What the Bible Actually Teaches: Why did Jesus Have to Die
Akash Bhairab is a Hindu god, revered by devotees in Nepal as the god of sky protection. The god's symbol is displayed on the aircraft of Nepal's state-run airline.
Recently, one of the airline's two Boeing 757 planes has been experiencing a spate of technical difficulties, such as electrical faults. There had been a number of delayed flights in recent weeks due to the problems.
It was decided that the god Akash Bhairab should be appeased in order to guarantee safe flights. So the airline brought two goats to the Katmandu airport, positioned them in front of the troubled 757, and slaughtered them.
Following Sunday's sacrificial ceremony, a senior airline official, Raju KC, was quoted saying that the snag in the plane has now been fixed and the aircraft has resumed its scheduled flights.
A goat offering is consider a holy act by devotees of the Hindu god. The theme of appeasing deities in fact runs through a variety of religions. It was central to Judaism long ago, for instance.
In some versions of Christianity, humans are understood to have offended God by breaking divine commandments, for which a blood atonement was necessary before there could be forgiveness and acceptance. Such an atonement is said to have been made by Jesus, who, it is believed, offered himself as a sacrifice to turn God's wrath away from humanity.
Though perhaps something like a billion people believe that Jesus had to die so that God could forgive us for our failings, nowhere is this teaching found in the Bible. But millions think the Bible says this—in fact, many are sure it does.
What the Bible actually teaches is very different. God forgives because God is by nature forgiving, just as we are with our children. We love our children and accept and embrace them despite their failings because we cannot help ourselves. No sacrifice is needed to "balance the scales of justice" when they do something that troubles us. In the same way, the idea that God needs to be appeased is a completely false picture of the God of Jesus.
Why, then, did Jesus have to die? What is the connection to us? What did his death accomplish for us? For he did die "for us," scripture says.
It all has to do with our understanding of God's nature. The book from Namaste Publishing, Your Forgotten Self Mirrored in Jesus the Christ, explains what the crucifixion, atonement, reconciliation, and forgiveness are really all about.
God has never needed humans to sacrifice or in any way appease. Being accepted and loved has nothing whatever to do with the death of Jesus. On the contrary, the death of Jesus is about us—about our ability to accept ourselves.
Your Forgotten Self introduces us to an understanding of Jesus, and of the God of Jesus, that flies in the face of some of the most cherished and clung-to beliefs among Christians. It will enable you to read the statements about the death of Jesus in an entirely new light.
No God exists who needs appeasing.
The infinite Presence at the heart of reality is an ever-loving, caring, accepting, forgiving reality. It is the heart and core of our own being—a truth many of us have great difficulty accepting.
It is only our self-rejection, self-hatred, self-criticism, and inability to be forgiving of ourselves that needs to be appeased.
Recently, one of the airline's two Boeing 757 planes has been experiencing a spate of technical difficulties, such as electrical faults. There had been a number of delayed flights in recent weeks due to the problems.
It was decided that the god Akash Bhairab should be appeased in order to guarantee safe flights. So the airline brought two goats to the Katmandu airport, positioned them in front of the troubled 757, and slaughtered them.
Following Sunday's sacrificial ceremony, a senior airline official, Raju KC, was quoted saying that the snag in the plane has now been fixed and the aircraft has resumed its scheduled flights.
A goat offering is consider a holy act by devotees of the Hindu god. The theme of appeasing deities in fact runs through a variety of religions. It was central to Judaism long ago, for instance.
In some versions of Christianity, humans are understood to have offended God by breaking divine commandments, for which a blood atonement was necessary before there could be forgiveness and acceptance. Such an atonement is said to have been made by Jesus, who, it is believed, offered himself as a sacrifice to turn God's wrath away from humanity.
Though perhaps something like a billion people believe that Jesus had to die so that God could forgive us for our failings, nowhere is this teaching found in the Bible. But millions think the Bible says this—in fact, many are sure it does.
What the Bible actually teaches is very different. God forgives because God is by nature forgiving, just as we are with our children. We love our children and accept and embrace them despite their failings because we cannot help ourselves. No sacrifice is needed to "balance the scales of justice" when they do something that troubles us. In the same way, the idea that God needs to be appeased is a completely false picture of the God of Jesus.
Why, then, did Jesus have to die? What is the connection to us? What did his death accomplish for us? For he did die "for us," scripture says.
It all has to do with our understanding of God's nature. The book from Namaste Publishing, Your Forgotten Self Mirrored in Jesus the Christ, explains what the crucifixion, atonement, reconciliation, and forgiveness are really all about.
God has never needed humans to sacrifice or in any way appease. Being accepted and loved has nothing whatever to do with the death of Jesus. On the contrary, the death of Jesus is about us—about our ability to accept ourselves.
Your Forgotten Self introduces us to an understanding of Jesus, and of the God of Jesus, that flies in the face of some of the most cherished and clung-to beliefs among Christians. It will enable you to read the statements about the death of Jesus in an entirely new light.
No God exists who needs appeasing.
The infinite Presence at the heart of reality is an ever-loving, caring, accepting, forgiving reality. It is the heart and core of our own being—a truth many of us have great difficulty accepting.
It is only our self-rejection, self-hatred, self-criticism, and inability to be forgiving of ourselves that needs to be appeased.
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