Christians and morals

[hugs]

Wow, so Christians get really huffy when they start realizing that the crucifixion was a human sacrifice. Like really pissed off.

I guess they never really correlate the two until you show it to them.

Comments

Canalbalism

[klb7862]

They also tend not to like it if you mention that eating the flesh of Jesus through bread and drinking his blood through wine is...kinda odd.

(I've heard debates about that as well.

[hdiandrew]

Depends on the brand of Christianity. A significant number of them hold that it was not a human sacrifice, but a divine one - the sacrificed God, as in the tradition of Osiris, Balder or Mithra. The same holds true for Catholics partaking in communion - that is not human flesh, but a piece of the divine. And to some degree it depends on which book of the New Testament you look at, since in each the crucifixion is handled very differently.

I've read some historians who feel part of Judaism's uniqueness was not monotheism, which it really is not, but its early renunciation of human sacrifice, which is why the instances of it in the Bible (Abraham and Issac; the warrior who promises the first thing he sees and it turns out to be his daughter; the crucifixion) are so striking.

Though, frankly, if I have to eat the flesh of any god, I prefer the noodly appendages of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, hallowed be his name ...

[weswilson]

There's a great book called Pagan Christs that shows the evolution of the sacrifice mythology and cannibalistic spiritualism and how it correlates to the Christian mythos. I'm not sure I buy all the material in the book, but it's an interesting read.

The key elements:
1) Sacrifice to the diety was important. Human sacrifice was the best and most necessary.

2) As societies advanced, the need for voluntary sacrifice rose. Eventually, bribery had to be used. The human sacrifice was often offered a year of being the king before their death, mirroring Jesus' ministry and him being the King of the Jews.

3) Consumption of the sacrificial flesh gave the divine blessing to all who partook, mirroring the communion.

There's more, but that's the main meat of it.

[crayola511]

Who didn't realize this? That is the whole point of it. He died for our sins. It plainly says that in the Bible.