Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 12 replies, 13 voices, and was last updated 19 years, 5 months ago by
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- Why do Christians believe a loving God requires human sacrifice in order to forgive people? He's God. He makes the rules. Presumably, He could choose to save people merely because they do their best to be good people. Christians love to talk about how loving Jesus was for dying for our sins. But why did anyone have to die? Christianity insists that without Jesus dying a horrific, tortured death on the cross, we're all doomed. What kind of loving God makes rules like that? And please don't recite Leviticus on sacrifice. I've read it. With the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, Judaism teaches that God forgives the repentant. No dead animals. No dead people.
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Name : susan, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 39, City : New York, State : NY Country : United States, Occupation : attorney, Social class : Upper middle class,Like you said...he's God, he made the rules. We believe that what the Bible says is the truth, and the Bible says that it had to happen that way.User Detail :
Name : Amy31603, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Baptist, Age : 28, City : Charleston, State : WV Country : United States, Occupation : Lab Tech, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,The bible should not be read literally. There dosen't have to be a 'sacrafice' in order to be forgiven for your sins.God is a fair and just God.He does not have to forgive any of us, but he does. All we have to do is be truly sorry for our sins in our hearts.That's a pretty good deal if you aks me.NO ONE ever has to DIE to be FORGIVEN. God forgives us over and over again, with or without 'sacrafice'.The reason why Jesus died such a horrific death, is because God loved all of us so much, he WILLINGLY sent his only Son to die for all of OUR sins.Someone had to repent for our sins and nobody would, so as a sign God sacraficed his Son. It's just like if somone was to rob a bank, someone would have to do some jail time and have to face some consequences for those actions, right? It's the same idea, except, God is so loving he sacraficed his Son to die for all of our sins, so we wouldn't have to suffer for it. It was more significant than actuality.User Detail :
Name : J.B., Gender : F, Age : 17, City : Porterville, State : CA Country : United States, Social class : Upper middle class,I agree. Christanity is bizarre. I was brought up with it and have spent years trying to get as far away from it as possible.User Detail :
Name : Priscilla30295, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Bisexual, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 23, City : Sydney, State : NA Country : Australia, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Christians believe God required the sacrifice because we are Christians. I cannot explain it beyond that. If we did not believe Jesus died for our sins, then we would not be Christians. And, yes, God does make the rules, but he is God, and not everything he does makes sense to everyone. In fact, if we were to understand God completely, then he would not be God.User Detail :
Name : Stephen S., Age : 32, City : San Antonio, State : TX Country : United States,Hebrews 9:22 states, 'And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.' Jesus said in Matthew 26:28, 'For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.' I'm not sure what human sacrifices you're referring to, but ever since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, God required the shedding of blood for the atonement of sin. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, which caused them to realize they were naked, God clothed them with the skins of an animal. That animal had nothing to do with Adam and Eve's sin (it was innocent), but it had to die. That was God's plan. The animal sacrifices in the Old Testament were forerunners of the ultimate Sacrificial Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who shed His innocent blood to pay the sin debt of mankind. These are God's laws, or rules, as you call them, not something Christians made up themselves. Because you are Jewish and do not believe in Jesus as the promised Messiah, perhaps you should fervently pray and ask God for the answers to your questions.User Detail :
Name : Redeemed1, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Baptist, Age : 52, City : Newport News, State : VA Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,First, the human sacrifice I'm talking about is Jesus on the cross. My understanding is that one of the things that made Jesus so special is that, at least in some aspects, he was a human. Nailing a man on a cross to appease god (even if they are, in some sense, one and the same being) sounds to me like human sacrifice. Second, as a Christian you believe that these are God's rules. You don't have to know why, you just have to know that those are the rules. I don't agree, but I can understand that. I can also understand how you can believe in and fear and seek to appease an omnipotent god who creates such cruel, arbitrary and blood thirsty rules. What I'm not sure is how Christians could love the god they believe in, could see him as a father figure.User Detail :
Name : Susan27497, City : New York, State : NY Country : United States,Somebody's got to pay, Susan. God said so. I don't know where people get the idea that God does not require sacrifice. God has always commanded sacrifice. He was the one who commanded animal sacrifices in the ancient days. The Bible says 'Without shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins.' (Hebrews 9:22). Somebody's got to pay. That's the way God made the world. He made the grass green and He made the sky blue. And yes, He requires sacrifice, He made the world to work that way. The blood of animals used to be the thing that cleansed sin but it was not perfect. The blood of Jesus was perfect. That's why He only had to do it once whereas animals had to be sacrificed continually. People think that because God is loving, he won't ever punish or demand that sins be paid for. That's not true which is why He made is a hell, for Satan and other rebellious angels. God said they have to pay and they will, in hell. Along with anyone else who doesn't want Jesus's blood washing away their sins. We can either accept Jesus's free sacrifice or pay for our sins ourselves. But if we have to pay for our own sins, it's going to be hell to pay, literally. Y'know everybody talks about how God is supposed to be so loving ALL THE TIME. But He never said that that's how He is, read His word. He destroyed Sodom with fire. He destroyed the Egyptians with plagues and drowned their army in the Red Sea. But the thing about God is, He lives by His own rules. He said someone's got to pay for the world's sins and so He made someone pay...His own son. How many of us would let our kid go through that for this crummy world?User Detail :
Name : Natasha, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : African-Caribbean, Religion : Christian, Age : 28, City : Capitol Heights, State : MD Country : United States, Occupation : adminstrative receptionist, Education level : Technical School, Social class : Lower middle class,This subject/question has no answer because it is based on faith/belief and not logic. Redeemed1's response proves this. Jesus was a Jew and therefore his religious basis came from the Jewish faith. All three of the Holy books (yes the Koran comes from the same basic religion) were written by humans which other humans accept as true based on faith alone. Therefore Susan's question has no answer. Of course logic does make Susan's question interesting.User Detail :
Name : Turk, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Human, Race : Human, Religion : Human, Age : 58, City : World, State : NA Country : Unimportant, Occupation : Manager, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Its because God is holy (sinless), I think much more holy than we can imagine, and because he is just (fair). The first thing is that sinners cannot be in his presence, so no sinners allowed in heaven. And we all sin so... we're out of luck. His holiness also demands that sin cannot go unpunished. Someone must bear the cost of it. It can be us taking that punishment for our own sin in hell, or we can accept Jesus' sacrifice and let him take it for us. God himself bearing the cost for our sin *for* us, is thus just (the sin was punished) and merciful (he bore it for us so we don't have to). He doesn't delight in anyone going to hell, that's why he took such great measures, God condescending to become a human being, to give us a way out. Also check out Ezekiel 18:4.User Detail :
Name : Laura W., Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 23, City : San Diego, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : Research Ass't, Social class : Upper middle class,I fully agree with you. What kind of egomanical god would require someone to murder their child to prove their faith? Christians go on and on about how 'Jesus died for your sins', and then say the Jews killed him. ????? The message I've received over the years is his FATHER murdered him. This is a loving god????? Don't expect me to embrace christianity in this lifetime. How can people embrace a 'religion' that was used to oppress and murder their ancestors?!?!? I asked someone once why if god is so powerful, why does he allow the devil to do what he does, and his response was along the lines of,'God wants you to choose who you love most'. That's like your mother allowing your father to verbally, physically, emotionally, and sexually abuse you so you'll choose her over him. I just can't understand how if this philosophy is a loving religion why did the early missionaries kill and torture to spread their message? How did this religion ever get so popular? I don't know who said it, but I have this posted on my bulletin board:'Any religion or philosophy which is based on the fear of being tortured for eternity because of some godling's displeasure is psychologically diseased'User Detail :
Name : Nicky, Gender : F, Religion : Pagan, Age : 46, City : Ft Worth, State : TX Country : United States,Jesus is not just some man who was killed on the cross. Jesus is the Word made Flesh, the second person in the Holy Trinity, meaning that Jesus is God Himself. God does forgive the repentant sinner. And there has never been any human sacrifice. It was God who sacrificed Himself for us. By His dying on the cross, He took on Himself all the sins of mankind to deliver us from death, and bring us to eternal life.User Detail :
Name : Raph30233, Gender : M, Religion : Catholic, Age : 21, City : Toronto, State : NA Country : Canada,God told Adam and Eve 'If you disobey me, you will die'. God doesn't lie. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and they died and the rest of us will die. In order to atone for the monumental sin, there had to be a monumental sacrifice. God (in the person of Jesus) was that sacrifice. His death paid the death-debt for the rest of us.User Detail :
Name : Tony24175, Religion : Catholic, City : Binghamton, State : NY Country : United States,
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