” and utter a traditional prayer for forgiveness, calling the doomed bird “my substitute, my atonement” to help usher in a “long life in peace.”
A chicken is used because “gever” can mean both “chicken” and “man”; ergo, a sinless “man” is given as the substitute and atonement.
My point is that the sinless man has already been sacrificed. The sinner need only recognize that and go to Christ for his forgiveness. The need for other sacrifice ended a couple thousand years ago.