Silas,
Umm...I guess I'll have to qualify my words to you. OK, so "The BIBLE SAYS" that if you dont repent and trust in the Savior, you are going to hell. Silas is only reitterating.
There are people who strap explosives to themselves and go on suicide missions justifying it by saying that their holy texts say they should. Consider your audience before you speak. Just because you believe everyone who does not share your beliefs is damned to hell, that is not a reason to repeat this belief to those very people. It's certainly not a persuasive argument for believing as you do. It's a bit like a bully standing over a person in an alley, holding a large bat.
Now, as for improving yourself. Nah, that doesnt work with God, sorry.
You haven't addressed this or any of the other quotes I have given from the Tanach which say that it does work with God. You're merely giving your opinion, which is contrary to scripture.
If you robbed a bank ten years ago and didnt get caught until ten years after the crime, your guilt isnt earsed. Its the same way with God.
That's a very poor analogy. The act of getting caught has nothing to do with improving oneself. I gave you quite a long list of biblical quotes in the other thread which you have failed to address on how sin can be forgiven, without the need for an intermediary.
God remembers all of your sins and they MUST be attoned for.
The question is not "must we atone" but, how? Another issue, there is no hell in Judaism, and God's justice is always tempered by His mercy. If one were to do terrible things in one's life, it would still theoretically be possible, after death, to eventually end up in Gan Eden. It is not for us to judge, but God.
The Jews in the OT had to slaughter animals once a year to cover sin.
Then can you explain how there were tzadikim, righteous people, authors of biblical books, who lived during periods of temporary exile, or while the Beit HaMikdash was temporarily in ruins? Even without considering that fact, I think the Tanach makes pretty clear that the act of sacrifice is not what actually atones. But before I go there I'd like to address the word sacrifice. I don't like it. In English it means to give something up, but in Hebrew, qorban, means to come close or draw near, which emphasizes something very different. Now for some quotes that establish it's not qorbanot that provide expiation.
You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. [Psalm 51:16-17]
Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced; burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require. [Psalm 40:6]
Take words with you and return to the Eternal. Say to him: "Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the bulls of our lips. [Hosea 14:2]
To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Eternal than sacrifice. [Proverbs 21:3]
For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings. [Hosea 6:6]
With what shall I come before the Eternal and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Eternal be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Eternal require of you? Only to do Justice, and to love Mercy and to walk humbly with your God. [Micah 6:6-8]
God provided His own sacrifice for men once for all time.
Can you provide a quote from the Tanach please that clearly states human sacrifice is an acceptable practice? I think the last quote I provided, from Micah, seems to state the contrary, that human sacrifice is unacceptable.
Beleive in Christ and you will have eternal life - says the Bible - Im only saying what "THE BIBLE" says, alright?
You are insisting that your interpretation of the bible is the correct one, and that it justifies any of the actions you have taken. And what of those who have attempted to justify crusades? It's a slippery slope.
Doesnt the gospel make sense? God is Holy and Just.
So far so good.
By His nature He is obligated to punish all crimes done against Him.
If God is truly just, then he doesn't create a system man cannot live up to in the first place. He builds a method or methods for expiation of sin into the system, as Judaism contends that He did based on the Tanach. I'm only saying what the Tanach says.
But God loves man. So He sends His Beloved Son to suffer in their stead in order to both satisfy His Justice and Save man.
There's nothing just about an innocent dying for the sins of others, nor is there anything just about human sacrifice, nor is there any suggestion that God would have some sort of son as you've suggested. The closest we come to that are some biblical metaphors:
“My son, My firstborn is Israel..." (Exodus 4:22)
“Thus says HaShem. Israel is My son, My firstborn” (Deuteronomy 4:22)
“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son” (Hosea 11:1)
”He (Solomon) shall be a son to Me [G-d], and I a Father to him” (1 Chr 22:10)
He has said to me "You (David) are My son. Today I have begotten you. (Psalm 2:7)
And God repeated “I, too, will make him (David) a firstborn, supreme over the earth’s kings” (Psalms 89:27-28)
Is Israel literally God's son? Are David or Solomon literally God's sons? Are you referring again to Daniel? When Nebuchadnezzar, not exactly the most moral individual, refers to seeing one like a son of God? Why would you treat that differently than the others?
Then Christ raised from the gave in 3 days to valadite His claims of being the messiah
But a claim is not evidence of the claim. And there's no requirement that the moshiach must raise from the dead in order to validate his claim. Nor did Jesus fulfill any of the more salient obligations that would be obvious indicators such as world peace, rebuilding the Beit HaMikdash, etc. According to Judaism, if the moshiach really did come, it would not be something debatable. It would be unmistakable. There would not be room for doubt because of the events that would take place.
Whats stopping you from coming to Christ?
It is avodah (worship/service) zara (strange/foreign) -- usually translated as idolatry in English -- for a Jew. And it is not necessary in order to know God or to be forgiven. Avodah zara is one of three cardinal mitzvot that the gemara suggests one should die before breaking. The other two are murder and forbidden sexual relations, not that I agree with the last one (I suppose it depends on whether or not we're including all of the traditional forbidden sexual relations), but my point is that it is a very grave sin. However it still can be forgiven through teshuvah. Only murder cannot be forgiven, because there is nobody to forgive you. But it would still be possible to be expiated after death, as God's justice is tempered by His mercy.
Dauer
