I believe you took a fairly simple statement way too far.
God preferring mercy to sacrifice does not mean...
"The whole idea of sacrifice is blasphemous, especially the "sacrifice" of his "only" Son. This includes torture for any length of time, or death for any length of time."
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Blasphemy is fundamentally an insult to the divine nature of reality. It does not hurt the divine, which does not change, and therefore, does not sacrifice anything. It does hurt the blasphemer who then experiences the frame of reference that the blasphemy describes. Basically, the blasphemer experiences hell, which is a re-make of reality according to insulting notions about the divine nature.
Only in hell is sacrifice meaningful, as hell depends on the sacrifice of truth for it's apparent existence. Meanwhile, the divine nature of reality has not sacrificed anything at all. Why should it?
Seriously. Why should that which is good lose anything? What is worth losing anything for? Is there some "good" that is better than Good itself?
It really is insulting, not only of intelligence, but also of the divine nature, to suggest that sacrifice is valued in any way, shape or form. Death is a sacrifice of life. Why would Good do this? How could Good do this? Pain is a sacrifice of bliss. Why would Good do this?
The reasons you are proposing for why Good would do this defy rationality, defy intelligence, and i dare say, insult the intelligence of the divine.
I am sure God does prefer we show mercy rather than sin and then and then rely on sacrifice.
But that does not mean sacrifice is blasphemous.
I don't really have any idea how you can get there.
I'm talking about what Good is willing to do, what Good is capable of doing. I'm saying sacrifice is not a matter of preference. It is absolutely prohibited, meaning, not even possible, for Good to sacrifice anything. Otherwise, Good would not be Good. I would remind you, Good has not sacrificed his only Son, as the story goes. He still has his Son, unharmed, unchanged, even according to Catholic lore. As such, nothing has been sacrificed. If Catholic lore has changed the nature of the Son such that he has become a hybrid (half man, half god, full man, full god) then yes, something has been sacrificed. But that is Catholic lore, and not the actual facts.
Only in hell do demons make decisions about "mercy" versus sacrifice, themselves depending on the sacrifice of truth for their existence. Having gained it's 'existence' through sacrifice, sacrifice remains a major theme in the culture of hell.
Good doesn't have preferences about what demons should do. Good relies on the truth, and demons prefer that the truth be destroyed, suppressed, or killed, if possible. And this is because, truth be told, demons don't exist. So why should Good have preferences about what something that does not exist should do?
So i think you are adding your own interpretation to what Jesus is alleged to have said (we can never really know for sure based on the bible alone). Good is not sometimes merciful, sometimes sacrificial....depending on the situation. There are no such situational ethics facing Good. That is the description of Good in the image of demons. Only demons face situational ethics. Facing decisions is what demons do...what they believe is how they behave.
Good does not change, does not change responses based on criteria that is not Good, nor is schizophrenic or cognitively dissonant like demons. Jesus was describing a Good that always chooses mercy if there is a choice. But there is no such choice facing the divine nature of Good. It sacrifices nothing, and never will.
If Good did desire mercy, that is what would happen, all the time, always, forever. However, as i've said, it is not an issue Good faces. I'm not sure how you get more out of what your scriptures allege Jesus said, "God desires mercy". Where does it say desires mercy under some ethical situations, and sacrifice under other ethical situations?
I see the mercy to sacrifice construct to be part of the understanding that in the old testament there was law. But obeying the law is not enough because not only should you not commit adultery but Jesus told us you should not even think about adultery.
Let's not confuse Jewish legal theology with the laws of Good. If it is a true law of Good, it cannot be broken. Jewish legal codes can be broken. As such, they are not Good laws.
It is a law that Good sacrifices nothing, ever, for any reason. Under this law, nothing is ever sacrificed, ever, for any reason. This law has never been broken, never will be broken.
Hell could only exist if the laws of Good could be broken. As such, it is an imaginary domain that is experienced as reality by blasphemers who think they can break laws and change the divine nature to suit it's own value system.
Hence the law is not enough to be in heaven with perfection.
You need the fulfillment of the law.
Which Jesus is .
As a representative of divine reality, Jesus has always fulfilled the laws of Good, according to the above premise: in truth, no one can break the laws of Good. More than just a representative, if Jesus was the actual divine reality, then all the more has he fulfilled the unbreakable laws of Good. Otherwise they would not be laws, now, would they?! As such, the laws of Good have always been fulfilled by that which is Good. Now, if Jesus is actually Good, and not a man (or demon) then yes, he has "fulfilled" the "law" of Good.
But the Jewish legal codes are NOT the laws of Good. They are attempts to bring some order to the chaos of a blasphemous hell. As such, of course they are not enough. They simply dont apply to the real conditions of heaven as it is. At best, they might describe some level of "karma" or pay-back within the system that hell represents. But even "karma" is not a law of Good. Optimistically, they might be the laws of the god of this world. But the god of this world is not Good.
Jesus did not "fulfill" Jewish notions of divine law (priestcraft). As reality itself, and only as divine reality, has Jesus fulfilled all laws of Good, primarily because they are unbreakable. He is able to fulfill them simply by being who he is: the divine Good, and denying any association to what thinks it can break the laws of Good: man. By accepting his divinity, Jesus also accepted the fact that he has not broken any of the laws of Good (which cannot be broken).
Beware any religion that depends on the death of (sacrifice of) the truth for it's existence (not a good omen) .
Since this world (hell) does depend on the death of (sacrifice of) the truth (the "Lamb of Good") for it's existence, this world (hell) is a kind of religion unto itself. "The world", as man believes it to be, only appears to that which believes in it.
Such a religion would be happy to re-enact what gives it "existence" to begin with. This is hell's notion of "salvation" . Yes, the death of (sacrifice of) the truth remains very important in the value system of hell. It would be happy to sacrifice even the representatives of truth. Yes, sacrifice remains important to that which depends on it for it's salvation (for it's continued "existence").