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Before proceeding, I must first apologize for dating the wrong month for
Yom Kippur 2023. It's actually in September rather than November.
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FAQ: Isn't Judaism equally as useful as Christianity for sinners seeking God's
forgiveness? Isn't that the whole purpose of Yom Kippur, a.k.a. the Day of
Atonement?
REPLY: Pinning one's hopes on the Day Of Atonement is futile. For one
thing: there's no one to perform the ritual seeing as how there is neither a
Temple nor a fully functioning Aaronic high priest on duty in Jerusalem at
this time. In point of fact, neither of those two essential elements of the Day
of Atonement have been in Jerusalem since 70 AD. But that's not the worst
of it.
The original sacrificial system was effective-- to a point --for addressing the
peoples' actions, and for sanitizing their bodies, but totally ineffective for
addressing the people themselves, viz: their persons, the core of their being.
When Adam tasted the forbidden fruit, his perception of decency underwent
a radical change. Whereas before, he was comfortable seen undressed;
afterwards he was uncomfortable seen naked even by his wife.
The thing is: Adam's moral compass went awry, i.e. his conscience became
humanistic.
● Gen 3:22 . . And The Lord God said: The man has now become like one of
us, knowing good and evil.
In other words: Adam began looking to his own intuition for moral direction
instead of looking to his maker, viz: Adam became a tin God.
Point being: none of the Levitical system's rituals address the corruption
inherent within the human conscience that came about by means of the
forbidden fruit incident.
● Heb 9:13-14 . .The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer
sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they
are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who
through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our
consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living
God.
The Greek word translated "consciences" basically pertains to mental activity
especially as it pertains to moral perception. So we're not talking about
outwardly sinful behavior here. (cf. Rom 2:16 and Heb 4:12)
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