Animal sacrifice -- how exactly did this please the Gods?

Question

God would want an animal sacrificed because . . . why?

Answer 1

It is (or was) practiced by many religions as a means of appeasing or honoring a God or Gods or changing the course of nature. Different religions had (or have) different reasons behind the practice. In some cultures/religions, the animal sacrificed is fully eaten, it's just another way of preparing the meal...but by first giving thanks to the creature and/or Gods.

However, I'm going to assume you mean the God of the bible? From the beginning of his dealings with man he has shown his preference for spilled blood; he accepted Abel's offering of sheep's blood and rejected Cain's offering of grains and plants (Genesis 4:3-5). God has told man that the shedding of blood is required to be forgiven of sins (Leviticus 17:11, Hebrews 9:22). In the Old Testament, millions of animals were slaughtered and their blood poured onto altars and burned in a futile attempt to please God. The smoke from the burning flesh and blood was such a sweet scent to God (Exodus 29:18, Leviticus 1:9), that his anger was appeased when he smelled the sweet, burning blood (Genesis 8:21) Even the human/god sacrifice of Jesus is compared to the sweet smelling barbecue of an animal (Ephesians 5:2). Why is blood so sweet to this God? Why is blood required to be spilled in order to receive forgiveness from this "merciful" God? Don't ask these questions, "just believe," you will be told. Besides why risk ending up in an eternal barbecue just because things smell a little strange to you?

Thousands of years ago, this God was willing to accept the spilled blood of animals in exchange for his forgiveness, but even the deaths of billions of animals didn't provide enough blood to satiate his hunger. The Bible tells us that humans were to be killed as an offering to this bloodthirsty God (Leviticus 27:29) even though modern believers deny that God accepted human sacrifice, that's exactly what these executions were. Even that human blood wasn't sufficient to permit God's "grace" to cover the sins of man so a half human/half God (Jesus) had to be killed. Now we have the ultimate injustice...spill the blood of the most valued in exchange for the least worthy. And somehow this injustice (sacrifice) is so "perfect" that God is able to extend his "perfect mercy" without offending justice. If you're confused, you must not have a Christian background because this is exactly what the fundamental view of salvation amounts to. "Washed in the blood of the lamb," as they sing in church. What a disgusting image that paints.

Answer 2

Meh. The Bible doesn't say that, but history certainly teaches it. Animal sacrifice is encouraged -- and discouraged!! -- in the Bible. Your big mistake is in assuming that the Bible has a correlation with what God wants. The Bible is not written by God; it's a human production. The writers may have thought all that stuff was good, but god never signed off on it, and history shows that over time the "divine" revelations have been increasing turned off toward animal sacrifice. You can find a clear condemnation of silly rites right in the Bible: Amos 5:21-24 I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt-offerings and grain-offerings, I will not accept them; and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon. Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. ===================================== So there you have it. God's not happy with vain rituals. Hey, if you quote a section, claiming God wants this and that, then I can quote a section that shows God DOESN'T. I think of the whole animal sacrifice thing as a form of taxation to support the priests. If everybody had money, they'd probably have demanded money, but most of the folks only had some animals, so that was the form of the tax. What else would we expect, when they didn't generally have money?

Answer 3

Ancient Israel (at that time God's chosen people) were familiar with the idea of atonement for error. In their worship under the Law that God gave them through Moses, they regularly offered up animal sacrifices. These sacrifices reminded the people that they needed something to atone for, or cover, their sins. These sacrificial offerings foreshadowed a far more valuable sacrifice that of the Messiah, or Christ.

So God would not want animal sacrifices because that law ended with Jesus. The ransom was paid.

Answer 4

the christian god demanded animal sacrifice as a sign of obiedience from his people. for them to kill a lamb was a serious finiancial commitment in that time. the meat was eaten, but that lamb would have grown into a sheep and provided wool and been worth much more than a single meal. the wool of one sheep could be enough income to feed a family for 2 weeks.

the Pagan gods, asked for sacrifice as a symbol of continuing life and death. the animal was used afterwards for a feast and the hide would be used to make ritual clothing or other items.

and some of the African Pagan people practiced a form of divination through sacrifice of an animal and then reading it's organs as signs from the gods.

the Christrian god is the only one that i know of that ever claimes the scent of burnt flesh to be pleasing, and demanded that huge altars be soaked in blood of hunderds of sacrifices.

(i do not know a lot about the Myan or south american gods yet.)
so i have left them out of this description.

Answer 5

Animal sacrifices were required primarily to remind people that the penalty for sin is death ... and death is a very unpleasant and often bloody event ... for any living thing.

And it's not like the animals were wasted, or anything like that. Animal sacrifices were typically consumed afterwards, by either the priests or the people.

Furthermore, all the animal sacrifices pointed to the coming sacrifice of Jesus, the Messiah, who would permit himself to be unjustly put to death, in order to destroy the power of death.

Ever since Jesus died on the cross, no more animal sacrifices have been required.

Answer 6

The "gods" needed the energy in the blood of the animal, to maintain themselves.
All living things require energy to live, and the early forms of the "gods" got their energy this way.
Like all other life forms, "gods" develop in wisdom, compassion, and complexity, and many have come to the point that they no longer require blood for sustenance. Many modern forms of the "gods" get the juice they need from human people's praise and worship. Those that have not received this have died out and gone extinct.
For example, very few people worship or take seriously the classic pre-Christian "gods" of Europe, except for a few neopagan revivalists, so these "gods" are have mostly died out except in said neopagan revivals.
However, the pre-Christian "gods" of other cultures such as Africa, India, and aboriginal American still have many devotees and so these "gods" are very much alive. Many of these "gods" have grown and developed to the point that they no longer require blood, with a few notable exceptions such as Santeria. Some of the principal "gods" of India have long since gotten over their need for blood, and prefer offerings such as fruit, flowers, and incense.
The JuedaoChristian "god" required blood sacrifice for many human rites of passage, because as he said, "the life is in the blood". Then, with the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, the Jews no longer had a structure for blood sacrifices, and they found that their "god" survived just fine, as he had learned to live on praise and worship and no longer required blood. Meanwhile, the Christians, which began as a heresy of Juedaisim, came up with the idea that the son of "god" had become a blood sacrifice once and for all. This was convenient in that the temple had been destroyed and so blood sacrifices were no longer feasible.

Answer 7

The God of the Old Testament wanted animals burnt and offered to him on the altar. Cause he wanted all kinds of worship, and that was one of the best ones he thought of.

The Hebrew folk went along with it cause they were scared.

Later Jesus came along and got the idea of being the sacrifice himself, and thus appease God once and for all.

It was a good try and altruistic, but delusional and weird.

Church people still believe it though. What started out as a Pagan ritual is now the foundation of a huge religion.

Answer 8

It started out as a way to cleanse animals before we eat them. But the rulers wanted everything for themselves, so they made up rules that we couldn't eat none.
God hated it, which is why He invented barbeque sauce!

Answer 9

Because after-wards he got to eat the animal.

Answer 10

They needed to eat too, why cook it yourself when you can get someone who thinks you are a God to do it for you.