Here is a typical Christian answer I get to this question. I don’t think it needs me to point out it’s logical and theological flaws. As Sam Shamoun would say Enjoy!
(reblogged from Got Questions Ministries)
Question: “If God hates human sacrifice, how could Jesus’ sacrifice be the payment for our sins?”
Answer: The Bible makes it quite clear that God hates human sacrifice. The pagan nations that surrounded the Israelites practiced human sacrifice as part of the worship of false gods. God declared that such “worship” was detestable to Him and that He hates it (Deuteronomy 12:31; 18:10). Furthermore, human sacrifice is associated in the Old Testament with evil practices such as sorcery and divination, which are also detestable to God (2 Kings 21:6). So, if God hates human sacrifice, why did He sacrifice Christ on the cross and how could that sacrifice be the payment for our sins?
There is no doubt that a sacrifice for sin was necessary if people are to have any hope of eternal life. God established the necessity of the shedding of blood to cover sin (Hebrews 9:22). In fact, God Himself performed the very first animal sacrifice to cover, temporarily, the sin of Adam and Eve. After He pronounced curses upon the first couple, He killed an animal, shedding its blood, and made from it a covering for Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:21), thereby instituting the principle of animal sacrifice for sin. When God gave the Law to Moses, there were extensive instructions on how, when, and under what circumstances animal sacrifices were to be offered to Him. This was to continue until Christ came to offer the ultimate, perfect sacrifice, which made animal sacrifice no longer necessary. “But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:3–4).
There are several reasons why the sacrifice of Christ on the cross does not violate the prohibition against human sacrifice. First, Jesus wasn’t merely human. If He were, then His sacrifice would have also been a temporary one because one human life couldn’t possibly cover the sins of the multitudes who ever existed. Neither could one finite human life atone for sin against an infinite God. The only viable sacrifice must be an infinite one, which means only God Himself could atone for the sins of mankind. Only God Himself, an infinite Being, could pay the penalty owed to Himself. This is why God had to become a Man and dwell among men (John 1:14). No other sacrifice would suffice.
Second, God didn’t sacrifice Jesus. Rather, Jesus, as God incarnate, sacrificed Himself. No one forced Him. He laid down His life willingly, as He made clear speaking about His life: “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again” (John 10:18). God the Son sacrificed Himself to God the Father and thereby fulfilled all the requirements of the Law. Unlike the temporary sacrifices, Jesus’ once-for-all-time sacrifice was followed by His resurrection. He laid down His life and took it up again, thereby providing eternal life for all who would ever believe in Him and accept His sacrifice for their sins. He did this out of love for the Father and for all those the Father has given Him (John 6:37–40).
Categories: Christianity, God
Blogging Theology 
I’m confused here. I thought this post was going to be another shot at the crucifixion. Instead, its something that actually defends it!
You’re getting soft on me there Williams! 😉
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lol. Do you agree with the article that God hates human sacrifice, but the Christian belief is acceptable because it is God that died on the cross?
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Sam, no doubt you’re aware of the debates between RC Sproul and other on this very issue – who or what died according to Christian theology.
If it was just a “human nature” then that is a what and that contradicts the slogan “God sent his Son to die for us” (ref 1 Jn 4:10) as the Son is considered in your Trinitarian dogma, to be pre-existent thus the idea of only a human nature dying contradicts this text.
And of course, to say the Son died would be tantamount to saying God died, as per you Trinitarian dogma.
Think about it Sam.
Peace
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Yahya, make sure you bring this up on August 20th since this will give me an opportunity to expose you as a charlatan masquerading as an Muslim intellectual and apologist.
With that said, I am going to have fun at your expense and your profit’s expense by posing a question for you. Can the Quran be destroyed? Now make sure not to tap dance around my question as you always do when confronted with arguments above and beyond your intellectual capacity to comprehend and handle.
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Seamount:…a charlatan masquerading as an Muslim intellectual and apologist.
How much of a charlatan are you? Or are you simply an uneducated p.o.s?
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Williams, you need to reread what the author actually wrote since it is clear from the context what he means that God hates human sacrifice:
Answer: The Bible makes it quite clear that God hates human sacrifice. THE PAGAN NATIONS that surrounded the Israelites practiced human sacrifice AS PART OF THE WORSHIP OF FALSE GODS. God declared that such “worship” was detestable to Him and that He hates it (Deuteronomy 12:31; 18:10). Furthermore, human sacrifice is associated in the Old Testament with EVIL PRACTICES such as sorcery and divination, which are also detestable to God (2 Kings 21:6). So, if God hates human sacrifice, why did He sacrifice Christ on the cross and how could that sacrifice be the payment for our sins?
So the human sacrifices that God hates and condemns are those done in relation to pagan worship, sacrifices done to appease the gods and goddesses wrongly worshiped by the pagans.
Moreover, the true God hates the kind of human sacrifices that your god and his messenger say will take place at the last day when your deity will offer Jews and Christians as human sacrifices in hell as a ransom for all the sins committed by all you Muslims:
Superiority of the believers in the Oneness of Allah and the punishment of the Jews and Christians
8) Narrated Abu Musa: Allah’s Messenger said: On the Day of Resurrection, my Ummah (nation) will be gathered into three groups. One sort will enter Paradise without rendering an account (of their deeds). Another sort will be reckoned an easy account and admitted into Paradise. Yet another sort will come bearing on their backs heaps of sins like great mountains. Allah will ask the angels though He knows best about them: Who are these people? They will reply: They are humble slaves of yours. He will say: UNLOAD the sins from them AND PUT THE SAME OVER the Jews and Christians: then let the humble slaves get into Paradise by virtue of My Mercy.
(This Hadith IS SOUND and mentioned in Mustadrak of Hakim). (110 Hadith Qudsi (Sacred Hadith), translated by Syed Masood-ul-Hasan, revision and commentaries by Ibrahim m. Kunna [Darussalam Publishers and Distributors], pp. 19-20; capital and underline emphasis ours)
And:
432. Abu Musa al-Ash’ari reported that the Messenger of Allah said, “On the Day of Rising, Allah will hand over a Jew or a Christian TO EVERY MUSLIM AND SAY, ‘HERE IS YOUR REDEMPTION FROM THE FIRE.” [Muslim]
In another variant from him is that the Prophet said, “Some of the Muslims will be brought on the Day of Rising WITH SINS THE SIZE OF MOUNTAINS and Allah will forgive them.” (Al-Imam Abu Zakariya Yahya bin Sharaf An-Nawawi Ad-Dimashqi, Riyad as-Salihin (The Meadows of the Righteous), 51. Chapter: On Hope; bold and capital emphasis ours)
Here is one from the hadith collection of Imam Muslim:
(20) CHAPTER. Disbelievers are sent to Hell as SACRIFICE to the Muslims
1937. Abu Musa narrated that the Messenger of Allah said: “When it is the Day of Resurrection, Allah will deliver EVERY MUSLIM a Jew or Christian and say: ‘THAT IS YOUR SACRIFICE FROM HELL-FIRE.’” (The Translation of the Meanings of Summarized Sahih Muslim (Arabic–English), Compiled by Al-Hafiz Zakiuddin Abdul-Azim Al-Mundhiri [Darussalam Publishers & Distributors, First Edition: February 2000], Volume 2, 62– The Book Of Repentance And Allah’s Great Mercy, pp. 1033-1034; bold and capital emphasis ours)
This satanic perversion of substitutionary atonement is what the true God hates and condemns.
Secondly, we already went over this in your discussion of Isaiah 53. So let me repeat my question. Do you agree with Tovia Singer’s interpretation of this prophecy, seeing that you published his entire article on your blog?
Once you answer I will take from there.
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K’SBRAINGOTDAMAGEDFROMSMOOCHINGTHEBLACKSTONETOOMUCHLIKEHISPROFITUSETODO, you back for more? I thought it would take you a very long time from recovering from the shock of your profit allowing his jihadi stone worshipers to drink his piss, blood and dirty water, as well as allowing them to smear his saliva all over them. Do I need to repost that again?
And since you really hate uneducated folk, that you gotta utterly despise your profit whom you boast as an illiterate ignoramus, who makes people like Yahya look intelligent. And the mishmash, hocus-pocu garbage you call the Quran is the greatest proof that your profit was uneducated charlatan. 😉
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Here is the corrected version of my post since I want to make sure that KSMOOCHER understands what I wrote.
K’SBRAINGOTDAMAGEDFROMSMOOCHINGTHEBLACKSTONETOOMUCHLIKEHISPROFITUSETODO, you back for more? I thought it would take you a very long time to recover from the shock of your profit allowing his jihadi stone worshipers to drink his piss, blood and dirty water, as well as allowing them to smear his saliva all over them. Do I need to repost that again?
And since you really hate uneducated folk, then you gotta utterly despise your profit whom you boast was an illiterate ignoramus, who makes people like Yahya look intelligent. And the mishmash, hocus-pocus garbage you call the Quran is the greatest proof that your profit was uneducated charlatan. 😉
There, better now!
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Shamoun: And since you really hate uneducated folk, that you gotta utterly despise your profit whom you boast as an illiterate ignoramus, who makes people like Yahya look intelligent. And the mishmash, hocus-pocu garbage you call the Quran is the greatest proof that your profit was uneducated charlatan.😉
Actually, the Quran is a masterpiece. As Navid Kermani writes, ‘The Koran is, in its essential components, the work of a single period and of an ingenious, linguistically highly-gifted intelligence.’
So you’re the only uneducated piece of sh’it.
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Sam you said,
‘So the human sacrifices that God hates and condemns are those done in relation to pagan worship, sacrifices done to appease the gods and goddesses wrongly worshiped by the pagans.’
So God approves of human sacrifices when they are offered to Himself! To many people (including Jesus and Muslims) that will sound utterly barbaric and unworthy of a loving, forgiving God.
Btw You didn’t respond to my point concerning the belief some Christians hold (for instance Jay Smith), namely that God died on the cross. Do you agree that God died?
I’m not going to reply to any other points you made. They are all utterly off topic.
The writer in the post argued:
‘Jesus wasn’t merely human. If He were, then His sacrifice would have also been a temporary one because one human life couldn’t possibly cover the sins of the multitudes who ever existed. Neither could one finite human life atone for sin against an infinite God. The only viable sacrifice must be an infinite one, which means only God Himself could atone for the sins of mankind. Only God Himself, an infinite Being, could pay the penalty owed to Himself..No other sacrifice would suffice.’
Sam you appear to be saying that this theology is incorrect and that a merely human sacrifice can atone for humanity’s sin. Your view would seem to be very unorthodox indeed.
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Williams, you are starting with your tap dance routine. Therefore, if you want me to answer your questions YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE TO ANSWER MINE. Do you agree with Singer’s interpretation of Isaiah 53? Yes or no? Once you answer this then I will address your questions regarding God dying.
And there is nothing more barbaric than your false profit teaching that Jews and Christians will be sacrificed by your god in hell for the sins of you Muslims. How convenient of you to completely ignore that! I don’t blame you, I am appalled and disgusted for you.
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No can do Sam. As I said before:
I’m not going to reply to any other points you made. They are all utterly off topic.
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Related to your question on God dying is the question I asked Yahya, which I know he will never answer. Neither will you. Can the Quran be destroyed?
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Well, since you choose the cowardly way out of addressing questions THAT ARE DIRECTLY RELATED TO THE TOPIC AND TO ANSWERING YOUR OWN QUESTIONS AND OBJECTIONS which if you did answer, would further expose your gross inconsistencies and dishonesty, then I won’t answer yours either. You remind me of the same inconsistent self-rigteous religious opponents that Jesus confronted and exposed:
“When He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to Him as He was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?’ Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question. If you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things. Where did the baptism of John come from? From heaven or from men?’ They reasoned among themselves, saying, ‘If we say, “From heaven,” He will say to us, “Then why did you not believe him?” But if we say, “From men,” we are afraid of the people, for all hold John as a prophet.’ So they answered Jesus, ‘We do not know.’ Then He said to them, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.'” Matthew 21:23-27
OUCH!
Sad that you choose to follow the path and spirit of the chief priests and elders, the very ones that Jesus exposed and condemned as inconsistent hypocrites who, like you, were too afraid to answer questions that exposed their dishonesty and double standards.
Now what was that about human sacrifices? 😉
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ho hum
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hi ho! 🙂
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Sam no one (neither me, Yahya, nor anyone else) will answer your irrelevant off topic questions.
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Williams, I thought you would like to know that Shabir Ally and Samuel Green are going to debate in about an hour from now which you can watch live here: http://www.globalmuslimsforum.ca/
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thanks
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Sam,
Honest question. Can you please point to the relevant Biblical passages that support human sacrifice?
Thanks
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There are several extensive articles on this issue that a brother and I wrote. If you really are serious I can link them for you.
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Sam,
Please do.
Thanks
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Ok, here goes:
http://answeringislam.net/Responses/Menj/atonement1.htm
http://answeringislam.net/Responses/Menj/atonement2.htm
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Here is the other: http://www.reformedapologeticsministries.com/2016/01/can-death-of-human-being-make-atonement.html
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Thanks Sam.
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@Paul’s Pal
You’re a typical christian talking about Hadith science without any clue about it! I mean no wonder! After all, you accept a whole book as words of God despite of that you have no idea who wrote it .
All hadiths you mentioned are “weak” based on Imam Al Bukhari because there was a critical variation about who narrated it from (Abi Burdah), one of the narrators in the same chain, and that was mentioned by Imam Bukhari in his book ( Al Tareekh Al kabeer). Even Ibn Hajar referred to this problem in this hadith.
Some scholars of Islam accepted these hadiths. However, they interpreted in light of Quran and the big picture that it teaches with other hadiths
al-Nawawi said in his commentary: “The meaning of this hadeeth is the same as the hadeeth narrated by Abu Hurayrah: “For each person there is a place in Paradise and a place in Hell.” When the believer enters Paradise, his place in Hell is taken over by the kaafir because he deserves that because of his kufr. The meaning of the phrase “your ransom from the Fire” is that you could have entered Hell, but this is your ransom because Allaah has decreed a certain number to fill it; when the kuffaar enter Hell because of their kufr and sins, this is like a ransom for the Muslims. With regard to the report, “On the Day of Resurrection, some of the Muslims will come with sins” – Allaah will forgive the Muslims these sins and will absolve them of them, and He will put the like of those sins onto the Jews and Christians because of their kufr and sins. So they will enter Hell because of their own actions, not because of the sins of the Muslims. This report has to be interpreted in this manner, because Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
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Christians, Deal with your big problem! Why was David forgiven without Jesus’ blood? pathetic !
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Sorry Sam – you force me to delete your extremely long off topic comment. You know how it goes…
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Sorry Sam – you force me to delete your extremely long off topic comments. You know how it goes…;)
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Acts 2
22 “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.
32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.
36 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.
Acts 3
13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.
19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord…
21 Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. 22 For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. 23 Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people.’
24 “Indeed, beginning with Samuel, all the prophets who have spoken have foretold these days. 25 And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’ 26 When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”
Acts 4
10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 Jesus is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’
12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
Sorry for the long quotes but I’m a biblical Unitarian who believes Jesus was a man anointed by God. I can’t say I completely understand the reason why Jesus was crucified but it seems clear from various parts of the New Testament, in particular the parts I’ve quoted that God allowed Jesus to be crucified, die and then resurrect him in order to bring glory to his name. The question is though why was it necessary for Jesus to die? Couldn’t God bring glory to Jesus’ name without causing him to die? To me this must mean that there was a purpose behind the crucifixion, namely that it was in some ways a sacrifice for us. It doesn’t have to be labelled a human sacrifice in the same sense as a pagan offering, just that Jesus was willing to dedicate his life and teachings to his people and to the rest of humanity, and showed that he cared for us enough to give his own life. Many great leaders in the past have had to sacrifice themselves in a sense for a greater cause to help future generations, in our own recent times people such as Martin Luther King, Gandhi and a whole bunch of leaders way before them. I’m sure many of these people did not want to die, however knew that death was a risk they were willing to take for their cause. Jesus lived a righteous and pure life and according to a hadith I came across in the past, Muhammad said every human is touched by Satan except for Jesus and his mother Mary. Jesus is said to be a pure boy in the Quran and I’m guessing it shouldn’t come as a shock to say he was without sin. If he wanted to dedicate his own life as some sort of offering to God for the rest of humanity then I don’t see why God would not accept that. In fact I believe that is why God glorified Jesus’ name and as Peter says in Acts 2 “31 Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay.”
God did not allow Jesus to stay dead but raised him up instead because of his life and dedicating himself as an offering of mercy for humanity. Jesus’ life in the gospel says “Father, I have lived my life according to your commandments and though many human beings struggle with this, I am willing to show them the way and carry their burdens for them” and that is what he did for us. He taught us, guided us, carried our burdens and died for us. Then he was glorified by being raised to heaven.
I know many here will think this is nonsense but that is my take of the facts. In the Quran Jesus is supposed to die at some point in his life just like the rest of us. The question for the Muslim is, did he die during his lifetime or will he die afterwards? I have reason to believe that the Quran says he will die during his lifetime yet still be raised to God. I find this in Surah 3:55, 5:117, 19:33 and 4:158. I know Surah 4:157 is controversial but perhaps one way to interpret it is that God was saying Jesus’ life did not end in his death, rather God raised him to Himself (as mentioned in the next verse), so in that sense it was only made to appear as though his life ended in death (to his enemies) but in reality it wasn’t (as his followers claimed afterwards).
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Nice, a fellow Biblical Unitarian.
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Hi Jason, just trying to be honest with what I see in the scripture. Jesus said the shema was the most important commandment so I don’t think he would have walked around claiming to be God. Either way I don’t wish to compete or argue with Trinitarians either, we should look more at places in which we agree on rather than focus on what divides us. Same goes for the Muslims. Surah 29:46 says not to dispute with people of the book except in a good manner, apart from those who do evil.
One thing I forgot to mention above is another verse I came across in the Quran.
Surah 2:154 And do not say about those who are killed in the way of Allah , “They are dead.” Rather, they are alive, but you perceive [it] not.
So even if Jesus was killed, he can still be said to be alive. His legacy still lives on and so do his words, and perhaps one day he will return. Either way, both the Bible and Quran say he was raised up to God.
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Jazak Allah to Tribulation I never thought of Isa crucifixion that way. But I’m still confused about Surah An Nisa 157 did Isa die or not? I think the majority of our scholars say no he was raised directly without going through it Allah knows best
But Salaam to you for being an open minded Christian
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Thanks Rashid, God bless!
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“Second, God didn’t sacrifice Jesus.” and
“God the Son sacrificed Himself to God the Father”
I can understand why some new atheists want to ban Christian theology as being non-academic
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