Sin and Atonement

Sin and atonement seems to be at the very top of people's concerns and all too often we hear the claim that Jesus was offered up as the ultimate sacrifice once and for all. I'm sure many of you are familiar with the story of King David, who desires Bathsheba, a very beautiful woman. King David sends her husband to the front line of war, where he dies. King David is very concerned with his sin...

The second book of Samuel, chapter 12, verse 13: "And David said to Nathan: "I have sinned against the Lord." And Nathan said to David, "Also the Lord has removed your sin; you shall not die."

FORGIVEN!? What do you mean forgiven!? There was no JESUS!

There is a rather famous quote from the Bible, in

Ecclesiastes 7:20: "For there is no righteous man on earth who does good and sins not."

We're all sinners. Not a single person lives on earth and goes without sinning.

Leviticus 17:11: "For the soul of the flesh is in the blood, and I have therefore given it to you [to be placed] upon the altar, to atone for your souls. For it is the blood that atones for the soul."

It is the blood that atones for a sin! Did you know that? Don't you know that Jesus sacrificed himself for you? He was the unblemished lamb who spilled his blood for YOU!

These are very common statements that Christians will use to try and show others that indeed Jesus is the messiah, the very son of G-d, and came as a sacrifice once and for all to atone for your sins and those of all mankind:

Hebrews 9:12 "Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us."

It is very important for us to be able to defend ourselves against these statements and show properly the love that G-d has for all of us, whether Jew or non-Jew. I think it's a valid approach as a Jew to be able to counter this one-way-only track with the holy and loving words of Hashem, the words of G-d that tell us that, even though we all sin, and sin often, G-d loves us and forgives us without a second thought.

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Simple Question

How do we begin to counter this, when someone comes to us and asks us to accept Jesus as L-rd and final sacrifice? We must ask one very simple question. Just ask one very simple question:

Is it indeed the case that the only way to get atonement is through the shedding of blood?

Absolutely not.

Unintentional Sin

There are 3 forms of atonement, and what's surprising is that sacrifice is the least important! And what's more, prayer is the greatest! Out of the 3 forms of atonement sacrifice is the least important method!

How do we know that?

Leviticus chapter 4 talks a great deal about sin sacrifice. Leviticus 4 teaches us that a sacrifice only works if the sin was committed UNintentionally - on accident. In fact, and this may really blow some Christians away, sacrifice COULDN'T work if the sin was done intentionally. It simply wasn't enough!

Leviticus 4: 2-3 2 "Speak to the children of Israel, saying: If a person sins unintentionally [by committing one] of all the commandments of the Lord, which may not be committed, and he commits [part] of one of them 3 If the anointed kohen sins, bringing guilt to the people, then he shall bring for his sin which he has committed, an unblemished young bull as a sin offering to the Lord."

You see sacrifice was a teaching tool. It ensured that the individual wouldn't make the sin again, even on accident. The animal was brought to the altar in the temple and one would say to themselves as the animal is being offered, "That should have been me. But it's not me. You took my place." Such a traumatic experience would ensure that this nation of priests (the Jews) would not forget again.

Actually, a sacrifice was brought to the temple more often for reasons of love and closeness to Hashem! Not because of guilt or sin. It was more common for people to bring sacrifices as thanksgiving or during the holidays.

Also, let's recall the story of Abraham going to sacrifice his son Isaac. Just as the story is unfolding, we reach the climax of the moment, and G-d says, "Stop!" G-d tells Abraham not to sacrifice his son.

Human sacrifice was very common in the ancient pagan world and the message of this story has always been very clear to Jews - G-d does not desire human sacrifice. He's not interested, and He doesn't want it at all.

Ears

Okay, so we know now that sin sacrifice was used only for unintentional sin. And further that sacrifice was actually used more for thanksgiving and holidays.

But it gets better. The Hebrew prophets actually tell us that G-d prefers other means of atonement to sacrifice! Of all the commandments G-d gave us, only one do the prophets tell us not to get caught up in blood.

Psalms 40:7 "You desired neither sacrifice nor meal offering; You dug ears for me; a burnt offering or a sin offering You did not request."

This verse is actually quoted in the book of Hebrews. King David is so happy that the L-rd has forgiven him with his words alone (as we see above). But what does the trust worthy book of Hebrews do to our sacred verse? Let's take a look...

Hebrews 10: 5-6 "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me;  with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased."

A body you have prepared for me!? Psalms doesn't say that! How DARE you change the word of G-d! You're going to tamper with my Bible just to suit your needs!? Do you really expect me to abandon my faith for Bible tampering?

How do you know I'm not lying? How do you know what I said is true? What if it really is 'body' and not 'ears'? Well, what's the Hebrew word for ear? אָזְנַיִם That's "oznayim" (ears, plural). Ears. Not body. In the Hebrew sentence below, the word is the 3rd word from the | moving right to left (Hebrew is written opposite from English).

זֶבַח וּמִנְחָה | לֹא חָפַצְתָּ אָזְנַיִם כָּרִיתָ לִּי עוֹלָה וַחֲטָאָה לֹא שָׁאָלְתָּ: You desired neither sacrifice nor meal offering; You dug ears for me; a burnt offering or a sin offering You did not request.

How could the translators make such a silly mistake?

Well I can tell you they didn't make a mistake, they just didn't like that verse. So what did they do? Hey...just change it. No problem!


Context Is Key

Christians will often also quote Leviticus 17: 11 to support their claim. 

Leviticus 17:11: "For the soul of the flesh is in the blood, and I have therefore given it to you [to be placed] upon the altar, to atone for your souls. For it is the blood that atones for the soul."

Clearly this is talking about blood which must be used as atonement. What could be more clear than this?

Well, do you know what in the world is going on in verses 1-10? I mean they pull verse 11 out of the air, what's going on in the verses behind it? Surely we don't just read 1 sentence in a newspaper clipping and hand it to someone and say that's all the story is. Why are they doing that here?

But you know what, it's a good thing they do. Because now we're going to learn something MOST spectacular. 

Do you know that Leviticus 17:11 actually has NOTHING to do with atonement at all? It has nothing to do with the subject we're talking about.

Actually, Leviticus 17:11 deals with the prohibition of eating blood. Why? Because blood can ONLY have 1 function - to atone for sins! Ooooh - Now it all makes sense!

Leviticus 17: 10: "And any man of the House of Israel or of the strangers that sojourn among them, who eats any blood, I will set My attention upon the soul who eats the blood, and I will cut him off from among his people."

Follow through with verse 11:

 "For the soul of the flesh is in the blood, and I have therefore given it to you [to be placed] upon the altar, to atone for your souls. For it is the blood that atones for the soul."

Wow. There it is. It's all come together. 

Do you see now why context is OH so important? Do you see how Christian cherry-picking, just picking a sentence and throwing it around for self-satisfying reasons is not only unjust, but actually self-detrimental? 

AND, don't forget that Jesus was never placed on the altar! We all know where they say he died on. If you're going to take the blood part literally you have to take the altar part literally as well.

We're not done yet. Hebrews actually quotes this verse in 9:22:

"And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission."

Without the shedding of blood there is no atonement!? It doesn't say that at all! Again, how dare you change the word of G-d! How can you possibly do such a thing!? And if you are...why? What are you so afraid of?

Where Is The Temple?

But wait a second, Christians will say. If there is no Temple today then what are we to do - we can just throw the whole book of Leviticus out!? No.

Now let's remember that today the Jews are with no Temple, no sacrifice, and no king. Christians are more than happy to say that this proves the Jews are without G-d and further that Jesus is all of that: the final Temple, the last sacrifice, and king of the Jews. But what does the Bible say?

Hosea 3: 4-5: 4 "For the children of Israel shall remain for many days, having neither king, nor prince, nor sacrifice, nor pillar, nor ephod nor teraphim. 5 Afterwards shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God and David their king, and they shall come trembling to the Lord and to His goodness at the end of days."

What an amazing thing. We can literally look out the window today and see that this is exactly the time that this prophecy was speaking of. It's just amazing. The Bible says we will be sacrifice-less, and indeed we are. The Bible says we are waiting for our King from the line of David, and indeed we are. Just beautiful.

Lips

But if we don't have sacrifice, then what are we to do? Remember, the Bible says there are three forms of atonement. What are they?

1. Prayer
2. Charity
3. Sacrifice

And here is the final answer to that question: prayer replaces sacrifice. The offering of bulls (sacrifice) shall be replaced with the offerings of our lips (prayer).

Hosea 14: 3 - "Take words with yourselves and return to the Lord. Say, "You shall forgive all iniquity and teach us [the] good [way], and let us render [for] bulls [the offering of] our lips."

Remember what a beautiful time we had just above? How we're living in the age laid out by the Bible? I'm sorry to do this to you but we have to get a little dirty again. The NIV (New International Version) doesn't like this verse in Hosea. It doesn't like it at all. So let's see what happens (verse 2 in a Christian bible)...

Hosea 14:2 - "Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to him: "Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips." 

Fruit of our lips? What does that mean? It means absolutely nothing. How do you play with our Bible? Then there's a tiny little letter q, you need a passport to get there, it says, "or, let us render for bulls the offering of our lips." Then why didn't they say that in the first place?

In fact, King Solomon knew that we would be without sacrifice. During the inauguration of the Temple, just as the doors were being opened for the grand opening, King Solomon boldly declares that the Temple will fall and that one day Jesus, the son of G-d is going to come to earth and sacrifice himself for...wait...it doesn't say that! He says the Jews will have to turn to prayer instead:

I Kings 8: 48 - "And they shall return to You with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, who led them away captive, and pray to You toward their land, which You gave to their fathers, the city that You have chosen, and the house which I have built for Your Name."

This is why we face East today - we are to pray "toward their land which You gave to their fathers..." How come King Solomon didn't say that Jesus was coming!? If this is indeed the entire salvation program of G-d, as Christians maintain, how come NO PROPHET ever spoke of Jesus!? Not one!

Instead we are told, ah, just relax. Turn with your heavy heart, love the L-rd, pray and ask for forgiveness and you shall be forgiven. What a wonderful message.

And how do we know that sacrifice is indeed in last place? Sacrifice is 3 out of 3?

Proverbs 21:3 - "Performing charity and justice is preferred by God to a sacrifice."

So beautiful. So incredibly simple.

Futures

There is one more stunning and glaring problem for Christianity. The problem is they believe in the Bible. And that is not a sarcastic statement.

The Bible includes the prophets. There is a messianic prophecy given by the prophet Ezekiel that is actually quite specific. Most messianic prophecies are general and not specific. This one is. It speaks about the coming of the 3rd temple that will be built...

Ezekiel 43: 7 - 7. "And He said to me, Son of man, [this is] the place of My throne and [this is] the place of the soles of My feet where I shall dwell in the midst of the Children of Israel forever, and the House of Israel will no longer defile My Holy Name, they and their kings with their harlotry, and with the corpses of their kings in their high places."

 And what will happen when the third temple is finally here? Sacrifice.

Ezekiel 43: 22 - 22. "And on the second day you shall offer a he-goat without blemish for a sin offering, and they shall purify the altar as they purified it with the bull."

Sacrifice!? Why in the world are we going to have sacrifice if Jesus died once and for all as the final sacrifice!? It makes no sense! How can any Christian believe the exact opposite of what G-d says!? And you expect me to do the same?

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The Bible is incredibly clear on such things, and as we choose what path to walk, we must remember to ask ourselves this very simple question: Who should I listen to? Who do I really love? A pastor? Or G-d?