Looking at this through the other end of the telescope, if I were a god I would certainly prefer sacrifices to be willing: they taste much sweeter when they're not stressed out (ask any slaughterman).
Poem, please.
the unwilling sacrifice is to be accepted as the willing one (well, Sgt. Howie ran to the right spot of his own accord, didn't he?)
Gods aren't stupid, but accept this kind of clumsy legerdemain when the real thing isn't available. It does suggest though that willingness is the ideal, or just possibly the original, form of the thing.
That makes sense to me. How far back, though, can you trace the idea that willingness is an acceptable substitute for action—as well as a necessary component of the successful sacrifice?
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Poem, please.
the unwilling sacrifice is to be accepted as the willing one (well, Sgt. Howie ran to the right spot of his own accord, didn't he?)
Heh. See reply above to
Gods aren't stupid, but accept this kind of clumsy legerdemain when the real thing isn't available. It does suggest though that willingness is the ideal, or just possibly the original, form of the thing.
That makes sense to me. How far back, though, can you trace the idea that willingness is an acceptable substitute for action—as well as a necessary component of the successful sacrifice?