The JW view, as I recall it, was that what Jesus sacrificed was a perfect human body. Since "the wages of sin is death" Jesus shouldn't have died, since he didn't sin. Apparently it didn't matter how he died; as long as he was free of the corruption of sin, he had a get-out-of-dying-free card from god. Which is why he accused god of forsaking him when he was about to die.
Anyway, the end result of this was that Jesus can intercede whenever anyone who sins sincerely repents. God is all like, "no deal, you sinned and didn't burn a calf or pigeon in my name." Then Jesus comes in and says "well I have this rain ticket for a perfect human life, and I'm cashing it in for John Doe, who sincerely repents." And god is all "okay, I'll let you redeem that life for the sins that John committed." And Jesus (because he's all sneaky-like) asks god if he can see that ticket for just a second, and god sighs and says "you always ask that" but gives back the ticket anyway. And Jesus runs off, knowing that he can re-use the ticket for the next sinner!
If god wasn't such a rube, that sacrifice would've been used up by now. But Jesus is way too crafty for him.
Anyway, the end result of this was that Jesus can intercede whenever anyone who sins sincerely repents. God is all like, "no deal, you sinned and didn't burn a calf or pigeon in my name." Then Jesus comes in and says "well I have this rain ticket for a perfect human life, and I'm cashing it in for John Doe, who sincerely repents." And god is all "okay, I'll let you redeem that life for the sins that John committed." And Jesus (because he's all sneaky-like) asks god if he can see that ticket for just a second, and god sighs and says "you always ask that" but gives back the ticket anyway. And Jesus runs off, knowing that he can re-use the ticket for the next sinner!
If god wasn't such a rube, that sacrifice would've been used up by now. But Jesus is way too crafty for him.
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
-Stephen Jay Gould
