On Sin, Struggle, & Sacrifice (Conversation Of Questions) | 15 August 2020

[…]

As far as what I’ve looked into so far, not too much. I’m still in Genesis. Two questions that I know for sure I’ve asked were about animal sacrifices and why an angel of the Lord would ask Hagar to return to sarai and abram if she was a slave.

For the first question I’ve always heard that it had to be an animal sacrifice bc it needed to be something that was blameless, which only really answers part of the question in my head. I guess it just still seems cruel to me. So after looking more into it, I guess it makes a little more sense, about how it had to hold some weight and be of some importance because it was literally granting them access to the Lord. I guess it’s one of those scenarios where I don’t understand the weight of my sin in its entirety. But one thing I realized was that when Adam and Eve were in the garden after sinning, God killed animals to give them skins to cover up with and I think that’s just huge foreshadowing for later when animal sacrifices came into the picture bc it again is using a animal to help them “cover up” so to speak.

Then with Hagar, if you really look at the original translation things make more sense. The angel of the Lord says if she returns, God will make her son (Ishmael) and his descendants be like “wild donkeys” which sounds not so great, but I guess what gets lost in translation is that that actually means they’d be free. So they’d never have to worry about being slaves to anyone. Which I guess is a good enough reason to stick it out and return to them. I guess I don’t like the idea of her having to endure something so that her child and his children can benefit. I like the ideas of everyone being able to benefit and I struggle with why God wouldn’t want the same thing, but I think one of the ideas I’m going back and forth with right now is the idea that what if God doesn’t want us to live this super comfortable life and what if having a purpose in life isn’t as glamorous as we think it is? If I was in Hagars position of course I wouldn’t want to continue being enslaved, but the purpose behind that would be more than worth it.

I’ll continue sharing my findings if you’re interested! If you’re not, I’m not the least bit offended, haha.

With the foreshadowing in regards to Adam and Eve, that’s a huge part of why I like the Bible. As bad as it sounds (or doesn’t), it’s such a good piece of art. So much symbolism, so much foreshadowing, great illustrations. I think anyone who appreciates literature, but doesn’t necessarily buy into Christianity itself can still take something away from it.

The way I see it is that everything in the Bible is a metaphor that needs to be interpreted on a deeper level. Even if by some chance the history and stories in the Bible are 100% literal, only looking at the teachings at face value is a disservice to yourself.

For instance, although history shows that animal sacrifices occurred, I don’t think the actual ritual was the focus. The ritualistic nature of sacrifice (and all ritual for that matter) exists to create an environment and mental state that promotes one’s spirituality.

My interpretation of sacrifice is that the animal represents our own innocence. I think that they chose animal sacrifice to represent this because they wanted everyone to know the severity of our actions. The process of committing a sin and atoning for it is a traumatic experience, and our innocence is killed in the same painful and violent way as us killing the animal.

We must sacrifice a part of our innocence by asking for forgiveness. Asking for forgiveness is in a way an admittance of guilt and a recognition that we recognized evil, but chose its path anyway. We are not punished for making mistakes due to our natural ignorance caused by our finite perspective. However, guilt and a need for forgiveness is a result of knowingly and willfully choosing an action against the universe and one’s self.

Our sin isn’t necessarily against God, but ourselves. Though God may be saddened by our actions, that sadness is his choice and not the result of the pain caused by sin. Repentance isn’t demanded of us from God. Rather, he provides an avenue towards redemption for our own benefit, for we will never be whole person while holding onto parasitic sin.

A lot of these ideas tie into the garden of eden story. Sin did not exist before the tree, for humanity’s ignorance of good and evil protected us. It’s the same reason animals shouldn’t be considered good/evil, because those don’t exist to them yet.

In a way, we were like God’s pets. He took care of every need, and took responsibility of our actions. We could do no wrong, for wrong didn’t exist to us yet. However, by God creating a new rule and telling us about it, he created a choice for us. Our actions were no longer ignorant, because we were made aware of the right and wrong choices. Before this, we could not act against God, for our actions were the very will of God. But in deciding to act against the will of God, we separated ourselves from his grace.

I believe the tree represents the development of our sentience, and how it separated us from other living creatures. In choosing the tree, we chose our indivual and selfish desires. We didn’t want the fruit because we were hungry. We wanted the fruit because we weren’t allowed. In disobeying God, we gained the knowledge and wisdom of good and evil. In realizing that we could purposely choose the wrong path, we realized we possessed free will. However, our actions could no longer be excused through ignorance. We now had to take responsibility for all of our shortcomings.

Before I get into a long analysis of the second part, I’ll tell you something I often do to help me understand religious stories.

When I read a story that involves interaction and conflict between multiple people, I imagine each character (including God) as an aspect of an individual person, and time conflict is the representation of one’s inner turmoil. It makes God’s seemingly cruel actions against others less malicious. God, or any individual “God” represents, isn’t punishing others, but rather addressing the negative and detrimental aspect of himself.

It also helps to pretend you’re “God.” I don’t think I’m a evil or malicious person, so I try to explain why I would do the same “cruel” actions of God if I truly cared about people. In a way, it helps me empathize with him.

[…]

I just read the second part, and the questions are really dense with thought (in a good way). I can tell how much you’ve pondered these questions, and how much uncertainty is weighing on you because of it.

Your questions show how close you are to taking a major step in your understanding of the world. The answers to them will guide your path from that point on.

I had very similar questions, but I was finally able to answer them. I could tell you my answers, now I think it’s better for your to find your own. Everyone has their own unique answers, and I can’t say one is more valid than the other.

Even if I told you my exact answers and you agreed, the words would not have nearly a profound effect on you as they did to me. I can give you the knowledge of a truth, but truly understanding it is a solo journey. One of my sayings is “truth cannot be dictated; it must be discoverd.”

I definitely want to talk about this more and help your thought process, but those conversations are the ones that you want to be able to completely focus on.

I’ll leave you with one thing to consider:
Is the ideal world in your mind really the world you want to live in?

Wow! Thanks so much for engaging in the conversation. I really appreciate it.

I totally agree with what you said about trying to empathize with the actions of God. I find myself doing that as well. Most of the time I do find that it helps.

I understand what you mean by not taking what you say as truth, but I am pretty curious what you think. It helps me analyze all angles!

To answer your ending question, no… but yes. Hahaha

I realize that I don’t have all the knowledge that God has and I can’t even fathom the things that he can, so in a way I’ve very thankful I don’t live within my ideal world because even it would have major flaws. But I mean, I still like the thought of living within my own reality sometimes. 🤷🏼‍♀️😂

I’ve thought about this a lot, but an abridged version is this:

Conflict and struggle is what makes life worth living, so we already live in an ideal world. It’s not ideal in that it’s perfect and doesn’t need to change. The fact that changes do need to be made is why it’s perfect; it’s perfect in its imperfections.

If the world never challenged us, there would be nothing to do.

Basically, the reason bad things happen is because otherwise life would be boring. A story without conflict hardly counts as story, especially with your life story.

[…]

Hey, I think you should check out this game [The Talos Principle]. It’s more like an interactive philosophy lesson than a game.

I wasn’t aware until recently playing it again, but it basically acted as the foundation for my philosophy and understanding of the world. The majorly of my thoughts and writing can be traced back to this game.

(Actually, the mind/body/spirit perspective on being was specifically formed in this game)

There are very strong religious overtones, and the best way I could describe the experience is that it expressed religion and God in an understandable and personal way. It addresses many of your questions, and I think it could be a big benefit to your search for truth.