The Bible: Commentary and Controversy

If you’ve followed along, you know (or more likely already knew) that it isn’t the quantity or quality of the sacrifice that counts; it’s the spirit in which it is given. There’s a little “give till it hurts” in there, but that really means “give something you value.” Pretty obvious. Hey, I’ll just give my trash instead of letting the city pick it up. Not a sacrifice. Not a proper “offering.”

So what is all this sacrifice stuff that starts in Genesis 31:54? Does God really require sacrifice? If so, why? And why all the focus on burnt animal flesh? I can understand the “burning” part: the animal turns into smoke, which rises to the heavens, eventually reaching God. Or at least that’s the way the sacrificers might have imagined it was happening. Pretty pagan, really.

Anyway, it’s pretty commonplace. I can’t count the numbers of times it appears in the old testament. And speaking of Numbers, how about: “…ye shall offer a burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord: one bullock, one ram, seven lambs of the first year without blemish.” Wow. That probably would have hurt.

So frequently the quality and quantity of the offering is proscribed. And when that happens, it’s usually designed to affect the offer-or’s heart through his or her pocketbook. “Seven lambs of the first year without blemish.” In other words, the best you’ve got, and a lot of it. What’s happening here is the big shots have missed the point. When they tell someone they have to pony up bigtime, they’re trying to test their faith by making the offering hurt big time.  Obviously missing the point.

A sacrifice isn’t a sacrifice unless it hurts. Or it wouldn’t be called a sacrifice, which at least in one definition, is: “the surrender or destruction of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher or more pressing claim.” Of course that definition totally obscures the “why.” For example, I might “sacrifice” a thousand dollars in the hope of hitting the lottery. I might “sacrifice” smoking cigarettes in the hope of living longer. Both of which I’m doing for my sake, not someone or something else’s. So sacrifice really isn’t the right word to describe what the Bible is trying to tell us, in its archaic, clumsy way.

Which is: the only sacrifice that counts is one done out of love. Not out of respect or fear, which appear in most of the biblical sacrifices to be the primary motivating forces, but out of love. Of course there’s always a “me” component in any kind of sacrifice. There used to be a campaign slogan (maybe for United Way, don’t remember) that ordered you to “Give till it hurts.” That’s the biblical sacrifice. It was later modified to “Give till it helps.” Which takes it in an entirely different direction. Then another one popped up: “Give till it feels good.” Which is a lot closer to what the Bible was actually trying to tell us.

The truth is everyone’s life is fraught with “sacrifice.” I can’t find the reference, but I remember a quote from a sultan who long, long ago was king of everything he surveyed – basically ruler of his part of the world. It went something like “For lo these past 30 years I have had every pleasure the world could afford – treasure, women, dominion over my enemies. I have counted the days I have been happy and they number seven.”

Obviously that sultan’s life was filled with sacrifice. Like, maybe, having to wear rubies instead of diamonds. Not quite the same as giving a kidney to your daughter, but a “sacrifice” nevertheless.

What the Bible is actually telling us is to “sacrifice” ourselves in order to become all that we can be. This is obviously made much more clear in the New Testament, with the penultimate sacrifice of Jesus dying on the cross to atone for our sin.

It’s also made clear in His statement: “Ye must be born again.” Think about what that truly means. Here’s a hint: it’s like wiping your hard drive. Becoming an empty vessel so you can be filled with the holy spirit.

No, that doesn’t mean retrograde amnesia. It means letting go of the beliefs, and prejudices, and anything else that will interfere with the process. “Come as a child.” Make the sacrifice of yourself so you can become much more. That’s way too big a step for a lot of people. Especially those, like Bill Maher, who believe only in those things they can see, feel, hear, touch, smell, or deduce, so they demonize and make fun of those who make that leap of faith. It’s a paradox, you probably already noticed.

Before you can believe in God you kind of have to believe in God.