The Sacrifice of Jesus

Dear Brother Ron

Saint Paul in his epistle to the Romans says that Jesus's sacrificial death was required by God to atone for the original sin (the original sin being that of Adam). But we know the story of Adam and Eve to be pure fiction although Paul thought it factual story 2000 years ago. This ultimately means jesus died for absolutely no reson. How do so called modernized christians who reject the creation myth reconcile this fact?

Evolution proves that Adam and Eve's story is nothing but, at best, an allegorical fairy tale since we know men did not come from dirt but from primates and women did not come from a rib.

Jman

Dear Jman

There are several problems with the crucifixion being a sacrifice. For openers, a sacrifice requires a sacrificer. Somebody has to offer the sacrifice as proof of their repentence. Jesus offered Himself. It was not proof that anybody else had repented of anything.

Second, a sacrifice requires giving up something. Nobody gave up anything, not even Jesus. He had a bad weekend but three days later, He was back.

Third, a sacrifice signifies a commitment to a deity. People sacrifice to a god to show their loyalty to a god. In a sense, Jesus did this to show His faith that God would restore Him. For the rest of humanity, however, there was no such commitment.

The crowning achievement of the ministry of Jesus was His resurrection from the dead. Without the crucifixion, there could have been no resurrection. Jesus committed "suicide by cop" to prove the power and mercy of God. He proved that the power of God is greater than the power of death. That was the real message of the crucifixion.

The whole sacrifice theme is part of the guilt trip used by the religious institutions to win followers. Look what Jesus did for you. Are you going to reject the gift that it cost Him so much, you ungrateful wretch? Sign this pledge card.

Great marketing, lousy theology.

Best always
Brother Ron