I hope you don't mind, but I'm moving this to a new thread for the sake of scrolling ease.
">>From the foundation of the world it was known that a blood sacrifice would be necessary to remove sin...<<
Paul K. "I have always found this very notion exceedingly odd and philosophically inexplicable. *How* can a blood sacrifice, whether it's a man, or a goat, or whatever, remove sin? What have the two things got to do with each other?"
The closest I came to understanding this was in the concept of "grace", as in saying grace before a meal and being thankful for what you have. My personal theory is that the roots of sacrifice go back to prehistoric times when life was brutally harsh and belief in deities was highly individualistic. It was you and the elements and whatever god was in those elements from which you took your nourishment. You had better recognize that and give some of it back, or the cycle might not get renewed and you'll be left with nothing.
">>From the foundation of the world it was known that a blood sacrifice would be necessary to remove sin...<<
Paul K. "I have always found this very notion exceedingly odd and philosophically inexplicable. *How* can a blood sacrifice, whether it's a man, or a goat, or whatever, remove sin? What have the two things got to do with each other?"
The closest I came to understanding this was in the concept of "grace", as in saying grace before a meal and being thankful for what you have. My personal theory is that the roots of sacrifice go back to prehistoric times when life was brutally harsh and belief in deities was highly individualistic. It was you and the elements and whatever god was in those elements from which you took your nourishment. You had better recognize that and give some of it back, or the cycle might not get renewed and you'll be left with nothing.
Sweet the coming on
Of grateful evening mild; then silent night
With this her solemn bird and this fair moon,
And these the gems of heaven, her starry train.
--John Milton
