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To: ChicagoHebrew
Incidentally, it is for this reason that the Christian belief that Jesus was a "Passover lamb who saves from sin" displays an incredible ignorance of the Torah and Judaism. The Passover ceremonial BBQ had nothing to do with "saving" from sin. It was a ceremony done for and in remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt, when the Jews slaughtered lambs to mark their homes, allowing the Angel of Death to passover them.

Nevertheless, it was the blood of the lambs that protected the Jews from the angel of death. This is a prefigurement of Christ's atoning death on the Cross.

The Old Testament does speak of the coming Messiah as a lamb, who will be slain as an atonement for our sins.

Isaiah 53

1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken.

9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied ; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

The Passover also holds import for Jesus teaching regarding the Eucharist.

Jews believe that the Passover meal "makes present" the Exodus, in a greater sense than simple remembrance, which is why many Jewish converts to Catholicism have less difficulty with the concept of the Eucharist "making present" Jesus' sacrifice on Calvary.

Additionally, it's important for Christians to remember that the lamb must be consumed for the Passover meal to be complete.

From the Catholic Encyclopedia:

A lamb which the Israelites were commanded to eat with peculiar rites as a part of the Passover celebration. The Divine ordinance is first recorded in Exodus, xii, 3-11, where Yahweh is represented as giving instructions to Moses to preserve the Hebrews from the last of the plagues inflicted upon the Egyptians, viz. the death of the firstborn. On the tenth day of the first month each family (or group of families, if they are small) is commanded to take a lamb without blemish, male, of one year, and keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, and sacrifice it in the evening. The blood of the lamb must be sprinkled on the transom and doorposts of the houses in which the paschal meal is taken. The lamb should be roasted and eaten with unleavened bread and wild lettuce.

The whole of the lamb must be consumed -- head, feet, and entrails -- and if any thing remain of it until morning it must be burned with fire. The Israelites are commanded to eat the meal in haste, with girded loins, shoes on their feet, and staves in their hands "for it is the Phase (that is, Passage) of the Lord." The blood of the lamb on the doorposts served as a sign of immunity or protection against the destroying hand of the Lord, who smote in one night all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. This ordinance is repeated in abridged form in Numbers xix, 11, 12, and again in Deuteronomy, xvi, 2-6, where sheep and oxen are mentioned instead of the lamb.

That the Paschal Lamb prefigured symbolically Christ, "the Lamb of God", who redeemed the world by the shedding of His blood, and particularly the Eucharistic banquet, or new Passover, has always remained the constant belief of Christian tradition.


114 posted on 03/02/2007 11:45:38 AM PST by Aquinasfan (When you find "Sola Scriptura" in the Bible, let me know)
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To: Aquinasfan
"This is a prefigurement of Christ's atoning death on the Cross"

This in my judgment, is an isogetic view of scripture. As has been mentioned before, the Passover event is not associated with the forgiveness of sins. It was part of G-ds plan to free Israel from the bondage of Egypt. Therefore the man from Nazareth can not be equated. Furthermore, if the man from Nazareth were to be equated with a sin offering, it would be done in the temple on the alter. He was instead, crucified on a cross, not an alter and outside the temple. Furthermore G-d expressly forbids human sacrifice. Since Christian theology teaches that the man from Nazareth is 100%man and 100%divine, he is being a man, unqualified to be a sacrifice. Even a "prefect" human, is still a human and therefore unsuited for sacrifice. And G-d nevers says anywhere in scripture that He will sacrifice Himself for the forgiveness of sins.

I also cant help but notice that you have highlighted portions of scripture which forms Christian theology but ignore the words adjacent, which refute it. For example, in verse 10, right after the highlighted portion, it says: his will see his offspring and prolong his days. Jesus had no children and died at a young age. The verse does not fit him. Also, in verse 7: he did not open his mouth. Jesus many times open his mouth during the trial and crucification.

119 posted on 03/02/2007 12:22:50 PM PST by blasater1960 ( Ishmaelites...Still a wild-ass of a people....)
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