I think the point was for God to convince Abraham to trust him in all things even when doing so seemed illogical.
God had promised Abraham this son, Isaac, as the son who would not only spring from the womb of his septagenarian wife, but who would provide him with a lineage more numerous than the stars in the sky. For God to turn around and ask Abraham to sacrifice this son that he and Sarah had waited so long for, and who God had specifically promised would serve an alternate purpose, defied Abraham's sense of reason. For Abraham to trust God in this matter and to prepare to go through with the act, which God would never allow to take place anyway, illustrated Abraham's willingness to trust God in all things, and proved to Abraham that he COULD trust God even when it didn't make sense.
As a man of reason, I can appreciate such a lesson.
That said, your broader point seems to be about the war on terror, and I'm not really sure what this has to do with that. The president is leading this nation as the head of state of a constitutional republic, with laws that emanate from the Constitution of the United States, not from the Bible or the Torah. This is a struggle between a constitutional republic and a patchwork of Islamic dictatorships. How the president's personal faith factors into that equation is beyond me.
that's something I've always had trouble accepting. I know this: were I in Abraham's position, I would never, under any circumstances, be willing to sacrifice my child, even if I was convinced that God Himself was telling me to do it. I've read all the arguments, and I'm still unconvinced. I guess I'll just have to take it up with the Man himself one of these days.
Of course I also think the prodigal son's brother got a bad rap--you might say I'm a bit of a contrarian.
That point is clear enough. The issue is about the nature of the point.
islam exalts the point, altho islam is actually mohammed-worship, the point of which is to be gloriously obedient, even tho obedience is submission to exquisite cruelty. Exquisite cruelty (the worship of allah and his associate mohammed) is the necessary option of islam.
As the story of Abraham also shows, it is the necessary option of what our President believes.
I don't know the man (W) personally, so I am speculating.
But based on what he has said and not said, it seems W cannot find the intellectual basis for confronting those whose religion leads them to seek our total destruction.