Originally posted by PinkFloyd
The blood thing has often disturbed me about my religion. There's a permanent sign at a local church: "Without the shedding of blood there is no remittance" (or is it redemption?) "from sin." I've always wondered why blood was so prominently featured in the Bible (not to mention other bodily fluids, but that's another topic.)
The answer I received was fathom. But that's true about the Triune God and some other things about Christianity.
I think it makes more sense if you think about it while also considering this famous Thomas Jefferson quote:
"God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion.
The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is
wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts
they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions,
it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. ...
And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not
warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of
resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as
to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost
in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from
time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
It is its natural manure."
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Thomas.Jefferson.Quote.EFEC
Also, consider these lyrics by Toby Keith:
American girls
and American guys
We'll always stand up and salute
We'll always recognize
When we see Old Glory waving
There's a lot of men dead
So we can sleep in peace at night when we lay down our head.
Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue by Toby Keith
YouTube
To enforce virtue, you must be willing to shed your blood. If you don't, the blood of innocents will spill. Blood must spill one way or the other; either the blood of innocent victims, or the blood of those heroes who try to protect them.
The example of Jesus and the symbol of the cross remind us that wonderful, noble people have sacrificed their lives in defense of virtue and love of others, and that you don't even have to be violent yourself to make that sacrifice. Rachel Corrie, the woman who allowed an Israeli bulldozer to run her over, is a good example.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Corrie
I haven't studied the Isaac and Abraham story in too much detail, but I suspect that the point is that it's wrong to sacrifice the innocent trying to ward off evil. Even though the blood of innocents must be spilled, the innocent blood that is spilled must be spilled by those who rationally choose to sacrifice themselves. Murder of the defenseless is not how one spills innocent blood in defense of virtue! God, as a symbol of virtue, will stop you if you try; if you do it, it is murder, and not virtue.