Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!ucsd!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: vm0t+@andrew.cmu.edu (Vincent Paul Mulhern) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Importance of sacrifice Message-ID: Date: 20 Jul 90 06:35:51 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 49 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu Hosea 6:6...I delight in loyalty more than sacrifice and in the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. Matthew 9:13 (Jesus speaking)..."I desire compassion, and not sacrifice..." Romans 12:1...I urge you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your [not Jesus's] bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Hebrews 9-10 explains in detail why the sacrifice of Jesus needed to happen ONCE. "He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for his feet." Hebrews 13:16...do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. I Peter 2:5 ...you, also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (It says THROUGH Jesus Christ, not OF Jesus Christ). There have been a lot of traditional reasons cited for repeating "The Sacrifice of the Mass", but not many scriptural ones. I think it is significant that there is a glaring lack of New Testament instruction concerning a weekly (or whatever) re-enactment of the crucifixion. Perhaps all the tradition represents a lot of human misguidance, and not something that God considers very important. God isn't up in Heaven waiting on the edge of His throne until the next Sunday rolls around so He can watch all the little re-enactments taking place all over the world. He's up there waiting for the Gospel to be preached everywhere, for His enemies to be made a footstool. That's what's supposed to be going on here on earth. If the Sacrifice of the Mass is 'the main thing', why doesn't the Bible make a big deal of it? Giving more weight to tradition (which is human) than Scripture (which is divine) is a SERIOUS error. Jesus said to remember Him when celebrating the Last Supper (Which was the Passover meal). Maybe He was saying that the Jews remember when God spared them death, but Christians should think instead on how we have been redeemed from sin. Through His death and resurrection. Basing the whole tradition of the Mass for ~1700 years on ONE scripture (Malachi 1:11) seems a little shaky. If there's supposed to be a perpetual, holy sacrifice going on among the Gentiles, well, doesn't Romans 12:1 fit the bill pretty well? Like, obeying the commandment to be Holy (by obeying the commandment to LOVE EVERYBODY) all the time? This is certainly a bigger challenge than it is to hold Mass around the clock.