What do you think about a religion that requires human sacrifice and cannibalism, would you consider it Pagan?

Question

Deuteronomy 12:27
Exodus 22:29
Ezekiel 20:25-26
Numbers 31:25-40
Judges 11:34-40

Cannabilism
Deuteronomy 28:53 -58

More examples of blood sacrifices to Jehova:
Leviticus 8:14- 32
Leviticus 9:1- 24
Leviticus 14:1- 5
Leviticus 14:12-28
Leviticus 23:12-21
Numbers 19:1- 7
Joshua Chapter 10- Nothing but mass murder
Judges 1:1- 18 More bloodbaths and mass murder
Judges 3:27- 31

This goes on and on and on. Repeats of genocide, mass murder and bloodshed. The word "BLOOD" is used over and over again. You would think this would all be so obvious.

We all must bear in mind, the nazarene was the ultimate human sacrifice; also "eat his body and drink his blood" is repeatedly recited during nearly every xtian mass/service around the world.

Answer 1

Deuteronomy 12:27 This is about animal sacrifices.

Exodus 22:29 Of course, produce and children were not killed. Firstfruits (vegetation and offspring) belonged to God. There are passages about redeeming firstborn children. (There is another passage, but what I found for now is Numbers 3:12-51) Of course, this looked forward to Jesus redeeming us. One could pay an amount to redeem his child from service to the temple. Otherwise, they served God and helped the Levites. Money paid to redeem firstborns went to provide for the Levites. They had no other "portion" in Israel. This was God's means of providing for them, since they would be providing for the Spiritual welfare of Israel. While they had places to live within the other tribes, they did not have their own portion of land. God was their portion. (Deuteronomy 14:28-29)

Ezekiel 20:25-26 This is a condemnation of such sacrifices that would have been part of idol worship.

Numbers 31:25-40 This is about taking slaves from conquered enemies. No sacrificing of them. The word for slave is also the word for child. I suppose you can either surmise that they treated their servants well or their children badly.

Judges 11:34-40 I believe that Jephthah's daughter lived out the remainder of her years in service to God (with the Levites). Much as Samuel did. One reason is because she took two months to bewail her virginity. I'm not saying that's not a big deal, but if I were about to die, I'm not sure that's the thing I would be most focused on. Also in verse 39 it says, "She knew no man." The original verb tense suggests she continued to know no man.

Cannibalism
Deuteronomy 28:53 -58 If you read verse 15: "But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:...." verses 53-58 are not commandments, they are warnings about what will happen if they desert God and other nations overtake them.

As for the sacrifices, they were supposed to be graphic. Not because God needed them to be. But we need something to make us see the horror of sin. Sin is death. How quickly do we forget that when it seems like a good idea at the time? But having to sacrifice your lamb that you raised from a kid would be a horrific reminder. And yet, as bad as that was, people still sinned. I think ultimately the point is that we can't be good enough on our own, and we can't be good enough out of guilt (surely all those sacrifices produced guilt!). We need a Savior.

One thing you'll find repeated is that the iniquity of _____ was full. Meaning, whichever nation that was about to lose the battle had reached the limit of what God would tolerate. God had dealings with all nations. We know He sent prophets to Israel because the OT is primarily concerned with their history. But we also know that He sent Jonah to Ninevah, and I'm sure they were not the only ones. He used Joseph to spare his family and Egypt from famine. It's easy to overlook how much time and how many warnings pass before God acts, but there are warnings and interventions.

The Bible is also different from most other histories in that it tells the failures of its heroes. Like David. Not everything that is in the Bible is something that God approves of. You have to look at the context to see if God approves. The theme to the book of Judges is that "everyone did what was right in his own eyes." (Judges 17:6 and 21:25) Then you see how many horrific things people get themselves into. Not much in the book of Judges is condoned by God.

God doesn't condone human sacrifice and cannibalism. There are accounts of it happening, but not of God condoning it. If you look at the surrounding text, that becomes evident.

Answer 2

Yes, it is very pagan. To bathe in the blood of a savior or even just a sacrifice (see Mithra and the sacrifice of the bull), is also a common theme. The one thing that stands out in it, is that so many Worship the sacrifice... and it seems, the last sacrifice, was from God to his creation. Kinda weird to hear of an all-powerful God sacrificing his son to his creation... isn't it?

Answer 3

Or you can do what i do. You can choose to take the positive messages of the Bible into my life and the world while using the negative lessons only as an example of what can and is happening in the world. Think about it. Treat others as you wish to be treated,love thy neighbor as thyself, do this and all the man made afflictions which plague creation will cease.I have been called The Lone Ranger Christian.Peace.

Answer 4

Well no Pagan that I know of sacrifices humans and no one I know is a cannibal except those that eat the body of Christ and drink the blood of Christ. No Pagan I know even likes wars. However, Christians seem to love war and blood.

Answer 5

I noticed a few answers declaring that the Eucharist is the 'symbolic' flesh of Christ. Those that think that is so need to look up 'transubstantiation'... the magical transformation from bread to the ACTUAL flesh of Christ, which occurs when the host is consecrated. (I have often wondered why everybody in the immediate vicinity does not receive a lethal dose of gamma radiation and x-rays when this happens.)

Answer 6

I would not call it pagan, because in this sense, that term is meaningless. While there have been some cannibalistic and human-sacrificing "pagans" in the past, this is by far the exception and not the rule. Most pagans would not do such things. So the word Pagan is good, not bad.

Answer 7

Your ignorance astounds me. Just let it go.

Using your logic on the "eat my flesh and drink my blood", you are stating that every writing is to be taken only in a literal context. So now let us re-read all of the books that we have read with a totally literal interpretation. Let's not, because it would be , in a word, DUMB.

Using your literal logic, you could interpret the many passages of the Bible concerning God as some big bird. Psalm 91 is but one of many examples.

Why don't you sit down with a Pastor in your area, or a minister to discuss your thoughts, instead of airing your ignorance in this forum.

Think about this. Every week, millions upon millions come together all over the world to worship, surrounding this man Jesus, whom you have come to hate. Yet He still loves you.
Just because you don't understand, doesn't make it wrong.

If you understood the power of the Blood, you wouldn't be afraid of it. My prayers are that the "Blood of Jesus" break the veil of darkness over your eyes, so that you can see truth.

You mention obvious things, what is obvious is that Jesus and the things of God torment you terribly. You have chosen not to believe, but you invest so much time to convince people who know different that you are right.

Why don't you put up a posting on how fake the toothe fairy or Santa Claus is? You would accept them, and probably believe in them over your Creator, who became man and died for you so that you won't have to spend eternity apart from Him.

If you choose not to believe, that is alright, but I think that your listings of Scripture taken out of context doesn't promote awareness of your weak attempt to defame a religion you claim not to believe in. If it's not worth the time for your belief, why do you fight so hard to prove it is not real?

the fact that He loves you in spite of you hurts. You are either angry or bitter. Life has dealt you a harsh lesson, and you are lashing out at the God you know is real. You just find Him to be unfair, on your terms.

You apparently have done some digging and research in Scripture, so I will leave you on your theme which is TRUE:

"Without the SHEDDING OF BLOOD, there remains no remission of sin." However, God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He did not wait until we got it together or understood His ways, He commended His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Yes, Jesus suffered, bled and died. He rose again on the third day according to Scripture. And finally, He is coming back for all of those who have accepted Him.

For all who think this is a crock, even God respects that, so must we. We fight to convince you of what we have found to be truth because we love you with His love. Should you decide to ignore the plea for your soul to be saved, and never turn to the God of your Salvation, you will have a "Hell of a time" in eternity.

Only problem is that it's not going to be the party that you think it will be.

Answer 8

No because as far as I know most Pagans are actually peaceful. I know there are some obsessive ones who do that sort of stuff but you'll find it more with Christians. Some Christians think anything which is different from them is Pagan.

Answer 9

pagan is a general term used to describe people of the non christian faith.
(anyone who doesn't worship god/Jesus etc.)
but those that call for human sacrifices are generally not practiced anymore, we have a much higher regard of human life now.
some animal sacrifices are still done though, but always with a great amount of respect to the power of the animal and what we get from the animal itself

Answer 10

Whew,.....you've thought about this quite a lot.

You're taking it to mean too much of the literal, and that is not correct, as Christians have already pointed out.

If you were speaking without reference to the obvious, then yes, I would consider such a religion pagan....

I still stand by my belief that NO ONE can accurately interpret the Bible....NO ONE.