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Animal sacrifice is the ritual killing and offering of animals, usually as part of a religious ritual or to appease or maintain favour with a deity
Polytheism is the worship of or belief in multiple deities, usually as a pantheon of gods and goddesses. In most religions which accept polytheism
* Horus - In Egypt, in the Heb-Sed festival, the powers of Pharaoh
(Horus incarnate) were tested. If found weak, Horus was expected to
sacrifice himself by donating his blood to the soil
* Kronos - A man was sacrified annually at the Phoenician
feast of Kronos. Kronos had a son, Ieoud who he sacrificed. Ieoud
was known as 'the only begotten son of his Father'
* Tammuz - A popular Syrian saviour-God born of a virgin
was killed and rose again every spring. Wherever Tammuz was
worshipped a human victim in royal robes was killed and eaten, so
his body and blood might bring salvation to the community.
According to Christians, Abraham sacrificed Isaac. Muslims contest this and believe Abraham was told to sacrifice his eldest son Ishmael.
Muslims claim the word 'only' in Genesis proves the Bible is talking about the eldest son. Also, the name Isaac was added into the Bible by later scribes.
The animal sacrifice is to honor the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice Ishmael, his eldest son, as an act of submission to God's command. At the point of sacrifice, God intervened and replaced his son with a ram (male sheep) which had been slaughtered instead.
Abraham had passed the test by his willingness to carry out God's command
* Horus - In Egypt, in the Heb-Sed festival, the powers of Pharaoh
(Horus incarnate) were tested. If found weak, Horus was expected to
sacrifice himself by donating his blood to the soil
* Kronos - A man was sacrified annually at the Phoenician
feast of Kronos. Kronos had a son, Ieoud who he sacrificed. Ieoud
was known as 'the only begotten son of his Father'
* Tammuz - A popular Syrian saviour-God born of a virgin
was killed and rose again every spring. Wherever Tammuz was
worshipped a human victim in royal robes was killed and eaten, so
his body and blood might bring salvation to the community.
Emperor Constantine at the opening of the Council of Nicaea (325 AD) quoted Psalm 82:6 to remind the bishops that their high office should raise them above jealousy and party feeling.
The term 'God' was applied to people of power, authority and rule who were considered to have greater nearness to God than others - an appellation which implies that you are God's representatives on earth, and that your decision is, in an important sense, to be regarded as his.