Is it really a sacrifice if you know you're gonna get back what you are sacrificing?

Question

For example, Jesus. God "gave his only son", well, how did he "give" him if he knew he could bring him back. That would be like saying, "Sure I'll give this charity $100" (because I know I will just steal it back later).

Answer 1

I agree. Sacrifice.

Christianity? Jesus? Dying?

What is the Imacculate Conception supposed to mean?

(NOT A VIRGIN BIRTH! - betcha never knew that.)

Jesus, the basis of Christianity? .

If Jesus died, he could NOT have been God.

Gods do not die? Do they?

If Jesus 'died' on Friday and 'undied' on Sunday, what else besides Saturday was sacrificed?

Did Jesus give up Saturday for us? Big deal!

If Jesus died for our sins, there should not be any more sins, else why go through with it?.

If Jesus really DIED, he should be dead, dead, dead!

If you swallow this stuff, you are not going to like the folks who don't. You want them to swallow it too.

Christians want everyone to convert to their non-thinking in order to be 'saved'.

Believing and not thinking is like choosing a mental illness and becoming lost.

Answer 2

I think that as with most sacrifices, there is an incredible return. It's not so much giving something knowing that you'll get it back because you don't ever know if you're going to get it back. Jesus sacrificed his Son, but his Son didn't have to go with the plan. When Jesus rose from the dead - it was still an incredible sacrifice because God let His own Son suffer a horrific death on the cross all the while being scorned and mocked - that was the sacrifice that paid for the penalty of sin and death. Not the fact that God sacrificed Him.

I don't know if the example of Jesus is a good one. So, with that said - If you give a charity $100 and you know they are going to give you $100 because you are benefitting from the charity - that's still a sacrifice because - you could have had an extra $100 if you never gave them anything in the first place.

Okay so God is getting a huge return on His sacrifice - His children trusting in Him and receiving eternal life - that is way MORE than He sacrificed.

When you sacrifice something or someone to God - you can't ever know if you're going to get it back. As a human I dn't think we can ever know that for sure. But we will get a good return for the sacrifice that will be better than never having made one.

Sometimes, people sacrifice their life, relationships or other things for what they believe. That sacrifice is useless if what they believe isn't real. If what they believe is real - they will have a huge payoff in the end - even if they can't see it now. But that doesn't mean it wasn't a sacrifice and wasn't a painful loss just because in the end the reward more than compensates you for the pain and loss.

Answer 3

I could not do it. It is a huge sacrifice. Even if I knew my son would be okay in the end and that he would come back to me...I never could give him over to be tortured and killed. I could not handle it. The pain from that sacrifice would be to much. Even though God did not feel the pain Jesus did, he too suffered. They both gave more than I ever could. There sacrifice gave us a purpose. And make no mistake it was a sacrifice.

Answer 4

Well it depends on what you end up sacrificing during the period AFTER you made the initial sacrifice, until you then gain the initial sacrifice back.
So in other words, God would have missed out on treasured moments like: changing Jesus's poopy nappies while, seeing Jesus take his first steps, uttering his first words "Ga ga God Da Da", telling Jesus about the birds and the bees, shedding tears of joy when Jesus 'comes out' as a queer, experiencing the elation while cheering on Jesus as he heads the first float of the Gay Mardi gras street parade wearing a leopard skin body suit, tiara and badly applied make-up. And finally the greatest moment of all; when Jesus marries his long term lover, and settles down in a little clay hut (After which though, Jesus's husband filed for a divorce 'cause Jesus was spending too much time away from home on official duties. Not long after that the sh*t hit the fan, and the rest is history).

Answer 5

Wow ... I've said it before and I'll say it again: so many people today just don't know how to make good analogies. Your analogy, no offense, is no good at all.

Giving to charity and then taking it back doesn't involve any loss or pain on your part.

Jesus' sacrifice did, though. Giving to charity and then stealing it back doesn't involve being flogged, crowned with a crown of thorns, being made to drag a 200-pound cross about a half-mile across rocky streets, then nailed to a cross and left to slowly and painfully suffocate.

Answer 6

Just like in church, when we give all we've got at the offering plate, we have to trust God that God will bless us and provide it for us... It's all about faith and trust, and there are some people that may never get it, or feel the feelings that a Christian feels, because of their own blindness. God's son had to SUFFER like a human. You know what, pick up a bible before you try to start childish debates. You have to know things before you get played out over this. He gave his son to suffer, and live as a human, with human feelings. Come on, think first... What are you, like 12 years old?

Answer 7

Interesting logic. comparing stealing with gift giving.

What GOD gave and could not take back, is the sacrifice of Jesus, the pain and torture that he went through, the feeling of death. All that was givin willingly to pay for our sins.

None of it can be taken back now, as it has happened, and unlike a material item, cannot be stolen back.

Answer 8

I guess it depends on when you're going to get it (whatever it is back), if you think like, I will sacrifice my first born, but I know I'll see him again in heaven, then probably yes it is a sacrifice because who knows when that will be or if it would really happen. But little things like giving up chocolate for Lent are not sacrifices, it's inconvenient, if you like chocolate, but it's not really a sacrifice.

Answer 9

First you would have to be a Christian to comprehend this sacrifice. Jesus was crucified and arose to heaven to be with the Father. If we believe in Jesus Christ, because of His sacrifice, we will also one day die. And what will happen? We won't have to spend 3 days in the tomb, we will immediately go to heaven to be with the Father. The difference is that Jesus suffered and was tortured so that we would not have to endure that pain. If we have repented of our sins and believed in Jesus the same thing that happened to Him will happen to us, except without the suffering.

Jesus loves you and I hope this helps.

Answer 10

So many people believe that His only sacrifice was to suffer a horrible unjust death. Okay, millions have suffered horrible deaths. What is being missed here is that He suffered something no other being has or ever will...He suffered the pain of every sin of every person that would ever accept Him. Can you imagine that? You cannot ...none of us can even begin to imagine the burden He took upon himself. It was so horrible the Lord God had to turn away from Him.

Answer 11

To sacrifice is to give without expecting anything in return. The universe allows it to come back to us, but the expectation of that return negates it altogether. The energy released in the sacrifice, by design, is meant to come back in another form, however, to expect it means you have envisioned a form of return that is not what the universe had planned and thus it may not come back at all.