Paper 89
SIN, SACRIFICE, AND ATONEM!INT
1. Primitive man regarded himself as being in debt to the spirits, as standing in need of redemption...As time passed, this concept developed into the doctrine of sin and salvation.
2. The savage was early possessed with the notion that spirits derive supreme satisfaction
from the sight of human misery, suffering, and. humiliation. At first, man was only concerned with sins of commission, but later he became exercised over sins of omission. And the whole subsequent sacrificial system grew up around these two ideas.
3. The taboo is the source of ceremonial standards and the ancestor of primitive self-control. It was the earliest form of societal regulation and for a long time the only one; it is still a basic unit of the social regulative structure.
4. The seven commandments of Dalamatia and Eden, as well as the ten injunctions of the Hebrews, were definite taboos, all expressed in the same negative form as were the most ancient prohibitions. But these newer codes were truly emancipating in that they took the place of thousands of pre‑existent taboos. And more than this, these later commandments definitely promised something in return for obedience.
5. There would, however, be no civilized society to sit in criticism upon primitive man except for these far‑flung and multifarious taboos, and the taboo would never have endured but for the upholding sanctions of primitive religion. Many of the essential factors in men's evolution have been highly expensive, have cost vast treasures in effort, sacrifice, and self‑denial, but these achievements of self‑control were the real rungs on which man climbed civilization's ascending ladder.
6. It was only by the concept of sin that natural death became logical to the primitive mind. Sin was the transgression of taboo, and death was the penalty of sin.
7. Sin was ritual, not rational; an act, not a thought...The tradition of Adam and the
Garden of Eden also lent substance to the dream of a onetime "golden age" of the dawn
of the races. And all this confirmed the ideas later expressed in the belief that man had
his origin in a special creation, that he started his career in perfection, and that
transgression of the taboos —sin‑—brought him down to his later sorry plight.
8. The idea of confession and forgiveness early appeared in primitive religion. Men would ask forgiveness at a public meeting for sins they intended to commit the following week... Then followed all the ritualistic schemes of purification. All ancient peoples practiced these meaningless ceremonies. Many apparently hygienic customs of the early tribes were largely ceremonial.
9. Renunciation came as the next step in religious evolution; fasting was a common practice.. These notions of the spiritual dangers of material possession were widespreadly entertained in the times of Philo and Paul, and. they have markedly influenced European philosophy ever since.
10. Poverty was just a part of the ritual of the mortification of the flesh which, unfortunately, became incorporated into the writings and teachings of many religions, notably Christianity...The Hebrews, Hindus, and Buddhists were earnest devotees of this doctrine of physical humiliation.
11. It was only natural that the cult of renunciation and humiliation should have paid attention to sexual gratification ...This cult tolerated marriage only as an evil lesser than fornication. Many of the world's great religions have been adversely influenced by this ancient cult, but none more markedly than Christianity. The Apostle Paul was a devotee of this cult.
12. Someday man should learn how to enjoy liberty without license, nourishment without gluttony, and pleasure without debauchery. Self‑control is a better human policy of behavior regulation than is extreme self‑denial. Nor did Jesus ever teach these unreasonable views to his followers.
13. Primitive men gauged the value of his sacrifice by the pain which he suffered ...The first sacrifices were such acts as plucking hair, cutting the flesh, mutilation, knocking out teeth, and cutting off fingers.
14. Early in the evolution of religion there existed two conceptions of the sacrifice; the idea of the gift sacrifice, which connoted the attitude of thanksgiving, and the debt sacrifice, which embraced the idea of redemption. Later there developed the notion of substitution.
15. Gifts and. bribes are given to men; but when tendered to the gods, they are described as being dedicated., made sacred, or are called sacrifices...As time passed, man became shrewd in his sacrificing, ceasing to offer up his work animals...Sheer necessity eventually drove these semisavages to eat the material part of their sacrifices, the gods having enjoyed. the soul thereof. And this custom found justification under the pretense of the ancient sacred meal, a communion service according to modern usage.
16. Early man was a cannibal; he enjoyed human flesh, and therefore he offered it as a food gift to the spirits and his primitive gods ...Cannibalism was once well‑nigh universal among the evolving races...Man‑eating came on at a time when men experienced intense and bitter emotions regarding their enemies…The taboo on man‑eating originated in Dalamatia and slowly spread over the world..
17. Human sacrifice has been virtually universal…The Chaldeans were among the first to abandon the sacrificing of humans for ordinary occasions ...About two thousand years ago a tenderhearted Japanese emperor introduced. clay images to take the place of human sacrifices, but it was less than a thousand years ago that these sacrifices died out in northern Europe.
18. There is no more tragic and pathetic experience on record...than the Hebrew narrative of Jephthah and his only daughter ...this beautiful maiden, after two months to mourn her fate, was actually offered as a human sacrifice by her father, and with the approval of his fellow tribesmen. And all this was done in the face of Moses' stringent rulings against the offering of human sacrifice. But men and women are addicted to making foolish and needless vows, and the men of old held all such pledges to be highly sacred.
19. In olden times, when a new building of any importance was started, it was customary to
slay a human being as a "foundation sacrifice." This provided a ghost spirit to watch over and protect the structure. When the Chinese made ready to cast a bell, custom decreed the sacrifice of at least one maiden for the purpose of improving the tone of the bell; the girl chosen was thrown alive into the molten metal.
20. A petty king in Palestine, in building the walls of Jericho, "laid the foundation thereof
in Abiram, his first‑born, and. set up the gates thereof in his youngest son, Segub." At
that late date, not only did this father put two of his sons alive in the foundation holes
of the city's gates, but his action is also recorded as being "according to the word of
the Lord."
21. The spectacle of Abraham constrained to sacrifice his son Isaac, while shocking to civilized susceptibilities, was not a new or strange idea to the men of those days. It was long a prevalent practice for fathers, at times of great emotional stress, to sacrifice their first‑born sons.
22. Moses attempted to end human sacrifices by inaugurating the ransom as a substitute. He established a systematic schedule which enabled his people to escape the worst results of their rash and foolish vows. Lands, properties, and. children could be redeemed according to the established fees, which were payable to the priests.
23. Even after most groups had ceased the ritual killing of children, it was the custom to put an infant away by itself, off in the wilderness or in a little boat on the water. If the child survived, it was thought that the gods had intervened to preserve him, as in the traditions of Sargon, Moses, Cyrus, and Romu1us. Then came the practice of dedicating the first‑born sons as sacred or sacrificial, allowing them to grow up and then exiling them in lieu of death; this was the origin of colonization. The Romans adhered to this custom in their scheme of colonization.
24. Many of the peculiar associations of sex laxity with primitive worship had their origin in connection with human sacrifice ...a maiden consecrated to the gods as a sacrifice might elect to redeem her life by dedicating her body for life to the sacred sex service of the temple. ,,,Temple harlotry eventually spread throughout southern Europe and Asia…The highest types of women thronged the temple sex marts and devoted their earnings to all kinds of sacred services and works of public good. Many of the better classes of women collected their dowries by temporary sex service in the temples, and most men preferred to have such women for wives.
25. Men eventually conceived the idea that the offering of some part of the body could take the place of the older and complete human sacrifice ...The later and well‑nigh universal ancient rite of circumcision was an outgrowth of the cult of partial sacrifice; it was purely sacrificial, no thought of hygiene being attached thereto. Men were circumcised; women had their ears pierced.
26. But the idea of making a covenant with the gods did finally arrive. Evolutionary man eventually acquired such moral dignity that he dared to bargain with his gods. And so the business of offering sacrifices gradually developed into the game of man's philosophic bargaining with God.
27. Early prayer was hardly worship; it was a bargaining petition for health, wealth, and life. And in many respects prayers have not much changed with the passing of the ages.
28. Paul started out to build a new Christian cult on "the blood of the everlasting covenant." And while he may have unnecessarily encumbered Christianity with teachings about blood and sacrifice, he did once and for all make an end of the doctrines of redemption through human or animal sacrifices. His theologic compromises indicate that even revelation must submit to the graduated control of evolution...And so, after long ages the cult of the sacrifice has evolved into the cult of the sacrament.
29. Sin must he redefined as deliberate disloyalty to Deity ...The sense or feeling of guilt is the consciousness of the violation of the mores; it is not necessarily sin. There is no real sin in the absence of conscious disloyalty to Deity...The confession of sin is a manful repudiation of disloyalty, but it in no wise mitigates the time‑space consequences of such disloyalty ...The forgiveness does not have to be sought, only received as the consciousness of re‑establishment of loyalty relations between the creature and the Creator. And all the loyal sons of God are happy, service‑loving, and ever‑progressive in the Paradise ascent.
U.B. 89:974‑985- Brilliant Evening Star
1. Why have physical pleasures or possessions been regarded as evil? Are the teachings of Paul primarily responsible for such views?
2. What is the difference between irrational renunciantion and mortification and rational self-discipline?
3. Do we still make foolish and needless vows?
4. Why did human beings believe God demanded barbarous human sacrifice?
5. Is bargaining with God still a common religious practice?
6. Are the use of sacraments in religion a primitive practice?