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Please correct me if I misunderstand what you are asking. As I see it, according to judeo-christian theology, which I personally no longer hold to, the destruction of a living being IS the mechanism that God uses (or used) in order to atone for sins.
Very bad idea on my part to introduce the mechanism/reaction analogy, it's kind of a vague concept outside of chemistry (and probably in chemistry). I probably confused you and I know your response is confusing me.
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But perhaps you are asking what it is exactly that makes an animal or human sacrifice acceptable to God as a mechanism for atonement for sin. According to my previous belief it was my own faith in the sacrifice(of Jesus) that was the mechanism.
This is what I am getting at. Maybe you can explain that last sentence without using the word mechanism, since I introduced it without thinking of the confusion it might cause.
Are you telling me that God only forgives sins if the destruction of life occurs? If so, is this just an arbitrary price or is there some reason for it. Based on what you just said, it seems the story of Jesus is:
The Father needs to have a sinner destroy a life in order to forgive the sinner. Different lives have different values with regard to how much sin they atone for. Before Jesus, sins were paid for by the blood of animals. God wanted a sacrifice that would end all these animal sacrifices and atone for all the sins of humanity. So he sent The Son to earth in order to be tortured and destroyed so the He would be able to forgive all of humanity.
Is that about correct?
Also, did Jesus have to be tortured or could he of just been killed painlessly in order for God to forgive humanity? And, if we are going by the animal sacrifice analogy, why didn't the sinners have to kill Jesus for atonement? For instance, could anybody sacrifice an animal and atone for my sins back in the day, or did I have to do it myself?