Well, I Never Knew That...

So the Parsha for this week starts at Leviticus 1.  I have to admit, the old me dreaded reading in Leviticus.  What was the point anyway?  These were old statutes.  Old rules.  It made for good bedtime reading, you know, help you get to sleep faster.

But now things are different.  Now it has meaning and purpose.  Not that it just now received its meaning and purpose.  But I have.  And so to me, it is new.

One of the most life-changing passages is found in chapter 4:2, "Speak to the children of Israel, saying, 'If anyone sins unintentionally, in any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, and does any one of them:'"

Unintentionally?

OK, interesting word choice.  So what does a person do if they sin unintentionally?  Well, if the Temple is standing they offer sacrifices.  One can read further in the Torah about which sacrifices and when, etc.  But the important point is unintentional sin requires a blood sacrifice.


Now, I know that doesn't seem ground breaking to most people.  But for me it triggered the question that surrendered the life-changing answer.  What does a person who sins intentionally do for forgiveness?

So I asked a Rabbi, and his answer destroyed everything I had ever been taught about Jesus and Christianity.  The only prescription for an intentional sin is repentance.  The only.  Recall the story of David and Nathan.  After Nathan describes the story of the sinful person, David is livid.  But he is overcome with guilt when Nathan reveals that David himself is this person.  David is immediately repentant and Nathan tells him that God has forgiven him.  Wait.  No sacrifice?  No blood?  No.  David's sin was intentional and therefore blood could not cover his sin.  Only true repentance washed David's sin away.


I asked the Rabbi why God created these methods for forgiveness.  He said that if repentance was all one needed to do for an unintentional sin, people would be careless and sin claiming, "I'll just repent and no harm is done."  In there mind, there is no real punishment for their laziness.  On the other side, if all one had to do to be forgiven for intentional sin is offer an animal, people would repeatedly offer animals in abundance.  They would see the offering as a crutch or scapegoat to allow them to sin.  So only a true, inward change can redeem someone from intentional sin.  It is much harder to change one's sinful desires than to sacrifice an animal.


Christianity then can no longer claim its origins in Judaism.  It can no longer claim the "Old Testament" as the beginning of the Christian faith.  If Jesus died and shed his blood to cover all sins, including intentional, then it was done in error.  No blood can cover intentional sin.  But one may say that this is OK, his blood covers your unintentional sin and your repentance covers the rest.  But for blood to be accepted, it had to be shed in the Temple on the altar, which Jesus' blood was not.  Again, no atonement.  And this is assuming God would go against His Word and allow human sacrifice to take place.


A simple reading of what used to be a boring text.  Wonder where I'd be if I had stayed awake and read this years ago...???