Where is the sacrifice?

[Ebionite]

To which I applied, Jesus came to correct tradition with truth.

That doesn't make your error go away. Three days and nights in the belly of the earth is only one version of the sign of Jonah, there are two others. Some aspects of the sign are the repentance of the the Ninevites, the son of man, wisdom, the great fish, and signs in the face of the sky.

Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What [is that] to us? see thou [to that].
Matthew 27:3-4

El [is] not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do [it]? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
Numbers 23:19

Luke 11​
29	And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet.
30	For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.
31	The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
32	The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.

Matthew 12​
38	Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.
39	But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
40	For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
41	The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
42	The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

Matthew 16​
1	The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven.
2	He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red.
3	And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?
4	A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.

 

[Kenny]

That doesn't make your error go away. Three days and nights in the belly of the earth is only one version of the sign of Jonah, there are two others. Some aspects of the sign are the repentance of the the Ninevites, the son of man, wisdom, the great fish, and signs in the face of the sky.

Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What [is that] to us? see thou [to that].
Matthew 27:3-4

El [is] not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do [it]? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
Numbers 23:19

Luke 11​
29	And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet.
30	For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.
31	The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
32	The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.

Matthew 12​
38	Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.
39	But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
40	For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
41	The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
42	The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

Matthew 16​
1	The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven.
2	He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red.
3	And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?
4	A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.

Yes and Amen!! Great scriptures!! Thank you!!

 

[Ella S.]

It was a ritual sacrifice. Jesus was the lamb of God. He took on the sins of man and his death took those sins with him. Whether he came back from the dead afterwards or not is rather irrelevant.

Aside from that, the experience Jesus supposedly went through would have been extremely traumatic. He was betrayed by his friend and student, publicly humiliated, and tortured to death. Depending on the doctrine, he may have even spent time being tortured in Hell to undergo the eternal torment of every single sinner he saved, manipulating time to serve their sentences for them so that they may be free.

Even if he was resurrected after he died, he taught that everyone would be resurrected after death. That doesn't detract from the sacrifice of any other martyrs who have met similar fates in the name of Christianity, who also had faith that God would resurrect them. Notice that his time teaching ends quite shortly after he came back to life. His resurrection was to show others the truth of what he said, but he ultimately still gave up his mortal life.

So Jesus still suffered greatly in the process, gave up quite a bit, and even if he was resurrected he was still a human sacrifice in a religious sense.

Have there been plenty of humans who have suffered far more than Jesus's passion and execution? Absolutely, and I think Christians who romanticize the suffering of Jesus often inadvertently invalidate the experiences of people who have had it worse; that is definitely something worth criticizing, in my opinion.

Does his resurrection cheapen the weight of death? Of course, but that was the point.