Are Contradictions Inherent In the Concept of "Sacrifice"?
In my sermon this morning I caught myself making what appeared to be a series of contradictory assertions. I’ve been pondering this for several days now and thought I’d “fly it by” you, my reader.
I preached on the subject of “sacrifice.” I did not speak specifically to the Old Testament “Temple sacrifices” as described and commanded by the Law of Moses.
I did make the distinction between “ritual” sacrifice (which may often simply involve going through the motions) and “real” sacrifice” (which actually involves freely giving up part of one’s own self for some greater purpose).
The Bible is clear from beginning to end: God hates “ritual” sacrifice (when done out of compulsion and not out of love) but loves “real” sacrifice.
Here are the comments that seem contradictory:
1. “Real” sacrifice must entail a genuine experience of loss, even, perhaps, of pain. If there is no genuine “loss” there is no genuine sacrifice. (Giving money in amounts you don’t even miss…..amounts that do not keep you from being able to afford everything else you want…..is not “real” sacrifice. Neither is giving away clothing that you have already worn out and no longer need or want. Nor is sacrificing something that belongs to someone else, such as when parents give their child the quarter that she puts in the offering plate.)
2. “Real” sacrifice, when given in love, is never experienced as a loss. “Real” sacrifice is always freely given out of a sense of proportionate priority. When something, even one’s life, is freely given away, there is no loss at all. (A soldier, for example, diving on a grenade, is not thinking about what he will lose, he is thinking about the higher purpose of saving the lives of his comrades. Neither does a husband, who gives up his job to care for his terminally ill wife, view his actions as being sacrificial…which, of course, they are….but as simply the right thing to do.)
3. Therefore. if you experience a sense of loss in your giving, it cannot be a “real” sacrifice at all because, if you have cheerfully and happily chosen to make that “sacrifice” you will not consider it to be a sacrifice at all!
HELP!
I truly believe that all three statements are true, both experientially, biblically and theologically. But clearly, #1 seems to contradict both #2 & #3.
Can anyone help me sort this out?
I preached on the subject of “sacrifice.” I did not speak specifically to the Old Testament “Temple sacrifices” as described and commanded by the Law of Moses.
I did make the distinction between “ritual” sacrifice (which may often simply involve going through the motions) and “real” sacrifice” (which actually involves freely giving up part of one’s own self for some greater purpose).
The Bible is clear from beginning to end: God hates “ritual” sacrifice (when done out of compulsion and not out of love) but loves “real” sacrifice.
Here are the comments that seem contradictory:
1. “Real” sacrifice must entail a genuine experience of loss, even, perhaps, of pain. If there is no genuine “loss” there is no genuine sacrifice. (Giving money in amounts you don’t even miss…..amounts that do not keep you from being able to afford everything else you want…..is not “real” sacrifice. Neither is giving away clothing that you have already worn out and no longer need or want. Nor is sacrificing something that belongs to someone else, such as when parents give their child the quarter that she puts in the offering plate.)
2. “Real” sacrifice, when given in love, is never experienced as a loss. “Real” sacrifice is always freely given out of a sense of proportionate priority. When something, even one’s life, is freely given away, there is no loss at all. (A soldier, for example, diving on a grenade, is not thinking about what he will lose, he is thinking about the higher purpose of saving the lives of his comrades. Neither does a husband, who gives up his job to care for his terminally ill wife, view his actions as being sacrificial…which, of course, they are….but as simply the right thing to do.)
3. Therefore. if you experience a sense of loss in your giving, it cannot be a “real” sacrifice at all because, if you have cheerfully and happily chosen to make that “sacrifice” you will not consider it to be a sacrifice at all!
HELP!
I truly believe that all three statements are true, both experientially, biblically and theologically. But clearly, #1 seems to contradict both #2 & #3.
Can anyone help me sort this out?
posted by Bird of Paradise at 8:48 PM
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