Did Jesus know his death would only last three days?

[John 1720]

So when Jesus returns, does he reconstitute your old body? Is this a problem if you’ve been cremated?

Hi Sir,
God knows everything about us and about His creation

• (Luke 12:3–9 also )

• Matthew 10:27 “Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. 32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.

Before the age of modern genetics this was viewed as an impossibility that was mocked. In these days of cloning we know all we need to reproduce the body is to have the DNA codes so not so far fetched. We are, however, far more that a just pile of molecules to be reconstructed. We are body, mind and spirit. It is by the Spirit of God by which the renewing of our mind occurs. Paul tells us our identity is not in he body, although it is the temple in which God resides, but in the Spirit.

• Rom 8:9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

So it is the Spirit that we are the progeny of Christ and not the flesh. Think of it as a spiritual form of DNA that makes us into the Body of Christ as believers. God knows our makeup and creates and raises us recreating us with spiritual and well as bodily DNA - analogy only here but I think you get my drift.

• Jhn 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.

 

[ViaCrucis]

So when Jesus returns, does he reconstitute your old body?

The body is restored, and transformed. Resurrection is more than simply resuscitation, it is restoration and transfiguration; from mortality to immortality; from being able to decay to not decaying.

Is this a problem if you’ve been cremated?

The body decomposes anyway, and the constituent atoms, the matter that makes up the body, disperses and used in other natural processes. We don't see this as a problem for the resurrection of the body. Even right now the atoms that make up my body aren't the same atoms that made up my body when I was born; thus restoration and transfiguration of the body at the resurrection isn't going to be impeded by the body's dissolution either by decay or fire.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[John 1720]

But why bother with going to all that effort when he could have willed human salvation with no effort at all?

Hi Sir,
Questions like this presume that we, the creatures, are greater and wiser than the Creator and, in our simplicity, we believe that we actually know better than God. We might as well ask ourselves why did God create anything at all, or why is the universe what it is; or why does it have order in its universal laws in the first place? Science has only begun to scratch the surface at how these physical laws of the universe are interrelated and interdependent.

Then we come to the spiritual questions, realizing that there is both good and evil in the world and, in our arrogance, we seem to think that we can overcome it ourselves; even though all of us are quite fallen and have participated in evil of some type ourselves. We might be able to outwardly throw some spiritual cologne on ourselves and call it religion but the truth is manmade religions don't change the nature of the problem.

Now each epoch, or Day of creation, God declared to be good and when He created mankind He declared it was "very good"; for we were created in His image to tend the earth as the pinnacle of creation. God also gave us free will - which most of us wold say is a very "good" thing. Unfortunately freedom also empowers us to vector ourselves away from the love of God and commit evil. Should we question the gift of freedom as a bad idea? Hardly! For one thing it is impossible to reconcile love without freedom and I'll take love as being a very, very good gift indeed, even though only the poets have attempted to scale it in verse since Science cannot commit to something that is invisible.

However, back to evil. Once corrupted we cannot uncorrupt ourselves. It took the purity of God in human form to restore the image of God in us through Christ. Jesus had to overcome the world, sin and death for us to rise up and be made righteous again. It is very good that love and mercy triumphs over evil, sin and death. In this process then the Lord of the Sabbath has shown forth the Glory of God's love that makes the bright expanse of the galaxies seem dim by comparison. Love wins Larnievc and that is why we Christians rejoice in both the cross and the resurrection.

In Christ, Patrick

 

[John 1720]

Well help me out. I read that at least prior to incarnation he didn't know the experience of pain. That is something he did not know, correct?

Hi Sir,
Well not exactly. The answer would be "no" relative to Christ's in His eternal state but relative to time and to our context as beings within time, "yes".

• Rev 13:8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him (the antichrist), whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb (Christ Jesus)slain from the foundation of the world.

In order to understand how the Father, as well as the Son and Spirit, "Was", "Is" and "Is to Come" we first must have a perspective on the eternal, which really is not well understood, considering we ourselves are merely finite beings. Infinity and eternal and everlasting are all implicit terms but cannot be defined in finite terms. Suffice to say, and the finite linguistics get tough here, that there was something before what is termed the Big Bang, which we Christians simply call the 'Let there be Light' instance that both Irenaeus and Augustine stated brought about both the beginning of time and Creation. We ourselves didn't understand space/time as a physical property until Einstein theorized relativity. So we are very glad science finally caught up to our 2nd and 4th century theologians to square that one.

Now something had to be the first Cause that really had no prior cause. Since time began with Creation, and hence is merely a physical property, it's predecessor state was not subject to time at all but simply "was". We Christians recognize Creator God therefore as being outside of time. He is the Eternal God. Time is a subset then which comes from the eternal that is quite independent of time and is not at all constricted by it. That is as far as we can take it but suffice to say that when we Christians pray 'to Father God, "Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven", we are naturally referring to Heaven as the eternal abode of God replicating or unfolding itself into time here upon God's earth. Jesus spoke of this being fulfilled at the end of the Age, and highlighted the fact that this would not occur until after the Gospel will have been preached to all nations, or to be more explicit, all Ethne' or 'People Groups'. Time therefore must follow the completed and Eternal Will of the Father. What has and will transpire in time is somehow then sourced in eternity, although we cannot finitely grasp it all in its entirety. That Will also included the Lamb, Jesus my Lord, the Son of God whom was slain before the foundation of the world. Thus He knew pain and suffering prior to what transpired in time (AD 30), which eternally has already unfolded into time and which was written about both 1000 years and 700 years before it ever happened, pretty much to the minute detail.

That then would be the eternal perspective on this from a flyover level.

In Christ, Patrick

 

[John 1720]

Is it within God’s power to make a new rule to say that sin does not equal death?

Hi Sir,
No, the Bible explains to us that God cannot lie and it also explains that sin will always cause death. One might say then God is not omnipotent because He cannot lie but lies are not real in the first place. That is one reason perhaps why the father of lies the devil is referred to as was and is not.

• Rev 17:8 “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

God cannot lie

• Titus 1:1 Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began, but has in due time manifested His word through preaching, which was committed to me according to the commandment of God our Savior;

The truth is that sin is a departure from God and causes death and that's simply just reality - Anything else would be an untruth. If God were to make a rule stating sin and death are unrelated that would equal a corrupt lie. This is an impossibility for God since we know Him to be Holy, pure, undefiled, the Way, the Truth, the Life. The conjecture is therefore an unscrupulous incongruity.

• Rom 5:21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
• Rom 6:16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness
• Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
• Rom 7:13 Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.
• 1Co 15:56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
• James 1:15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

In Christ, Patrick

 

[John 1720]

I'm a father and I can't imagine myself demanding a blood sacrifice just to be able to forgive my son's wrongdoings.

Hello Sir,
I think that's a pretty defective analogy. Perhaps you might understand how it might be called a loving sacrifice for a soldier's last act to use his body to cover an enemy grenade in order to save the lives of his friends? Sin is like a grenade that has landed square in our midst and it is destined to kill us all exactly because that what sin does.

Now it is true that God proclaimed that sin equals death it because that is simply a true statement, as I said in another post. In God alone is life and He bears and wrestles with the sinner's heart desiring our repentance. His wrath clearly is against sin, which is both antithetical to Life and God. Sin both corrupts the image of God within us and destroys our lives, similar to the way rust corrodes and destroys metal. God's love was that He was willing to send His Son to be the cover for our sin. In that we see both God's justice and God's mercy.

Sin and corruption really can never be reconciled with the Holiness nor the Purity of Life that exists in God. The irreconcilable penalty is separation from God and that really is justice. Sin must be rightly judged by God, just as we judge the criminality that corrupts the very fabric of our society at large. We are a nation of laws for a reason. Lawlessness causes irreparable harm to our citizens so we therefore enforce our laws. In the same manner God cannot merely wink at sin nor make Himself a party to its allowance among us. It would be unjust to wink at all the horrors sins have inflicted upon others through the course of multiple millennia. Think of the chemical gas attacks on helpless children or the concentration camps, the killing fields, molested children, etc. Just in our time and the time of our parents and grandparents the sins in the world have cost us dearly. Should we have merely let those things go? Should we have just let them pass or were we right to address them head-on within our society? Unless we would corrupt the whole culture the answer is decidedly "no way!" Desensitized as we have become when we watch the 6 o'clock news and have even an ounce of compassion we are still horrified and angered. A Holy all seeing God who knows the details of the true horrors of sin and the terrible cost that it truly inflicts upon victims must be justly wrathful over sin then.

Justice is therefore a good thing but who will pay the price for the repentant sinner and the damage they have done? Well James tells us that with God Mercy Triumphs over judgment. God's Mercy was manifested by His great love in sending His Son to cover our sins and take upon Himself the terrible recompense of sin's debt. It is paid in full for all repentant sinners who trust in Christ. This is Mercy! The Love of God has therefore overcome both sin and death.

We owe a debt of gratitude to Christ and Father God, just as the soldiers who were saved by their friend who covered that blast meant for them. I can assure you that they owe a debt that can never be repaid and that they will both honor their friend and his mom and dad who instilled such decorum in their son that he would give up all he had in order to save them. That is why Jesus said,

• Jhn 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.

In Christ, Patrick

 

[DogmaHunter]

Hello Sir,
I think that's a pretty defective analogy. Perhaps you might understand how it might be called a loving sacrifice for a soldier's last act to use his body to cover an enemy grenade in order to save the lives of his friends?

I think that's a pretty defective analogy.

Sin is like a grenade that has landed square in our midst and it is destined to kill us all exactly because that what sin does.

Now it is true that God proclaimed that sin equals death it because that is simply a true statement, as I said in another post. In God alone is life and He bears and wrestles with the sinner's heart desiring our repentance. His wrath clearly is against sin, which is both antithetical to Life and God. Sin both corrupts the image of God within us and destroys our lives, similar to the way rust corrodes and destroys metal. God's love was that He was willing to send His Son to be the cover for our sin. In that we see both God's justice and God's mercy.

None of that makes any sense to me.
Punishing a scapegoat for the "crimes" of others, is anything but justice and mercy.

Especially considering that this god is supposed to be all-mighty. An allmighty entity, has no restrictions. The very idea that THE ONLY WAY he can forgive transgressions is "such and such", is nonsensical to begin with for that very reason.


You're just preaching your religion.

 

[John 1720]

I think that's a pretty defective analogy.
None of that makes any sense to me.

1. Punishing a scapegoat for the "crimes" of others, is anything but justice and mercy.

Especially considering that this god is supposed to be all-mighty. An allmighty entity, has no restrictions. The very idea that THE ONLY WAY he can forgive transgressions is "such and such", is nonsensical to begin with for that very reason.

You're just preaching your religion.

Hi Sir,
In your response back to me you simply pose a straw-man argument ( see 1)
I didn't say that - but you did, so I'd say you are the one preaching ideology not me sir.
So, in conclusion, you are debating a point I did not make by setting up your own edifice in order to throw darts at it. You would be better served sir by giving a reasoned argument from what I actually wrote instead of giving me a canned response from something that is completely tangential to what I actually said.

What I did say was that Jesus paid for our sin debt. Even with respect to my analogy I hardly think anyone would agree with you that a MOH soldier who gave his life for the sake of his brothers should be recast as a mere 'scapegoat' for his friends. He achieved a victory of love and redemption for his friends over the evil and death meant for them at the cost of his own life. It is an analogous example but in a similar manner Christ was victorius over evil. Satan has held dominion over mankind since the Fall. We are all fallen in Adam but Christ created a new risen man out of the ashes of Adamic fallen man on that cross. He did not return evil for evil but defeated evil with the all powerful love of God - sin and death were overcome that day.

I understand that those in unbelief reject the supernatural and possibly feels no spiritual poverty of their own thus having no need of God or a Savior. But I fail to see why they feel it is necessary to complain about how God provided the means of saving us through the love of His Son to pay a debt we could not pay ourselves, being spiritually destitute as we are.

• Romans 5:8 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
• 2 Cor 5:18-19 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
• Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
• Hebrews 2:14 He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might break the poweri of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil
• 1 John 3:8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.
• John 15:13-14"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.
• John 13:34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

If my grandson recklessly backs into my neighbor's parked car incuring $3000 worth of damage and although repentant he cannot pay them the choices for a remedy are:

1. Simply ignore the problem and let my neighbor eat the cost - but ignoring their loss is not justice and the neighbor will probably find their own way of extracting justice from my grandson. That shows no love or mercy
2. Ask my son to incur the cost from his own account making restitution for the boy while simultaneously accepting my grandson's repentance and allowing him to understand love truly covers a multitude of sins, thus allowing him to grow and be strong in love himself. I believe that provides a better example of justice and mercy for my repentant grandson who was simply not able to pay but will learn not to be reckless if he understands the cost.

Now all analogies will fail us and fall short, as they are merely symbolic of the actual. However from the inference I think you might be able to glean the sense of why Christians see the cross as a true example of God's great love and redemption and why believers desire to emulate John 13:34

• Jhn 15:12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

How did Jesus love us? He loved us by giving His all for us .If we truly are His disciples then we too must be willing to give ourselves totally to God's love for humanity no matter what the cost is - just like He did.

In Christ, Patrick
PS:
Some bonus material that may augment what I said

I think these women below get Jesus commandment pretty well.
Thanks out to Brinny for this one:

 

[DogmaHunter]

Hi Sir,
In your response back to me you simply pose a straw-man argument ( see 1)

Not a strawman, but a direct factual response to the truth of the matter.

A guy that takes on the "burden" of other people's crimes and is killed/punished for it.
That's literally punishing a scapegoat to absolve others of their guilt.

It's literally sending an innocent person to jail while letting a murderer go free and then calling it "justice".

What I did say was that Jesus paid for our sin debt.

How is that different?

I do something wrong and I get fined. You then pay for my fine. I no longer have to pay it - you already did. I get to go free.

You have become my scapegoat. You did the time, while I did the crime.

How's that justice? How's that mercy?

Even with respect to my analogy I hardly think anyone would agree with you that a MOH soldier who gave his life for the sake of his brothers should be recast as a mere 'scapegoat' for his friends.

That is not at all the same thing.
That's preventing people of getting killed. That's being a hero. That's an act of altruism. And a free choice on the part of the soldier as well.

To be analogous, then it wouldn't be a soldier throwing himself on a grenade to save the lives of his comrades.

It would rather be sending an innocent soldier to jail to absolve his comrades of, for example, engaging in a gang rape, while the actual innocents are set free. By saying that their "sins" are paid for by their brother in jail, who didn't even take part in the raping in the first place.

I can't call that anything but punishing a scapegoat for the crimes of others.

In your analogy, the soldier's act is an act to save the lives of his friends, NOT to absolve them of their guilt for whatever crime they commited!

I understand that those in unbelief reject the supernatural and possibly feels no spiritual poverty of their own thus having no need of God or a Savior. But I fail to see why they feel it is necessary to complain about how God provided the means of saving us through the love of His Son to pay a debt we could not pay ourselves, being spiritually destitute as we are.

I'm not complaining. I'm just saying that it doesn't make any sense.
Punishing a scapegoat is not justice.
The idea that an allmighty entity can ONLY do a certain thing in ONE certain way, is nonsensical.

It makes no sense at all.

Whenever A is doing the time for B's crime, justice is not being served.

I think it's immoral, unethical and it completely rapes the word "justice". And "forgiveness" for that matter.

Now all analogies will fail us and fall short, as they are merely symbolic of the actual. However from the inference I think you might be able to glean the sense of why Christians see the cross as a true example of God's great love and redemption and why believers desire to emulate John 13:34

I really, really do not.

 

[John 1720]

1. Not a strawman, but a direct factual response to the truth of the matter.
   
2. A guy that takes on the "burden" of other people's crimes and is killed/punished for it. That's literally punishing a scapegoat to absolve others of their guilt.
   
3. It's literally sending an innocent person to jail while letting a murderer go free and then calling it "justice".

Good morning Sir,

1. You did in fact create a straw-man to debate because I never said what you claim to be the argument. Please re-read my post.
2. I had a friend who lost his leg due to an act of recklessness. His father was so distraught when he they had to amputate his leg he pleaded with the doctors to take his leg as a replacement. It was an impossibility of course but an amazing demonstration of his dad's love for him. Jesus 'restoration of mankind to the image of God simply does not fit your narrative. Our sins had truthfully already separated us from God. How could they not? God is Holy, pure, uncorruptible, and what does not entropy with corruption will be everlasting - including our life in God. Juxtapose this with sins such as greed, deceit, pride and it's academic to state sin both corrupts us and the world around us. So you appear to misunderstand God greatly sir. It is our sins which testify against us and undermine our ability to participate in true and everlasting life. No wonder why God hates sin. Sins undermine the beauty and intention that our lives were created for! We were meant to have everlasting life and reflect the love of God in the universe.
   
   • Isa 59:12 For our transgressions are multiplied before You And our sins testify against us; For our transgressions are with us, And as for our iniquities, we know them:
   • BUT
   • Psa 103:10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities.

How is that different?

I do something wrong and I get fined. You then pay for my fine. I no longer have to pay it - you already did. I get to go free.

You have become my scapegoat. You did the time, while I did the crime.

How's that justice? How's that mercy?​

You make the same mistake in applying your scapegoat conjecture. When you tell a half-truth it really is no truth at all. The devil told a half-truth to Eve in the garden when he said "you shall surely not die" at the cusp of her entering into disobedience and corruption. Yes, her physical life would not expire in the same day, so the lie was half true, but her spiritual life in God died that very same day and this was what God meant. Just like a rose is dependent upon the nourished soil in which is grows and blossoms. Once it is plucked from the ground it is really in the process of dying and has been transferred from sustained life unto death. So too is mankind or humankind in its sins. This could only be reversed by the victory of Christ upon the cross - the love of God overcame sin and death that day and when He rose so did the hope for fallen man.

My analogy of the lad also included the condition that he was truly repentant. He was simply just not able to pay, something your analysis did not include. In the case of the cross only perfect love could overcome sin and death. All of us fall short of that, hence we could not fix it without Divine intervention and Jesus was both man and God. In the case of my former analogy the father paid for the son knowing the son desired to make it right but was financially unable. This shows the greater understanding and wisdom of the father not the half truth you seem bent on propagating that the son made the dad his scapegoat. Understanding the Scriptures is the key to your dilemma and your harsh treatment of the cross and the love of God displayed for all mankind, because God desires all of us to come to repentance through it. St. Paul also was once harsh in criticizing the way of the cross but came to the truth. We all can for God has made a way where there was no way. A godly man does not wish to see anyone die in their sins but does desire that they would have everlasting life in the love of God through Christ our Lord.

• Mat 22:29 Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.
• 2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

1. That is not at all the same thing. That's preventing people of getting killed. That's being a hero. That's an act of altruism. And a free choice on the part of the soldier as well.
2. To be analogous, then it wouldn't be a soldier throwing himself on a grenade to save the lives of his comrades.
3. It would rather be sending an innocent soldier to jail to absolve his comrades of, for example, engaging in a gang rape, while the actual innocents are set free. By saying that their "sins" are paid for by their brother in jail, who didn't even take part in the raping in the first place. I can't call that anything but punishing a scapegoat for the crimes of others.
4. In your analogy, the soldier's act is an act to save the lives of his friends, NOT to absolve them of their guilt for whatever crime they commited! I'm not complaining. I'm just saying that it doesn't make any sense. Punishing a scapegoat is not justice. The idea that an allmighty entity can ONLY do a certain thing in ONE certain way, is nonsensical. It makes no sense at all. Whenever A is doing the time for B's crime, justice is not being served. I think it's immoral, unethical and it completely rapes the word "justice". And "forgiveness" for that matter.

[/QUOTE

]​

1. It was also a free choice for Jesus. Surely like the soldier He dreaded it, as the Gospel accounts tell us, but knew it would enable the salvation of mankind. It would prevent us all having to die in our sins. So it is a good analogy and it is a true story of an actual event which brought me to Christ by a Chaplain during the war.
2. Sir, you seem to be missing the point that all of us were already dead in our sins, spiritually speaking. The grenade is going to go off impacting our physical life as well. It is only a matter of time. Which is why Christians are also instructed to warn with the Gospel as well as testify to its good news. Our desire is that all would be restored to life through the message of Christ because we love all the people God has created in His image even if they are presently our sworn enemies.
   • hn 8:24 “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
3. No, it's not. That only show a lack of understanding the good news of Christ Jesus.
4. No you are wrong sir. He took sin and death and crucified it on the cross but we too are also crucified with Christ and no longer live in the nature of Adam but in the nature of Christ. We are called to walk as Jesus walked and the Holy Spirit that indwells us helps us to do just that. Until you understand how the verses below are companion verses to the crucifixion you will never understand the cross. I think that is true for Christians as well. Quite often we just get it wrong and thus hinder our testimony. We need to not forget that we are called to walk the walk not just talk the talk. It would be impossible to do so unless Christ was living and burning in our hearts but He is surely with us. He is with us both in our message, really His, and in our love for the lost, really His love for the lost that has become our love. You see He did not leave us orphans but abides in us to the end of the age of God's great mercy of the Good News.
   • 1Co 1:23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
   • 1Co 2:2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
   • Gal 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
   • Gal 3:1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?
   • Gal 6:14 But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
   • Gal 5:24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
   • Rom 6:4-6 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
   • Rom 8:4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
   • Col 2:11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
   • Col 2:12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
   • Rom 6:8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
   • Rom 6:13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
   • Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
   • Col 3:3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
   • 2Co 4:11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
   • 1Jo 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
   • 1Jo 4:9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
   • 1Jo 5:12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
   • Gal 1:4 (Christ) who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father
   • Jhn 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
   • Jhn 10:17 "Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father."
   • 1Jo 2:6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
   • Jhn 15:4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
   • Eph 3:14-19 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

You can see sir, from the verses above that your analogy, from a Christian context, is really quite bankrupt. I believe it is entirely out of context with respect to the faith that the apostles delivered to the Church concerning the cross of Christ. It is true that the propitiation of the blood was used of the cover of the ark of the covenant in the Holy of Holies, but without the understanding that it symbolized the love of God for fallen man, just as the blood of that soldier is symbolic of greater love, we do the cross and the Gospel a grave injustice. We are to be participants in the cross and Christians through the world lay down their lives still today for their brothers and sisters in order to save as many as we can.
In Christ, Patrick