RE: WHY was Jesus cricified?
July 30, 2014 at 4:45 pm
(This post was last modified: July 30, 2014 at 4:51 pm by Jenny A.)
The reason Christian apologetics don't work very well here is because whole concept is very old and very pagan.
Almost all early cultures made sacrifices of some kind: plant, animal, or human. The idea was in part to make the gods happy so they'd make you happy. The other part is the idea that you have to give up something to get something. The 700 Club's fundraising still runs on this theory. The last reason is to atone to the gods for breaking taboos. The sacrifice of pure innocent humans is part of that tradition.
The Hebrews of the Old Testament were no exception. Cain and Abel both made sacrifices and it just goes on from there. Leviticus is full of instructions for making sacrifices. Like most of the cultures in the area, people were slowly phasing out the human sacrifice part. But even after god stays Abraham's hand, there is still at least one example of human sacrifice that god appears to approve of and a few made by Ahab that god does not approve of in the OT.
Godly sacrifice as a substitute for human sacrifice was prevalent in and around Israel (Prometheus, Ra, Isis, Persephone). The gods of course are resurrected. These myths often had to with the change of seasons. But in many cases they morphed into sacrifices by which a god shares the blessing of eternal life with mortal man. Often this sharing is in opposition to the wishes of the other gods.
The Jesus myth is not so very different. God sacrifices himself to bring us the secret of eternal life. The necessity of the sacrifice is never really very clear. Christian apologetics are just an attempt to explain what appeared to have made sense to bronze age cultures but no longer makes sense to modern man.
That has nothing to do with whether the method of offering forgiveness makes any sense.
Almost all early cultures made sacrifices of some kind: plant, animal, or human. The idea was in part to make the gods happy so they'd make you happy. The other part is the idea that you have to give up something to get something. The 700 Club's fundraising still runs on this theory. The last reason is to atone to the gods for breaking taboos. The sacrifice of pure innocent humans is part of that tradition.
The Hebrews of the Old Testament were no exception. Cain and Abel both made sacrifices and it just goes on from there. Leviticus is full of instructions for making sacrifices. Like most of the cultures in the area, people were slowly phasing out the human sacrifice part. But even after god stays Abraham's hand, there is still at least one example of human sacrifice that god appears to approve of and a few made by Ahab that god does not approve of in the OT.
Godly sacrifice as a substitute for human sacrifice was prevalent in and around Israel (Prometheus, Ra, Isis, Persephone). The gods of course are resurrected. These myths often had to with the change of seasons. But in many cases they morphed into sacrifices by which a god shares the blessing of eternal life with mortal man. Often this sharing is in opposition to the wishes of the other gods.
The Jesus myth is not so very different. God sacrifices himself to bring us the secret of eternal life. The necessity of the sacrifice is never really very clear. Christian apologetics are just an attempt to explain what appeared to have made sense to bronze age cultures but no longer makes sense to modern man.
(July 30, 2014 at 3:27 pm)alpha male Wrote: BINGO! That's what it really comes down to. Even when being offered free forgiveness, and blessing on top of it, people don't want to admit that they're guilty.
That has nothing to do with whether the method of offering forgiveness makes any sense.
If there is a god, I want to believe that there is a god. If there is not a god, I want to believe that there is no god.
