Human Sacrifice?

Bingo

Christianity makes no sense in the light of the Hebrew Scriptures

Christianity does not follow the same god as Judaism. The two religions are utterly incompatible, and this is just one of the many examples. There were other religions in the area that had sacrificial saviors, and those are the true roots of christianity, not Judaism and the God of Abraham. Those were simply used to give the new religion an appearance of legitimacy. Christians won't like this answer, but it's the truth. All they have to do to prove it is study a little about Judaism and then Mithraism and the Mystery Religions of the area.

Plain and simple, the gods of the Tanach (OT) and the NT are different gods. The first was one with no parts or pieces, the second is split in three (but claims to be the first).

Oh, almost forgot, the main reason for Abraham being told to sacrifice Isaac was not to show Abraham's willingness to follow God, but for Isaac, who needed to know what it felt like to be a human sacrifice so that he would know why it was such an abomination to the Lord. Isaac would take over after Abraham's death, and he needed to understand why he was not to follow the Pagans and others. Christians don't know this because they don't study Judaism, they simply assign meaning to what they think the stories of Judaism are about. Most aren't even aware that Isaac was a full grown man, and not a child.

the deal between Abraham and Isaac was God's way of testing Abraham's faith. God had promised Abraham a child with Sarah, though both very old in age. Though he did have a son named Ishmael with his maidservant, Isaac was the one promised by God. Naturally Isaac is his really only cherished son, so when God told Abraham to make him a sacrifice, God was challenging Abraham's obedience and faith. God never intended for Isaac to die because literally just before the knife was used, God stopped him and provided the lamb. God then knew Abraham was his faithful servant and promised him many descendants, etc.

Something similar happened when God allowed the devil to test Job. Job, though literally suffered, showed God his undying love and faith for him.

Jesus' sacrifice was God's way of showing us how faithful and devoted to us he is. He showed the greatest act of love by dying for us and our sins as the quintessential lamb.

On a side note, recounting what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, God does punish the wicked, and upholds the righteous. In this story Abraham pleads with God to spare the two cities if he found any righteous people within, and God would have if he had found any.

By these accounts God reaffirms the importance of faith and having a relationship with him. Jesus being the only human sacrifice was done to bring us closer to God. He was made man so that he could bring the good news, show us that even as a human(with all the feelings and temptations) he remained unblemished(thus saying we can do it too), and most importantly die in death only to destroy the power of death so that we will rise with him in righteousness, and not to mention show us his undying and unquestionable love for us.

This story illustrates a simple fact: although Abraham (whom God described as "My friend") was willing to sacrifice his son to God, God stopped him; but when the time came for God to sacrifice His own Son, He never hesitated.

Something else to ponder: Abraham intended to offer a burnt sacrifice. After the animal was killed, it was burned completely. God calls this type of sacrifice a "sweet aroma," since it involves complete surrender of the offering up to Him. Later, this type of offering was incorporated into the Levitical sacrificial laws, since God still found this type of sacrifice to be pleasing. You may have read that Jesus said He'd come to FULFILL the Law, not to destroy it. When Jesus completely surrendered His will to God and submitted to His crucifixion, He demonstrated what this sacrifice truly means: to give everything you have, including your life, to the Will of the Father.

Regarding human sacifice, I think it would be more accurate to say that God hated ANY sacrifice (human or otherwise) to any other god than He. For example, God mentions in the OT several times that He dispised the human sacrifices the Jews were making to Molech, a pagan god.

EDIT: L'Chaim, your answer is incorrect. Only PARTS of SOME sacrifices were given to the Levites; even then, God demanded the fat, the kidneys and the omentum (fat around the abdominal organs). For the olah (burnt offering), the ENTIRE animal was burned and NONE was given to the Levites.

Jesus sacrifice WAS done in the Temple -- HE was the Temple. Even Jewish sages admit that the Shekinah was NEVER in the Second Temple. As I explained above, there was no need for Jesus' body to be burned -- He fulfilled that Law.

to me,we have no any rights to sacrifice any thing with life either human or animals.God can sacrifice Jesus because Jesus is god's creation and he is also son of god.As a Hindu,i have gone through a lot of sacrificing ceremony.But i really feel very sad being a part of the ceremony because i can stand looking the animal suffering before their death.So,to me,human has no rights to sacrifice each other or animals.

I can come up with two answers that most people here aren't going to like:

1. A sacrificial god figure comes from pagan beliefs. If you're going to try to trump the pagans, you have to beat them at their own game.

2. The bible was written by humans not god so they could write anything they want. Just an early form of fictional story telling.

I know no one's gonna like these answers but they are the only one's that make sense.

While you're thinking along these lines, consider that the only part of the sacrifice meant for God was the aroma. The entire sacrifice was BBQ'd and eaten by the Levites who tended the Temple. You can also read the specifics about animal sacrifices -- they could only be made in the Temple itself, and only by a Priest.

If one believes the Bible to be the literal word of God, why wasn't Jesus' sacrifice done by a Priest inside the Temple. Why wasn't he burned in order to create a pleasing odor for the Lord?

Christians use the Hebrew Bible for legitimacy, but ignore most of what it says.

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Nobody sacrificed Jesus. He was an ordinary man who broke Roman law by claiming to have powers greater than the Emperor. That was a crime against the State, at the time, punishable by death. He was executed for the offense , just as any other person would have been.

What I don't get, is that if god is all powerful, why couldn't he had just forgiven humanity, and skip the entire sacrifice thing.

Why was it necessary?

For example, I'm a parent, let's say my daughter says horrible things to me, and does unspeakable acts against me. It is still within my power to forgive her. I wouldn't ask her to go and slaughter something, so I could forgive her sins. So why does god request that of his children?

Huh?

Jesus was a messenger that tried to change the views, concepts and limited beliefs of mankind. He walked on water, raised the dead, went to the cross and was ressurected.

God is trying to show man something about the nature of things that man is ignoring.

Jesus was sacraficed to take away the sins of the world, In fact God was upset to the fact that he had to sacrafice Jesus, and therefore condemned it after the world was free of sin.