Jesus's death was NOT the greatest sacrifice ever known.

This will be an abridged version, but hopefully meaty enough to spark a lively debate.1. The Nature of SacrificeThe idea of sacrifice is that something is lost, such that a greater good can come of it. When we think of the original version of religious sacrifice, we think of sacrificing an animal to please the gods so that they would provide some benefit (health, peace, rain, etc. ). The animal sacrificed was never a common roach, or a fly, but usually an animal that was valuable. A valueless item sacrificed is no sacrifice. For example, killing a mosquito for the exchange for fame and fortune would seem ridiculous. There is nothing sacrificed if the sacrificer doesn't value the sacrifice. It's true that one could say they have "sacrificed" the single precious life of the mosquito, and if the sacrificer considered that one life precious, then, certainly, we can consider it a sacrifice. The point is that, at least, the sacrificer must value that which is sacrificed. Likewise, we wouldn't consider a billioniare giving away 2 cents a sacrifice. Unless, of course, that billionaire never gave away anything. In this way, we see that it's not just the amount given in the sacrifice, but the importance placed on it by the sacrificer. In this way, the sacrifice of Jesus's life was meaningful to the people who accept his death as an important event, however, it is not a sacrifice. Jesus, if human, was offering himself for a greater good and didn't consider his Earthly life to be anything particularly special. in fact, he felt the Earthly life was a temporary and almost meaningless. He believed that his death would result in a promotion: a better life in Heaven with a perfect, spiritual body. His body was a husk, or shell; a set of old clothes that actually kept him from entering teh Kingdom of God. If Jesus was God, then he not only believed this to be true, but knew it. He knew he was doing nothing more than shedding his Earthly skin for Heavenly perfection. He was actually improving his situation. He lost nothing, since it was so easily gained, and so easily dismissed and considered to be virtually evil. 2. A Greater SacrificeHere is a greater sacrifice: An atheist who knowingly gives his life for some universally recognized good. Let's imagine a scenario in which an atheist joins the army to fight a real and present enemy, knowing he will die. Or, an atheist runs into a burning school to save children, knowing she will likely die. The atheist believes that this is their one and only life. This life is infinitely precious, yet, by giving up this life for something else, this is a true sacrifice. There can be no greater sacrifice than that which results in the permanent destruction of something infinitely valuable. Mortal life to Jesus was not infinitely valuable. It was an inconvenience. Something we should all desire to shed for an eternal, spiritual life. Or, a more grotesque example only able to be imagined "good" under religion: A woman kills her children so that they will go to Heaven, even if it means she will go to Hell for eternity. This later example, of Andrea Yates, is a greater sacrifice under the rules of Christianity than that of Jesus, but clearly absurd by any other measure. That is, Andrea Yates (a wretchedly mentally ill woman who believed God told her to kill her children to save them from the influences of Satan when they got older), would have known that even with God's command to kill her children, there was a good chance she would roast in Hell for eternity. However, this was a worthy sacrifice if the Christian religion is true: if the example of Christ is true. Imagine, there are 100 million Muslim children in the world. All of them are destined to Hell accroding to the religiopn of Jesus. If one were to kill all of them, God would have no reason to send those poor children to Hell, but would clearly send the murder to Hell. However, that murder just saved 100 million souls that, if they had lived to an older age of accountability, would have gone to Hell. Isn't this the exact example Jesus gave us? Yet, Jesus believed he would NOT go to Hell. Jesus believed he would save souls AND benefit. Whereas, a truly psychotic killer could believe he would go to Hell by saving souls. .. yet, perhaps god would say "Gee, you saved so many souls that I was going to damn to Hell, you are actually a hero! Come on up to Heaven! "And, in fact, this is exactly what we see from the examples in Christianity where Moses, Samson and other brutal murderers are lionized for murdering babies. Yet, as we see, the death of Jesus pales in comparison to any of these examples. Jesus was under no impression that he would suffer. In fact, he was surprised on the cross by what seems to be a realizeation that he was wrong about there even being a God in the first place ("elohim elohim lama sabachthani"). (This sudden realization that he made a mistake doesn't augment the case for his sacrifice, it diminishes it. It makes the case that he may have tried harder to defend himself in his trial, instead of gladly going to his death). So, not only can we think of greater sacrifices, especially if there is no God, we can even think of greater sacrifices if there is a God. In summation, Jesus' death, while meaningful to many, and may actually be our path to salvation, is not a sacrifice. Certainly, it is not the greatest sacrifice ever known. It wasn't a sacrifice, it was a promotion.