Sacrifice (from a Middle English verb meaning 'to make sacred', from Old French, from Latin sacrificium : sacer, sacred; sacred + facere, to make) is commonly known as the practice of offering food, or the lives of animals or people to the gods, as an act of propitiation or worship. The term is also used metaphorically to describe selfless good deeds for others.

Theologies of sacrifice

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The theology of sacrifice remains an i.e., not only for religions that continue to practice rituals of sacrifice, but also for those religions that have animal sacrifice in their scriptures, traditions, or histories, even if sacrifice is no longer made. Religions offer a number of reasons for why sacrifices are offered.

• Gods need sacrifice to sustain themselves and their power.
• Sacrificed goods are used to make a bargain with the god, who has promised some favour in return for the sacrifice.
• The lives or blood of sacrificial victims contains mana or some other supernatural power whose offering pleases the god.
• The sacrificial victim is offered as a scapegoat, a target for the wrath of a god, which otherwise would be visited on the followers.
• Sacrifice deprives the followers of food and other useful commodities, and as such constitutes an ascetic discipline.
• Sacrificed goods actually become part of a religious organisation's revenue; it is a part of the economic base of support that compensates priests and supports temples.
• The sacrifice is actually a part of a festival and is ultimately consumed by the followers themselves; often this includes an element of redistribution where the poor get a larger share than they contributed.
• The sacrifice may be a sign of a covenant between a god and His people.

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5th November is Guy Fawkes. Sources indicate this derived from Samhain Fire Festival, as it resembles the Pagan sacrifice of the corn king!
JoHarmonyHealer (Jo Bristow-Watkins) Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:29:04 -0000
5th November is Guy Fawkes. Sources indicate this derived from Samhain Fire Festival, as it resembles the Pagan sacrifice of the corn king!
bing.com/ZH: OM revel in 'festival of goals' - UEFA: Talent combined with self-sacrifice – that was.. http://bit.ly/25mK2t
ZHnews (Zürich News) Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:38:07 -0000
bing.com/ZH: OM revel in 'festival of goals' - UEFA: Talent combined with self-sacrifice – that was.. http://bit.ly/25mK2t
uefa: OM revel in 'festival of goals': Talent combined with self-sacrifice was the recipe behind Olympique.. http://bit.ly/hedU0
ZHnews (Zürich News) Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:56:16 -0000
uefa: OM revel in 'festival of goals': Talent combined with self-sacrifice was the recipe behind Olympique.. http://bit.ly/hedU0
everybody please tweet nepali festival coming. involve thousands of animals killed as sacrifice. god wants killing? god don't bless animals?
raghavarajubv (venkata raghavaraju ) Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:47:24 -0000
everybody please tweet nepali festival coming. involve thousands of animals killed as sacrifice. god wants killing? god don't bless animals?

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