CIRA International discuss Jewish law; Jesus the perfect sacrifice?

In answer to the video "Islamic Original Sin Dilemma: Introduction: Are Muslims Born Sinless?"

The true failure of the Greek writers of the NT rests in their misunderstanding of the Hebrew sacrificial system, leading to a convoluted combination of the Jewish scriptures with their Hellenistic theological background of God incarnate and human sacrifice:

-Jesus wasnt perfect, unblemished as required for an offering Lev1:3,4:3,22:18-25,Deut17:1. He was beaten, scourged before his sacrifice Matt26:67,27:26,30-31,Mk14:65,15:15-20,Lk22:63,Jn18:22,19:1,3. How could God accept an offering that was beaten and humiliated, most of all "offered" by pagans. Animals do not sin. When the HB speaks of an animal without blemish, it is from a physical aspect, not metaphorical, ie sin blemishes. Also Jesus was circumcised, which is according to the NT itself, a mutilation Phil3:2,Gal5:12 (where did the foreskin of the everlasting God go to by the way?). Paul's priority was gentile, and more particularily Greek and Helenized people's conversions, hence that depiction of circumcision. The Greeks abhorred, and eventually outlawed it, which helped cause the Bar Kokhba revolt. Some Jews fearing persecution began calling for the removal of only a part of the prepuce, and some Hellenized Jews attempted to look uncircumcised by stretching the extant parts of their foreskins.

Continuing with what constitutes a valid offering in Jewish law, in case of mammal offerings (bulls, lambs, etc.) the offering must be less than one year old, having cloven hooves and chew cud and death must be caused by a sharp, perfect blade cutting across the neck, resulting in blood loss and swift death. Lev4:27-29 also states that, logically, sin offering must be brought forth by the person seeking atonement, and slaughtered either by the sinner or by the (Aaronic) priest. Jesus was of the tribe of Judah. All sacrifices, logicaly are offered by man to God, and never the other way around, by God to man.

It is mankind that needs sacrifices to understand the value of life, giving up something of value for the betterment of our spiritual selves.

That is the essence of why sacrifices were instituted, not to appease a vengeful deity whose anger towards His creatures' sins can only be abated with blood.

A physically blemished animal isnt difficult for its owner to sacrifice, because it has lost its value to the farmer, becoming among his least valuable assets. God points that reality to the half-hearted priests who offered their worthless animals in sacrifice

Mal1:8-14"When you offer a blind [animal] for a sacrifice, is there nothing wrong? And when you offer a lame or a sick one, is there nothing wrong? Were you to offer it to your governor, would he accept you or would he favor you? says the Lord of Hosts..And you brought that which was taken by violence, and the lame and the sick. And you bring an offering-will I accept it from your hand? says the Lord. And cursed is he who deals craftily; although there is a ram in his flock, he vows and sacrifices a blemished one. For I am a great King, says the Lord of Hosts, and My Name is feared among the nations".

Definately, YHWH lays great stress on the quality of the offering to Him. And yet, assuming for argument's sake that God making an offering to the humans is a valid concept, He is not capable to reciprocate and instead offers a badly damaged sacrifice?


The strength of an animal, one that can be used for multiple tasks, relies on it being 'unblemished'. As the Torah states in regards to the firstborn, which is offered for sacrifice, he is the strength of the family. An elder son carried on the family tradition and assisted the father in his tasks, which parallels with Abraham's binding of his firstborn Ishmael, not Isaac. The near human sacrifice was stopped, substituted by a ram. It was a test of Abraham's trust in God and had nothing to do with sin atonement, as retrospectively claimed by the NT writers that applied the incident to Jesus' death. Where, as a side note, in Torah does God prescribe humans as appropriate for sin sacrifice?

Instead we read that human sacrifices of any kind is a forbidden abomination Deut12:30-31,18:9-12,Jer19:4-6. God's anger in those verses is because He never commanded such a thing, not because they were made to another deity. God did not command Abraham to sacrifice his son in Genesis. It says, to "take him up", using ambiguous words as a means by which Abraham's trust in God is tested. The purpose was for Abraham to understand God's will based on His former promises.