>>14289319 pb
>>"Our God is not an ogre."
The purpose of the cross was not to save you from your sin, but to reveal the invisible Father by saving you from your sin. The OT sacrifices saved no one. They were promises of salvation through the cross.
Elohim means 'God אל separated from creation י - which was finished by the son ם - by ignorance ה.
Israel means 'man יש joined to God אל by revelation ר .
When God created man, man did not miraculously know God. He had to learn who he was. God taught us that he is Holy through the law, and Love through the tabernacle and temple and sacrifices.
The laws against joining things like seeds in the field or materials in garments are pictures of joining Holiness and Love. We are prohibited from doing it because we confuse them.
When we see a criminal go free we do not glorify mercy, but complain there is no justice. When we are not set free, we do not glorify justice, but complain there is no mercy.
How can God teach us that he is both? He said Adam would die the day he ate the fruit. He did not learn of God's Holiness by the tree which was separated, so he was separated from the garden to extend the lesson. But he did not die. God provided the substitute for his penalty.
Abel sought a city (walled place) not made with hands. A garden has a wall vs. a field. He sought the garden not made with hands; to return by giving back what God had given to cover Adam's sin.
This is a foreshadow of the cross, a cross which is also a teaching that God is both Holy (sins must be dealt with) and Love (giving mercy to the sinner) by becoming his own sacrifice.
The blood of animals did not forgive sin, they were merely promises of grace looking forward to the cross.
God is not an Ogre. That he IS an Ogre is a strawman, built on misunderstanding the sacrifices. It is built by those who fear death. Death itself is just a shadow; not feared by those who trust God. It is a strawman designed to nullify the Holiness of God.
It is a strawman to promote the temptation of the serpent that you can become equal to God, and anything you do is acceptable because you determine good and evil for yourself.
The world is filled with insane people playing God (defining good and evil for themselves) and causing pain, suffering and death; but blaming it on God. Encouraging the insanity is itself insane.