Is forgiveness possible without the shedding of blood?
No. Without the shedding of blood, there can be no remission, so forgiveness is not possible apart from blood being shed. The cross was the whole purpose, and He had to shed His blood, making that death evident. Good works cannot replace the blood.
Les teaches that there are two imperatives: without faith it is impossible to please God, and without the shedding of blood there can be no remission. Both knock out the good works people, who do not know what faith is and shun the blood. The whole purpose of the cross was that He had to shed His blood; it had to be a death where that was evident. Otherwise, the Jews could have killed Him by stoning, their normal capital punishment, but that would not have fulfilled the shedding of blood seen in the crucifixion. So forgiveness cannot be obtained without the shedding of blood.