Hey! This is Beymer, and I am the author of the newsletter “Figuring Things Out”. In this fourth article on religion, I am writing about religious sacrifices. You all have seen in the movies where some beautiful, young, virgin girl is fed to a monster or pushed off a cliff or gutted by a Priest to appease some deity. I never understood why it had to be a young person or even a virgin, but that’s what the writers of such movies seemed to choose. If you google the right words, you’ll find all kinds of information about cultures, some ancient and some modern, who sacrificed animals and continue to sacrifice animals to appease their God or Gods. Some even sacrificed humans. So, what’s with all this sacrificing, whether it be animals or humans? Why do their Gods insist on such killings; or more accurately, why do the followers of such religions think their Gods want this?
Somehow, somewhere a long, long time ago someone got the idea that there existed one of more entities (i.e., God(s)) that had some control over or at least some influence over their daily activities. I suppose the first Gods were identified as being those large objects in the sky, such as the sun, moon and stars. These were things they could see but could not touch. Then there was the weather: clouds, rain, hail, sleet, snow, wind, lightning and thunder. Perhaps later, there were the animals and plants. Perhaps even later, dead relatives or tribal leaders were deified. Somehow, the idea surfaced that these Gods needed to be appeased in some way. That is, if the group was suffering bad times (e.g., extreme weather conditions, or lack of food), then perhaps they were being punished for something they did … not knowing what, they thought they somehow needed to make it up to the Gods so they would be forgiven, and good times would return again. Altars (and much later temples) were built to show their respect and submission to these deities. Then the idea of sacrificing animals (and later humans) to atone for their transgressions surfaced.
How could they possibly have gotten this idea of sacrificing an animal to appease the Gods? These primitive peoples knew not what they had done to upset the Gods. All they knew that the Gods were angry and that’s why they were suffering. They knew something had to be done and quickly. I suspect this ritual sacrificing of animals sort of evolved from the exuberance of a successful hunt. Imagine you and your tribal members have been out looking for meat for days when you suddenly come across a bunch of deer. The terrain and positioning of everyone is ideal and several deer are killed, providing the tribe with much needed nourishment and other supplies. Everyone is happy and thankful to the Gods for their successful hunt. You prepare the meat, getting blood all over each other and playfully reenacting the moment of the kills. One perhaps stretches his bloody hands into the sky praising God! All join in his praise of God for their successful hunt. These rituals are fun and it’s only natural that they became an important part of hunting. Later, perhaps, the tribal leaders borrowed this ritual for appeasing God when times were hard. Maybe, giving to God something precious to man (like cattle) would convince Him to ease their suffering?
Here’s another possible scenario. Say you’re a cave woman and things aren’t going that well for you. One awful-looking bloke hit you over the head with a club and dragged you to his cave. And that was just the beginning of worse things to happen to you. One day a few years later, you decided you had enough, and your temper got the best of you. Next thing you know, there’s a bloody stick in your hand and there’s your pet cat dead on the ground. You have no idea why you did that. But good things start happening after that … you make a connection and from that day on you “stick” cats once a month. Life is now much more bearable! Then one day, you stump your big toe on the “killing stone” and let out a mouthful of cave babble for ten minutes until the pain subsides. The next day that bloke who dragged you to his cave falls into a fire pit, never to be seen again. You again make the connection and begin to utter more meaningful dialog during your monthly cat sticking. There you go … all this animal sacrificing, and religious rituals were discovered by a cave woman! You teach your next “man” and children how to properly sacrifice a cat and they in turn later teach their descendants. Somewhere along the line one of the descendants (possibly, the first scientist) makes the connection with animal sacrificing and appeasing God. Over the millennium, some cultures conclude that human sacrifices are even more pleasing to the Gods.
What kind of God would be pleased with an animal sacrifice? Supposedly, God created all creatures, including man. So why would He be pleased with one of His creations killing another of His creations as part of a religious ritual in His honor? Wouldn’t a God be much, more impressed with a man creating life? Certainly, a God full of love for his creations would never, ever instruct man to kill another man or even an animal except for nourishment. How could such a God take pleasure in the ritual killing of one His creations by another of His creations?
My only explanation is that mankind took pleasure in such activities and bestowed this human characteristic upon the God they created in their image. If you read the Old Testament in the Bible, you will see that this is exactly what the early Jews did … they created a God in man’s image, complete with all the pettiness and wild emotions characterizing mankind. They created a mean, revengeful, petty God that placed no value upon human life, especially those who were not members of His Chosen Flock. I am sure the same could be said about the Gods created by other ancient religions. Who in their right mind would want to worship such a man-created God? Certainly, such a portrayal of God, complete with the worst emotions of humans, was an insult to Him. I guess these early primitive peoples could only visualize God in the simple terms known to them. Creating a God in their primitive image was natural.
From my limited knowledge of religion, I find the most interesting of all sacrifices to be that of Jesus on the Cross. Jesus’ coming had been prophesized and it was said that he would save the world. The talk was that the Jews had strayed from God’s teachings and Jesus’ mission was to remedy this situation: He would whip the Jews into shape, into squared-away Jews that would once again be on track with God. Well, he came and the poor and the destitute heard and accepted his teachings and message. But the Jewish religious leaders (the SOFS, aka “Priests”, “Preachers”, “Holy men”, or “Shaman”) rejected him and saw him as a threat. But this was supposedly part of God’s plan, which was to end (begin, depending on your perspective) with the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross to atone for the sins of mankind. A crucial and extremely important part of this whole story is a man who never met Jesus and who quarreled with those who had, a man known as Paul the Apostle. He took this event and through his marketing genius made “Christianity” into one of the most successful religions of the world. He first transformed the man Jesus into the God Jesus. He also modified Jesus’ mission so that it included all of mankind instead of just being limited to the Jews. Paul was indeed a genius and his contribution to the story was essential for Christianity to growth into its present-day form. Ironically, the Jews, to whom Jesus apparently was sent to reform, rejected him. By opening up Christianity for the non-Jew, Paul made Christianity what it is today. I would venture to say He is the Father of Christianity, with Jesus being portrayed as the human form of God, whose human form was supposedly killed to atone for all the evil in the world.
Ok, so what’s my problem with all this? Well, again, we have this God (created by the Jews) who only forgives “sin” through the death of his creations. When sacrificing animals no longer appeases this God, He creates a human (Jesus) from his own spirit and sets actions into motion that lead to Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross. The story being that God so loved mankind that he gave his only human Son to be sacrificed to forgive the sins of those men and women who accept the Son and ask for forgiveness. I admit this is quite an interesting story, and you must give the genius Paul the Apostle credit for such a great story, but it makes no sense whatsoever. What is all this obsession with killing, murder, and mutilation with the Jewish God? What kind of God would insist or even “think” of such things. Of course, the answer lies with the Jewish people and of course the rest of mankind who for some reason created God in their image, where killing, murder and mutilation was a part of daily life. Again, is the True God amused? Is He intrigued? Is He angry? Oops! There I go bestowing human emotions upon God! It’s so easy to do! Had God actually assumed a superhuman form and explained to us what He wanted, I believe mankind would have been both doubtful and disappointed. It is far better to remain mysterious and let mankind makeup whatever suits their needs.
So, what am I saying? Well, God (the word that serves as the placeholder for the Unknown or the Creator) will always be mysterious and unknown. We’ll never know who, what, when, where or whatever about God. Creating a God in our own image never is a good idea. I say that whatever God is, He is not obsessed with the murder, killing or mutilation of any of his creations, animal or human. These are the obsessions of violent people who seek to control our Lifes through fear.