Much of Christian Theology is based on "BLOOD SACRIFICE." How do you integrate this viewpoint with your life?

Question

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God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. (Romans 3:25)

Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:2)

He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (I John 2:2)

Plus the ENTIRE book of Hebrews.

How do you fully integrated this perspective into your life as a 21st Century person?

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Answer 1

I don't. Christians stole it from the ancient Jews who stole it from other ancient people. It seems the churches think what people don't know about the practice, which is based on ancient myth and superstition, won't hurt them. Of course for many, ignorance is bliss.

Answer 2

The references you cite were all written around the time of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, some before and some after.

Both the Christian community and the Jewish communities HAD to evaluate their attitudes toward sacrifice once the temple was destroyed. The Diaspora Jews and Christians had already been reevaluating the meaning of the sacrifices called for in the Torah, but once the Temple was destroyed it became a question all of them had to wrestle with.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Mediterranean world was still going strong with their blood sacrifices - there was no one in the Cult of Mithras or of Jupiter saying "hey, why are we sacrificing these animals?"

I think modern people often do a disservice to both the early Christians and the Rabbinic Jews who were the first people in the known history of the world to try and move religion away from the idea that we had to offer blood sacrifices to the gods. If their language appears offensive to our sensibilities, I would submit it's because we are the beneficiaries of the culture for which they laid the foundation.

Peace to you.

Answer 3

I have a lot of experience in this. I have been a Christian, a former Christian, a New Ager, an Agnostic, an Almost JW, and currently am a sort of half-hearted Christian again (Church of Christ). I did indeed have a LOT of negative experiences with fellow Christians, or at least so-called Christians. Hypocrits, I think have driven a LOT of people away from church and Christianity. It did me, more than once. I have come back and tried again and again, several times at least. I was a New Age minister, lost faith in that, became an Agnostic for a number of years, studied with JWs a couple of times to no avail, and finally ended up in the Church of Christ (rather reluctantly) to fulfill a deathbed request on the part of my late mother-in-law for her daughter to get back into church. So... here we are. Are we happy now? Uh, no, not really. Do I still feel negatively towards Christianity and Christians. Yep, pretty much, but I try not to engage in controversies over it. To me it seems pretty pointless to fuss and fight about it. I live my life the best way I can. Yes, I know I am a long way from perfect, but I am still trying to grow, spiritually and otherwise. It is a long, tough row to hoe. I've had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee, lol.

Answer 4

I believe in the At One Ment or atonement of self

it's when you become sentient or realize you are not only mortal, but are in existence and share the same with others

the obsessiveness with blood and killing or sacrifice sounds pretty barbaric in modern terms and ideas

Answer 5

It required the blood, the death, of a sinless man to pay the price for our sin.
Why it was that way, I do not know. I can speculate that our sin causes our separation from God and death without Jesus' reconciliation. So blood, his death that took our death, was required to take Satan's hold from us.
I am glad, and amazed, that God is like that and loves us that much.

Answer 6

Because I know I'm a sinner in need of Grace.
and I know God invented blood for a reason.
and because I know that God tells the truth and does not lie
when he said we need the shedding of blood for forgiveness of sins. On the dark side why do people find movies with a lot of bloodshed so STIMULATING? somewhere in their mind and heart they know it's important.

Answer 7

Makes me so thankful that Jesus finally came and rescued mankind from all those sacrifice rituals.

He was the ultimate sacrifice.

He payed the price for our sins so we no longer have to sacrifice like they did long ago.

God Bless You.

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additional information for the under-educated
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In the Old Testament times the Israelites offered sacrifices unto God. It would be the first male out of every flock that opened the womb of its mother, and was without blemish. It could be a sheep, goat, calf, bullock, yes, any valuable livestock of the people of God.


These sacrifices were images of the great and last sacrifice of the Only Begotten Son, which was to come. When Jesus had offered himself up to be the last sacrifice, he was the last living creature to be sacrificed, since there was no longer any need for an image of what was to come, since it had already happened.


From that day we needed another reminder.


We needed a reminder that Jesus actually DID offer himself as the great and last sacrifice for the sins of us all.


But the way he commanded us to remember this was not through blood sacrifices, but by partaking of emblems that represents his flesh and his blood.


Note: The emblems, the broken bread and the wine, are not, or do not become the flesh and blood of Jesus, but they REPRESENT the flesh and blood of Jesus to the penitent sinner.


The bread represents the flesh, or body, that Jesus freely permitted to die, and then to be resurrected so that we can be resurrected. In other words, when we take the bread of the sacrament of the last supper we do so and remember in gratitude that he died that we might live.


The wine represents the blood that was spilt for the sins that you and I, and all other people commit, and though our sins might be as red as crimson, the blood of Jesus will wash our souls as white as the driven snow. This means that when we drink the water of the sacrament, we do so in remembrance of the forgiveness of sins, that comes through the shedding of much blood.


This doesn't mean that we have a feast of blood, but rather a feast of rejoicing in the resurrection and the forgiveness of our sins, not forgetting that the price was very dear indeed.

Answer 8

We Adam and Eve sinned we lost out with God. He ran them out of the garden where the tree of life was and told them they would die. We were Satan property from that moment until we repented and it took a blood sacrifice to cover sin.
God had man use animal blood until he could find a willing vessel to give birth to his Son is what I'm thinking. His son's blood is what has redeemed us back to our Father so we can enter heaven some day.

Answer 9

You're reading that through a filter.
We hear "sacrifice," and we interpret it through the lens of Anselm's Satisfaction doctrine and Augustine's Substitutionary Atonement. The word "sacrifice," in the New Testament, meant something very different.

Answer 10

When the death penalty was reinstated in the 1970s, Utah was the first state to execute a prisoner. They exected him by firing squad. The only state to do this because of their (mormon) beliefs about "blood atonement." Scary huh?

You may find this article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_atonement interesting.