Animal Sacrifices - are they ever ok?

[psychoslice]

Or...synchronize all aspects of your self and throw in some sacrifices now and then to be as awesome as I am...

Ha, I really don't know how to reply to that one lol.

 

[Sees]

Ha, I really don't know how to reply to that one lol.

I think of it this way - worship and sacrifice both are ways to synchronize the body and mind with what the heart and soul already know - mindfully honoring our connections, relationships, interdependence.

 

[psychoslice]

I think of it this way - worship and sacrifice both are ways to synchronize the body and mind with what the heart and soul already know - mindfully honoring our connections, relationships, interdependence.

Yes I can see that, but why would we want to worship something that we are already, is worship through ignorance, and I don't mean that in a negative way.

 

[Sees]

Yes I can see that, but why would we want to worship something that we are already, is worship through ignorance, and I don't mean that in a negative way.

I don't take it negative, it's a good question. Generally worldviews with sacrifices and worship don't typically see all as your own self. Paganism past and present, as an example, is characterized more so as seeing the All (pluralistic unity) instead of the One.

If you see it as all is One, then it probably doesn't make as much sense as readily, but Hindus who do so probably got a lot of rationale behind it.

 

[psychoslice]

I don't take it negative, it's a good question. Generally worldviews with sacrifices and worship don't typically see all as your own self. Paganism past and present, as an example, is characterized more so as seeing the All (pluralistic unity) instead of the One.

If you see it as all is One, then it probably doesn't make as much sense as readily, but Hindus who do so probably got a lot of rationale behind it.

Yes like the pagans I see all as One, because there is nothing that is separate, the illusion of separation is only for our convenience as a mind body organism.

 

[Riverwolf]

I recall, someone came asking....and he brought a goat to Moses..
hands were laid upon the man....and then unto the animal
then someone 'suitable' took to animal into the wilderness....staked it to the ground and left it to die

the sin was transferred
the goat is a scapegoat

you read it differently?

I'm not even considering that story, much less reading it at all, much less reading it in ANY way.

I said this already, and I think you didn't see it. When you read my posts about ritual animal sacrifice, pretend the Bible doesn't exist!

 

[Riverwolf]

Yes I can see that, but why would we want to worship something that we are already, is worship through ignorance, and I don't mean that in a negative way.

You may not mean it negatively, but that's irrelevant to the fact that it is rather condescending.

The way I see it, if we don't feel empathy for the animal being sacrificed, then the ritual is a waste of time. Such a ritual can be a sobering reminder that Life itself is dependent on Death. Allowing for that somber time will help make the feast which follows the ritual all the more hearty.

You're approaching the ritual from the perspective of linear progression, from darkness to light. I've long since discarded that approach, in favor of what I actually experience first-hand: that being a more cyclical perspective on things. Day and Night forever follow each other; without one, the other is meaningless.

From that perspective, there's no such thing as "dark, ignorant past contrasted with a more enlightened present", and thus ritual animal sacrifice doesn't "belong" to any one particular time.

Besides, as said, when these rituals are performed properly, the animals are treated WAY better than animals are treated nowadays in factory farms. So, if anything, we're FAR more ignorant now than back then, since we're so far removed from where our food comes from these days.

 

[psychoslice]

You may not mean it negatively, but that's irrelevant to the fact that it is rather condescending.

The way I see it, if we don't feel empathy for the animal being sacrificed, then the ritual is a waste of time. Such a ritual can be a sobering reminder that Life itself is dependent on Death. Allowing for that somber time will help make the feast which follows the ritual all the more hearty.

You're approaching the ritual from the perspective of linear progression, from darkness to light. I've long since discarded that approach, in favor of what I actually experience first-hand: that being a more cyclical perspective on things. Day and Night forever follow each other; without one, the other is meaningless.

From that perspective, there's no such thing as "dark, ignorant past contrasted with a more enlightened present", and thus ritual animal sacrifice doesn't "belong" to any one particular time.

Besides, as said, when these rituals are performed properly, the animals are treated WAY better than animals are treated nowadays in factory farms. So, if anything, we're FAR more ignorant now than back then, since we're so far removed from where our food comes from these days.

Sorry I cannot agree, its total ignorance, from a belief that is from the dark ages, when the people didn't realize that they themselves had to be the sacrifice, which the new testament showed.

 

[Riverwolf]

Sorry I cannot agree, its total ignorance, from a belief that is from the dark ages, when the people didn't realize that they themselves had to be the sacrifice, which the new testament showed.

There is no need to apologize for respecful disagreement.

I cannot agree, either. I don't regard the NT as any kind of authority for me, nor do I hold to the long outdated concept of "dark ages" as applied to history.