[Pastor Ralph]

Q6. What do you think God intended animal sacrifice teach us about sin? About holiness? About God's nature?

[Darleen Nelson]

The sacrifices were intended to teach us sin must be recomepensed. Some payment must be made for sin against God. The ritual of the sacrifice demanded people to cleanse themselves so they could enter the presence of a Holy God. The sacrifices showed God is by nature loving and forgiving and He proveds a way to remain in His presence and under His care.

[Peggie]

Animal sacrifice shows that sin has consequences, God cannot just look the other way and still be a God of justice. But it shows that God is a great God of mercy who is willing that no one should perish.

[Julie]

The memory of the chicken and pig is something not easily forgotten, and would have been harder to forget if I had to sacrifice them. This teaches me how ugly sin is and how repulsive sin is to Our Heavenly Father, and reminds me of how much He loves each and everyone of us, that He allowed sacrifice to take place in order that we could be purged of sin, to be holy, Our God is all loving merciful, compassionate, forgiving.

[Helen Williams]

God intended animal sacrifice to teach us that sin needed to be atone and sinners coulnd't do it for themselves.

Holiness--Only God is holy and anything less than perfect and whole would not be holy.


God's nature--God is love, holy, slow to anger, faithful, gracious and forgiving.

WHAT A MIGHTY GOD WE SERVE!

[luray mcclung]

A price (an unblemished lamb, a sinner's prized animal) had to be paid for sin. (God required a specific sacrifice.) Also, the formality of the sacrifice with the sacredness depicts the very holiness of God; he expects our reverence, holiness and obedience. Additionally, the animal sacrifice directs our attention to the very nature of God, a forgiving, loving, caring God who calls His people to repent of our sins and to obey Him. Love and prayers, Luray

[wayfarer58]

Our actions have a cost, to ourselves and to others. God is a God of justice, but also a God of mercy. In other words, He cannot repent of His 'rules' nor the consequences (death) of breaking them (justice), but he can provide a way for paying the cost (life), and still allow the sinner to live.

This also shows us God's holiness ("...their is no shadow of turning." James 1:17).

The fact that the sacrificial system exists at all, shows us God's nature: absolute justice, absolute holiness, absoulute mercy. With mankind, it is impossible to demonstrate all three simultaneously, "...but with God all things are possible." (Mt 19:26)

Dave

[gail m]

What do you think God intended animal sacrifice teach us about sin? About holiness? About God's nature?

That there is a price to be paid when we commit sin and it's not to be taken lightly. That God is so holy only blood can cover our sins. That God's nature is merciful and loving because he allowed us to atone for our sins so he could have a relationship with us.

I think all in all it shows us that God made ways for people to be able to have a close personal relationship with him because he loves what he has created.

[Helen Spaulding]

God wants us to realize that sin must be attoned for. He cannot wink at
blatant, wanton sin and be a just God. He demands our obedience. He
has a right to demand this. Sin is evil. God's nature is love--He made a
way for our redemption through Jesus sacrifice. He is holy and cannot have
evil around Him, but in His love for us, He provided a way for our sin to be
forgiven,through Jesus' being our perfect sacrificial lamb! This is the love
of God in action to save us from an eternity of torment being cast out from
His presence.

[shadylady]

God wanted us to know that sin is just not acceptable - our Holy God needs pure people, nothing and no-one tainted with sin is acceptable and that we were and still are incapable of making ourselves presentable to God. If we ever did manage to clean ourselves up, we would still be sinners because we would be so proud that we had done it! God loves us so much that he provided the means in Jesus - I am just so humbled that Jesus stands in my place. I find it difficult to understand people who reject Jesus and think they are going to be alright, i.e. find their way into heaven, standing in their own merit before our Holy God. I want to scream at them, it can't be done!!!

[bjcollin]

Pastor Ralph, on Feb 9 2003, 03:27 PM, said:

Q6. What do you think God intended animal sacrifice teach us about sin? About holiness? About God's nature?

Micah 6:6-8 "With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, 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."

The ultimate goal in all of this is a relationship with God. God created us to be in fellowship with Him. As Christians we need to be men and women that are led by the Spirit and that are able to hear the Lord's voice and be in constant communion / fellowship with Him. We are made to walk in the garden with Him as Adam and Eve did before the fall. Sin is the action that breaks up that relationship and ultimately separates us from God.

Hebrews 10:1-4 shows us that the sacrifical system was set up in the pre-Christ days to remind the people of their sins and to point them forward to the coming Messiah. For us today we have the Holy Spirit as our guide who helps convict us of our sin and remind us that we have both a risen saviour and a second-coming Messiah. Christ was our once for all perfect Passover lamb sacrifice.

Leviticus 19:2b "Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy."

God's nature is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He is Holy, Righteous, and Love. He hates sin, but He loves the sinner in that He sent His only son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for us. We need to accept that sacrifice for our sins, because God already has accepted it as payment in full. We need to trust in Faith that God's nature is to fellowship with us as full sons / daughters and that the Grace provided by Jesus Christ's sacrifice is sufficient for us to enter into His kingdom both now and when we get to heaven.

In Christ,

[leo]

There are some people that think that the Lord is barbaric and bloodthirsty because of His demand for His people to offer Him daily sacrifices consisting of the slaughter of animals. And because of this, the Lord is no different from the gods that demand the sacrifice of animals and virgins and children for their appeasement.

My opinion is, there's a world of difference between the Lord and those other gods. The main difference being the fact that the Lord authorized those sacrifices for the atonement of our sins as opposed to the demand of the gods for their appeasement.

The reason why the Lord demanded the sacrifice of animals for the atonement of the sins of the people was to remind them that the wages of sin is death. The fact that the Lord did not demand the lives of the people who committed the sin already showed His abounding love for His people. He did not want them to obey Him out of fear, rather, He wanted them to obey Him out of love. The requirement for an animal without blemish reminds us of the fact that only a perfect, unblemished, holy being could atone for our sins.

In His mercy (and not in His anger), the Lord required the sacrifice of animals for the atonement of the sins of His people. Therefore, we should always remember this fact and keep it in our hearts: The Lord is kind and merciful.

[jaunita]

God created man-kind, for fellowship, with Himself; But because our God is a Holy God, He cannot look upon sin, so He had a way....& this was through sacrifice. Just as in the Garden of Eden, with Adam & Eve, God killed the first animal, & in doing so, performed the first sacrifice, to cover the nakedness ( sin ) of His creation. There is always a price to pay for sin.....The price is costly....The price is personal. The sacrifice's, performed during the day's of the OT. , were never adequate, for they had to be repeated again & again; But God had a plan, Praise the Lord!, & this was to send Jesus, His son, who was perfect & blamless, to take on our sins, once & for all. To become the Supreme sacrifice for all man-kind. Our God is a Holy God; & He demands Holiness from us, but through His great mercy, & even pity on us, knowing we are flesh, He made a way, through Jesus, for us to become Holy.....That being, that when He "looks" on us, He see's the Blood of His only begotten Son! I have loved this first week of study! Jaunita

[luminosa]

Sin is not trivial in God's eyes. Sin is costly and the price we must pay is too high. Ultimately, we pay with our very lives, condemned to eternal separation from God. I believe He allowed animal sacrifice to show us that something had to die (that's how serious the penalty is) in order for sin to be blotted out. An animal which had nothing to do with our wrongdoing had to suffer, and at the hands of the sinner no less! That is horrible. How much more impacting is it to realize that God's son, (who is God) subjected Himself to the punishment? Sin is ugly and horrible Holiness can only be attained God's way. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. God is awesome. He is LOVE. I praise Him and lift Him up. I magnify Him and give him all the glory

[Kris Ann]

Quote

Q6. What do you think God intended animal sacrifice teach us about sin? About holiness? About God's nature?

Everytime we sin, we are giving up a most precious, priceless gift. We are giving up our own freedom and happiness. Animal sacrifice caused a tangable lose of monetary value. We humans often need to learn things using concrete examples before we can understand the more abstract reality.

Once we begin to understand the symbolism of animal sacrifice, we can start to comprehend the significance of sin, repentence, and forgiveness.

Sin is very personal. And it cannot be stopped unless we take it very personally and seriously. Thus, the killing of the lamb is done by the sinner. This is not something that we physically care to do. Nor is it something that we want to repeat. And God does not want us to make the same mistake over again. God does not want us to commit this sin again.

Sin does not only cause the sinner pain and suffering, but it affects many others. Even those whom we may have intended to protect. The sinner is not the only one who gets thier hands bloody. In the case of animal sacrifice, the priest must smear blood on the alter.

Sin causes us to be untouchable in the eyes of God. We need to become clean again before we can be with God again. Thus we need a mediator, someone clean, to assist in our cleansing. The priest assists the sinner with the animal sacrifice.

[color="green"]To summarize what we are intended to learn:
Sin causes us to lose big time; Sin is personal and serious and may not be repeated; Sin affects many; We need a mediator to become cleansed. [/color]

Main Entry: ho·ly
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English hAlig; akin to Old English hAl whole —more at WHOLE
Date: before 12th century
1 : exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness

[color="orange"]GOD is the most Holy and Exalted. He is complete and perfect. When we sin, we are not even close to being complete. Thus, we cannot be together with God. We are like half of a puzzle piece. We simply do not fit. It is not possible. But after we confess and make things right again, we can once again fit completely into God's plan.[/color]
[color="red"]God is love, God is kind, God is merciful, He is a just God,
God is So Good!
God loves us so much, that he wants to give us every chance to be with Him. He wants us to learn. Even though we may deserve to die, He wants to give every chance for us to come back to Him. [/color]

[Heather Lindwall]

Hello Everyone

What do you think God intended animal sacrifice to teach us about sin? About holiness? About God’s nature?


The laws regarding animal sacrifice, presented to the Israelites, provided a way for partial reconciliation with God. These laws of sacrifice were God’s way to teach His people the seriousness of every act of sin in their lives, and the separation these sins caused between Himself and His people. Because the strict laws of atonement required a costly sacrifice, it had to become clear that God could not tolerate any sin at all, and that having a relationship with God required a confession of sin, and an act of repentance in order to achieve atonement, and I will use Mike Dickinson’s definition…an AT-ONE-MENT again with God.

Our God is perfect, and without sin. It is NOT possible for a sinful man to have a relationship with a holy God. This is why we needed a perfect and holy Lamb of God to make complete atonement for us. Animal sacrifice was a costly and humbling experience. Its necessity made it very clear that no one could approach God in a sinful state. It was only because of God’s love and grace that He provided a way for the ancients to approach Him again. It was only because of God’s love for us, that He provided us with His Son as a perfect and holy sacrifice. Praise God! We can now approach God, completely clean, justified by the blood of Jesus …………JUST AS IF WE NEVER SINNED…….. through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Love in Our Lord……….Heather

[mindy]

Animal sacrifice teaches us many things. First, it reminds us that something has seperated us from God (sin) and that gap must be bridged by specific and willful obedience. The right things must be done in the right ways, not because they heal the sin fracture, but because they invite God's mercy to rain down on us, and it is His mercy that brings the healing. The sacrificial system invites a continual re-evaluation of our relationship with God so that we might remain on the mercy side of His character (in which He gives us life), rather than attempting to stand proudly before the justice of Holy God (in which we choose to stay dead). Animal sacrifice shows us that God is willing to accept a lesser offering as long as it is the best you can bring and given with a contrite heart.

[David Maher]

What do you think God intended animal sacrifice teach us about sin? About holiness? About God's nature?

I believe that God intended for animal sacrifice to remind us that sin has consequences. God does not take sin lightly, it requires blood/life to atone for sin. Sin seperates us from God.

God is holy, and we all fall short and cannot relate directly to Him.

God is merciful. He allowed animal sacrifice as a way for His unholy people to reconcile with Him when they fell short. He provided Jesus as the perfect sacrifice for those of us who have accepted Him as our Lord and Savior. Thank you Lord. Amen.

[Patricia A. Conti]

Animal sacrifice was a costly thing. God needed us to know that sin is costly and must be paid for. God is holy and he cannot accept into his arms any kind of sin because it is a blemish. God loves us and knowing that we are sinners, God accepted the perfect, unblemished sacrifice of His only Son, Jesus, to atone for the sin of mankind. Therefore, mankind does not need to be blemished but only confess and ask forgiveness to have any blemish removed. God gave us a way, through His Son, for us to join Him forever.

[Audrey Hill]

6a. I think God intended animal sacrifice to teach us that when you sin - you have to pay a price and that was of a perfect unblemished animal. Our sins cannot be taken lightly. It is very serious.

6b. God teaches us that only He is holy.

6c. God teaches us that His nature is slow to anger, forgiving, loving, merciful and faithful. He loves us and is always ready to forgive us if we really are serious about asking for our forgiveness. He knows our heart and knows if we really mean it.