Human Sacrifice
Almost everything a man does is based on his belief and what he chooses to believe in. Religion, of course, is the primary foundation of all this belief. Little may we notice it and we may not seem to want to accept it, but religion dictates to us the way we live our lives. It tells us what good and bad is—also, which are good and which are bad. It reasons in our hearts though we never question it and that’s probably why we tend to be faithful to it. But disproportionate faithfulness to our beliefs can sometimes bring forth our own destruction. In every religion, there are sacrifices. The very basic question that one has to answer primarily is what a sacrifice is. Sacrifice came from the Latin word sacrificium: sacer, which means, sacred and facere, which means, to make. [1] Well, according to an abridged Webster’s Vest Pocket dictionary, the first meaning of the word sacrifice written, is ‘the offering of something precious to a deity or the thing offered’. The second gist, according still to this dictionary, is ‘loss or deprivation’. [2] Now, let’s focus first on the primary denotation: offering of something precious to a deity or the thing offered. Another word for an offering is sacrifice while a deity is a supernatural force that is present in all religion. Since these deities’ prowesses are way beyond human limits, people found the need to appease these forces in order for them to have a good and stable life. Herein is where sacrifices came into the picture. Sacrifices are perhaps the most primordial means of honoring divine beings. But how do you honor a being that you believe is by far greater than you are?? Simple…
[1] Pohle, J. (1912). Sacrifice. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved September 24, 2008 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13309a.htm. [2] Merriam-Webster. (1989). Webster’s Vest Pocket Dictionary. Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.A.: Merriam-Webster.
Let us now put our
[1] Pohle, J. (1912). Sacrifice. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved September 24, 2008 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13309a.htm. [2] Merriam-Webster. (1989). Webster’s Vest Pocket Dictionary. Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.A.: Merriam-Webster.
Let us now put our
Bibliography: [1] Pohle, J. (1912). Sacrifice. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved September 24, 2008 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13309a.htm. [2] Merriam-Webster. (1989). Webster’s Vest Pocket Dictionary. Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.A.: Merriam-Webster. [4] Blank, W. (1998). Burnt Offerings. Retrieved September 27, 2008 from http://www.keyway.ca/htm2000/20000718.htm [5] Archaeological Institute of America [6] ReligionNewsBlog. (2003). Focus: Muti- The Story of Adam. Retrieved August 4, 2003 from http://www.religionnewsblog.com/3905#tools [7] Hooker, R [8] Meyer, M.C. (1995). The Course of Mexican History 5th Edition. Oxford: Oxford University. [9] Hogg, G. (1966). Cannibalism and Human Sacrifice. New York: The Citadel. [10] Strom, K. M. (1995-2008). Human Sacrifice. [11] Clark, L. (1996). The Sacrificial Ceremony. Retrieved November 2000 from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/peru/worlds/sacrifice2.html [12] Reinhard, J