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May 31, 2005 The Bible paints the death of Jesus as a sacrifice worthy of saving all of mankind. Jesus is called the “lamb slain from the foundation of the earth.” In other words, since before the world was created, God planned on offering His son to save all of mankind. John 3:16, arguably the most popular verse in the Bible, says that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son. So how does the death of Jesus measure up as a sacrifice? Let’s compare. In Genesis, God asks Abraham to offer his son as a burnt offering. Abraham goes as far as placing his son on an altar and raising a knife to kill him before he is stopped by God. It was supposed to be a great way to test Abraham’s faith. Abraham passed with flying colors, never mind the disturbing aspect of the story, that God would tell a man to kill his child. Of course, several people have in recent memory killed their offspring because they believed God was telling them to do so. The most recent one I recall was the woman in Texas who dragged her three sons out of bed one at a time, took them out to the yard and bashed their heads in with a rock. One child survived with serious brain damage. I guess she passed the test too. Then there is the story of Jepthah in the Book of Judges. He offered his daughter as a burned offering rather than to break a vow to God that he hadn’t quite thought through. Remember in Genesis when Cain offered up vegetables as an offering to God and God refused his sacrifice? Genesis is not clear what God did to let Cain know he was rejecting his offering, but Cain got the message. Well, according to Judges, God did nothing to stop Jepthah from burning his daughter as a human sacrifice to God. There was no last minute reprieve as the girl was about to die. There is no record that God rejected Jepthah’s offering as He did Cain’s. I wonder if that means Jepthah passed some test? Then there is the death of Jesus. It was brutal according to the biblical account and Mel Gibson’s portrayal. But where was the sacrifice? When men offered up their animals in the Old Testament they didn’t get them back. That is the entire point of a sacrifice, you give up something. Abraham would have killed his son, according to Genesis, without knowing that he would ever see him again. Jepthah’s daughter wasn’t given back to him. But Jesus was dead for a total of three days according to the Bible. An eternal being gave up three days for us. If my children were in danger I would trade my life for theirs and I know that I wouldn’t get it back. If you told me I could save the entire world by giving up three days, hey I’d do that! Who wouldn’t? If I were an eternal being how much less of a sacrifice would that be? Nothing. Much ado is made about how Jesus went willingly to the cross for our sins. I ask you, what choice did He have? If you know the future, not just any possible future, but you know exactly how things will go down, you are powerless to change it. Jesus had no choice. God had no choice. It’s one of those paradoxical problems that arise when you try to create the ultimate deity. That deity can’t make decisions because He already knows how everything will happen. If He chooses a new course of action, He would have known for all eternity past that He was going to choose that path and therefore the un-chosen path was really never an option. He knew He wouldn’t take it. So He had no choice. So you say the sacrifice was in the fact that Jesus defiled His holy self by taking on sins, having His Father turn His back on Him and doing battle with Satan in Hell for three days. Well again, He would have had no choice if He were eternal and omniscient. And who among us wouldn’t take on our greatest adversary if we absolutely knew in advance that our victory was sealed? And as for defiling Himself with the sins of the world, He already had. The Bible makes a big deal out of Jesus never having sinned so He could be the perfect sacrifice. That is not much of an accomplishment if sin is defined by what you don’t do. If God knew the future when He created man He would have been aware of every sin that would be committed. If you create the rules and you create beings that you know in advance are not capable of following those rules, you bear some responsibility for the infractions. You can’t tell a child to hold a torch and never set it down and then blame the child when he falls asleep and burns the house down. If you create matter and you create light, you are responsible for shadow. My brother once posed a scenario in which a father is in a hot air balloon with his son and drifts into a cliff. The balloon is deflated and snagged on the rocks and the lines that support the basket are snapping one by one. If you are the father, do you jump to your death in the hopes that the reduction in weight will allow your son to be supported until help arrives? Tough question? Here let me make it easier for you. If you knew that, while the impact would be painful, you would be able to get up in three seconds and spend the rest of your life with your son, would you do it. Who wouldn’t? Even if this story were true, God lost nothing. Three days out of eternity is nothing. Bearing the sins of the world is nothing if you are already aware of every sin and in fact bore some responsibility for them in the first place. God cannot “separate” Himself from sin if He is aware of every sin and omnipresent. This God of the Bible believes that eternal torture in the fires of Hell is fair punishment for man for even one sin, but thinks it a great sacrifice to give up His Son for a grand total of three days out of eternity. I guess this God of the Bible is more adept at demanding sacrifices than providing them. By the way, if you think God is telling you to offer up your children to Him, don’t. It is not a test. Seek psychiatric help immediately. ------------ About the author: Wayne Adkins is a former fundamentalist christian who became an atheist after two years of bible college. He is now a military officer recently returned from a year in Iraq...a real live atheist in a foxhole. He has written a manuscript debunking biblical inerrancy and the existence of God which can be found at his website at www.nakedemperor.netfirms.com. Email: tillnow67@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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