Annette Phillips-Gay

I view "the substitutionary atonement" because he put himself in the place that we should have been in but because he loved us so much he was willing to take our place so that we wouldn't have to bear that pain and suffering. He took it all on. We have the easy part in that all we have to do is ask forgiveness.

God removes sin from all, not just the Jews, but for all, as is said "the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all so in that sense it's universal. It was not just for one people but for all people. By the shedding of the blood we are all covered; and by this man, meaning mankind, has been absolved from the shame of sin. Jesus' sacrifice is wasted on some people because they hear the good news and they reject it. Some people seem to think that their way is better. There are many people who are given many chances to repent and don't; in that sense it is wasted, but God knew that some would reject him and still we are all offered the chance to repent.

In my opinion God wants us to realise that animal sacrifice could not full redeem us from sin, that it was only temporary. It also taught us about the severity of sin and it's consequences. None of us is holy, we can only aspire to holiness through Christ's help. With regard to the nature of God it demonstrates God's love for us.

God could have just left us there miserable in our sin and guilt but in his mercy he gave us some means by which we could ask for forgiveness and draw closer to him. Though animal sacrifices helped fill the gap they could not truly atone for human sin because animals are not perfect, Jesus Christ is perfect and it is only through the cleansing of the blood on the cross and the resurrection that man has a chance for redemption. It is through Jesus Christ that man could now come break the divide caused caused by sin. If animal sacrifice was the perfect atonement then that'd be like us having to worship the animals. God created us and we owe reverence to Him for sending his Son, so therefore we worship God through Jesus Christ.

Offering the sacrifice; the laying on of hands; the offering of the blood; taking away the fat;confession of sins. Confession of sinsand asking for forgiveness is still important because man is not perfect and will sin, but we can be confident that once we ask God for forgiveness our sins are under the blood.

For me when I think of animal sacrifice now I tend to think of satanic worship for some reason, because as christians now we do not have to offer up animal sacrifices now because we are under the new covenant. Though from what I understand here it's refering to killing animals for human consumption. People in the city know that they have to get meat to cook, they go to the supermarket, but it, cook it and that's it; no thought really goes in to the slaughtering of the animals. For the farmer it's a reality and a part of the job so it comes natural and he's not repulsed when the animals have to be slaughtered, how else will they get meat? I remember when I was in school we had to tour a chicken processing plant, and I couldn't eat chicken for a week, all I could remember seeing was all that blood. In addition when I was younger we used to keep sheep and chickens, and my mother could never get the sheep or chickens killed at home. Apart from that we would never eat the meat once we knew it was ours. Society has not become "modern", whereas in old days, pardon me majority of persons would have had to keep and slaughter their own animals.

I think that anger is an appropriate response to sin because sin hurts, and the consequences of sin can be very damaging. God hates sin, but through him we can be redeemed. I don't think that being angry about sin is wrong because it makes us conscious of sin, I think that the difference occurs in what the response to that anger illicits and the manner in which justice is gained. Capricious or uncontrolled anger wll lead us to think thoughts that are ungodly and may lead to actions which are detrimental. We are told be angry and sin not, and also that we are to put off anger because we are new creatures. I hope I'm not contradicting myself here but what I'm trying to say is that we are allowed to be angry but it's better not to because sometimes you may get so enraged that you lose control. With regard to anger that brings justice I think that this is where even if you are angry, you acknowledge that you are angry, but allow God to take control of the situation and allow him to seek justice.

The statement "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" is indicative to me that not just anybody or anything could take away the sins of the world. Lambs were used sacrifically to ask for atonement from God, but it could not fully atone for our sins as one had to continually offer up sacrifices. The concept of "sins of the world" had to be a radical concept because making an animal sacrifice did not have the ability cleanse the world of its sins; and because they were under the mosaic law I'm sure that they had great difficulty in understanding that God through Jesus could cleanse our sins and forgive us, and break that chasm that once separated man from God. The Lamb of God would now replace the sacrificial lamb for once and for all. Jesus would be the sacrificial Lamb of God so it's comparative in that sense. Also if Jesus was to take away the sins of the world it would mean not only Jews but Gentiles.