One of the more enduring symbols of Christianity is Bread and Wine. As sacrifices to God they go back to our origins in Genesis and continued to evolve throughout the entire biblical canon. Bread is a representation of the flesh while wine is a refection of the spirit. It is no mistake that wine is mixed with water - the spirit can be overpowering and intoxicating to man. As a comparison, certain fundamental aspects of our mutual existence can also be overpowering.
Sacrifice seems to be a human reaction to the unknown with a physical element intended to influence the result. Early in the Old Testament sin was connected to the natural environment in a fundamental way. Men's actions were seen as influencing the environment that was governed by the unnamed God. Although there were two types of sacrifice handed down from Adams sons - cereal and animal - it was Melchizedek who focused on cereal sacrifice after the great flood. The animal sacrifice of Cane transitioned into human sacrifice that Abraham sought to overcome. This was done by a priestly sacrifice of a ram taking the place of his son. The concept of ritual sacrifice or the symbolic representation of an offering developed.
Lost in the stories and biblical symbolism is the idea that we can influence God and nature. The Old Testament struggles with sin as the central symbol that's at the root of the perceived hardships - natural disaster and human self oppression. The biblical references move from the examples of natural disasters and focus on human self oppression toward the end of the Old Testament. A notable example of this is the story of Job that bore a number if hardships not based on his personal sins but for God's glory alone. This was the cumulation of the sacrificial paradigm in the old testament, not a disconnect from the concept of sin causing natural disasters and social hardship but sin as a human commonality.
What Christianity did for the regional pagan concepts of sacrifice, having evolved into human sacrifice and oppressive patriarchal feuding, was to fulfill and bring full circle the oppressive social elements of a multicultural region and transformed them into democratic concepts. These concepts have always been opposed by leaders who consider the earth and its inhabitants as resources to be exploited but revered by those who have a fundamental respect for the earth and its multiracial inhabitants.
Although the fulfillment of these Old Testament beliefs found a regional history that expanded beyond the New Testament and the European Renaissance, what lessons can be learned that would allow us to bring together our modern Paganism? Not the notion of classifying people into a system of believers and unbelievers or Christian and Atheist. Nor by judging people as fit for sacrifice based on their sexual preference or other actions that should not qualify for government funding. The modern Paganism that I'm referring to is the tribalism that underlies the entire spectrum of communication and spreads exponentially using the disruptive communication tools that have become a norm. Although our religious history seems to frustrate our most modern science and our religious beliefs contain little room for measuring minute results, our conversion must include a forgiveness that does not sacrifice each others most cherished Human gifts. Each other.
http://io9.com/the-9-most-influential-works-of-scientific-racism-rank-1575543279/+AnnaleeNewitz
