Jews and Muslims: Do you find the idea of Jesus' supposed "sacrifice" to be sadistic?

Question

Do you find it offensive that such gore is attributed to the "Will of God"?

Would such a method of redeeming mankind be out of character for the God of your beliefs?

Answer 1

Pose the question respectfully, and you might get some good answers - or say what you're really trying to say, which sounds as though it's just a bunch of hate-filled spew.

Answer 2

Well in Islam, their is no idea of Original Sin.  Each person earns his own good deeds and sins and doesn't inherit the original sin.  So, therefore, their is no need for a Prophet of God to somehow transform into a fictious man-god and sacrifice himself for us because we can never overcome the original sin ourselves.  In Islam, God is in direct relation with man.  Their is no intermediary.  We ask forgiveness from God and we ask for his help and worship him in the way he should be worshipped, then hopefully he will grant us paradise.

Answer 3

Nope.  Just not all that Christians crack it up to be.

Jesus was not the only person crucified, you know.  There were hundreds being executed in this way for many many years.  

And, the thing is, that there is no reason to believe that one out of the thousands, nay, millions executed was done so in order to "redeem" mankind.

We simply don't believe that mankind needed or needs to be "redeemed"!

Answer 4

One man dying for the entire world is sadistic gore but a few men flying planes into buildings to murder thousands is not?

Answer 5

Speaking as a Jew we do not believe in vicarious atonement. The Hebrew Scriptures tell us repeatedly that one mam cannot atone for the sins of another. Personally I find the whole concept of the Crucifixion pointless - if we sin then we can repent and find find forgiveness directly from God. None of us require a third party to plead on our behalf.  

Answer 6

I also believe it to be sadistic in its intentions.

The crucifixion by nature is an horrific display of both the wrath and reason to fear god, if god exists.

If god does not exist it is simply an example of how gory and gruesome religious history actually is.

  

Answer 7

There is this story, from about two thousand years ago, where a man with divine heritage and the initials J.C., nearly succeeded in pacifying the entire Mediterranean world, only to be killed by the very people he was trying to save.  Seriously, I don't know why more people aren't talking about Julius Caesar.

Yes, if I were to take the crucifixion literally, it would put me at odds with God.  So would most of Gods O.T. actions.  Creating man, putting him in a garden, and saying enjoying everything except this one tree.  It's the very definition of attractive nuisance.  However, as stories, allegories and links to our own violent and bloody natures that we try to overcome, I think it all has value.  And I don't understand why there is this strange insistence on literalism.  I honestly don't believe any sacred writings are more divinely inspired than others, and all have been informed by the divine spark of imagination that links humanity, both the imaginations of the tellers and of the hearers, the writers and the readers.  The tale of Christ does have redemptive powers, to a save a literal soul from sin and h**l, not so much, but to save a human spirit from despair perhaps.  It tells of the ultimately victory of meaning of meaninglessness, of life over death.  But then, so does the Egyptian Book of the Dead.  Believe or not, it is a very (perhaps paradoxically) life affirming book.  Our struggle not to be mere animals is the struggle for our deaths not to be meaningless.  The Christ of the Gospels taught so much in parables, and if we are to link Christ and God in our minds, why would assume that other divine lessons were not parables also.  The value increases rather than decreases with allegorical meanings given to most scripture.  Otherwise Christianity is just the ultimately looky lou spiritual traffic jam.  We don't want to look at the gorey image of a tortured man on the cross, but we can't seem to help watching.

Answer 8

Wouldn't it be both sadistic and masochistic ? Since, Jesus, if you buy into the sacrifice in the first place, is God ? Also, if the Muslims think it was too sadistic then I'm going to lose my lunch from hypocrisy poisoning.

Answer 9

Jesus did die for our sins.  He is the son of god.  

Answer 10

Muslims don't believe in God, they believe in some goofy cave squatter who tells them to commit suicide in order to kill others all the while the fairy cave squatter sits and sh*ts in his cave.  Tell me who the real sadists are.