Edited sentence: Although the modern western world is predominately Christian, large parts of its social value system are now based on "humanistic" or "enlightenment" ideas.By his unquestioning faith, Abraham had passed the test, and would become the first patriarch of God's chosen people.From such a perspective, the morals espoused by the story of Abraham would be seen as unsavory, even repulsive.However, just as Abraham is about to drive the knife home the voice of God calls for him to stop, explaining that it was simply a test to ensure that Abraham feared God enough.The exact means by which individual modern Christians personally resolve the contradictions are open to debate.The story of Abraham as told in the 22nd chapter of genesis can be summarized as follows: The voice of God commands Abraham to sacrifice his son, Issac, and Abraham complies.This would seem to create a major conflict within that culture, but surprisingly this paradoxical situation appears to be quite stable