skinnerclan.org

There is this site called SoapBoxxer I ran across today. On the front page, I came across the following statement, which (as a user of the site) you are encourage to “Agree” or “Disagree” with.

The statement

The statement in question was this:

“It was pretty cool of the Christian god to sacrifice (unto himself) his own human incarnation in order to placate his own voracious thirst for blood.” — Logomotive (468 auth) on April 07, 2008

This is the “Have you stopped engaging in bestiality?” kind of question. Answer “Yes” and implicit in it is that you in fact did engage in bestiality at one point. Answer “No”, and you admit to it!

My response

For posterity’s sake (and because the formatting was stripped from my response on the site, making it less readable), my response is recorded here:

A very unfair way to phrase the statement. God does not have a “voracious thirst for blood”. But blood does have a place as a meaningful sacrifice, and:

[Heb 9:13-18 ESV] For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, (14) how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (15) Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. (16) For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. (17) For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. (18) Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood.

You see, as humans born in bondage to sin, we had no hope of standing before our creator, who will stand in judgment of us all, and escaping unscathed. Indeed, we must be judged because Satan has already been judged. And the name “Satan” (another name for the fallen angel Lucifer) means “Accuser”. He will accuse us before God, saying: “Well look how you’ve treated me because of my disobedience! My place is the lake of fire! Yet these too disobeyed. Their fate should be mine, for you are a just God, are you not?”

Kind of a bind. Satan is quite correct. Fortunately for us, God had a plan from the foundation of the world to get us out of this predicament. For his wrath has been satisfied, as it pertains to us, in Christ, who is the “Lamb of God”. God chose to send his own son, in the likeness of sinful flesh but not sinning (though he was tempted even as we are), to pay our sin debt to him.

For we have all sinned against God. And what man, having been wronged, does not seek vengeance? For vengeance evens the scales! You wrong me, so I wrong you, and now we’re even and your wrath is satisfied. In the same way, we have all wronged God, even as Satan has, and our place is in that lake of fire for all time. Weeping. Gnashing teeth. Darkness and gloom, pain and loneliness. Forever.

But God has given Christ as a whipping boy of sorts. One who would stand for us and take our punishment in such a way that it would satisfy the wrath of God. For when the flint of our sin strikes the steel of God’s holiness, the fire of wrath is produced. Christ himself has taken this wrath upon himself, though he didn’t deserve it. For you and for me.

If you had done some great sacrifice for someone, suffering greatly, and they spurned you thereafter, how would you think of that person thereafter? Do they not owe you thanks? In this case, even your very life and soul are owed to God. It was VERY cool of God to offer Christ in order to placate the just wrath we have all incurred.

Acknowledge your guilt before God, your sins, and accept the sacrifice of Christ. Turn away from your sins and turn to God.

Or live your life as you see fit. And burn.

Harsh? Scare tactics for Christ?

Reality, I say. This is an accurate depiction of objective reality. We will all, one day, stand before the Judgment Seat of God. Without Christ, you have no hope. Turn away from your sins and disobedience! Repent, and turn to God. In his grace and mercy, he will forgive you your sins in the light of the pure and holy sacrifice of Jesus. You will be made right with your creator, and in Christ his forgiveness of you will be justified.