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The "sacred" ritual of blood sacrifice is so ingrained in the
religions that are based on the Hebrew scriptures that it may seem as
though these religions could not exist without it.
"Blood sacrifice" is part and parcel of all that is believed
about God... about our fulfilling laws that man is to obey... and about
forgiveness of sin.
In the end, doctrines tell us... that... not only do we
commit sins that must be paid for with some blood sacrifice... in the
Old Testament, by the sacrificial death of an animal
(of an appropriate or comparable size to each "sin")...
or... in the New Testament...
that... as human beings... we are
"born sinful... born bad..." and the only way to be "saved"
from this horrid state is by the wholesale forgiveness of sin...
which was achieved by the
human sacrifice of the "Son of God"... Jesus.
Jesus's human sacrifice is said to be of such importance
that anticipation of it had been in the works ever since Eve disobeyed God and ate fruit from the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil." Because of something Eve did...
all mankind has been called to account. Because of Eve's disobedience... mankind is now born in a state of sin. And now... the only
way that Eve's sin... this "original sin"... can be
absolved and paid for is for the son of God himself to
become a human sacrifice. Only that would save us
from the damnation of God... allowing us to get to heaven
after we died.
Even religions other than Christianity have adopted some of the parts of
this way of understanding the story of the scriptures. Eve has become
the scapegoat for all of the problems that have plagued mankind.
Eve has become the model for what all women are
labeled as being. Not only was Eve a seductress...
but now all women are considered to have this inate defect
in their character.
It has been this reasoning that has kept women abused
and oppressed by those more "noble" creatures... the
men of our societies... for a long, long time.
But... it is the doctrine of the need to be forgiven... for sins committed...
and for sins that one is born with... and for sins that someone else may
have committed... that has given birth to the absolute abuse and
oppression of many more souls that those of women.
It is the excuse of choice... for all oppression.
Mankind... is born sinful.
We can NEVER be good enough.
It took powerful voo-doo to fix such an unforgiveable state of being.
But... what kind of God requires the shedding of blood to pay for sins?
Who is this God that we worship that requires BLOOD...
to pay for sins?
Just exactly where did this belief originate?
Is it connected to a woman's menstrual cycle...?
is this why women bleed...?
Why do we think that God needs blood to be appeased?
How does killing innocents... fulfill a concept of justice?
How does sacrificial killing calm God's wrath or judgment?
What is the magic in blood that pays the price for sin?
What kind of hocus-pocus is going on here?
How did we come to think that God requires such "hocus pocus"?
The ritual worship of the death of Jesus... the repeated offering of the
death of an innocent man... to a God of whom we
attribute justice, mercy, and love... seems very much a bipolar and
contradictory ritual, indeed.
Have we turned priests and ministers into magicians...?
healing...? forgiving...? changing water into wine...?
bread into flesh...?
performing the magic rituals that we believe are necessary
to our God...?
ministers...? who act as our prophets...? who remain
so immune from "sin" themselves... that they can claim the authority
to propagate judgments, unkindnesses, and even cruelties upon the
rest of us, as they please...?
To find the answer to these questions... we must go back to the
very beginnings of biblical history... back to the story of Cain
and Abel.
It is here that a great misunderstanding began...
a misunderstanding that has never been corrected.
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