Jesus is Magic

There is an interesting historical backstory to the Hebrew prohibition against human sacrifice and how it ties in with their villification of the Canaanites in the O.T.

The Canaanites were a precursor civilization whose written language formed the basis for Hebrew, Latin, Sanskrit, Aramaic and other ancient languages. They were also precursor to the Phoenicians, the greatest trade empire in the ancient Mediterranean (thus the impression we get in the O.T. that the ancient Hebrews wiped out the Canaanites is false). "Ba'al" has been interpreted by some Christian sects today as the evil, false god of pagans but in Canaan mythology, Ba'al was actually an honorific that usually applied to the local god (each city had their own god, kind of a guardian angel). Its usage in the Old Testament more likely refers to the graven images found in Ugarit homes which were also called ba'als.

Wikipedia on Ba'al

From: someone

Another version of the demon Ba'al is Beelzebub, or more accurately Ba‘al Zebûb who was originally the name of a deity worshipped in the Philistine city of Ekron. Ba‘al Zebûb might mean 'Lord of Zebûb', referring to an unknown place named Zebûb, a pun with 'Lord of flies', zebûb being a Hebrew collective noun meaning 'fly'. This may mean that the Hebrews were derogating the god of their enemy. Later, Christian writings referred to Ba‘al Zebûb as a demon or devil, often interchanged with Beelzebul. Either form may appear as an alternate name for Satan (or the Devil) or may appear to refer to the name of a lesser devil. As with several religions, the names of any earlier foreign or "pagan" deities often became synonymous with the concept of an adversarial entity. The demonization of Ba‘al Zebûb led to much of the modern religious personification of Satan, as the adversary of the Abrahamic god. For more details on the origins of Ba‘al Zebûb, see Beelzebub.

The Canaanite religious practices included temple prostitutes and the blood sacrifice of infants, and the Jews found these practices reprehensible. That, and the early competition for definition of a "One God" led to the villification of Canaan in the O.T.

Less wikipedia, more obsessing over cute Jewish boys please.

Please provide a source for this statement. Blood sacrifices were for those who sought God's forgiveness.

Leviticus 4 "28Or if his sin, which he hath sinned, come to his knowledge: then he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for his sin which he hath sinned.

29And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay the sin offering in the place of the burnt offering.

30And the priest shall take of the blood thereof with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all the blood thereof at the bottom of the altar. "

Clearly, sacrifice was to clear one of sins they know they committed.

Cut us a break. We were just too busy being cuter than you.

Keep trying.

Sarah Silverman is cuter than any of us put together, including Jesus.

I fess up, you're right, but I did have those from my own church in mind as well.

You do know that Leviticus is known formally as Torat Kohanim which translates as "Instructions for the Temple Priests?"

right?

It has do do with day to day operations by the priest class in the Holy Temple.

Blood sacrifices as you term them (the phrase does not exist in Leviticus) were not to "cleanse" one of sin --they were punishment payment demanded by the priests on any other priest who broke their laws. They had nothing to do with God. They had to do with priests keeping each other in line.

What Christians have mistranslated as "sins" in Leviticus are merely religious laws for the priests to follow amongst themselves.

I'm sorry to hear you have been abused by people in a religious group that apparently fooled you. I study scriptures on my own. If you need a Bible study let me know. I'll teach you how to study it without others telling you what everything means. that way you won't have a youth leader telling you what to believe any more.

Nice try...

"Authorship and Origin:
Leviticus is the third of the five Old Testament books ascribed to Moses. It is also called "The book of the Law of the Priests" in that it contains very little historical information, but is mostly priestly legislation and the practice of the law among the people. It records God's instructions, given at Sinai, for worship by His people. See Exodus for information on the dates and origins of this book.
Overview and Significant sections
This book addresses two groups of people, the priests, and the people as a whole. There are three major themes taht can be identified throughout the book. The first theme can be summarized by the word 'Holy'. This word is used 87 times in the book, and shows that the true importance of worship is more than just ritual. The second theme is summarized in the word 'Sacrifice'. This word, or words meaning the same (e.g. offering) is used more than 300 times. The final theme is 'attonement', which appears some 49 times. In studying Leviticus, these three key themes help to define how we can better understand our relationship with God, what He has done for us, who He is, and what He expects from us.
Significant sections:

Offerings 1:1-10:20
Ritual Cleanness 11:1-15:33
The Day of Atonement 16:1-17:16
Holiness 18:1-22:23
Worship Calendar 23:1-25:55
Additional Instructions 26:1-27:34

Some special notes:
In Chapter 8:1-36, Aaron's sons are ordained. Aaron is of the tribe of Levi, and this defines the Levites from now on as being the priests for Israel.
In Chapter 9:1-24, the sacrificial system is defined as the method for the people to seek forgiveness and re-establish God's acceptance. This practice or covenant stood until Jesus came to be the final all-sufficient sacrifice for the sins of all. Only through forgiveness and atonement, can a right relationship with God be attained.

What is atonement? The word means to cover or to 'wipe away'. It is key in reconciliation. The message of atonement which God communicates is that through the sacrifices, God would wipe away the sin.

In Chapter 23, the various 'feasts' were defined. These include the 'Sabboth', 'Passover', 'First fruits', 'Feast of Weeks', 'Feast of Trumpets', 'Day of Atonement', and 'Feast of Tabernacles'. Hanukkah, or the 'Feast of Lights' was added much later after 164 B.C., just before the time of Jesus.

http://netministries.org/Bbasics/BBLev.htm

I tend to view Christian interpretation of the Torah the way I view Republican interpretation of Democracy.

Your source means nothing to me.

OK, I'll forum stalk you if it makes you feel better...

I heard you guys are really good at selling clothes too.

I am about to start a thread in Feature Suggestions requesting to have a threesome with Joy and Ingrid in the Shut Up it is a game thread.

Hey, putting the pissing contest between your various sky-gods aside for a moment, can't we all just agree to Santa Claus as a good compromise? The guys brings presents to all children who behave, has no definite connection with any one religion (yeah, he chose Christmas for his sleigh ride, but that's it) and no one ever burned, blew-up, or persecuted anyone in his name.

He's a nice guy, and I think we should just go with him rather than fight.

Sweet merciful Ba'al! What a great post. I am really enjoying the discussion in this thread. What could have been just another thread hijacked by you-know-who has instead become one of the more interesting discussions I've been a part of in SL. If there's more, keep it coming.

Also this post scores double points for teaching me where the Stargate Goa'uld Ba'al got his name.

~Ulrika~

Be that as it may, I still cannot accept that Thor is a little gray BEM.

In Jesus is Magic the movie breaks away from the live comedy for surreal interludes and several musical numbers. While I couldn't find any of the surreal interludes, I did find most of the musical numbers on Youtube, the intro scene, some standup comedy, and the extra song on the DVD. Do check out the DVD via Netflix if you have the chance as the work really is best experienced as a whole and the Youtube clips lack most of the edgier stuff.

Jesus is Magic Montage/Trailer
Intro Scene, Song: I Can Write a Movie
Stand up: Martin Luther King
Song: You're Going to Die Soon
Song: German Cars
Extra Song: Give the Jewish Girl Toys

~Ulrika~

You're right. I should have said that "Blood sacrifices were for unintentional sins that later come to light." As you can see, it says "....come to his knowledge." Which means that he didn't know he was sinning when it happened, but figured it out afterward.

Hey! You got your Sarah Silverman in my blood sacrifice. You got your blood sacrifice in my Sarah Silverman. Ahh, the great taste of Sarah Silverman and blood sacrifice together at last.

~Ulrika~

I am waiting for them to spring Loki on SG-1.

Leviticus 6
1 The LORD said to Moses: 2 "If anyone sins and is unfaithful to the LORD by deceiving his neighbor about something entrusted to him or left in his care or stolen, or if he cheats him, 3 or if he finds lost property and lies about it, or if he swears falsely, or if he commits any such sin that people may do- 4 when he thus sins and becomes guilty, he must return what he has stolen or taken by extortion, or what was entrusted to him, or the lost property he found, 5 or whatever it was he swore falsely about. He must make restitution in full, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the owner on the day he presents his guilt offering. 6 And as a penalty he must bring to the priest, that is, to the LORD, his guilt offering, a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value. 7 In this way the priest will make atonement for him before the LORD, and he will be forgiven for any of these things he did that made him guilty."

In this passage we see it regards known sins.

As I've said --it's payment for fucking up. You have to give the best of your herd to the Priests so you think twice about fucking up again.

It's why the sacrifice must be something you own. If all "God" wanted was blood --then one could presumably bring a crappy lamb, a wild animal, a fish --whatever.

It has nothing to do with your Christ or his crucifixion, or removing sin thru sacrifice.

It's a police ticket.

They did. Season 8. Loki is a rogue scientist who abducts people from earth for experiments... he's the real reason so many alien abduction accounts depict aliens that look like the Asgard.

The wonderful part of it all is you can believe whatever you want, and so can I. Just wonderful!