Why Sacrifice?

Why do literalist religions always require a sacrifice of some sort? Where does this come from? I don't have have so many answers here as much as some thinking points I've compiled. If you can add to it then please leave a comment and we'll keep this a work-in-progress. The whole thing has confused me since I was a child and if anyone has any wisdom to share on this issue I'd be grateful.

Before we get started just a bit of a note about where this whole blog post got started. Being in the middle(literally- wrist deep in fur) of shaving my Siamese cat(Little Big Mouth, 20 years old) to help her deal with the heat, pleroma blurted out something which made me pause.

"I am willing to sacrifice my past but not my future."

Shaving a cat naturally made me think of animal sacrifice, something I'm sure Big Mouth did not appreciate. But after I got done royally pissing her off(she likes be shaved, it's the bathing part afterwards she doesn't like) I sat down and wrote this list. These are all the ways literalist religions ask us to sacrifice in order to receive special knowledge or simple acknowledgement as a sane and humble human being so that you should not be sent down to roast in a fiery place when you die:

1. The practice of sacrificing one of your children to the church in service. Even the old royal families still did this up until the middle of last century. One child would go into the military and the other would be given to the church. My guess is that since the church always held such power that the royal family was essentially giving their 'tithe' in this manner while also having a set of eyes and ears inside the church which were related to them.
2. The Old Testament says that Yahweh wanted a sacrifice of a child(but sike! It was really just a test) to see if the father would do it.  Moab really did do it, though; although this time God said that he didn't have to do it. Why the change of heart?
3. Eating and drinking the Host and his blood. He 'sacrificed' his body for you to partake of it. "Do this in remembrance of me" takes on a decidedly cannibalistic theme when you put it in a certain light. This is hylic/psychic magic, coincidentally. The Church has no gnosis. They're big on ritual and low on content.
4. Martyr your body for 'the cause' meanwhile hopefully killing a lot of other people. Because you know, it's all about spreading the word. Nothing spreads like wildfire faster than news of 1) someone cheating on someone 2) an insane fundamentalist killing themselves and a lot of other people or damaging valuable property.  "My religion is better than yours so I am going to kill/hurt you!!!" This loony-toon declaration of love for a deity is just asinine. "Martyrdom was identified early in Church history as "baptism by blood", enabling martyrs who had not been baptized by water to be saved." Wikipedia search: baptism. So because you've been killed for the faith then your own blood acts as a baptismal font? (Why would you have to be baptized in the first place?) This is sickening on many levels, the most appalling one being of course that a person can do many atrocious things in their life and only with their last act be declared a martyr as long as they died "for the faith." I'm all for appreciating a good deed but the crown of 'martyr' is disgusting when taken in that context, especially when it supposedly gets you a lofty place up in Heaven beside the Big Guy with or without dozens of virgins. Being with him again should be it's own reward, not the chance to be known as a martyr.
5. Jesus, or rather God sacrificing his 'first born' son to... himself? Why would God need to go through the physical act of sacrifice? Gnostics generally all have varying belief in this act. We tend not to discuss it too much. But even if you do take the act seriously, why would one person's(divine or not) material body sacrifice placate God enough to then save every person who asked for it afterward? A million people crying for salvation before Christ lived isn't enough but one man's is? Personally, I think that's kinda conceited. The majority of gnostic texts exonerate Jesus' act by saying it wasn't 'what you think it is,' and that is a topic for another blog post.
6. Animal sacrifice. Why would God need a dead animal? And why oh why would he delight in sniffing the wafting aroma of it's burnt carcass? Peace offerings and guilt offerings... what is the point? Why can't you just say you're sorry instead of butchering some poor innocent animal or giving up grain which could be used to feed your belly. Is this what they call 'paying the piper'? Is God the piper to be paid? ... and doesn't that make him a spiritual extortionist? "Give me dead offerings or I'll roast you in Hell." Yep. That's extortion.

After completing my list of horrifying sacrifices deemed necessary for literalist religious acceptance I compiled a list for what I would be willing to sacrifice for my belief in the All/the totality of salvation/pleroma/the Good God, and many other names which I am sure you have heard me use.

1. I am willing to sacrifice untold hours in my day/night to study anything worthy he sends my way, no matter how mundane, silly, bizarre, or mentally/spiritually challenging.
2. I am willing to sacrifice the resentment, anger, sadness, embarrassment, and shame I felt in the past and move on, trusting him to guide me. 
3. I am willing to sacrifice my sleep so that he may tell me ridiculous jokes at 4am, hug me, and send me dreams showing me just how much I am loved or remind me of things I have forgotten, both good and bad.
4. I am willing to sacrifice financial security in the present and future to make sure I'm not partaking in any business ventures which are morally questionable. 
5. I am willing to sacrifice my personal safety in order to stand up and speak up for what is right when not doing so would be easier and safer.