Jesus forgives a man his sins in Mark chapter 2. Without any type of sacrifice. He just tells the man that his sins are forgiven. When the pharisees become indignant at Jesus for saying it, he heals the man of his paralysis instantly, by merely speaking it. No sacrifice, no blood spilled, no scapegoats... just Jesus saying "you're clear, bud."
You know, the way any person today would forgive another for something they did. I know that I've forgiven people lots of things over the years, and they have done the same for me. At no time did it ever require that we behead a pigeon or anything like that. If lowly humans can figure out this "forgiveness" thing that easily, why is it so complicated for god? Maybe it's a fetish? Auto-erotic crucifixion?
You know, the way any person today would forgive another for something they did. I know that I've forgiven people lots of things over the years, and they have done the same for me. At no time did it ever require that we behead a pigeon or anything like that. If lowly humans can figure out this "forgiveness" thing that easily, why is it so complicated for god? Maybe it's a fetish? Auto-erotic crucifixion?
"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
