Sacrifice, what is it, was it?

[wil]

Sacrifice? Even in Jesus's time, the full system laid down by Moses had been reduced to a token - a couple of doves for example. In modern jewish practice it has gone altogether. The purpose of sacrifice is to take something out of the material system, the Sabbath, the edge of the field, and dedicate it to God, to show that God is more important than commercial gain or material well-being. There is no mystery, no magic.

It appears to me, that sacrifice is a very interesting topic.

On one level it is the ancient appeasing the gods...the thought that a god needed our lamb, us to bow down, us to provide....and I think that surely isn't too much of a god that is so low on self esteem that needs such things. (seems we are making gods in our image)

On another level, I see what VC is saying, it is an indication of giving worth willingly saying I offer this back. Sort of like today putting money in fertilizer if you have farm, in advertising for your company...you are feeding the engine that feeds you.

On a similar but yet another level it is an offering to keep the church going. It appears in most cases the food, the fatted lamb, was then eaten not by the gods but by those that tended to the gods...it was a way to provide sustenance for the religious leaders and those that did the religions duties.

So if you were telling the folks what to sacrifice, it would be the biggest and the best....the gods need that, plus it tastes better.

Today the sacrifice is tithing...time, talent, treasure....the gods need that.

I'm not discounting the value of any of it, it just appears we often cover something in ritual and mystery that really at its base is simply an administrative tool to keep the ball rolling.

thoughts?

 

[flowperson]

I believe that it all runs deeper than that and has to do with the progress of human society. The past and things of the present must always be sacrificed for the future to become true and real.

It has to do with this finite edge of energy that we all exist upon and within, that is twisting and coursing its way through space and time, and is carrying the fate of our ancestors, us and our future generations along together. Constant transformation and re-creation within this energy field is the truth of our realities.

Over the centuries and millenia, a core belief emerged and continued in various forms of commemoration of this truth within human cultures. If there is not material sacrifice, material progress into the future may not be orderly. Of course these rituals do get out of hand, like throwing too many virgins into too many volcanoes too often, or starting and fighting too many wars too often for the flimsiest of reasons.

I believe that the real issue in it all is how to maintain order in societies when disordering rituals are required from time to time in order to maintain natural balances as we progress together. The preferred path now is to employ ever-more complex technological systems to manage it all for our mutual benefit (theoretically, but practically this probably isn't happening).

We'll see.

flow....