Compared With Christian Idea of Atonement
While Christianity developed its concept of atonement out of the same roots in the Hebrew Bible (Christian Old Testament), the different theology of Christianity led it to develop that concept in ways distinctly different from Judaism. In Christianity atonement refers to the forgiving or pardoning of sin through the death of Jesus Christ by crucifixion. To some, this death is viewed as human sacrifice, and since the Hebrew Bible states that human sacrifice is an abomination in the sight of God (Lev. 18:21, 20:2-5, Deu. 12:31, Jer. 32:34-35), is a problematic view of atonement for many Jewish people. However, Christians believe that Jesus is God and therefore, no "human" sacrifice exists and Jewish law does not apply. Also, all the passages cited refer to paganism, most of which are specified as offering to Molech and Baal. The error was offering sacrificing to false gods, in the name of false gods, and therefore straying from Hebrew/Jewish worship of Yahweh. According to Jewish law, the blood of the atoning sacrifice was to be offered on the altar of the temple (Ex. 30:10, Lev. 16) and Jesus was crucified outside the temple. Moreover, the prophet Ezekiel speaks out against the idea of vicarious atonement, where one person can suffer punishment for another person's sin: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him" (Eze. 18:20). Thus although the Mosaic law prescribes animal sacrifices for ritual worship, this is by no means viewed as supporting the idea of vicarious atonement.
Read more about this topic: Atonement In Judaism
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