God told His people that atonement for sin could be achieved through the shed blood of sacrifice. Perhaps we can't know all the whys of God choosing sacrifice for covering sin in His plan for mankind, just that
that is how He did reveal Himself, as Scripture and the archaeological and historical records indisputably attest. The following link has some sample verses from scripture.
http://www.blueletterbible.org/search/translationResults.cfm?Criteria=atonement+sin&t=KJV&sf=5Also it is important to understand that the revelation of God to mankind was a progressive revelation that took place over 1600 years, from when mankind were desert dwelling nomads, until the first century when we had become a highly developed civilization.
http://islamchristianforum.com/index.php?topic=935.0God revealed Himself to us through two covenants. What we call the Old Covenant that He had with His chosen people,
http://islamchristianforum.com/index.php?topic=519.0And a new covenant, that was prophesied in the Old Covenant, that included Gentiles into God's plan of salvation.
http://islamchristianforum.com/index.php?topic=537.0Early in the old covenant God revealed that the blood of sacrificed animals could serve as sin offerings.
http://islamchristianforum.com/index.php?topic=930.0The following Bible search link contains many sample verses that you can click on individually, to read them in their broader context.
http://www.blueletterbible.org/search/translationResults.cfm?Criteria=sin+offering&t=KJV&sf=5About 3,000 years ago, God instructed His old covenant people to build a tabernacle (completed in about 970 BC), in which the focus was an alter on which animals were to be sacrificed as a sin offering by ordained
levites (Hebrew tribe of Levi), according to specific instructions that God gave His chosen people of that covenant.
The concept of the blood of sacrifice is not an unfamiliar to Muslims since they sacrifice animals on a hill called
Mina during Hajj, as well as believing that the first drop of blood shed by a Muslim so-called martyr, who is inadvertently killed while engaged in imperialistic conquest, will have all his sins forgiven by having shed that blood. Tragically, Muslims have been taught that
walking around the Kaaba seven times, kissing the black stone, traveling
from hill to hill near Mecca, casting stones and
cutting their hair provides
remission of sin.
The following link contains several Bible verses of temple building details that God dictated. You can click each to read them in context.
http://www.blueletterbible.org/search/translationResults.cfm?Criteria=tabernacle&t=KJV&sf=5A Wikipedia article on the tabernacle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon%27s_Temple
Of course the temple mount still stands - in part - unto this day, though Muslims are doing everything in their power to destroy the remnants of the archaeological remains of the temple foundations and such.
http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=136&view=item&idx=516http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=temple%20mount%20&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi
http://lonelymanofcake.wordpress.com/2007/02/08/the-truth-about-the-temple-mount-excavations/During that covenant many of God's chosen people, the Jews, repeatedly disobeyed God by wandering off into idolatry and such, and were severely punished repeatedly, including an over
2500 year period in which they would not be in control of their
covenant land.
As a result of their disobedience, and difficulties in keeping the law, in about 626BC Jeremiah was given a prophecy regarding a new covenant, that would come in the future.
Jeremiah 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day [that] I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: {although...: or, should I have continued an husband unto them?} 33 But this [shall be] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. Many hundreds of years later that new covenant was fulfilled by Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who eventually became the
one sacrifice for all that have faith in His shed blood.
Romans 3:25
Whom God hath set forth [to be] a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; Hebrews 10:12
But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; Hebrews 12:24
And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than [that of] Abel.Hebrews 9:22
And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.Luke 23:46
And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.John 19:30
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.Mark 15:39
And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.Jinn channeled through Mohammed:
Surah 4:157
That they said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah";- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:-Who but someone inspired by Satan would prevent Muslims from being covered by the blood that would save them?
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Indeed while Mohammed filled his followers with complete resolve as to
who didn't die on the cross, he left a complete vacuum as to
who did die on the cross. If you ask Muslims who was crucified you will find that they "....
are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow...". Thus we see that Mohammed's is the only anti-another-religion, religion. It is to Christianity as the negative is to a photograph. Rejecting ALL of the new covenant prophets and witnesses of Jesus, in a single surah.
2Pe 2:1
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.Hebrews 10:29
Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?http://www.israelinbibleprophecy.com/the_lamb_slain.htm1Timothy 3:16
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.Surah 9.30
The Jews call 'Uzair a son of God, and the Christians call Christ the Son of God. That is a saying from their mouth; (In this) they but imitate what the Unbelievers of old used to say. God's curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth!Mark 12:30
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this [is] the first commandment. 31 And the second [is] like, [namely] this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.If you are going to believe Mohammed's rewriting of history, and ignore Jesus' death on the Cross and resurrection, there is no point in looking into the New Testament further. This is what it's all about, as confirmed by ALL of the new covenant prophets and witnesses.
http://www.islamandthetruth.com/the_lamb_slain.htmThe concept of real martyrdom is difficult for Muslims to understand, because Muhammad taught that martyrdom is achieved when someone is killed inadvertently, while in the act of murdering others through imperialistic conquest. But real martyrdom is achieved, for example, when an completely innocent person is killed, simply for the beliefs one holds. Just as Christians and Jews (and all the rest of non-Muslims) have been murdered by Muslims, over the last 1400 years. Like Christian pastors and others being crucified in the Sudan today by the hand of Islam. The perpetrators are GOOD Muslims following in the footsteps of their false prophet.
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=pastor+crucified+sudan&aq=f&aqi=&oq=&fp=df82d86320cf60e9Surah 9.29
Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. 30 The Jews call 'Uzair a son of Allah, and the Christians call Christ the son of Allah. That is a saying from their mouth; (in this) they but imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say. Allah's curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth! http://islamchristianforum.com/index.php?topic=856.0Mohammed convinced those poor followers that the only guarantee of paradise is achieved if one is martyred. Otherwise, when you die you are put on "Allah's" good/bad scale. Indeed the Quran degrades those who go through life without fighting in Allah's cause. That's why so many young Muslims that live in Muslim controlled countries, that recognize they have been leading sinful lives, travel to foreign lands to fight in the hopes that they will be "martyred" while killing others. That's also why they are willing to put on a suicide/homicide belt to blow themselves up in a bus load of Jewish school children.
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=first+drop+of+blood+martyr+paradise&aq=f&aqi=&oq=&fp=df82d86320cf60e9What good Muslims today refer to as "Islamic awakening".
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alminbar.com%2Fkhutbaheng%2F1478.htm&aq=f&aqi=&oq=&fp=df82d86320cf60e9The Christian martyr says "I will die for what I believe in."
The Muslim so-called martyr says "You will die for what I believe in."
For the last 2,000 years Christian martyrs have been murdered all around the world, simply for refusing to deny their faith, in the shed blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Our Jewish brethren have been martyred over the last 3500 years.
