Jesus Died For Our Sins. At no point in any R.E. lesson did I learn how a man being tortured and executed was supposed to bring about salvation. The Epistle to the Hebrews explains the mechanism behind how execution eliminates sin:
In the olden days, Old Testament times, God granted forgiveness in exchange for animal sacrifices. The priests had a good thing going for them: they got to eat the sacrifices. Good way of getting free grub.
"Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins."
Forgiveness requires blood sacrifice. Thems the rules. However, animal sacrifices weren't good enough. Animal blood isn't very good at washing away sins; there was always some left over; there was always need for more dead animals.
"But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins."
Along came Jesus, the Ultimate Sacrifice, who willingly sacrificed himself to get rid of sin. His holy blood was so powerful that it is capable of washing away all sins (except blasphemy, oddly enough) if you are willing to acknowledge and get in on that human sacrifice action.
"But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins... For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified... He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption... For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood... We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."
In the olden days, God sealed his covenant with Moses with the blood of many dead animals. When the people broke that covenant, God got quite angry and went on killing sprees. But the new covenant has been sealed with Jesus' magic blood, not ordinary animal blood. If God reacted with killing sprees when that covenant was broken...
"How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?"
They will, of course, be tortured literally forever.
"Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire."
God is insecure about whether he exists, so will not reward people who consider this extremely unlikely. Even if they do good for goodness' sake, rather than for God's sake.
"Without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him."
All this talk of blood sacrifice has made me feel queasy. I am getting quite impatient with the New Testament. I feel like I'm reading the Qur'an again. Pages and pages of crap: sometimes I spot a semi-precious gem, but on reflection it usually turns out to be a sweetcorn kernel. Presently, I am unsure whether I find the Qur'an or the New Testament more unimpressive. If they weren't widely regarded as being written by a deity, I would have given up on them very quickly. I think my disappointment with the New Testament is enhanced by how much I like (maybe even love) its prequel. The Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) is amazeballs.
I'll be reading the Gospel of John next, which is widely regarded as the best New Testament book.
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