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Once again, if the entire Torah is still in effect, we are all going to hell because we are not doing animal sacrifices for our sins, and we have rejected the blood of Jesus for Salvation. If we break one law, we are guilty of breaking them all.
The Bible outlines numerous other ways to atonement, outside of sacrifice. For instance, ceasing bad behavior, acting justly and doing acts of loving kindness can bring atonement. As we read in Isaiah 1:11-18:
“The multitude of your sacrifices—
what are they to me?” says the Lord.
“I have more than enough of burnt offerings,
of rams and the fat of fattened animals;
I have no pleasure
in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
When you come to appear before me,
who has asked this of you,
this trampling of my courts?
Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—
I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.
Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals
I hate with all my being.
They have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I hide my eyes from you;
even when you offer many prayers,
I am not listening.
Your hands are full of blood!
Wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds out of my sight;
stop doing wrong.
Learn to do right; seek justice.
Defend the oppressed.
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
plead the case of the widow.
“Come now, let us settle the matter,”
says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool."
Similarly, we see that mercy and truth can bring atonement, as in Proverbs 16:6:
Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for;
through the fear of the Lord evil is avoided.
Further, we can read in Micah 6: 7-8 that sin can be forgiven through justice, mercy and piety, as it states:
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
Interestingly, the quotes from Micah and Isaiah demonstrate that sacrifice is not even the best method to reach God. This idea is highlighted in Hosea 6:6, which says:
For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
Proverbs 21:3 echoes Hosea, saying:
To do what is right and just
is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
The prophet Hosea even specifically directs the Jewish people to use prayer instead of sacrifice as a means for atonement, stating in Hosea 14:2-3:
"Take words with you
and return to the Lord.
Say to him:
“Forgive all our sins
and receive us graciously,
that we may offer the fruit of our lips.
Assyria cannot save us;
we will not mount warhorses.
We will never again say ‘Our gods’
to what our own hands have made,
for in you the fatherless find compassion.”
The Bible is clear that atonement can be gained without any sacrifice, without bloodshed. Sacrifice is simply not necessary for atonement, if you believe in the Bible. There are alternative means to gain atonement for our sins. Jesus did not die for our sins, he was murdered, the Pharisees murdered him.
It should also be noted that God hated human sacrifices.
First if it really says no one is perfect, then neither was the Messiah, therefor the purpose of a lamb with out blemish ceases to matter.
Secondly for the matter of atonement:
The Bible outlines numerous other ways to atonement, outside of sacrifice. For instance, ceasing bad behavior, acting justly and doing acts of loving kindness can bring atonement. As we read in Isaiah 1:11-18:
"To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? saith the Lord; I am full of the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats.
When ye come to appear before Me, who hath required this at your hand, to trample My courts?
Bring no more vain oblations; it is an offering of abomination unto Me; new moon and Sabbath, the holding of convocations--I cannot endure iniquity along with the solemn assembly.
Your new moons and your appointed seasons My soul hates; they are a burden unto Me; I am weary to bear them.
And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear; your hands are full of blood.
Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes, cease to do evil;
Learn to do well; seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. "
Similarly, we see that mercy and truth can bring atonement, as in Proverbs 16:6:
" By mercy and truth iniquity is atoned; and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil."
Further, we can read in Micah 6: 7-8 that sin can be forgiven through justice, mercy and piety, as it states: " Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?'
It hath been told thee, O man, what is good, and what the Lord doth require of thee: only to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God."
Interestingly, the quotes from Micah and Isaiah demonstrate that sacrifice is not even the best method to reach God. This idea is highlighted in Hosea 6:6, which says:
" For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt-offerings.
Proverbs 21:3 echoes Hosea, saying:
To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice."
The prophet Hosea even specifically directs the Jewish people to use prayer instead of sacrifice as a means for atonement, stating in Hosea 14:2-3:
Return, O Israel, unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast stumbled in thine iniquity.
Take with you words, and return unto the Lord; say unto Him: 'Forgive all iniquity, and accept that which is good; so will we render for bullocks the offering of our lips."
The Bible is clear that atonement can be gained without any sacrifice, without bloodshed. Sacrifice is simply not necessary for atonement, if you believe in the Bible. There are alternative means to gain atonement for our sins.
Thirdly:
Does belief alone save?
For even the devil believes in God and the Messiah but belief alone has not saved him.
What saves is the grace of God which was always possible because God can do any thing.
What does God ask for in return for his forgiveness of sin?
He asks for our commitment to him alone above all else, he asks that we change for the better with a loving compassionate and accepting attitude toward our fellow man. Thus we are saved through commitment for when we commit our selves to God we must give up our own fleshly desires and live and life centered on the teachings of Christ.
Azrael, I am sorry, but that is not the gospel of the kingdom. You want to keep laws and you think that is the atonement. Lev 17:11 "it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul." The sacrifices of the OT could not put away sin, therefore Jesus Christ, the lamb of God without sin, died on the cross for our sins to make an perfect sacrifice of himself (Heb 9:26). He bear the sins of many (verse 28). Grace and truth came through Christ. He is our Savior and Redeemer. Through faith in the finished work of Christ at the cross, where He defeated our enemy the devil, death and sin. If we receive Jesus in our life by faith, we are born again, transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the light of the Kingdom of God. Now we have fellowship with God the Father and we can ask for the baptism into the Holy Spirit That gives us the power to overcome and He is our teacher in all truth, that we can walk in the Spirit and do the works of God and not our fleshly desires.
Azrael, I am sorry, but that is not the gospel of the kingdom. You want to keep laws and you think that is the atonement. Lev 17:11 "it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul." The sacrifices of the OT could not put away sin, therefore Jesus Christ, the lamb of God without sin, died on the cross for our sins to make an perfect sacrifice of himself (Heb 9:26). He bear the sins of many (verse 28). Grace and truth came through Christ. He is our Savior and Redeemer. Through faith in the finished work of Christ at the cross, where He defeated our enemy the devil, death and sin. If we receive Jesus in our life by faith, we are born again, transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the light of the Kingdom of God. Now we have fellowship with God the Father and we can ask for the baptism into the Holy Spirit That gives us the power to overcome and He is our teacher in all truth, that we can walk in the Spirit and do the works of God and not our fleshly desires.
You ignored the scripture I quoted which shows clearly that sacrifice is neither needed nor desired, Rather it shows the opposite to be true, that by a commitment to God we are saved.
It's not a law but a truth that acts of love and kindness bring redemption, that a willfulness to repent and do good allows for mercy, that God forgives us based on our willingness to forgive others.
Blood Sacrifice the Lord abhors for that is a thing of the enemy. Only a devil would have a need to sacrifice their child to achieve a goal. God is not so weak or evil as to do such a wicked thing.
You are not saved unless you burden your own cross and fellow your rabbi who is Christ.
His blood is not they Way, Nor is his Existence, But his Path is the way, his path is the truth, his path is the life. We must emulate gods servant our teacher and attempt to be as he was, for it is written be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.
To refute what I wrote you must also deny my brothers who came before me, to refute me is to refute the Lord who sent me. For it is God who inspires the words that come off my lips.
1John 2:3 And by this we know that we know Him, if we guard His commandments.
1John 2:4 The one who says, “I know Him,” and does not guard His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
1John 2:5 But whoever guards His Word, truly the love of Elohim has been perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.
1John 2:6 The one who says he stays in Him ought himself also to walk, even as He walked.
1John 2:7 Beloved, I write no fresh command to you, but an old command which you have had from the beginning. The old command is the Word which you heard from the beginning.
Here's another couple of good ones for those that think ANYTHING was "done away with" when Messiah came.
Rom 3:31 Do we then nullify the Torah through the belief? Let it not be! On the contrary, we establish the Torah.
Heb 10:28 Anyone who has disregarded the Torah of Mosheh dies without compassion on the witness of two or three witnesses.
Rev 22:12 “And see, I am coming speedily, and My reward is with Me, to give to each according to his work.
7"Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
9Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sisterb is still in the darkness. 10Anyone who loves their brother and sisterc lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. 11But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them."
Not writing a new command but writing a new command Now what could that mean?
Jesus said in Matt. Ch. 5 that we had been told in the past that whosoever is guilty of murder is in danger of the Judgment, but I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother is in danger of the Judgment.
Grace gIves us the ability to fulfill it. Love does no harm to our neighbor, so love is the fulfillment of the law. Romans 13:10 salvation by works ? No, salvation by grace . Salvation is not about escaping eternal hell.
Grace allows us to keep the law. Amen. Ceremonial laws are gone bcuz they pointed to Christ (lamb sacrifice). Laws are not gone, 10 commandments. Imagine a lawless world. If law is gone, then u r saying we r allowed to.kill, steal, commit adultery, etc... n pls don't say oh that's different or in our nature. No. Its part of the law of God. His eternal law.
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