Why are there so many different sacrifices in the Bible?

I have been told that God in the HS/OT is very bloodthirsty and perhaps no more so than when it comes to the temple sacrifices that are required for all sorts of things. Guilt offerings, sin offerings, thanksgiving offerings, atonement offerings, etc. all were some animal that was sacrificed. Additionally, it has been said to me the temple had a channel to direct the sacrificed animals blood out of the temple and that channel is larger than one might think it would be - insinuating that there was a lot of blood. 

It is easy to look at an ancient system of religion as recorded in the Bible and come to the conclusion that religions of the Bible are religions that adore a very violent God. I believe this is an uninformed reading of the culture of the time, and here is why.

Early civilization was one built on the idea of sacrificing things to the gods in order to make them happy. If you made the correct sacrifice, then god would be happy. However, this understanding of the gods is one that ultimately leads to loads of violence. Say you are a rancher and you have a productive herd, you might sacrifice an animal to say thank you to the gods. The next year your herd is plagued with sickness so you offer up a larger sacrifice in order to please the gods - notice the violence can quickly grow over time. The same is true if you have another good year. You offer up a sacrifice but it cannot be the same amount of sacrifice that you gave the first year because your herd has had two good years and has grown. So you give a larger sacrifice in order to show the gods you are very thankful and their generosity is not unnoticed by you. Again, even in good years the violence can quickly grow over time.

"Book of Leviticus Chapter 1-1 (Bible Illustrations by Sweet Media)" by Distant Shores Media/Sweet Publishing. 

However in the Bible there is an image of a God who says, "look I AM who I AM and nothing you do will affect that. As such I do not need sacrifices to keep me happy. However, humanity you seem addicted to these sacrifices so here is the deal. If you feel the need to sacrifice something then here are some very specific guidelines so that we can work on containing the violence you are addicted to. Every year on the day of atonement, you don't have to sacrifice more than you did in the past. Whatever the sin is, the offering is the same - you don't have to offer a larger sacrifice for larger sins. I cannot break your addiction to violence for you, but I can help you contain the violence and pain you inflict on creation."

And so yes, there is violence in the Bible, it is there because humans (not God) are addicted to violence. I am thankful for a religious tradition that, while often times forgotten, is a religion built on peace. 

"...because Jesus did not die for God."

In Christian theology there are a lot of shorthand sayings that carry with it a load of assumptions and theological ideas that are often assumed to be agreed upon by all parties in a conversation. Which may or may not be accurate. 

One of these shorthand sayings is "Jesus died for you" or "Jesus died for your sins". I agree. Jesus did die for us. Where the difference is what is meant by that idea. What assumptions and theological ideas are loaded into just a few words? 

I don't desire to lay out an entire personal Credo or theological document. I am not that good of a writer and you would be board. Instead I want to offer up a shorthand reflection to the shorthand statement. 

Jesus died for you, Jesus did not die for God. 

God does not demand the death of Jesus. God does not demand that there be a tit-for-tat system of justice where murdering one person will bring Peace. Jesus did not die for God to see the error of God's ways. Jesus did not die in order to appease an angry god. 

Jesus died for you and me. Humans demanded the death of Jesus. Humans demand a justice system of tit-for-tat where murdering one person will bring a "sense" of peace. Jesus died for us to see the errors of our ways. Jesus died in order to appease our anger, resentment and desire for resolution for our self-created scandals. 

So yes, Jesus did die for you, but not because diverted anger and wrath from us to Jesus. Jesus did not die for God, Jesus died for us, at our hands, for our own reasons, for our own purposes. 

The Good News is that in light of humanity saying no and killing Jesus, God said yes and resurrected Jesus. Regardless of why Jesus died, he did not remain dead. 

And neither will you.

Spiritual Libertarianism = My Mind Blown

“As Libertarians, we seek a world of liberty; a world in which all individuals are sovereign over their own lives and no one is forced to sacrifice his or her values for the benefit of others.”

— Preamble of the Libertarian Platform

It may be more common these days to not register with a particular political party, Libertarianism is officially the third largest political party in the US. (Which itself is a bit ironic that those who elevate individual rights over the groups rights would even desire to bend their values to that of an official party platform, but that is not the point.) Regardless of the official numbers, anecdotal evidence suggests that the USA has a very strong populist leaning toward Libertarianism (at least here in the South and West).

As taken from the wikipedia entry, Libertarian thought this is the philosophy that "upholds liberty as its principal objective. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and freedom of choice, emphasizing political freedom, voluntary association and the primacy of individual judgement." 

These values are not "bad" but the values of Libertarian thought seem very much in direct conflict of Christian life. 

The Christian life is one that we bend our will to that of Christ. We die to self so that Christ may live in us. It is a life that does put personal values to the side for the benefit of others. It is a life that upholds service to others. It is a life that seeks to maximize the submission to authority of Christ. It is a life that replaces the individual as sole authority of their life for one that places Scripture, Tradition, Experience and Reason as the authorities of our life.

And yet we seem to live in a time when the interpretation of Christianity is one that is less and less interested in the group or whole and more and more interested in the will of the individual. It is a Christianity that when someone does not like a few teachings of the Church that person leaves. The UMC is now seeing local churches withhold global giving as a way to make a point about an internal church issue. We have communities of faith set up to meet the needs of the individual to the detriment of creating communities of faith that demand service of the members. We live in a time where we choose the course of action we are going to take rather than do what an outside authority might ask us to do.

While there are many who might argue that Moralistic Therapeutic Deism is the major threat to the Christian Life, I might suggest that the issues facing the Church are less about what we believe and more about where we place authority.

What is authoritative in your life? Are you your own authority or is your authority outside yourself.

Spiritual Libertarianism can slowly kill communities of faith because if we do not bend our values to those of Christ's then we are just creating a community that is a reflection of our own current selves rather than a community that challenges us to greater than ourselves.