Mysterio448,
How did God's self-sacrifice save man? Save man from what? If the kind of "sacrifice" you're talking about is sacrifice in the sense of self-deprivation for the sake of directly effecting someone's well-being, you will have to be more specific as to how God achieved this. After all, it's not like God literally took a bullet for you, or anything that concrete. On the other hand, if you mean "sacrifice" in the sense of a ritual sacrifice, then you should explain why the almighty God would succumb to performing such a savage and irrational ritual, apparently rendering him no more sophisticated than the most backwards primitive tribes of man.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
John 3:16 clearly states the reason for Jesus' (the son's) self-sacrifice. What he saved man kind from, was the debt of sin owed to his father (God), of which the justified punishment by God's law was death. Jesus' sacrifice, also opened a path for mankind to be reconciled to God, by believing and trusting (having faith) that he was the son of God, and behaving according to that trust and belief. His death acted both as a punishment and dispensation for sin. Thus, he did take “take a bullet” for us, the wrath of his father and condemnation of people, when he himself was innocent, hence the moniker of him being a sacrificial lamb. According to God's judgement, being a God of justice, the penalty for mankind's sin was death, therefore, the punishment that had to be metered out was death, so Jesus, paid the price of death, instead of mankind paying the price of death. It is not such a ritual, more a celestial legal system, which was put in place for mankind's benefit. The suffering and gruesome death of Jesus was directly carried out by people, and demonstrates two things: 1. how barbaric mankind can be to do what they did to Jesus, who was an innocent man, because the powerful and influential religious order of that time were sore jealous of him. 2. How merciful God is to allow his son to be tortured and killed in such a heinous way, by mankind, so that we could not only be forgiven of our sins, but also have a path to him. If we don't believe in Jesus, we are judged on the basis of our own sins, because we do not have the atonement which belief in him provides.
You don't appear to have a spiritual / celestial education, therefore you don't have a spiritual / celestial understanding. There is great sophistication in the sacrifice of Christ, not only in what I have already explained here, but you have to think that at the time when Jesus was on earth, only the Jews had the Old Testament law of God, the rest of the world had no such luxury of knowing how to obey God, in order to receive celestial rewards and benefits. What Jesus' sacrifice did, was to make God accessible to the gentiles or the rest of the world, in a way that could be easily understood, intoned and verified, by the teachings, experiences and miracles which his apostles wrought. Hence the concepts of Christianity and faith grew, developed and caused people of all races to be reconciled to God, and brought out of the net of sin. Also, the method of salvation through Christ, is not only horizontal in terms of spreading to different races of people, it works vertically as well because it has gone through time. 2000 years later, and people are still being reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ, and who knows how much longer it will continue? If you don't see any sophisticated thought, methodology or foresight in that, then I don't know where you will? I don't think that the primitive tribes of men could of conceived of such a complex system.
I'm curious as to why I haven't heard any Christians on this thread give me a straight answer as to whether they believe in the logic of ritual sacrifice. I'm also waiting for an explanation to why God's chosen people were commanded to atone for their sins by performing what was essentially the same savage ritual that everyone else practiced at the time.
I wouldn't call myself an orthodox Christian, as there are religious aspects, ideas and ideologies of Christianity that I disagree with, but I am certainly a theist, who believes in the God of the Bible. I hope that I have given you a straight-answer pertaining to the logic of Jesus' sacrifice. I tend to think that you're looking at sacrifice in an archaic way. It was a ritual (Jesus' sacrifice being the last), but it was also judicial system of placing your sins, upon something innocent, in order to be forgiven for your sins and not face punishment. The death of the innocent animal or Jesus, is a transferral of the consequences of the sin committed by the person; to the animal or Jesus, so that the person who committed the sin and / or those who the sin would have effected, are no longer subject the consequences that sin. I think that this explanation, also explains why God's chosen people were instructed by God to sacrifice animals. What does your point about “everyone else” performing ritual sacrifice of animals pertain to?
Theists believe, agnostics ponder and atheists analyse. A little bit of each should get us the right answer.
- By Good_Egg