What makes Jesus so special?

Oh, yes, all may respond, especially those who revere Jesus in any way, that's great. It is funny to hear of a 'christian' who does not believe Jesus died for our sins, its kind of like THE prerequisite, imo. Of course, I can't argue it if one does not believe in the Bible for their authority. It is a hard thing to understand why God had to die, the best I can explain is that as a Perfectly Holy God, so Holy we cannot grasp, He must also be just. We may not understand why, but He said that sin brings forth death. The penalty for sin is death, it is just how it is. So, Jesus, out of love, paid the penalty, He died in our place. He being infinite and sinless, only suffered a finite amount of time, whereas we being finite beings must suffer an infinite amount of time. Did Jesus know He would rise again? Yes! For He said, 'Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.' In the same verses it says He was not referring to the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, but to His own body and death and ressurection. The grave could not hold Him as He was sinless. Jesus came to die for us, that was His number one reason for coming to earth, so He says in scripture. We dare not trust in our own 'self-righteousness', but only accept His righteousness freely imputed unto us, so we may stand before God. We must have His robe of righteousness, and His blood which washes away our sins to have eternal life in the presence of God. This is what the Bible says, and my authority. What is the authority by which others here go by, your heart, feelings? The heart is wicked and deceptive above all things and not to be trusted, neither should we trust in feelings or emotions, but we can trust in the Word of God to teach us all things God has chosen to reveal to us. That is my opinion anyway, just wanted to share.

lilithu said:

Why choose one over the other? Gandhi said that he was heavily influenced by Jesus' teachings.

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From what I've read, Jesus wasn't so kind to people outside of his faith. That's just my opinion, though.

lilithu said:

Well, first I'm not Christian and the OP did not state that I had to be Christian in order to respond to the question.

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I'm not understanding why you feel to mentioned this? I didn't question your intention behind the OP, did I?

lilithu said:

I find it strange given that I revere Jesus but do not worship him, that this would generate more disdain from those who do worship him than someone who dismisses Jesus completely.

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I'm sorry you feel that way, but do understand that any deviance is taken more serious then excluding it all together.

lilithu said:

Second, I know Christians who do not believe that Jesus died for our sins. I know them at my church. I know them at Georgetown. Heck, I've met a few on RF tho I can't remember who and probably wouldn't say (wouldn't put them on the spot where they had to defend themselves here) even if I did remember.

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That's fine, and I would tell them the same thing I told you.

lilithu said:

I don't believe that God requires a blood sacrifice. Sorry, but that simply does not jive with the idea of a loving, forgiving, compassionate God.

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Neither do I. If I believe that, then I would have to believe that God relied in Judas sin. What was required was his death for mankind. In whatever form it came in.

lilithu said:

I know that some say that the loving, forgiving, compassionate part comes from Him supplying the sacrifice Himself, but that still does not explain why He would need one in the first place. And yes, I do know Christians who believe the same.

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Christians believe in all sorts of things. Some stretch the poles so far that it's hard to identify them from others. I'll let God judge. As I said before that only his death was required.

lilithu said:

And as Ori pointed out in the OP, if Jesus had known that he was going to be ressurected that wouldn't be much of a sacrifice at all. It would be a farce. He did not know. He had faith. I believe that Jesus was so faithful to God that he taught the word of God, lived his life in God, and died/was martyred because he was true to God. It was not for our sins; it was for the revolutionary vision of God's kingdom here on earth, with everyone loving each other as they love God and themselves. It was through his faithfulness and the faithfulness that he inspired in others by his example that the Christ was ressurected as the living embodiment of God in the hearts of those who have faith. As someone else in this thread said, it was the ressurection (ie - the result of faith) that is the miracle. The death by itself is simply a tragedy. And yes, I do know Christians who believe the same.

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That is true. I could sacrifice myself if it meant I would be called god. There is enough volunteers that department. The resurection was definately the highlight of it all. I have no idea how I would pull that off... .

On a side note, I do resepectfully disagree about him dieing for our sins. There is no doubt in my mind that there is something to fix in humanity.

GeneCosta said:

From what I've read, Jesus wasn't so kind to people outside of his faith. That's just my opinion, though.

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Actually, Jesus was Jewish and his harshness was reserved for the hypocrisy he saw in his own faith. If only more people would reserve their criticisms to their own beliefs, this would be a friendlier world.

NetDoc said:

Actually, Jesus was Jewish and his harshness was reserved for the hypocrisy he saw in his own faith. If only more people would reserve their criticisms to their own beliefs, this would be a friendlier world.

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Yes, true, He jumped the Pharisees and Saducees, but the Samaritan Woman at the Well, whom Jews looked down upon, Jesus drank from her cup, which surprised her immenslely, and then, even though he knew she had 5 husbands and was now living with a man, told her how to have 'living water', and was kind and merciful to her. He also loved and ate and drank with the sinners and the poor, and rebuked the hypocrisy of the religious leaders. He also told the story of the Good Samaritan, who, again looked down upon, was the only one who helped the man who was beaten and robbed and left along the roadside, religious, pious, self-righteous folk having walked on past. Truly wisdom at its most insightful, Jesus Christ our Lord.

lilithu said:

Well, first I'm not Christian and the OP did not state that I had to be Christian in order to respond to the question. I find it strange given that I revere Jesus but do not worship him, that this would generate more disdain from those who do worship him than someone who dismisses Jesus completely.

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I hope you don't think I was asking my question with disdain attached because I was not. I was merely confused and surprised by your comments and wanted clarification. And of course you don't have to be a Christian to answer the question.

Christ's death on the cross as a final blood atonement for sin is CENTRAL to Christianity. If a person does not believe that fact I don't see how they can call themselves a Christian as everything revolves around that theme. His death on the cross was his reason for being here....for coming to earth as God incarnate. It was his whole purpose. The New Testament is completely filled with teachings proclaiming that tenet. Why do you think he was called the Lamb of God? Because he was MEANT for sacrifice.

Victor said:

I'm not understanding why you feel to mentioned this? I didn't question your intention behind the OP, did I?

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No Victor. I was still responding to Buttercup's post.

And yes Buttercup, since there is no question as to which Jesus we're all talking about, I see no other way to take your question than as disdainful.

Victor said:

I'm sorry you feel that way, but do understand that any deviance is taken more serious then excluding it all together.

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There has been "deviance" since the beginning of Christianity. But yes, it was also always met with hostility.

Victor said:

What was required was his death for mankind. In whatever form it came in.

Christians believe in all sorts of things. Some stretch the poles so far that it's hard to identify them from others. I'll let God judge. As I said before that only his death was required.

That is true. I could sacrifice myself if it meant I would be called god. There is enough volunteers that department. The resurection was definately the highlight of it all. I have no idea how I would pull that off... .

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From St. Paul:

"But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep." (1 Cor 15:12-20)

I take two lessons from this passage:
1) Even Paul believed that Jesus by himself did not have the ability to ressurect himself.
2) Even Paul believed that it is Jesus' ressurection that is salvific, not his death.

Victor said:

On a side note, I do resepectfully disagree about him dieing for our sins. There is no doubt in my mind that there is something to fix in humanity.

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Oh I agree that there is something to fix in humanity! Almost all religions say so. I just don't believe that Jesus fixed it by offering a blood sacrifice. I believe he offered us his teachings and the examples of his life.

lilithu said:

And yes Buttercup, since there is no question as to which Jesus we're all talking about, I see no other way to take your question than as disdainful.

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Then you are easily offended. If even after my explanation you continue to see my comments as such....you are easily offended.

Buttercup said:

Christ's death on the cross as a final blood atonement for sin is CENTRAL to Christianity. If a person does not believe that fact I don't see how they can call themselves a Christian as everything revolves around that theme. His death on the cross was his reason for being here....for coming to earth as God incarnate. It was his whole purpose. The New Testament is completely filled with teachings proclaiming that tenet. Why do you think he was called the Lamb of God? Because he was MEANT for sacrifice.

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I disagree.

Many people called themselves Christian 2,000 years ago because they followed Jesus Christ. The beliefs of the different groups of Christians differed wildly, but each group considered itself Christian.

If someone does not belief in ritual human sacrifice, it doesn't mean they're not Christian, it just means they are not your variety of Christian - the Christian sect founded by Saul of Tarsus.
Just because your sect became dominant and exterminated the competition doesn't automatically give you exclusive rights to the label.

lilithu said:

Well, first I'm not Christian and the OP did not state that I had to be Christian in order to respond to the question. I find it strange given that I revere Jesus but do not worship him, that this would generate more disdain from those who do worship him than someone who dismisses Jesus completely.

Second, I know Christians who do not believe that Jesus died for our sins. I know them at my church. I know them at Georgetown. Heck, I've met a few on RF tho I can't remember who and probably wouldn't say (wouldn't put them on the spot where they had to defend themselves here) even if I did remember. I don't believe that God requires a blood sacrifice. Sorry, but that simply does not jive with the idea of a loving, forgiving, compassionate God. I know that some say that the loving, forgiving, compassionate part comes from Him supplying the sacrifice Himself, but that still does not explain why He would need one in the first place. And yes, I do know Christians who believe the same.

And as Ori pointed out in the OP, if Jesus had known that he was going to be ressurected that wouldn't be much of a sacrifice at all. It would be a farce. He did not know. He had faith. I believe that Jesus was so faithful to God that he taught the word of God, lived his life in God, and died/was martyred because he was true to God. It was not for our sins; it was for the revolutionary vision of God's kingdom here on earth, with everyone loving each other as they love God and themselves. It was through his faithfulness and the faithfulness that he inspired in others by his example that the Christ was ressurected as the living embodiment of God in the hearts of those who have faith. As someone else in this thread said, it was the ressurection (ie - the result of faith) that is the miracle. The death by itself is simply a tragedy. And yes, I do know Christians who believe the same.

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Namaste, Lilithu.

I agree, and as usual, welcome your input.

I personally see Christ's life as a human incarnation just as anyone else's; i.e, with no knowledge of anything prior to that incarnation. Therefore, he would not have had foreknowledge of the sacrifice. I, too, believe that his life was as you described

I believe that Jesus was so faithful to God that he taught the word of God, lived his life in God, and died/was martyred because he was true to God. It was not for our sins; it was for the revolutionary vision of God's kingdom here on earth, with everyone loving each other as they love God and themselves. It was through his faithfulness and the faithfulness that he inspired in others by his example that the Christ was ressurected as the living embodiment of God in the hearts of those who have faith

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A lovely post as always, my friend.

lilithu said:

Well, first I'm not Christian and the OP did not state that I had to be Christian in order to respond to the question. I find it strange given that I revere Jesus but do not worship him, that this would generate more disdain from those who do worship him than someone who dismisses Jesus completely.

Second, I know Christians who do not believe that Jesus died for our sins. I know them at my church. I know them at Georgetown. Heck, I've met a few on RF tho I can't remember who and probably wouldn't say (wouldn't put them on the spot where they had to defend themselves here) even if I did remember. I don't believe that God requires a blood sacrifice. Sorry, but that simply does not jive with the idea of a loving, forgiving, compassionate God. I know that some say that the loving, forgiving, compassionate part comes from Him supplying the sacrifice Himself, but that still does not explain why He would need one in the first place. And yes, I do know Christians who believe the same.

And as Ori pointed out in the OP, if Jesus had known that he was going to be ressurected that wouldn't be much of a sacrifice at all. It would be a farce. He did not know. He had faith. I believe that Jesus was so faithful to God that he taught the word of God, lived his life in God, and died/was martyred because he was true to God. It was not for our sins; it was for the revolutionary vision of God's kingdom here on earth, with everyone loving each other as they love God and themselves. It was through his faithfulness and the faithfulness that he inspired in others by his example that the Christ was ressurected as the living embodiment of God in the hearts of those who have faith. As someone else in this thread said, it was the ressurection (ie - the result of faith) that is the miracle. The death by itself is simply a tragedy. And yes, I do know Christians who believe the same.

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Namaste, Lilithu.

I agree, and as usual, welcome your input.

I personally see Christ's life as a human incarnation just as anyone else's; i.e, with no knowledge of anything prior to that incarnation. Therefore, he would not have had foreknowledge of the sacrifice. I, too, believe that his life was as you described

I believe that Jesus was so faithful to God that he taught the word of God, lived his life in God, and died/was martyred because he was true to God. It was not for our sins; it was for the revolutionary vision of God's kingdom here on earth, with everyone loving each other as they love God and themselves. It was through his faithfulness and the faithfulness that he inspired in others by his example that the Christ was ressurected as the living embodiment of God in the hearts of those who have faith

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A lovely post as always, my friend.

Lilithu,

I agree, and I also know of Christians who do not believe that Jesus died as a blood bribe to God for the forgiveness of our sins. I don't believe that myself. I believe that Jesus died because we killed him, and we killed him because we didn't want to accept his message (and challenge) of love and forgiveness.

Jesus brought us an amazing message: that God's love and forgiveness acting within and through us could heal us and save us from ourselves. And that if we would allow this love to work in and through us and for each other, we could create "heaven on Earth". But along with this message of hope comes a difficult challenge. That challenge is to be the first to live this life of love and forgiveness when our fellow men and women have not yet become so willing, and thus for us to be willing to return forgiveness for their violent aggression, generosity for greed and thievery, humility for arrogance and humiliation (in essence, "to turn the other cheek" to our tormentors). And this is a very difficult challenge, indeed.

Jesus was the first to offer himself to become a vessel of God's love and forgiveness to this world and we tortured and murdered him for it. Which exemplifies just how difficult it can be to accept his challenge to love and forgive. Early Christians understood that this was what Jesus' life and message was about, and they accepted his challenge. But over the centuries, the challenge has become too difficult for many professing Christians, and so a religious dogma was invented to effectively eliminate the challenge of Christ and replace it with fantasy and superstition-based myths about Jesus being a blood bribe to God for our sins, so that we're automatically forgiven as long as we tow the dogma line, and so we no longer have to worry about the challenge. To my mind that's just ancient paganism masquerading as Christianity, but at this point it has become "Christianity - the Religion".

Which is why I'm not a religious Christian.

I'm certainly not going to claim that I can live up to Jesus' challenge any better than anyone else, but I can at least recognize and admit to what it is.

why was Jesus special?Well considering that his father Jehovah God ,said we should listen to him i think he was kind of special, and he was also special because he came down from heaven,because I have come down from heaven to do, not my will, but the will of him that sent me. John 6;38
Moreover, no man has ascended into heaven but he that descended from heaven, the Son of man. John 3;13
What, therefore, if YOU should behold the Son of man ascending to where he was before? John 6;62
So he went on to say to them: "YOU are from the realms below; I am from the realms above. YOU are from this world; I am not from this world John 8;23
Jesus said to them: "If God were YOUR Father, YOU would love me, for from God I came forth and am here. Neither have I come of my own initiative at all, but that One sent me forth. John 8;42
Jesus said to them: "Most truly I say to YOU, Before Abraham came into existence, I have been.John 8;58
In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god. This one was in [the] beginning with God. John 1 ;1-2
He that feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood remains in union with me, and I in union with him. Just as the living Father sent me forth and I live because of the Father, he also that feeds on me, even that one will live because of me. John 6;56-57 yes i think Jesus was special indeed............

Halcyon said:

If someone does not belief in ritual human sacrifice, it doesn't mean they're not Christian, it just means they are not your variety of Christian - the Christian sect founded by Saul of Tarsus.
Just because your sect became dominant and exterminated the competition doesn't automatically give you exclusive rights to the label.

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It is not my habit to be arrogant enough to proclaim who is and who is not a Christian. You can search through all my posts on RF looking for evidence of me defining an exclusive Christianity and you will find zero posts. In fact, I often say that it is not my job to be the Christian police. Ask anyone who knows me on this forum and you will hear that said first hand.

Yet, the message of Christ’s blood atonement for sin is such integral doctrine of Christianity that a person who wishes to be a Christian must acknowledge that premise or risk misinterpreting Christ’s entire reason for existence.

At the last supper Christ says this….”This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Matthew 26:28 NIV

“Christ was sacrificed once to take away sins of many people, and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvations to those who are waiting for him. Hebrews 9:28 NIV

…”And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” Hebrews 10:10 NIV

Jesus is so special to me because of this. He came to earth as God to sacrifice himself because he loves us so much. How can there ever be another manifestation of love so powerful? In my mind, there can’t be.

Buttercup said:

Ask anyone who knows me on this forum and you will hear that said first hand.

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Don't believe a word she is saying, people!

Buttercup said:

It is not my habit to be arrogant enough to proclaim who is and who is not a Christian. You can search through all my posts on RF looking for evidence of me defining an exclusive Christianity and you will find zero posts. In fact, I often say that it is not my job to be the Christian police.

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Yet you're doing a good job of it here.

Buttercup said:

At the last supper Christ says this….”This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Matthew 26:28 NIV

“Christ was sacrificed once to take away sins of many people, and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvations to those who are waiting for him. Hebrews 9:28 NIV

…”And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” Hebrews 10:10 NIV

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Hmm... one quote from Jesus and two quotes from Paul. And in the quote from Jesus, he was refering to wine.

Buttercup said:

Jesus is so special to me because of this. He came to earth as God to sacrifice himself because he loves us so much. How can there ever be another manifestation of love so powerful? In my mind, there can’t be.

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Great, so let's just agree to disagree.

Buttercup said:

It is not my habit to be arrogant enough to proclaim who is and who is not a Christian. You can search through all my posts on RF looking for evidence of me defining an exclusive Christianity and you will find zero posts. In fact, I often say that it is not my job to be the Christian police. Ask anyone who knows me on this forum and you will hear that said first hand.

Yet, the message of Christ’s blood atonement for sin is such integral doctrine of Christianity that a person who wishes to be a Christian must acknowledge that premise or risk misinterpreting Christ’s entire reason for existence.

At the last supper Christ says this….”This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Matthew 26:28 NIV

“Christ was sacrificed once to take away sins of many people, and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvations to those who are waiting for him. Hebrews 9:28 NIV

…”And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” Hebrews 10:10 NIV

Jesus is so special to me because of this. He came to earth as God to sacrifice himself because he loves us so much. How can there ever be another manifestation of love so powerful? In my mind, there can’t be.

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I think that I agree with you.

I would add the importance of Christ's resurrection and God's call to affect atonement. By call, I mean that I believe that God affects the atonement of Christ to all that he choses. First to those who believe in Christ, and then to all that he choses according to their faith and works... so I believe that the atonement of Christ is affected according to God's choice, but it's not Calvinism. It's a judgement by works and faith, but the faith does not need to be in Christ because of God's choice.

PureX said:

I agree, and I also know of Christians who do not believe that Jesus died as a blood bribe to God for the forgiveness of our sins. I don't believe that myself. I believe that Jesus died because we killed him, and we killed him because we didn't want to accept his message (and challenge) of love and forgiveness.

Jesus brought us an amazing message: that God's love and forgiveness acting within and through us could heal us and save us from ourselves. And that if we would allow this love to work in and through us and for each other, we could create "heaven on Earth". But along with this message of hope comes a difficult challenge. That challenge is to be the first to live this life of love and forgiveness when our fellow men and women have not yet become so willing, and thus for us to be willing to return forgiveness for their violent aggression, generosity for greed and thievery, humility for arrogance and humiliation (in essence, "to turn the other cheek" to our tormentors). And this is a very difficult challenge, indeed.

Jesus was the first to offer himself to become a vessel of God's love and forgiveness to this world and we tortured and murdered him for it. Which exemplifies just how difficult it can be to accept his challenge to love and forgive. Early Christians understood that this was what Jesus' life and message was about, and they accepted his challenge.

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Thank you thank you thank you! And thanks to Halcyon and Michel too.

I'm not sure that I know that he was the first. He's the one that we have recorded, and there certainly have not been many like him.

PureX said:

But over the centuries, the challenge has become too difficult for many professing Christians, and so a religious dogma was invented to effectively eliminate the challenge of Christ and replace it with fantasy and superstition-based myths about Jesus being a blood bribe to God for our sins, so that we're automatically forgiven as long as we tow the dogma line, and so we no longer have to worry about the challenge. To my mind that's just ancient paganism masquerading as Christianity, but at this point it has become "Christianity - the Religion".

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I don't think that it was just a pagan influence on Christianity, the way that Christmas trees and Easter eggs are. I think it was a misinterpretation of the Jewish tradition of temple sacrifice. (Of course, if you say that the ancient Jewish tradition of temple sacrifice was from pagan traditions, I probably couldn't argue with you there.) And I think this misinterpretation of what the temple sacrifices meant happened early within Christianity so that there have been, since the beginning, disagreements over what Jesus/Christ meant. From what I've read, the view we hold was more predominant in the beginning. Then with Constantine and the Council of Nicea, the "orthodox" view won out. And I agree with you that it won out because it was easier. It demands less. Instead of it being about our self-sacrifice to God in the way that we live our lives, it became interpreted as God's sacrifice for us, a one time event.

lilithu said:

And I think this misinterpretation ...

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FYI. From A Judaic Reading of the Passion Narratives by Jacob Neusner:People read the Bible and, knowing nothing of 2nd temple Judaism, don't have a clue what they're reading. The result is the most naive sugar-coated eisegesis.

Jayhawker Soule said:

People read the Bible and, knowing nothing of 2nd temple Judaism, don't have a clue what they're reading. The result is the most naive sugar-coated eisegesis.

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Wow Jay, you really do exhibit a hostility to more liberal interpretations of scripture. Fine, not a "misinterpretation" but a different interpretation. That's as far as I'll concede since your reference only proves the existence of a different interpretation, not a definitive one.

The biggest influence on my interpretation of Jesus/Christ is the teachings of my liberation theology professor at Georgetown who is also my current thesis advisor, so I don't have a handy web reference. But I found this:

"It is important to note that in Judaism, sacrifice was never the exclusive means of obtaining forgiveness, and was not in and of itself sufficient to obtain forgiveness. For some transgressions sacrifice was not even effective to obtain forgiveness.

"Jews believe that sacrifice is the least important way to gain forgiveness from G-d. Repentance is more important. Very few sins required sacrifice (per Leviticus). For example., the animal sacrifices are only prescribed for unwitting or unintentional sin (Leviticus 4:2, 13, 22, 27; 5:5, 15 and Numbers 15:30). The one exception is if an individual swore falsely to acquit himself of the accusation of having committed theft (Leviticus 5:24-26). Intentional sin can only be atoned for through repentance, unaccompanied by a blood sacrifice (Psalms 32:5, 51:16-19)."

and

"Many people think that Jewish sacrifice required blood sacrifice. This is not true. The primary commandment about blood is that it shouldn't be eaten. (Leviticus 17:10) "And any man from the house of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that person who eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people." This can be paraphrased: "Don't eat blood." The next phrase (Leviticus 17:11) goes on to say, "For the soul of the flesh is in the blood and I have assigned it for you upon the altar to provide atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that atones for the soul." This explains why blood is not to be eaten, and that when it is used as part of a sacrifice it must be sprinkled on the altar of the Temple. Note that it doesn't say, "blood is the only way to atone" it says that you shouldn't eat the blood because its only use is for sacrifice. Since this is a little confusing lets use an example: we can say that all little boys are people, but does that mean that all people are little boys?. So Leviticus says "Don't eat blood. You can use it for sacrifice," but it doesn't say that blood is the only acceptable sacrifice.

"What is an acceptable sacrifice? Well, we know what isn't: the Torah strictly forbids human sacrifice, unlike most religions of the Biblical era.

"What kind of sacrifices were allowed? Throughout the Book of Leviticus, only distinct species of animals are permitted for use in blood sacrifices. There is also atonement by a cereal offering (Leviticus 5:11-13), atonement by gold (Num. 31:50), and atonement by the burning of incense: "So Moses said to Aaron, 'Take a censer and put fire in it from the altar, put incense on it, and take it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them; for wrath has gone out from the L-RD." (Numbers 17:11). Remember that prayer and repentence must accompany sacrifices."

(from: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/judaism/FAQ/05-Worship/section-75.html)