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¶ … Blood sacrifice seen as holy: How did the ancients view and perform blood sacrifice?
What is blood sacrifice? Reasons behind blood sacrifice in ancient times.
Biblical use of blood, does this make blood a symbol of holiness?
Second position: Blood sacrifice as an evil tradition. What is the present view of blood sacrifice?
How are people linking blood sacrifice to identity?
What are the future implications of blood sacrifice?
Blood sacrifice has been a part of human history for countless years, going as far back as the ancient Greeks and Hebrews, whose stories documented blood sacrifice. Although some may see blood sacrifice as demonic and used to summon evil, in reality, at least in ancient times, it was seen as a way to connect to the gods, God, and it was seen as a holy experience. Blood sacrifice often involved the slaughter of an animal. Now people associate blood sacrifice to slaughtering a human. Although in ancient times the Aztecs were well-known for committing human sacrifices, even then it was still regarded as holy with sacrificed people often being willing to meet their fate as the sacrificed.
When blood sacrifice was performed in ancient times, it was seen as a way of communicating with the gods. In ancient Greek culture, blood sacrifice was not even a means of actual sacrifice as most of the animal sacrificed, was consumed. "Another striking feature of blood sacrifice is the fact that, in contrast to other forms of sacrifice, nothing is actually 'sacrificed,' or given up. The victim provides a meal for the sacrificers." (Sansone and Sansone 69) This meal is what often involved blood sacrifice, at least for the Greeks. It was a means of communicating with the gods and also allowing for respite...
All of it was a way to connect with each other and a means of fulfilling tradition and expectation.
But what is blood sacrifice? Blood sacrifice is in essence, a way to gain something. "Blood sacrifice ritualizes a human activity that involves the using up of something for the purpose of gaining something. In the hunt man expends a great deal of energy in order to secure the food necessary for further expenditure of energy." (Sansone and Sansone 69) People often performed blood sacrifice in order to get adequate rainfall, plentiful crops, and so forth. Even in recent times with horror movies and scary stories, blood sacrifice was used a means of getting what one wants, whether that be success or fame. The position here is that blood sacrifice was seen as a positive thing not just in getting what one wants, but in communicating with the spirit world or celestial beings. It was seen as a means of connection and communication amongst people that believed in mystical and spiritual events.
In fact, the Bible has always used blood as a means of consecration. "Biblical texts tell us that the sprinkling of blood onto candidates for the priesthood makes them holy, effecting a definite change in their status and identity, and that the daubing of blood onto the horns of an altar makes it pure, changing its condition." (Gilders 35) Blood instead of being seen as evil and delivering demonic pursuit, was and still is seen as a way to consecrate something. Blood in this context, delivers purity of purpose and desire as it is used to show the commitment and tradition of the person that uses it. But not everything positive is connected to blood sacrifice. And this is what the next position will take.
Blood…
References
Gilders, William K. Blood Ritual in the Hebrew Bible. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004. Print.
Marvin, Carolyn, and David W. Ingle. Blood Sacrifice and the Nation. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Print.
Sansone, David, and David Sansone. Greek Athletics and the Genesis of Sport. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1992. Print.
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