Good question. Here is the answer in a nut shell.
This is an answer, I don't know about "the" answer.
God, according to Christian Theology, is perfect in his ways.
What does that mean? What is it to be perfect? How does one know if they are or are not perfect or even what the standard for perfect is?
He is the ultimate source of goodness, and he is also the ultimate source of judgement and discipline.
Only under his own definition of "goodness" and "justice".
Now, with that being said, he cannot allow sin to go unpunished, because that would contradict his morally good character.
Apparently he can do anything and everything, so I think that puts this comment a bit off.
The punishment for sin is death, as Paul indicates in Romans 6:23. After the fall of man, God set up a system to where a person that sins, in order to have atonement for his sin, he would have to slaughter an animal for that atonement.
Yes, it seems even as the Jewish tradition evolved into monotheism, they didn't quite kick all of their Pagan culture or religious ideals.
An animal is not a moral agent, so an animal doesn't "sin", therefore, the animal that is slaughtered provides a good atonement for the sin committed.
What? How did you reach this conclusion? Why does an animal not being a moral agent (something which is probably false in itself) mean it is a good atonement for a sin committed?
The animal was sacrificed in place of the human.
Why?
To give an example of this, considered what Job did, Job 1:4-5, "4 His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. This was Jobs regular custom.
I know the Bible is into ritualistic sacrifice, I never understood why though? Vicarious redemption is a ridiculous notion and one nobody to this day takes seriously outside of religious tradition. If I kill your daughter or steal your property and then Go ahead and sacrifice your dog to God on your front lawn, does that mean I am forgiven for all transgressions? Even if I did this over 2,000 years ago, it still wouldn't be acceptable. This is not the way society or morality works.
That is the general idea of how things worked for sin atonement.
According to ancient Jews and some Christians at least.
Now with Jesus, Christians are not under old testaments laws and customs. We are under what is called the "new convenant".
According to some.
Jesus, being morally perfect, is the sacrifice that Christians use for our sins, instead of slaughtering animals.
Something I have never understood. Why the hell was slaughtering animals good in the first place? How is upping that to human sacrifice better?
Since we all sin, instead of sacrificing animals, our sins are covered by the precious blood of the "Lamb", which is Jesus (which is why he is called the "Lamb").
Are they? How does that work?
And his blood is not only sufficient to cover one person, but being as perfect as he is, his blood is sufficient to cover the whole sins of the whole world.
You sure about that? Does this make logical sense? I vote no, it is absolutely ridiculous and it is an old pagan tradition that should have kicked the bucket thousands of years ago.
The only thing we need to do is believe that he died on the cross for our sins, and live our lives according to his Word. Another way to look at it is someone loving you so much that they are willing to die for what YOU'VE done wrong. That is what Jesus did. Understand?
I understand what you're saying, I don't understand the moral justification for it. If someone died or even just took the blame for something I've done wrong, I am still the one responsible, it was still me that committed the crime, it's just that some poor guy has to suffer for it instead of me. if anyone knew the truth, the blame would fall back to me, my friend would be released or (if he was killed) publicly exonerated, and I would cop the punishment instead. Jesus can die for our sins all he wants, it doesn't mean he's done anything meaningful, he just took someone else's blame in the public eye and suffered the consequences that this(these) other person(people) are responsible for.
And another thing, you asked "why make a man...".....you have to realize that God didn't make Jesus. Jesus is in fact God, as John 1:1 indicates. This only makes sense, because only God can live life on earth being morally perfect and sin free. When i say "Jesus is God", that doesn't mean that Jesus is the Father. The Son and the Father are two different beings, sharing the title of "God", along with the Holy Spirit and all three are what Christians call "The Holy Trinity".
This now becomes even more ridiculous, God the Father required a perfect human sacrifice so he sacrificed God the Son to himself. What? This is not making any sense, he sacrificed himself to himself, to appease a debt that was owed to himself. I don't understand how anyone could believe this doctrine. There are positive merits in religion, even in the Christian religion, but anyone who ascribes to this nonsense is not heading in a good direction and I hope that they do not take the notion of sacrifices and vicarious redemption seriously.