The one thing you have right is that my statement that no sacrifice is needed by one who loves God is incomplete- my mistake. One who loves his neighbor, and your neighbor is every person alive, loves God. Without love of the neighbor one does not love God. Period. I should’ve made it clear that no sacrifice is needed because if you love God, sacrifice comes naturally because one no longer sees sacrifice as an effort, but what one simply does daily. That makes my statement fully correct.
Blood sacrifices were what pagans, non-Hebrews practiced and were taken up by the Hebrews. Until prophet said that lying scribes had altered God’s wishes. God does not need or want blood sacrifice of any kind, let alone human sacrifice so why would He want Jesus, a Godly, loving rabbi, a man or taught the way God wanted mankind to live, be put to death?
He wouldn’t, at least according to the prophets and to an understanding of love.
And I am not angry, nor did I write a “tirade”. You’re describing yourself and projecting it to others.
The entire “Jesus was crucified to save us from our sins” was NOT the belief of the early church fathers. That idea became common through the writings and preaching of Calvin, four hundred years ago. NOT two thousand years ago.
I know that’s what you were told in church, but the church is Paul’s church, not the one set up in Jerusalem by James, the brother of Jesus. And only 7 or 8 of the letters attributed to Paul were written by him. It was common literary practice at that time to append the name of someone well-known if a writer believed his writing to be important enough to be seen by others. Another thing you could look up for yourself if you really cared to know.
The early Church leaders believed nothing of the kind that “Jesus was crucified to save us from our sins”- look it up for yourself. Although that might shake your beliefs but it’s better to know the truth than to live a lie told to you by those who Jesus warned of- false prophets that lead people astray, away from God and stand in the way of knowing Him.
You know nothing about me or my life or when I was ‘born again’ or how I live and love, but your arrogance makes you believe you have the right to. I freely admit that I once felt that same arrogance at one time but was fortunate enough to grow beyond it. And pray you will, as well. You didn’t pay attention when Paul wrote that being born again, in Spirit, simply meant you were a babe in Spirit and, just as babes in the flesh, you weren’t ready for anything beyond ‘spiritual milk’ but still must grow in Spirit to have spiritual ‘meat’- the food of adults.
When I was “born again” it was because I asked God to take over my life. I didn’t ask Jesus. But if you asked Jeus, as most have done for the last 400 years, then you considered Jesus to be God and that meant that you were asking God, not Jesus.
You mention the murder of Jesus still being a talking point after 2,000 years- Gautama Buddha’s words are still a talking point 2,400 years after his death, Hinduism is still a religion after 3,000 years so what does time have to do with anything? Nothing. Jesus came and taught the way we should live to please God. He never claimed to be God. And I suspect he would turn his back on the preachers, false prophets who teach false doctrines being pushed as ‘truth’ in his name. Those people are, unknowingly perhaps, “ravening wolves in sheep’s clothing” leading people away from God. I am sorry you’ve been lied to and lead away from knowing God but that has been the fate of most Christians so you’re not alone in you false beliefs.
I pray that you’ll learn the truth because, unlike you, I am not angry and do have love, and hope, for you and every person alive, that you will find God.
May God bless you with understanding and allow you to love Him and all people in the world. Then ‘sacrifice’ will be your normal state of being, not a chore as you make it sound. That is, after all, what Jesus would want for you.
Again, may God bless you. He gives up on no one who is willing to accept Him into their heart. Not false prophets.
