| thanny said: God cannot be near sin. This means that for a person to be with God they must be completely without sin. This is why the old testament has many laws or whatever about animal sacrifice. The sacrifice pays for the sins, and thus the individual can be in the presence of God. Jesus Christ dying on the cross was a sacrifice for the sins of everyone, making these laws obsolete. |
Ok, this is one thing I think I may of ignored, or at least requires me to address again:
1. In what way is a debt that is forgiven is "paid for". Where does it say in the Bible that sin needs to be "paid for"? There is a debt of RIGHTEOUSNESS that people own. Paul even writes to owe no man nothing, except love. One can argue that the death and resurrection of Christ fullfilled God's demands for righteousness (that and also the Holy Spirit in a person). But to pay for sin? The debt of righteousness is eternal.
2. As I see it, forgiveness is like bankruptcy. If anyone disagrees, explain why. I went through bankruptcy, and the creditors I owed, no longer could lay claim for their money. The debt was forgiven and no one is paid. So, how exactly were they paid?
3. In the Old Testament, you see that animal sacrifices were done to establish a covanent with God. They were done at the START, not afterwords. What you do see is sacrifices done over and over as people sinned and broke the covanent. They fell out of the covanent with God, and to reestablish the relationship, the sacrifices were done. How does this reflect paying for sin? I don't see it. If I am wrong, show otherwise.
Anyhow, it looks like this "pay for sin" comes from the "satisfaction theory of atonement":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satisfaction_theory_of_atonement
