub.com/1_john/2-15.htm >>Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. And this one https://biblehub.com/1_john/2-15.htm >>“I don’t have much more time to talk to you, because **the ruler of this world approaches**. He has no power over me, ... It seems yet again that, god is in 'competition' with another entity called "the ruler of this world" If anything what I'm saying is that, you've been given the choice/free will, and you're in the middle of an environment that is not exactly completely safe, obviously, to say the least And that free will, god can't take it back. And he warned you that, bad actions/sins lead to bad outcomes, unfortunate consequences. Now it doesn't necessarily mean it's systematically going to lead to a disaster, and since you're free to choose, maybe that's a margin of manoeuver that you'll eventually need in this world at some point, to hack your way in this unfriendly place that is this world. To lie for instance, you might have to. Because sometimes you can only choose between bad and worse. Now, about that free will that god gave you and can't take back from you; you're also free to ask god for help against temptation to sin, for strength to act. By default he'll stay away, because free will, but if you ask for intervention it's different Jesus sorted the shit out of legions of alcoholics for instance. How that works? I have no idea, it just does, it's a fact. ... Now you might ask "what about free will and the abraham story? What if abraham refused to perform the sacrifice?" What I do know, is that abraham made an irrational choice, because he had no idea what would be the outcome other than losing his only son. ...