The most terrible god the Phoenicians worshiped was named Moloch. He supposedly demanded human sacrifices, so parents offered their children to show their devotion. Trumpets and flutes played loudly to drown out the cries of the babies as they burned in the blazing fire in the god's lap.
Does anyone else have trouble reading about these and other terrible events in history? Those people had to have been brainwashed to sacrifice their children to a god whose statue "viciously awaits the sacrifice of a living child in his flaming, hollow stomach." (Streams of Civilization, Vol. 1) The really sad thing is knowing that civilizations exist today that sacrifice their children in a number of ways, including war training/fighting and sex slavery. I'm so thankful that we serve the one true God who loves us so much that He gave the ultimate sacrifice of His son. It's by His grace that we are saved and by His sacrifice that we live. I praise God for my freedoms as I pray for those in bondage.
Horrific! I know it is all true, but we will also be filtering out some details when we do that sort of study. I already cringe when I have to talk to my kids about abortion. They can't understand why anyone would not want their baby.... or why they would give it up for ANY reason. To sacrifice it to a "god" is just a horrific thought. Especially, to a momma who is sitting here watching her one week old squirm around beside her. No way would I give her up.
ReplyDeleteIt is a horrible thing to think about. What amazes me even more is that God had to punish HIS people for following those same practices! Bad enough that a pagan nation would do things like that, but God's own people?!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I ran across a reference to Moloch in Leviticus this week and looked it up and found the same thing, though not in that sort of detail... I have a baby, and I just.can't.imagine.
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