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Sacrifice Essay Writing Guide

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sacrifice speech essay

Sacrifice is a phenomenon that is largely lacking in modern society. In the era of consumer philosophy and selfish goals, people tend to forget about acts of kindness that bring not material but moral satisfaction.

It is important to draw the attention of schoolchildren and students to a topic of sacrifice by assigning them to write academic papers on this topic. Young people can express their views and share experiences regarding parental unconditional love, spiritual growth through sacrifice, and examples of sacrificing in family and social relations.

If you are looking through this article right now, you probably have to perform a similar task. If this is the case, we recommend reading the whole article as you will surely find some useful tips on how to write about sacrifice.

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Sacrifice essay topics ideas

Got lost among essay ideas? Check out the list of the best ones to make a final choice:

  • Parents’ sacrifice essay
  • “My sacrifice” essay
  • Essay on whether or not you need to sacrifice for love
  • Essay about sacrifice in love and when it becomes unhealthy
  • Essay about family sacrifice
  • Essay about love and sacrifice in literary works
  • Reasons for self-sacrifice essay
  • “Sacrifice and bliss” essay
  • Essay on importance of self-sacrifice in different cultures
  • Essay about making sacrifices to better the world
  • “Sacrifice of a teacher” essay
  • Human sacrifice essay
  • “Importance of sacrifice” essay
  • Ultimate sacrifice essay

Topic ideas for informative essay on sacrifice

Writing an informative essay about making sacrifices, consider focusing on one of the following:

  • Different kinds of sacrifices that people make
  • “What is sacrifice?” essay
  • Self-sacrificing personality type
  • Ritual sacrifice essay
  • Sacrificial moral dilemmas
  • “What does sacrifice mean?” essay
  • Chronic self-sacrifice and its influence on mental health
  • Essay about mothers’ sacrifice
  • Soldiers’ sacrifice essay
  • Essay on sacrifice definition and etymology
  • “Sacrifice in sport” essay

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How to write essays on sacrifice?

The majority of students have to write essays on a regular basis. The main thing is not just to write some information on the topic in question but also to make it interesting and attract the attention of a potential reader starting from the first sentence. We have prepared all the useful information on essay writing so that you can craft a decent paper.

The following details should be taken into account while writing an essay about sacrifice:

  • The topicality of the problem under consideration. The issues raised should be relevant to the modern world or interesting if you are writing about a history of the subject.
  • Personal opinion. You will need to explain your stance on the problem and back it up with information you have found in the literary sources.
  • Small volume. There are no strict boundaries when it comes to the length of an essay, but 2-5 pages of text will likely be enough. Ask your professor about the word limit or simply request a rubric if you aren’t sure.
  • Narrow focus. Only one issue or problem may be considered within the framework of the essay. There cannot be many different topics or ideas discussed within one assignment as you will not be able to cover any of them properly.

Sacrifice essay outline

In general, the essay has quite a specific structure:

  • Sacrifice essay introduction. This part should set the mood of the whole paper, bring the reader’s attention to the issue under consideration, and consequently prompt him or her to read the text to the end. The most important aspect of intro is a thesis statement, which bears the main idea you are going to discuss.
  • The main part. Here, it is necessary to elaborate on the points put forward in a thesis statement using factual information found in credible sources. However, you should not operate with facts alone – add your analysis of what you have read and address the contradictions in sources if any. Please note that you need to devote at least one paragraph to each point made in the thesis to effectively cover it.
  • By summarizing what has been said in the main part, you will draw a general sacrifice essay conclusion. If the goal of the introduction is to attract attention, then that of the conclusion is to ensure integrity of the overall paper and leave no doubts about the legitimacy or viability of the ideas expressed in the body of the paper. How to wrap up an essay about sacrifice so that your reader has a good impression? Leave him or her some food for thought!

Brainstorming sacrifice essay titles

The last thing you need to do after you are done with your paper is create a good title for a sacrifice essay. At this point, you will already know the subject under the research perfectly, which will make it easier to come up with a short title that will show what exactly you have reviewed in the paper. Use your thesis statement to guide yourself, and think about some common phrases people use when talking about the topic to rework them into your title.

How to write a sacrifice essay: Best tips

  • Speak you mind. This particular type of writing gives you an opportunity to say what you really think about the topic. Make your voice heard in your sacrifice essay!
  • Mind your language. It’s very important to find a balance as your language should be neither too scientific nor too elevated. Slang words are not acceptable as well – try writing as if you are having a conversation with your professor and are trying to sound convincing.
  • Spend some time researching. Whether it’s a sacrifice research paper or an essay, you need to focus a lot of your attention on finding credible sources. So, conduct some research on sacrifice topic on the Web and try reading journal articles rather than news or blog posts. 
  • Proofread your writing. After writing the first draft, let it rest for a day or two and then proofread it with a fresh eye. This will help you spot more mistakes, inconsistencies, or lack of transition between ideas and paragraphs.
  • Mind the formatting. A properly formatted essay will probably win you a good impression. Ask your teacher what style of formatting you have to stick to and follow all the requirements to the letter.

Writing a narrative essay on sacrifice

A narrative essay about sacrifice is a story about some event experienced by a writer or another person. A narrative essay is usually written in the artistic style. This means that it is necessary to use all the diversity of the English vocabulary. You can add conversational elements and descriptions to paint a clearer picture of what is going on to the reader.

In order to write a high-quality narrative essay, you need to follow these simple steps:

  • Select the event or a person which you are going to write about;
  • Think about the mood and the main idea of ​​ the future story;
  • Recall in memory all the necessary details about this story and write them down in bullet points to use later;
  • Create a well-detailed outline. Make sure it includes introduction (background), main part, culmination, and conclusion.
  • Use the dialogue or separate replicas, elements of description, etc., which will help you to present the course of events in a more realistic way and humanize the characters.

If you are writing a narrative essay on personal sacrifice, be careful not to overshare. You need to understand how much information you professor is comfortable with you sharing, and it is best to ask them what is acceptable and what is not before you proceed. If you are narrating a story of your friend or relative, make sure you have gotten their permission to do so, and, preferably, inform your professor that you did. Check some samples of a narrative essay about a family member sacrifice to see how such information can be conveyed.

There is a bunch of different topics pertaining to sacrifice that you might write an essay on. Whatever the topic is, you do not have to worry. It is quite easy to write a top-notch essay if you have sufficient information and know the basic rules of writing academic papers.

sacrifice speech essay

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College Essay: My Parents’ Sacrifice Makes Me Strong

Rosemary Santos

After living in Texas briefly, my mom moved in with my aunt in Minnesota, where she helped raise my cousins while my aunt and uncle worked. My mom still glances to the building where she first lived. I think it’s amazing how she first moved here, she lived in a small apartment and now owns a house. 

My dad’s family was poor. He dropped out of elementary school to work. My dad was the only son my grandpa had. My dad thought he was responsible to help his family out, so he decided to leave for Minnesota   because  of  many  work opportunities .   

My parents met working in cleaning at the IDS  C enter during night shifts. I am their only child, and their main priority was not leaving me alone while they worked. My mom left her cleaning job to work mornings at a warehouse. My dad continued his job in cleaning at night.   

My dad would get me ready for school and walked me to the bus stop while waiting in the cold. When I arrived home from school, my dad had dinner prepared and the house cleaned. I would eat with him at the table while watching TV, but he left after to pick up my mom from work.   

My mom would get home in the afternoon. Most memories of my mom are watching her lying down on the couch watching her  n ovelas  –  S panish soap operas  – a nd falling asleep in the living room. I knew her job was physically tiring, so I didn’t bother her.  

Seeing my parents work hard and challenge Mexican customs influence my values today as a person. As a child, my dad cooked and cleaned, to help out my mom, which is rare in Mexican culture. Conservative Mexicans believe men are superior to women; women are seen as housewives who cook, clean and obey their husbands. My parents constantly tell me I should get an education to never depend on a man. My family challenged  machismo , Mexican sexism, by creating their own values and future.  

My parents encouraged me to, “ ponte  las  pilas ” in school, which translates to “put on your batteries” in English. It means that I should put in effort and work into achieving my goal. I was taught that school is the key object in life. I stay up late to complete all my homework assignments, because of this I miss a good amount of sleep, but I’m willing to put in effort to have good grades that will benefit me. I have softball practice right after school, so I try to do nearly all of my homework ahead of time, so I won’t end up behind.  

My parents taught me to set high standards for myself. My school operates on a 4.0-scale. During lunch, my friends talked joyfully about earning a 3.25 on a test. When I earn less than a 4.25, I feel disappointed. My friends reacted with, “You should be happy. You’re extra . ” Hearing that phrase flashbacks to my parents seeing my grades. My mom would pressure me to do better when I don’t earn all 4.0s  

Every once in  awhile , I struggled with following their value of education. It can be difficult to balance school, sports and life. My parents think I’m too young to complain about life. They don’t think I’m tired, because I don’t physically work, but don’t understand that I’m mentally tired and stressed out. It’s hard for them to understand this because they didn’t have the experience of going to school.   

The way I could thank my parents for their sacrifice is accomplishing their American dream by going to college and graduating to have a professional career. I visualize the day I graduate college with my degree, so my  family  celebrates by having a carne  asada (BBQ) in the yard. All my friends, relatives, and family friends would be there to congratulate me on my accomplishments.  

As teenagers, my parents worked hard manual labor jobs to be able to provide for themselves and their family. Both of them woke up early in the morning to head to work. Staying up late to earn extra cash. As teenagers, my parents tried going to school here in the U.S .  but weren’t able to, so they continued to work. Early in the morning now, my dad arrives home from work at 2:30 a.m .,  wakes up to drop me off at school around 7:30 a.m . , so I can focus on studying hard to earn good grades. My parents want me to stay in school and not prefer work to  head on their  same path as them. Their struggle influences me to have a good work ethic in school and go against the odds.  

sacrifice speech essay

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Sacrifice - Essay Examples And Topic Ideas For Free

Sacrifice entails giving up something valued for the sake of other considerations. Essays on sacrifice might delve into historical, religious, or personal instances of sacrifice, exploring the moral, social, or philosophical implications. Discussions might also explore the theme of sacrifice in literature, film, or real-life narratives, examining the motivations behind sacrifice and its impact on individuals and communities. Analyzing sacrifice can provide a deeper understanding of human altruism, the ethical dimensions of selflessness, and the complex decisions individuals make in challenging circumstances. We’ve gathered an extensive assortment of free essay samples on the topic of Sacrifice you can find in Papersowl database. You can use our samples for inspiration to write your own essay, research paper, or just to explore a new topic for yourself.

The Book Thief Themes and Sacrifice

Gandhi once said, "A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act." This quote explains how sacrificing yourself for the good of others and showing kindness towards your enemy is an incredible act of good, because people are bringing hope to the world in a time of crisis. In the novel The Book Thief, a young foster girl […]

Sacrifice is more

Sometimes, sacrifice is more than just a part-time job. It can be a self-made life sentence, where escaping is not an option. In The Joy Luck Club, the vignette The Red Candle shows Lindo Jong's struggles of balancing happiness and her role of being the perfect wife and daughter. Disobeying the rules set for women that she had been taught from a young age would cause disappointment in her family, so she did her best to hide herself and fulfill […]

Birthdays: a Wish for the Gods

Birthdays are celebrated to remember personal achievements, show appreciation to those we love and care for, and to simply acknowledge our existence. Although lives are measured by the ceaseless passing of time, birthdays are a time to be remembered. That is how birthdays are defined in America today. The single day that all people have to mark a time in history, celebrate youth or adulthood, highlight milestones, rites of passage, and feel recognized; it is a celebration of life. They […]

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Probing the Depths of Sacrifice: Beyond Simple Definitions

At the heart of many stories, both real and imagined, is a concept deeply ingrained in the human psyche: sacrifice. The term itself evokes a myriad of emotions, from admiration and respect to sadness and trepidation. Sacrifice, while straightforward in its dictionary definition, carries a weight and depth that transcends mere words. Delving into its meaning, we uncover layers of complexity and profoundness. At its most basic, sacrifice is the act of giving up something of value for the sake […]

The State of Society and Sacrifice

When society is stable it is fairly good with little inconvenient bits of evil here and there but, when society is threatened how will people react to their each individual lives being threatened. Humankind is inherently evil because the entire population will fall into anarchy if enough pressure to survive is put upon us. Literature helps us understand this by showing us many ways the end of the world could happen and what those hours before would look like and, […]

Sense of Political and Religious Tension

"In the midst of the article, you captured a sense of political and religious tension. For example,“It was believed that crusaders particularly expressed their love of God in the way they became literally followers of Christ.” Smith goes into further detail explaining that joining their expedition and/or following christ gave them more reason to crusade among those who don't carry the cross. Christian holy wars from the crusaders became a popular event. Crusader historian Jonathan Riley-Smith, notes the crusaders strong […]

Dracula’s Character as the Anti Christ

"In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the antagonist, the ancient vampire Dracula, is an anDracula’s Character as The Anti Christ tichrist figure because he violates basic Christian values and is a tempter who, like the devil, wishes to recruit his followers by getting them to voluntarily damn themselves. The first indication that Dracula is evil or “unholy” is his dislike and fear of Catholic holy symbols. This is evident in his confrontation with Johnathan Harker while he is shaving. When Harker leaves […]

The Harrowing Tale of “Lone Survivor”: a Story of Courage and Sacrifice

"Lone Survivor" the compelling account of a Navy SEAL team's ill-fated mission in Afghanistan is a story of extraordinary bravery unwavering brotherhood and profound sacrifice. Based on the true story of Operation Red Wings the narrative centers around Marcus Luttrell the only member of his team to survive a brutal encounter with Taliban fighters. The story not only highlights the extreme challenges faced by military personnel but also underscores the human spirit's resilience in the face of overwhelming adversity. In […]

Glory (1989) Cast: Crafting a Tapestry of Heroism and Sacrifice

In the cinematic pantheon, the cast of "Glory" (1989) stands as architects of a narrative that transcends the screen—a narrative woven with threads of heroism, sacrifice, and the indomitable spirit of humanity. This ensemble, led by director Edward Zwick, brought to life the poignant story of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, an African American regiment during the American Civil War. At the helm of this cinematic masterpiece is Denzel Washington, whose portrayal of Private Trip, a runaway slave turned soldier, […]

The Essence of Sacrifice: a Multifaceted Exploration

At the heart of many of the world's narratives, both ancient and modern, lies the concept of sacrifice. This term, often encased in layers of cultural, religious, and personal significance, refers to the act of relinquishing something highly valued for the sake of something considered to be of greater worth or importance. The essence of sacrifice spans a broad spectrum, from the offerings made to deities in religious ceremonies to the selfless acts of individuals putting the needs of others […]

Operation Red Wings: the Heroic Sacrifice of Courageous Warriors

In the annals of military history, there are stories of valor and sacrifice that stand as beacons of unwavering commitment to duty and comradeship. One such tale is that of Operation Red Wings, a mission that unfolded in the unforgiving terrain of Afghanistan and left an indelible mark on the hearts of those who served. Operation Red Wings was a U.S. military mission launched in the summer of 2005, tasked with the objective of locating and eliminating a high-ranking Taliban […]

More than Meets the Eye: the Power of Sacrifice in ‘The Treasure of Lemon Brown

Have you ever stumbled upon something seemingly ordinary, only to discover it holds a world of meaning? That's the journey Walter Dean Myers takes us on in "The Treasure of Lemon Brown." This isn't just a story about a boy and an old man; it's a deep dive into what sacrifice really means and how it shapes us. Let's unpack this theme and see what treasures we can find. Picture this: Lemon Brown, a once-famed blues singer, now a homeless […]

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Speeches > David McPherson > “To Obey Is Better Than Sacrifice”

“To Obey Is Better Than Sacrifice”

David mcpherson.

July 1, 1997

Excuses may give us a false sense of righteousness, but they will not change the outcome. Truth, moral principles, and God’s commandments are constant. Our obedience to these must be exacting.

Isn’t this great! What a marvelous campus and community the Lord has provided us with through the dedication and faithfulness of his Saints. Indeed, this great campus is built upon the foundation of those who labored in the vineyards of the world. What a tremendous responsibility we have as an academic community to provide the best spiritual and academic education possible. As scholars in the Lord’s university, what wonderful academic freedom we have to teach revealed truths and principles as part of our intellectual experiences and professional knowledge. How much our students miss when we fail to encapsulate intellectual and spiritual growth within our scholarly areas. Where else can we so completely fill the children of God with wonderment and truths? Where else can we challenge those who will shape the future of mortal existence with the ability to think clearly, to think precisely, and to understand the nature and beauty of our existence? What an opportunity we have of showing these young scholars who come to Brigham Young University that intellectualism is about recognizing kernels of truth, and then using that truth as a matter of inquiry in understanding and improving our existence.

Science, philosophy, and politics may not permit us in an imperfect world to use revealed truth as a means of supporting a theoretical foundation, yet we can use revealed truth to seek ways in which we may establish such theories. Today science, as well as most areas, is troubled with falsifications, deceptions, and lies. Sports are plagued with selfishness, and commerce is plagued with profiteering. Isaiah was so clear when he wrote: “Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter” (Isaiah 56:11).

Our quarter is the Lord’s quarter—not that of our professional peers nor of sports idols nor of the boardrooms of industry. It is the Lord’s quarter. As professors and students at Brigham Young University, we have a tremendous obligation to keep that reality in the foremost center of our ideology and teaching. When we fail to do this, when we fail to be guided and obedient to correct principles, we lead ourselves, and frequently others, to failure. Truth is exacting. It is unchanging. If we understand that principle we can contribute to both the Lord’s plan and to society. If we accept that principle we can move forward in great strides, accomplishing much. But if we “kick against the pricks” (Acts 9:5), our energy becomes dispersed and we lose that momentum, ending up with a distorted and unclear view. As Christ taught, we fall amongst the thorns and are “choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection” (Luke 8:14).

Robert A. Millikan, a noted and highly decorated physicist who spent much of his life bringing science and society together, wrote in 1922: “The salvation of the world is to be found in the cultivation of science together with the cultivation of a belief in the reality of moral and spiritual values” (Robert A. Millikan, “Address of Acceptance of the Norman Bridge Laboratory of Physics,”  Science  55, no. 1422 (31March 1922), p.332).

Yet in our universities we frequently see theantithesis of Millikan’s observation. When I was a faculty member at the University of California, Irvine, the student newspaper published an editorial written by one of the student editors. The student editor was expounding on how to have a day off from the pressures of examinations for the cost of a single matinee theater ticket. In the editorial he stated how to avoid getting caught between showings in a multiscreen theater. Placed in proper context, he was teaching how to steal.

Is one’s integrity and standing before the Lord worth the price of a movie theater ticket? Is honesty so complicated that it is based upon one’s perceived needs or entitlement? I wonder how this story might have been different if a professor had taught in the classroom gospel principles that we are permitted and expected to teach in our classrooms. Or if another student had recognized such flaws in a friend’s character and had the courage to teach correct principles? The media is filled daily with such examples of dishonesty from those we entrust with power. How easy we confuse good for evil and evil for good. How quick we are to blame others for our actions or the consequences that our actions bring. Cassius, in the opening act of  Julius Caesar,  is talking to Brutus and says:

Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings. [William Shakespeare,  Julius Caesar,  act 1, scene 2, lines 138–40]

We have been given a sacred trust at Brigham Young University as a learning community. We must not violate that trust but honor and build upon it.

As a bishop of a Brigham Young University student ward, I had a long and soul-searching conversation with a young freshman student who could only see one focused purpose for being at this campus. Religious education and spiritual growth were not part of that focus—nor were the expectations of conduct he had agreed to upon accepting his scholarship and admittance to BYU. He was now faced with the necessity of leaving the university. I was told I was responsible for destroying his chance at greater honors and awards. This was the whole of his life! His order of conduct away from Brigham Young University was no business of mine, of the Church, nor of the university. He signed the Honor Code because he was “forced” to, or he would not be able to attend BYU and accomplish his goals. Although perhaps not at a conscious level, deceptions and “small lies” were to him an appropriate means to accomplish his goals. It happens subtly over a period of time until lies and deceptions are part of us. It becomes not only acceptable, but an automated approach to obtaining what we think we deserve. This same message is delivered within the entertainment media. How often is the audience led to sympathize with a bad deed done by a hero who is portraying evil for good: a police officer breaking the law to catch or inflict punishment on the villains or an adulterous situation where we are led to think it is moral because of some “special circumstance.” Doing the wrong thing for the right reason is still wrong. From my perspective such action is divisive and is part of the “secret combination” whose evil is discussed in the Book of Mormon. Elder Packer noted:

We want our children and their children to know that the choice of life is not between fame and obscurity, nor is the choice between wealth and poverty. The choice is between good and evil, and that is a very different matter indeed.  [Boyd K. Packer, “The Choice,”  Ensign,  November 1980, p. 21]

The action I had to take regarding the intentional and continued conduct of this student was difficult. Somewhere there had been a failure to properly nurture this young man’s spirit and guide him to the same successes using gospel principles. Excuses may give us a false sense of righteousness, but they will not change the outcome. Truth, moral principles, and God’s commandments are constant. Our obedience to these must be exacting.

Specific revelation was given to Joseph Smith on November 1, 1831, in Hiram, Ohio:

What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.

For behold, and lo, the Lord is God, and the Spirit beareth record, and the record is true, and the truth abideth forever and ever.  [D&C 1:38–39]

Saul was to be anointed by Samuel to be king over all Israel. However, Saul had disobeyed the Lord and had made a sacrifice of the spoils of war even though the Lord had commanded that they be destroyed. Samuel then taught Saul a difficult lesson:

And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.  [1 Samuel 15:22–23]

Saul replied to Samuel with words that are all too familiar: “I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice” (1 Samuel 15:24). What he feared of the people was imposed by the Lord. Individual accountability and responsibility are key factors in our ability to return to the presence of the Father. Quoting from the second article of faith: “We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.”

Today the unwillingness to accept individual responsibility and accountability is endemic throughout our society. There is a lack of constancy and commitment to honor, correct principles, and righteous values. It seems that truth no longer needs to be based on fundamental principles. Instead, much of society confuses “what is” with what it wants it to be. Fiction and fantasy are confused with actuality and reality. More succinctly, the prophet Isaiah said: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20).

Nigel Calder writes in  Einstein’s Universe  that people have mistakenly held that Einstein proved that all things were relative. This was far from what Einstein meant. Einstein had considered calling his work the “invariance theory.” Calder writes:

He  [Einstein]  discovered what was “absolute” and reliable  despite  the apparent confusions, illusions and contradictions produced by relative motions or the action of gravity. The chief merit of the name “relativity” is in reminding us that a scientist is unavoidably a participant in the system he is studying.  [Nigel Calder,  Einstein’s Universe  (New York: Wings Books, 1982) p. 2; emphasis in original]

Thus, so are we in our relationship with the Lord. The laws, commandments, and ordinances of God are the invariant. Our relation to them is the variant. Any thought of our relativity to his will is because of where we stand spiritually. Obedience and accountability are not related to our perceptions or our needs. We are completely and independently accountable for our actions: “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10).

Glenn Seaborg, an internationally award-winning chemist, wrote, circa 1972, that in an ecological system, as one observes various levels and stages of development, it is not always possible to reconstruct a higher level of development based on what is present in the lower developed system. This is because there are interactions that occur during the transition process that are lost to observation, and hence become unknowns. That is, the result is not always the sum of the observed events. What we think we see or hear may not be what is real.

In my laboratory on campus about a year ago, we completed a series of experiments. In these experiments the participant was shown a videotape of a young female college student saying the sounds /ba/ or /ga/. Sometimes the visual portion would be /ba/ and the auditory portion would be /ga/. What was seen was not heard, and what was heard was not seen. The participant in the beginning did not know when this incongruity would happen. The result was that the presentation would either be reported as hearing /ga/ or neither of the sounds. This persisted even later in the experiment when we told the participant what the audio portion would be. They could not identify the correct audio portion. This confusion could not be corrected even when the truth was told to the participant. [A videotape demonstration of this phenomenon was used during the presentation of this devotional.]

There are many other examples using our senses that show similar incongruities. Many of these are well known and used to confuse and manipulate us—not just for the purposes of entertainment but to sell products or convince us something is true or occurring when it is only a partial truth. I am convinced that Satan and those who would do us harm—physical, financial, emotional, and spiritual—are masters of partial truths. Partial truths are most effective because they confuse the individual into accepting the part that is the lie or the deception. This is especially true when what we want is not consistent with the laws and commandments of the gospel and when the Spirit speaks against those desires. We are so carefully educated that only what we observe, or can logically account for through extrapolations of our observations, is true. Therefore the Spirit is dulled in us, and we pretend that what is not, is, and what is, is not. In C. S. Lewis’ book  The Screwtape Letters,  a senior devil writing to his nephew, a junior devil, gives this advice:

[People]  find it all but impossible to believe in the unfamiliar while the familiar is before their eyes. . . . But the best of all is to let him read no science but to give him a grand general idea that he knows it all and that everything he happens to have picked up in casual talk and reading is “the results of modern investigation.” Do remember you are there to fuddle him.  [C. S. Lewis,  The Screwtape Letters  (London: Found Paperbacks, 1982) p. 13]

The actual principle is more fully illustrated and taught in the book of Moses. As you recall, God had revealed himself to Moses and instructed Moses. God withdrew from the presence of Moses, and Moses fell to the earth. After “many hours” Moses’ strength returned, and Moses spoke to himself, saying:

Now, for this cause I know that man is nothing, which thing I never had supposed.

But now mine own eyes have beheld God; but not my natural, but my spiritual eyes.  [Moses 1:10–11]

If I could have attached a device to your wrist that would let you feel the sounds I spoke of earlier, and if you had been carefully taught, through repetition, what the sounds felt like, there would have been no confusion. The addition of that third sense would have validated the auditory portion of the experiment. So is it with the Spirit. If we let the Spirit validate our thoughts, our actions, and our emotions, they, too, will not become confused. It is our “spiritual eyes” we must trust more than our desires. Our ability to listen to the Spirit and to be obedient to the laws and commandments of God is refined by repetition and adherence to those principles. Once the principle is well seated and learned, then all other decisions become easy; even when they are uncomfortable or appear difficult. Unfortunately we can become so focused on our own desires that we miss the guiding principles. One might say we cannot even recognize ourselves.

Last December I was in Lyon, France, for a small conference. I was out late one evening with a colleague and his wife. Throughout the evening we competed to see who would pay for the subway tickets as we traveled to various places. We were ready to return to our hotels, and, having lost the competition thus far, I was determined to at least win once. Of course my colleague was intent on me not winning. As we were rushing to the Metro station, I quickly spotted a shortcut to my left. As I hurriedly raced down the stairs to the opening, I came face-to-face with a man coming out of the entrance area I was about to enter. My colleague was fast following suit and was about to cut me off when he, too, encountered a second individual coming out of the same entrance. Both of us, being polite, stepped back to let each of our new encounters pass us by. My encounter also quickly stepped back. As I started forward, so did my encounter. This same scenario was going on with my colleague. I once again stepped back and excused myself, suggesting my encounter proceed. Evidently both myself and my encounter were involved in some type of nonexistent extrasensory communication. He made exactly the same movements at the same moment as I did. All of a sudden I heard laughter coming from my colleague, and I assumed he had succeeded in getting through the entrance. Since I now was very frustrated, and extremely narrowly focused, I decided to move forward and continue. As I did thus, so my encounter moved forward. I began to laugh—after all, we were both trying to be polite. I extended my hand toward his shoulder as a sign of friendship. So did he. As I moved to touch his shoulder, our eyes met for the first time, and I momentarily thought how familiar he looked. Upon touching his shoulder I realized the problem. I had run into myself. My colleague had run into himself. While we were making fools of ourselves in front of a large mirror, his wife quietly entered the Metro in a normal fashion and bought the tickets. A few days later we found ourselves at the same Metro station, and I had a picture taken. After all, it is important to document our stupidity for our posterity.

Shortly after the resurrection of Christ, two of his disciples were walking to Emmaus and talking of the events that had just transpired. As you recall, the resurrected Christ appeared quietly and began walking with them (see Luke 24:15). Christ inquired as to what their conversation was about and why they were so sad. They responded by saying how astonished and somewhat confused they were about the events of the past few days—especially when Christ’s body was not found in the sepulchre. Christ rebuked them and then taught them:

And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, heexpounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.

But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.

And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.

And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.

And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?  [Luke 24:27–32]

As Moses recounts, “Mine own eyes have beheld God; but not my natural, but my spiritual eyes” (Moses 1:11).

Oftentimes we forget that we cannot have everything, that decisions narrow our focus and become a compass toward our future. We not only include certain activities, certain thoughts, or certain actions when we make decisions, but we also exclude many options. Indeed, we set a course of action whose outcome we have tried to predict and whose outcome will have certain results. It is never perfect or exact. It is always an approximation to the desired outcome, with some unknown consequence.

In Bernard Shaw’s  Saint Joan,  the chaplain enters after just witnessing the burning of Joan of Arc. He realizes he was manipulated and used, thus causing this good person’s death at the stake. The chaplain enters from the courtyard, where her execution has just occurred:

I let them do it. If I had known, I would have torn her from their hands. You don’t know: you haven’t seen: it is so easy to talk when you don’t know. You madden yourself with words: you  [condemn]  yourself because it feels grand. . . . But when it is brought home to you; when you see the thing you have done; when it is blinding your eyes, stifling your nostrils, tearing your heart. . . . Take away this sight from me! . . . Deliver me from this fire that is consuming me. [George Bernard Shaw,  Saint Joan,  scene VI]

In 1988 I concluded more than 10 years of service to the Hill Cumorah Pageant as a technical director responsible for lighting. It was an experience that is hard to relate, but it had a profound effect on my life and on my family. My wife made great sacrifices as I would leave for six to seven weeks each summer and establish residence in Palmyra, New York. Frequently I would take one of our five children. During that time we would talk of the early days of the Church, visit the Sacred Grove, and speak of the Lord. Each year we would hear the story of the Book of Mormon recounted 30 to 40 times. My children became knowledgeable and enjoyed telling the stories and scenes portrayed in the pageant. At home we would discuss current events and how they related to principles and examples found within the Book of Mormon. Frequently in their early years they would act out their favorite scenes. Both my wife and I knew that such service was no sacrifice.

Let me tell you about an incident that happened a few years prior to my release. One of the members in Rochester, New York, was a chemist working with Eastman Kodak. He had taken many pictures of the pageant over the years, and one of the professional photographers at Kodak had seen some of his work. The photographer was most impressed and offered to photograph the pageant using some extremely large equipment. Arrangements were made, and the pictures were to be completed following one of the regular performances. As occasionally would happen, the local farmers were blessed with a light drizzle—actually it was more of a mist. It had been one of those days that dispel the rumor that it never rains during the pageant—a rumor that is a little wet.

Upon our arrival the next year, the picture, which spanned a wall about 6–8 feet high and 15–18 feet long, was in a room within the visitors’ center. We were ushered in for the unveiling of the print. Needless to say, it was overwhelming. The photographer had captured all of the spirit and beauty of the final yearning scene. I was most excited because my oldest daughter had been with me that year and was onstage just right of the center of the picture. As I was looking at this impressive picture, I suddenly became very quiet and somewhat withdrawn. There were approximately 600 cast members in the pageant that year. I noticed a problem with the third or fourth cast member from the end in the lower right side of the picture. One cast member wanted to be in the picture, wanted to be warm, dry, and comfortable, and did not want to stay in his wet costume. It was evident from the picture that he had changed into some jeans and a long-sleeve shirt and had slipped a light brown trash bag, in which he had torn holes for his head and arms, over his jeans. He also wanted to be seen in the picture and placed himself directly in front of a light. He wanted it all. Obedience and adherence to instructions were not as important as his emotional needs. Kodak had intended to use this picture in a publication as well as in an extremely large display. The picture was now useless—costly in both time and money. Eastman Kodak was gracious enough to repeat the process the following year.

The Lord does not require us to understand, nor perhaps to initially agree: The Lord requires us to obey. “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams” (1Samuel 15:22). As Christ has said: “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

Karl Popper, an acclaimed philosopher, once concluded that man knows a great deal and that man’s ignorance is “sobering and boundless” (David Miller, Popper Selections  [New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1985], epigraph). There is much I do not know. There is much I am ignorant in my knowledge about. However, I do know that God does live; that Jesus Christ is the Savior of mankind, the Son of God; that through him we may become like him; and that our sins “shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18).

I know and bear witness that Gordon B. Hinckley is a prophet of God and stands as the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I solemnize that he is not only president, prophet, seer, and revelator, but he holds all the keys and rights of the priesthood. I testify that Thomas Monson and James Faust are prophets, seers, and revelators, as well as are the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. I testify that their interest is tonot only show us the way to return to our Father in Heaven, but also to guide us through the tumultuous elements of our mortal existence. I know that we can never fail if we follow exactly and precisely the counsel of those who have been chosen by God, through revelation, as our leaders. As the Lord has said, “Whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same” (D&C 1:38).

I testify these things are true. I pray the Lord’s richest blessings on all. I pray for peace in your hearts and your souls. I pray that you may have the strength and courage to always do the right thing, to make the right choices, and to be obedient to the laws and commandments of God. I pray for your safety and happiness now and forever, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.

© Brigham Young University. All rights reserved.

David McPherson

David McPherson was a BYU professor and chair of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology when this devotional address was given on 1 July 1997.

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Giving It Up: Immigrant Parents and Sacrifice

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Last week, a great [FATHER/HOOD] post on Ebony went up about sacrifice and parenting :

To me, sacrifice always denotes a profound loss, or something given away through violence. The meaning of the word has changed over time, but I experience it as the foundation of a kind of deficit. I don’t want to think of anything related to my child as a loss. I’ve made choices. Some have been very hard, but they’ve been choices. I’ve never once thought of anything I’ve done for my kid as any type of sacrificial act.

Not a few days later, a friend shared a link to a discussion on mothers' bodies. The discussion was centered around a kickstarter for a photography project intended to celebrate women's bodies after they have experienced birth , stretch marks and all. I won't go into the details of the discussion -- comments predictably ranged from disgusted to empowered -- but one word I did see thrown around a lot was "sacrifice." That bearing children was a profound sacrifice of the body, that mothers make physical and spiritual sacrifices for their families, and that mothers should be honored for making such sacrifices.

I had been thinking about the idea of sacrifice and how this plays into my philosophy of parenthood for the past few months. Sacrifice is one of the major themes in the immigrant narrative; children of immigrants may not know that sacrifice intimately, but we are at least remotely aware that our parents gave up something , sometimes many things, in order to give us "a better life." The stories we hear about sacrifice are usually meant to instill in us a sense of duty.

Having been raised in a Catholic family, sacrifice in motherhood took on a whole new meaning for me. My first child was unplanned, and her father and I were still in the figuring-things-out stage of our lives and in our relationship when I got pregnant. I didn't do things "the right way" and sacrifice was to be a form of punishment for me. I was supposed to sacrifice things -- my youth and my freedom, namely -- and I was supposed to view and honor these things as sacrifices, as a form of repentance.

But the problem with constantly associating parenthood with sacrifice is complex. It puts enormous pressure on us parents to eschew parts of our identity; we're not supposed to be cool or have fun anymore. For mothers, especially, the pressure to do it all in order to have it all is profound. Viewing motherhood as a physical sacrifice suggests that the ways our bodies change after bearing children are bad, or at least not as good as before; we long for our younger, tighter bodies free of stretch marks, rather than understanding our post-birth bodies as having undergone a natural physical transformation. It also puts an undeserved psychological burden on our children -- by stressing the "sacrifice" part, we're indirectly telling them about the things we could have had, and handing them a debt that needs to be repaid.

And in the first few years of my daughter's life, I felt enormous pressure from my family to be a martyr, to eschew a social life and nearly give up my identity in order to prove that I was a decent mother and not an irresponsible failure . I had been told up and down by my elders that my life would be over once I had kids, so I had better make sure I was ready; this was my sex education. I didn't feel I was being a good mom if I wasn't spending every moment not at work with my little one, and I couldn't take even an hour of me-time without feeling profoundly guilty. I had sensed throughout my life that this is what my mother did for me.

But this model of parenting wasn't sustainable for me. After becoming a mom, I allowed myself to forgo a lot of necessary self-care and ended up missing a lot of my daughter's babyhood simply because I was too tired, too frazzled, and too stressed to enjoy myself in the moment.

In the [FATHER/HOOD] post, Shawn Taylor so eloquently stated my own feelings about the parenthood experience, once I decided to flip the script. I have made choices for my kids, but I've never viewed them as any sort of loss. I gave up partying long before my daughter was even a twinkle in my eye, and was laid off from a job in a dying industry before I'd even told anyone I was having a kid. If anything, my kids gave me a direction in life when I had none. Through pregnancy and breastfeeding, my body gained superpowers. Having a child put me on the hook to work on a relationship I wanted to be in but might have walked away from if the circumstances were different. I realize that things don't always work out like this for other people in similar situations. Rather than make sacrifice part of my parenting philosophy, I'm more inclined to focus on how the choices I've made added to my life.

I never wanted to associate my children with sacrifice, but admitting this doesn't mean I am not aware of and appreciative of the sacrifices my parents made for me. I try to honor the choices my mom made for me without feeling guilty for forcing her hand. But I gained everything by having my kids, and I consider myself extremely fortunate and indebted to  them . 

Theresa Celebran Jones

sacrifice speech essay

Theresa Celebran Jones was born and raised in Connecticut and has moved cross-country four times. She currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two young daughters. She works full-time as a technical writer and is an MFA dropout. Her only other hobbies are reading, taking pictures, scrapbooking, and listening to hip hop. Clearly she has no social life.

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Student Essays

Essay on Sacrifice | Types, Value & Importance of Sacrifice in Life

The concept of sacrifice is central to many religious traditions and also has an important place in secular societies. It is often considered a noble thing: The word “sacrifice” comes from the Latin sacrificium, which meant the performance of sacred rites in exchange for something or on someone’s behalf. This etymology implies that sacrifices are performed for the sake of something else, and usually to please a god or spirit.

Essay on Sacrifice & its Importance in Life

Sacrifice is a word with many meanings. In everyday usage, it refers to any event in which someone gives up something that he or she values highly for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy. It can be defined as an act of giving up something highly valued, but it also means the surrendering of goods and property.

Essay on Sacrifice

It is an act or instance of surrendering something, for example a battle or one’s life, especially to the enemy under the compulsion of direst necessity. It is an inconvenience or difficulty that causes someone to suffer so as to achieve a desired result.

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Types of Sacrifice

Personal sacrifice – this means sacrificing for other people rather than sacrificing for self. Personal sacrifices can be made through giving time, energy or money Personal sacrifice usually involves doing things that do not benefit you at all but give you inner satisfaction about helping others. The second type of sacrifice is religious sacrifice, which is associated with piety.

This type of sacrifice is mainly practiced at temples or places of worship. It involves offering items such as food, money or other valuables to please a god or an idol in the hope of getting some thing valuable in return for example prosperity and good luck in life. The third one is sacrifice in war which means giving up something very important for your country i.e., your people’s safety by sacrificing your life for them.

Finally, the fourth type is self-sacrifice which means giving up something of yours without any hope of getting anything valuable in return i.e., example when you give your life to save others or you jump before a moving train so that the people behind you can live their lives happily.

Value of Sacrifice in Life

In life, we need to put some value on things, if you want something more valuable in return for a less valued thing you sacrifice it. Example: when we go shopping with our mom and we see the most beautiful dress we ever saw in our lives and we really like it and ask our mothers can I buy that?

And she says no, because you have a lot of clothes at home and if we buy that one dress now, then we will need to sacrifice something else which was much valuable or needed more. Sacrifice is a way to distribute limited resources across competing needs.

Importance of Sacrifice

Sacrifice means to make a sacrifice and offering up. It can be an animal, goods or property that is sacrificed. A sacrifice may also mean that you put forward your own interests in favor of someone else’s interest or well-being. The act of sacrificing something such as time, comfort, money etc., for the sake of achieving something more important.

Example of sacrifice is you are hungry and want some delicious food, but your mother wants you to study for exams, so the benefit of getting the delicious food goes out of window as you choose to study.

Benefits of Sacrifice

It mean that something more valuable will be achieved through sacrificing what is less valued or giving up something. In an employee’s point of view, they perform extra work in order to receive a promotion or a reward, the reward is something valuable it means you don’t have to sacrifice but receive more valuable things in return.

In the corporate world, you have to put yourself ahead of your company and do some very hard tasks that others may not do, this is because it will make you more valuable and help your company to grow. For achieving something valuable or increasing the value of an object we need to sacrifice something.

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Sacrifices take place in almost every field of life, from the corporate world to religious places. Sacrifice is a way to get more valuable rewards by means of giving up something less valued for it. In today’s time we see everything seems to be getting expensive and difficult for us that our basic needs are no longer fulfilled, because we spend most of our money on some unimportant things that has no benefit to us. A lot of self-sacrifice is required in order to bring some changes in our lives, be it the personal life or the professional life.

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The Theology of Sacrifice

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The biblical idea of sacrifice concerns the way of approach to God, finding acceptance before him by means of an acceptable substitute offered in place of the sinner and bearing the curse of sin.

This essay surveys the idea of sacrifice through the Old Testament in order to determine its intended significance. Next, this essay surveys the significance of the saving death of Christ as it is presented in these sacrificial categories. Special attention is given to Hebrews 9–10.

Introduction

The idea and practice of sacrifice is prominent throughout the biblical narrative. There is at least a hint of it as far back as Genesis 3:21, where God provides coats of skin for Adam and Eve. In Genesis 4:2-5 we read of the sacrifices offered by Cain and Abel, who presumably learned of the practice from Adam and Eve. We then read of sacrifices offered by Noah (Gen. 8:20), Abraham (Gen. 12:7-8; 13:4, 18; 22:13), Isaac (Gen. 26:25), Jacob (Gen. 31:54; 33:20; 35:1-7; 46:1), and Job (1:5; 42:8). In Exodus and Leviticus, of course, the theme explodes. God delivers Israel from Egypt so that they may go and offer sacrifice to him (Exod. 3:18; 5:3, etc.; cf. 17:15), and it is by sacrifice, in fact, that they are delivered (Exod. 12). And in Exodus 20ff and in Leviticus God gives Moses detailed instructions for establishing and carrying out the sacrificial system that was to mark Israel’s worship under the terms of the old covenant. Various kinds of sacrifices were to be offered (the burnt offering, the guilt offering, the sin offering, the peace offering) at various times and for various specific purposes. Coming to the New Testament the practice of sacrifice is much less prominent, but the language of sacrifice dominates with reference to the death of Christ. Our objective here is to uncover the meaning and significance of sacrifice in the Old Testament in order better to discern the saving value of the death of Christ as explained by the New Testament writers.

Sacrifice in the Old Testament

As already observed, the idea of sacrifice begins in the early chapters of Genesis at the dawn of history. The significance tied to the coats of skin provided for Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:21) is not immediately evident but can be understood more fully only by looking back from later revelation. All we can say at this point is that God covered their shame in a way that involved death.

Likewise the significance of the respective offerings of Cain and Abel (Gen. 4:2-5) is not immediately evident. We are told only that Cain’s offering was “an offering of the fruit of the ground” (v. 3), that Abel’s was “of the firstborn of his flock” (v. 4), and that the Lord “had regard for” (i.e., accepted) Abel’s offering but rejected Cain’s (vv. 4-5). Assuming that Cain and Abel learned the idea and duty of offering to God from their parents (Gen. 3:21) we might further conjecture that Cain’s offering was a departure from the norm, but with no more information than we are given at this point this is just conjecture. The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews repeats that Abel’s sacrifice was accepted and adds that it was offered “by faith” and that by it Abel was “commended as righteous” (Heb. 11:4). So much seems implicit in the Genesis narrative, but we must survey further revelation to see just how it is so.

The precise purpose of Noah’s sacrifice (Gen. 8:20-21) is not explicitly stated, only that “the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma” and promised continued blessing. This notion of “pleasing aroma” surely does not indicate that the smoking meat “smelled good” but that God was pleased with what the sacrifice signified and so on that basis promised blessing. The idea of satisfaction is not far away, but we will need further revelation to confirm this.

In Genesis 22 God commanded Abraham to offer his son Isaac in sacrifice. Before the sacrifice was actually carried out, however, God provided a ram to die in Isaac’s place. Here the idea of divinely-provided substitution is prominent (cf. John 3:16; Rom. 8:32).

Although Job’s sacrifices (1:5) are not precisely defined we are told that they were offered to God because of sin. Likewise it was because of the sins of Job’s friends and God’s consequent anger against them that they were commanded to offer sacrifice (42:7-8). Here it is rather explicit that sacrifice is for the purpose of appeasing divine wrath against sinners.

In the command to sacrifice the Lamb of Passover (Exod. 12) the notion of sin is presumed, and the ideas of substitution (v.3, 13), rescue from divine judgment (v.12, 23), the necessity of blood (v.13, 22) become prominent. By the sacrifice of a qualified lamb whose blood was properly applied each Israelite household escaped the death of God’s judgment.

With God’s instructions concerning sacrifice given in Leviticus the theme begins to receive more explicit definition. The repeated occurrence of “sin” and phrases such as “if anyone sins” (or similar) and “for sin” scores of times throughout the book and the requirement that sacrifices be offered “confessing sin” all specify that it is sin that occasions the sacrifices and gives rise to their need. The descriptive terms “guilt offering” and “sin offering” and the requirements that the sacrifice itself be “without blemish” are reflective of the same. Similarly, the often repeated vocabulary of “atonement” ( kaphar / exilaskomai , indicating propitiation, appeasement ) and “forgiven” specify their purpose. Leviticus 5:10 serves well to summarize: “the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin that he has committed, and he shall be forgiven.” On the Day of Atonement the priest was required to “lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins” (16:22). This symbolic action was to signify the transference of sin to the animal who, in turn, would “bear all their [Israel’s] iniquities on itself.” Elsewhere in Leviticus this oft-repeated expression “bear sin” consistently connotes responsibility for sin and liability to judgment (5:1, 17; 7:18; 10:17, etc.; cf. Isa. 53:12; 1Pet. 2:24). The killing of the animal thus signifies the divine judgment that sin merits. The symbolism of laying hands on the sacrificial animal, confessing sin, and then the ritual slaughter of the animal therefore conveys the idea of deliverance by substitution. Forgiveness is secured by substitutional sacrifice. Finally, the repeated assurance that the sacrifice was a “pleasing aroma to the Lord” symbolizes God’s satisfaction with the sacrifice and acceptance of the sinner.

Observations

Old Testament sacrifice was intended to signify more than mere homage. The significance was that of securing forgiveness, expiation of sin, through the offering of a substitute. The offeror is not portrayed as a mere creature but specifically as a sinner, a sinful creature in need of forgiveness. The offeror comes with a consciousness of sin seeking restoration to God’s favor by means of the acceptable sacrifice. The sacrificial victim itself is an intermediary, a substitute providing expiation. It bears the sin of the worshiper who receives forgiveness by that substitutional sin-bearing.

All this is to say that it belongs to the very nature of sacrifice that it is directed first to God. That is, it is designed to influence God, to appease him and satisfy his demand of judgment, and it is only with this satisfaction secured that the worshiper finds forgiveness.

The prominent ideas in Old Testament sacrifice are sin, guilt, and judgment on the one hand and satisfaction, expiation, forgiveness, and reconciliation on the other.

Sacrifice in Old Covenant Context

In its historical setting these sacrifices were provided in order to answer the question, How can a holy God live in the midst of a sinful people? In redeeming Israel from Egypt and in establishing them as a theocratic nation at Sinai (the old covenant) God had made Israel his own people. He pledged to be their God and to dwell with them accordingly. But how can his holy presence among sinners be established? The sacrificial system was given to answer this problem.

Of course there are questions that necessarily remain. Can an animal actually take the place of a man or woman? Can the blood of an animal actually atone for the sin of a nation? And if the sacrifices do indeed secure God’s favor and forgiveness, why must they be repeated?

The New Testament will take up these kinds of questions, but at the very least we can say that the Old Testament sacrificial system established the structure and frame of reference with regard to God’s redemptive purpose: Sinners may obtain divine favor if an acceptable substitute could be found to offer to God in sacrifice.

The Death of Christ as a Sacrifice

All this provides the background for the New Testament’s frequent description of the death of Christ in sacrificial terms; indeed, it cannot be understood otherwise. When Jesus himself and the New Testament writers employ language such as “give my life a ransom,” “ransom in his blood,” “by his blood,” “the blood of his cross,” “my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins,” “reconciled by his blood,” “justified by his blood,” “propitiation by his blood,” “through the death of his cross,” “made peace through the blood of his cross,” “Christ our Passover has been sacrificed,” “Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God,” “him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,” “the lamb which takes away sin,” “he bore our sin,” “was made sin for us,” “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law having been made a curse for us,” and so on, they direct us to understand our Lord’s death in sacrificial categories. The terminology of propitiation, ransom, redemption, forgiveness, and reconciliation, all find their meaning against the backdrop of Old Testament sacrifice.

All this teaches us just how it is that Jesus’ death effected our salvation. Our Lord’s death was that of a sacrifice. On the cross he offered himself to God in our place, bearing our sin and its deserved judgment; thus satisfying God’s just demands against us he frees us from our sin and reconciles us to God. All that the Old Testament sacrifices symbolized the Lord Jesus actually accomplished in his saving work. The former sacrifices were symbolic and anticipatory of what was actual in Christ’s offering of himself on our behalf. Just as the Old Testament sacrifices were directed first to God (propitiation) in order then to effect expiation, so our Lord’s death was offered to God (Eph. 5:2; Heb.9:14). His sacrifice of himself for his people was in God’s estimation “a fragrant offering” (Eph. 5:2) effecting propitiation (Rom. 3:24; Heb. 2:17; 1Jn. 2:2; 4:10), satisfying his just demands and thus appeasing his wrath and, in turn, expiating sin. Just as through the sacrifice of the Day of Atonement the people of Israel were, in the person of their representative priest, brought behind the curtain into the holy of holies, so also through the death of Christ we are brought into the very presence of God (Heb. 10:19-20; cf. Matt. 27:51; John 2:19-21).

On the one hand, then, we may speak of the Old Testament sacrifices as prospective, anticipating and symbolizing the saving work that Christ would actually accomplish in his death (Heb. 9:9; 10:1; cf. Col. 2:17). To say the same another way, the writer to the Hebrews specifies that the older sacrifices were in fact “copies” of the “true” sacrifice that Christ offered (Heb. 8:2, 5; 9:23-24; cf. 9:11-12). That is, Jesus’ sacrifice is the “original,” the reality – ultimately, his sacrifice was not patterned after the Old Testament sacrifices; rather, they were patterned after his coming sacrifice – the true sacrifice of which they were but a distant shadow.

Hebrews on the Sacrifice of Christ

The writer to the Hebrews highlights in several ways how the sacrifice of Christ excels the sacrifices of the old covenant.

  • Christ’s sacrifice was offered only once (9:6-7, 11-12, 25-26, 28; 10:1, 10-12, etc.). The older sacrifices had to be repeated over and again, year after year. This would leave the thinking worshiper with doubts as to their real value (10:2-4), with little reason to assume that even the repeated offering of an animal could satisfy God or remove human guilt? The happy announcement of the gospel is that the sacrifice of Christ was of such value that it needed to be offered only once for all. Christ’s saving work is a finished work (cf. John 19:30), accomplished “once for all.”
  • Christ’s sacrifice effected forgiveness (9:9-10, 12; 10:1, 4, 11, 18). Sin was the problem addressed in sacrifice – it demanded removal. The repetition of the older sacrifices testified to their inability to deal with sin with finality. They were inadequate. The sacrifice was not of sufficient value. But our Lord offered himself (9:12, 13, 26), a sacrifice of supreme value (cf. Heb. 1-2), effectual in removing sin. Again, what the older sacrifices only anticipated the sacrifice of Christ actually accomplished, and it is therefore able to “purge the conscience” (9:14) of guilt.
  • Christ’s sacrifice was accepted in heaven , the true temple (8:2, 5; 9:1, 9, 11-12, 23, 24; 10:1). That is to say, it was not prospective of anything. It did not symbolize or anticipate the accomplishing of atonement. Accepted by God himself, in the true temple, forgiveness is assured.
  • Christ’s sacrifice gained access to God (Heb. 9:7-8; 10:19-22). The old sacrificial system was designed to demonstrate that the way to God is not just open to anyone on any terms (v. 8). There must be a qualified priest and an acceptable sacrifice offered in an acceptable way. Even so, the people at large must stay back – only the high priest had access into the holy of holies and that just once a year and by a prescribed ceremony of sacrifice. We must not presume. It is a fearful thing to approach the holy God. But by the sacrifice of Christ the way now is open. All who come by him, on the ground of his sacrificial work, are accepted (cf. Matt. 27:51; John 2:19-21).

At the climax of this discussion the writer draws several applications, marked by the word “therefore”:

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works (Heb. 10:19-24).

That is, if the sacrifice of Christ, offered once for all, was accepted in heaven itself, effecting forgiveness and gaining access to God, then let us be bold , confident in approaching God assured of our acceptance. Let us be confident , assured of our acceptance there with unwavering faith. Let us persevere through any difficulty with confidence of our final salvation, and let us encourage one another to the same.

Concluding Thoughts

The theme of sacrifice, then, takes us to the heart of the gospel and the essence of the Christian faith.

In a very real sense it [the theme of sacrifice] constitutes Christianity. It is this which differentiates Christianity from other religions. Christianity did not come into the world to proclaim a new morality and, sweeping away all the supernatural props by which men were wont to support their trembling, guilt-stricken souls, to throw them back on their own strong right arms to conquer a standing before God for themselves. It came to proclaim the real sacrifice for sin which God had provided in order to supersede all the poor fumbling efforts which men had made and were making to provide a sacrifice for sin for themselves; and, planting men’s feet on this, to bid them go forward. 1

Further Reading

  • J. H. Kurtz, Offerings, Sacrifices, and Worship in the Old Testament
  • Leon Morris, The Atonement: Its Meaning and Significance .
  • Alec Motyer, Six Ways the Old Testament Speaks Today
  • Ronald Youngblood, The Heart of the Old Testament

This essay is part of the Concise Theology series. All views expressed in this essay are those of the author. This essay is freely available under Creative Commons License with Attribution-ShareAlike, allowing users to share it in other mediums/formats and adapt/translate the content as long as an attribution link, indication of changes, and the same Creative Commons License applies to that material.

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Paragraph on Sacrifice

Students are often asked to write a paragraph on Sacrifice in their schools. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 200-word, and 250-word paragraphs on the topic.

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Paragraph on Sacrifice in 100 Words

Sacrifice is when you give up something important to help others. Like when you share your toys with friends, even if you really want to play with them. Sometimes, moms and dads go to work even if they are tired because they want to buy you food and clothes. Heroes in stories often give up something big for the good of other people. Animals sometimes protect their little ones by fighting danger. Sacrifice is about thinking of others before yourself. It’s a kind of love that shows you care a lot about someone else, more than just having what you want.

Paragraph on Sacrifice in 200 Words

Sacrifice is when you give up something you like for something even more important or to help someone else. Imagine you have a pack of your favorite cookies, and you see a friend looking hungry and sad because they forgot their snack. You might feel a little tug in your heart and decide to share your cookies with them. That’s a small sacrifice you make to spread kindness and make your friend smile. Sometimes, parents make sacrifices too, like when they miss watching their favorite TV show to play with you or work extra hours to buy you the new bicycle you’ve been dreaming about. It’s not always easy to let go of what we want or love, but when we do it for a good reason, it can feel really good inside. Sacrifices can be big, like superheroes in stories who save the world by giving up something special, or they can be small, like letting your sibling have the last piece of cake. Either way, when we sacrifice, it shows we care about others and can do tough things for the right reasons. It’s a way of showing love and being a good friend or family member.

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Paragraph on Sacrifice in 250 Words

Sacrifice is when you give up something important to you for a good reason or to help someone else. Imagine you have a favorite toy or a game that you play all the time, but your friend or a family member needs it more than you do. Giving it up would be a sacrifice. People make sacrifices every day, like parents who work extra hours to buy their children school supplies, or a friend who shares half of their sandwich when you forgot your lunch. Sometimes sacrifice can be really big, like soldiers who go far from home to protect their country, knowing they might miss big family events like birthdays and holidays. But sacrifices don’t always have to be huge; they can be small acts of kindness, like letting your sibling watch their favorite TV show even though it’s your turn to choose. The amazing thing about sacrifice is that it shows love and care. It’s not easy to give up something you like or want, but by doing so, you’re saying that someone else’s needs are as important as your own. This can make both you and the person you’re helping feel really good inside. When people sacrifice, they create stronger bonds with each other and build a more caring world. It’s like planting seeds of kindness that grow into big trees of friendship and love. Sacrifice teaches us that sometimes the best thing we can do is to think of others before ourselves.

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“Sacrifice” is the surrender of a greater value for the sake of a lesser one or of a nonvalue. Thus, altruism gauges a man’s virtue by the degree to which he surrenders, renounces or betrays his values (since help to a stranger or an enemy is regarded as more virtuous, less “selfish,” than help to those one loves). The rational principle of conduct is the exact opposite: always act in accordance with the hierarchy of your values, and never sacrifice a greater value to a lesser one.

This applies to all choices, including one’s actions toward other men. It requires that one possess a defined hierarchy of rational values (values chosen and validated by a rational standard). Without such a hierarchy, neither rational conduct nor considered value judgments nor moral choices are possible.

“Sacrifice” does not mean the rejection of the worthless, but of the precious. “Sacrifice” does not mean the rejection of the evil for the sake of the good, but of the good for the sake of the evil. “Sacrifice” is the surrender of that which you value in favor of that which you don’t.

If you exchange a penny for a dollar, it is not a sacrifice; if you exchange a dollar for a penny, it is . If you achieve the career you wanted, after years of struggle, it is not a sacrifice; if you then renounce it for the sake of a rival, it is . If you own a bottle of milk and give it to your starving child, it is not a sacrifice; if you give it to your neighbor’s child and let your own die, it is .

If you give money to help a friend, it is not a sacrifice; if you give it to a worthless stranger, it is . If you give your friend a sum you can afford, it is not a sacrifice; if you give him money at the cost of your own discomfort, it is only a partial virtue, according to this sort of moral standard; if you give him money at the cost of disaster to yourself— that is the virtue of sacrifice in full.

If you renounce all personal desires and dedicate your life to those you love, you do not achieve full virtue: you still retain a value of your own, which is your love. If you devote your life to random strangers, it is an act of greater virtue. If you devote your life to serving men you hate— that is the greatest of the virtues you can practice.

A sacrifice is the surrender of a value. Full sacrifice is full surrender of all values. If you wish to achieve full virtue, you must seek no gratitude in return for your sacrifice, no praise, no love, no admiration, no self-esteem, not even the pride of being virtuous; the faintest trace of any gain dilutes your virtue. If you pursue a course of action that does not taint your life by any joy, that brings you no value in matter, no value in spirit, no gain, no profit, no reward—if you achieve this state of total zero, you have achieved the ideal of moral perfection.

You are told that moral perfection is impossible to man—and, by this standard, it is. You cannot achieve it so long as you live, but the value of your life and of your person is gauged by how closely you succeed in approaching that ideal zero which is death .

If you start, however, as a passionless blank, as a vegetable seeking to be eaten, with no values to reject and no wishes to renounce, you will not win the crown of sacrifice. It is not a sacrifice to renounce the unwanted. It is not a sacrifice to give your life for others, if death is your personal desire. To achieve the virtue of sacrifice, you must want to live, you must love it, you must burn with passion for this earth and for all the splendor it can give you—you must feel the twist of every knife as it slashes your desires away from your reach and drains your love out of your body. It is not mere death that the morality of sacrifice holds out to you as an ideal, but death by slow torture.

Do not remind me that it pertains only to this life on earth. I am concerned with no other. Neither are you.

If you wish to save the last of your dignity, do not call your best actions a “sacrifice”: that term brands you as immoral. If a mother buys food for her hungry child rather than a hat for herself, it is not a sacrifice: she values the child higher than the hat; but it is a sacrifice to the kind of mother whose higher value is the hat, who would prefer her child to starve and feeds him only from a sense of duty. If a man dies fighting for his own freedom, it is not a sacrifice: he is not willing to live as a slave; but it is a sacrifice to the kind of man who’s willing. If a man refuses to sell his convictions, it is not a sacrifice, unless he is the sort of man who has no convictions.

Sacrifice could be proper only for those who have nothing to sacrifice—no values, no standards, no judgment—those whose desires are irrational whims, blindly conceived and lightly surrendered. For a man of moral stature, whose desires are born of rational values, sacrifice is the surrender of the right to the wrong, of the good to the evil.

The creed of sacrifice is a morality for the immoral—a morality that declares its own bankruptcy by confessing that it can’t impart to men any personal stake in virtues or values, and that their souls are sewers of depravity, which they must be taught to sacrifice. By its own confession, it is impotent to teach men to be good and can only subject them to constant punishment.

Concern for the welfare of those one loves is a rational part of one’s selfish interests. If a man who is passionately in love with his wife spends a fortune to cure her of a dangerous illness, it would be absurd to claim that he does it as a “sacrifice” for her sake, not his own, and that it makes no difference to him , personally and selfishly, whether she lives or dies.

Any action that a man undertakes for the benefit of those he loves is not a sacrifice if, in the hierarchy of his values, in the total context of the choices open to him, it achieves that which is of greatest personal (and rational) importance to him . In the above example, his wife’s survival is of greater value to the husband than anything else that his money could buy, it is of greatest importance to his own happiness and, therefore, his action is not a sacrifice.

But suppose he let her die in order to spend his money on saving the lives of ten other women, none of whom meant anything to him—as the ethics of altruism would require. That would be a sacrifice. Here the difference between Objectivism and altruism can be seen most clearly: if sacrifice is the moral principle of action, then that husband should sacrifice his wife for the sake of ten other women. What distinguishes the wife from the ten others? Nothing but her value to the husband who has to make the choice—nothing but the fact that his happiness requires her survival.

The Objectivist ethics would tell him: your highest moral purpose is the achievement of your own happiness, your money is yours, use it to save your wife, that is your moral right and your rational, moral choice.

The failure to give to a man what had never belonged to him can hardly be described as “sacrificing his interests.”

It stands to reason that where there’s sacrifice, there’s someone collecting sacrificial offerings. Where there’s service, there’s someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice, speaks of slaves and masters. And intends to be the master.

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Expository Essay on Sacrifice

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Introduction

Sacrifice is defined as a voluntary act of giving up something you value and possess for others’ or God’s enjoyment. Sacrifice might be made for the sake of saving a human life or just as a belief or a ritual.

Some people are always willing to go to any length to ensure that others succeed in their lives. Some people are also willing to give their life for others out of love and affection for one another and humanity. When you choose to sacrifice, it is not out of obligation, but rather from the depths of your heart. Making sacrifices is not as simple as many people believe.

A sacrifice can have a variety of serious effects, and some people may have to live with the consequences of their sacrifice for the rest of their lives. Furthermore, if you want to sacrifice, it should not be for the sake of public popularity, but rather because your inner self desires it. If you’re doing it for the sake of public popularity, you’ll regret it afterwards, and your true intentions will be revealed to all. People will despise your guts, and your image will be harmed.

As a result, anytime you make a sacrifice, be sure you are ready and prepared. You should make sacrifices based on your heart’s desire. When someone expects anything in return or forces you to do something, sacrifice is not made. It’s an instinctive sensation. They are created because some people want to make a difference in the lives of others. Our troops and freedom fighters have made enormous personal sacrifices so that we can enjoy our freedom today. However, we frequently abuse our freedom and cause harm to others, which is unethical. So, wherever you can, try to assist, and then go about your business joyfully. Sacrificing brings joy and satisfaction, and the person for whom you sacrifice will always be grateful to you, even if you are not present in this world. Remember that a good deed is never in vain.

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sacrifice speech essay

Proverbs 15:26 contrasts plans that are “abominable” to Yahweh with words that are “pure.” Both terms are borrowed from the Levitical system, and suggest that speech and plans are always a form of sacrifice. There is a vertical dimension to all our talk, and God either spits our words from His mouth or receives them as a sweet-smelling savor. All speech is sacrifice, acceptable or not; all speech is praise.

sacrifice speech essay

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