Unconventional Religion

[The Reality Salesman01]

Let's be fair here. What definition of "sacrifice" are you using here? In the context of religion, it is understood that this is what is meant:

sac·ri·fice (skr-fs)n.
1. a. The act of offering something to a deity in propitiation or homage, especially the ritual slaughter of an animal or a person.

b. A victim offered in this way.

You seem to be trying to defend the above definition by using examples of a different definition:


sac·ri·fice (skr-fs)n.

2. To forfeit (one thing) for another thing considered to be of greater value.

Such as...

A mother instinctively jumping in front of a car to push her child out of the way could be defined as "sacrifice" after the fact. But only from a third person's perspective after the events have transpired.

Say somebody was tying up their child to a stake, and pouring gasoline all over them.

You walk up to them and ask why they're doing that.

They say: "sacrificing my kid to Jobu, of course!"

...This example is covered by the definition provided above.

The stuff you are offering are pretty skectchy examples...

Soldiers dying for their country.

You are equivocating here. "dying for their country" is a figure of speech. Countries aren't offering their soldiers as sacrificial lambs to please a deity. There is a subjective motive that drives individuals, based on an actual thing (a country), that correlates with reality.

If, to a soldier, the preserving of their country's well being for future generations is subjectively more valuable than their fear of possibly dying to defend it, than no, it's not irrational. It's a difference in oppinion.

Parents struggling for their children.

Not even sure what this is supposed to be an example of. If it is intended to be an example of irrational behavior, you have missed the mark out of shear ignorance.

Blocking a bullet.

Again, for whom? Another person? An actual observable being? Making a subjective assessment that values another's life more than that of their own? Not irrational. Somebody seems confused on the terms being used and how they apply.

If they're OK, we'll need a case of self-sacrifice being 'irrational in a bad way'.

Killing a person as a means of pleasing an unidentifiable entity. Making a decision that affects an ACTUAL verifiable and valued life in favor of a supposed God's preference for human-life currency.

A believer of any faith could certainly understand any number of examples.

Think of a God you don't believe in.
Imagine somebody killing themselves in the name of it.

Jesus, if it happened, would be a good example. Willing or not. He should have been committed, not slaughtered. Anyone that doesn't understand this by now, will probably have a hard time understanding it at all.