THE SACRIFICIAL DEATH
"You must believe that Christ died for you, and his death on the cross has washed away your sins..." Modern Christians use this words when introducing Christian faith to their fellow men. Non of them want to think deeper about the real meaning of this invaluable sacrifice from Christ. Nor do they care to ask themselves how they come to merit this great sacrifice from God. They only enjoy the feeling of self importance which they exhibit when expressing how God loves and care for them.
Does it not seem like contradiction when Jesus Himself said that the only way one could obtain forgiveness of sin from God is when he has completely forgiven his offenders? Did He Himself not said that "what a man soweth that shall he reapeth? How could Christ make the above statements if His main mission here on earth was to sacrifice himself in order that the sins of humanity will automatically be washed away? What is the need of wasting the whole three years preaching his message if a sacrificial death is more important than the message He preached? Many a persons who is inwardly alive feels these questions within. It is another prove that there is a fault in the way modern Christians interpreted this great sacrifice.
Go to any Christian community, pick out those who are intoxicated with this belief of arbitrary forgiveness of sins through sacrificial death. Carefully observe the way these people treat their fellowmen, you will soon realize that they do not look back when indulging in malice, because they subconsciously felt that even their future sins shall also be forgiven as soon as they confess their sins and believe in the sacrificial death of their savior. What does that tell you? That these believers use their belief in sacrificial death as a license to sin. Now ask yourself what is the final result. Did God send his son down to this earth for Him to die so that men will now use His sacrificial death as a license to indulge senselessly in wickedness? No thinking person can imagine that such stupid plan is of God.
Non of these believers would expect the earthly law to punish an innocent person for a crime committed by another. But they expect such an injustice from God. Does that mean that human beings are more rational, more just than God? How can the great father of love feel appeased when His innocent son groans in pain on the cross only in order to wash away the sins of these wicked mankind? Only human vanity can conjure up such false idea, God Himself is and will forever remain the perfection of justice and love.
Christ's mission on earth was to bring the message of truth to humanity who had entangled themselves in the web of ignorance. The message of truth He brought was irksome to the then existing religious leaders who relied on the alms received from the people. They feared that His message would divert peoples attention from them. In response, they worked ceaselessly with the earthly powers in their hand to destroy Him. When Jesus perceived their wicked plot, He began to emphasize to His followers the need for His approaching death, because as a master of truth He could not have ran away from those who wished to kill Him. If He had abandoned His teaching and ran away so as to save Himself from those wicked men, His followers would have branded Him a liar, an impostor and His message would not have been taken seriously. With that in mind, Christ had to face death with courage in order to show the seriousness of His message and secure it for posterity. He had to sacrifice His earthly life for the sake of the message of truth He brought, so that by living according to the sense of His message men can be saved. That is how His death becomes a sacrifice.
The idea of arbitrary sacrifice originated from the ancient pagan worship, which has nothing to do with the great God. The leaders of orthodoxy who linked this idea with Christ's death wanted to see in God a being who can be appeased with blood sacrifice. They did not ask themselves what does the great father of love benefit when an innocent person is being slaughtered. How comes the giver of life enjoys the moment when His creature groans in pain of death inflicted by men?
No matter how hard the earthly religions try to twist the pure teachings of Christ, His word remains as it is "what a man soweth that shall he reapeth." If you want to enjoy happiness you sow happiness by making others happy. If you want to earn the forgiveness of your past mistakes, then you learn to forgive your offenders, that is, do not pay evil with evil.
