If Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins, who was he making that payment to and why?

Question

Is God not most merciful? How can Jesus be the son of God, when God is not a human being? Why would God need a sacrifice, (of such a high magnitude), if he is all forgiving? If Jesus is the son of God, who was Adam, and why did Jesus come after Adam, Abraham, Noah and Moses? If our sins have been "paid for", why are we still sinning?? Why is there such a thing as "hell", or even "heaven", if God has already forgiven us because Jesus supposedly died for our "salvation"? Why did Jesus himself, never claim to be the "son" of God?? If he was the son, who was Mary?? Would she be God's wife? If Jesus is the son because he performed miracles, why is Moses not the son? He performed miracles to. God is not a human being, so why do christians attribute human characteristics to him?? Who is the Holy Spirit?? Why is there need of a Holy Spirit? Why does God need someone to die inorder to forgive our sins?? Where is the accountability in all of this?? So is noone a sinner?? Confused, please help!

Please note: i have read the bible a dozen times, i am not satisfied with quotes from the new testament, i'm looking for evidence from the old testament. Oh and let me correct myself when did Jesus ever claim that he IS the son of God?? If there is such a thing as free will, what does God do?? Dos God not know everything before hand? Is he not Omniscient? If we will be held accountable for our sins because of our free will, why did Jesus have to die?/ Did he die for nothing? Why would God kill his son, if he had a son, if he did not let Abraham kill isaac?? Why would God need to be tested? Who is the Holy Spirit? Why do we need a Holy Spirt? Can we not pray to God directly? Why is there Satan, if Jesus came down to save us? If God had a son, why would he have Mary give birth to Jesus? Could it be, because he wanted to put emphasis on the fact that Jesus is JUST a human being? How can Christanity claim to be a monotheistic religion, if it believes in the trinity? I'm STILL confused..:|

Answer 1

The payment was to God, I guess. People are human - "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" - and therefore fallable. God also gave people free will, and we're all sinners.

Please try to remember that the Bible was a work interpreted by men, and therefore subject to flaws and contradictions. It's a teaching resource and a good reference source for the history of the times. If people in modern times truly took the Bible and all of its rules/laws literally, many of us would have been stoned to death a long time ago.

Answer 2

There are definite biblical answers for all your questions:

http://www.gospelogic.com/audio.htm

http://www.gospelrevolution.com

There is no more sin. The sacrafice was made because the original sacrafices made for their sins were lambs and goats. They would cover the sinner for a year or few months etc.

God is you as well, and you are human.

There is a seperation between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. The people wanted the law, to prove they could be good for God. It proved they could not be.

God didn't need Jesus to die for us, we need Him. We have been saved and righteous all along, we just didn't know it. We needed an anti Adam. One man imputed sin to the world and one man imputed grace to the world.

Whether it is real or symbolic, the end is the same. We are all righteous, there is no hell, we are all equally God, law is for the land and us, not for God.

Yes, No one is a sinner! You got it. Your heart knows you are inseperable from God.

Answer 3

i don't know the answer to "who He was making the payment to ", but He died on the cross to take away the sins of the world so that anyone that accepts His word can have eternal life with Him in Heaven. And by the way Jesus did say that He IS the Son of God. Not WAS the Son of God.

Answer 4

If Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins, who was he making that payment to and why?
It was not "payment". The result of sin is death and eternal separation from God. He died to take away the sin, to die in our place, so that we may live and know God.

How can Jesus be the son of God, when God is not a human being?
He was both Son of God and son of man. Born of the Holy Spirit and Mary.

Why would God need a sacrifice, (of such a high magnitude), if he is all forgiving?
He is not "all forgiving". He has mercy and grace on whoever He wills- His choice, not ours. His condition is that one must first believe who Jesus is and what He did. (Son of God, who redeems us of our sins)

If Jesus is the son of God, who was Adam, and why did Jesus come after Adam, Abraham, Noah and Moses?
Adam was a created being. Jesus came at the time of God's choosing. The end of days will be of his choosing too.

If our sins have been "paid for", why are we still sinning??
Free will and our own selfish choices. Being "saved" does not prevent you from sinning. It does break the power of sin over one's life, and out of love to God and others, it will not be the desire your heart.

Why is there such a thing as "hell", or even "heaven", if God has already forgiven us because Jesus supposedly died for our "salvation"?
Hell is for Satan, demons and those who chose not to believe in Christ; heaven for those who did. Salvaton is offered to all, but not everyone recieves it. It's a gift from God that can not be earned by "being good". it is dependent on God and His mercy, on those who He chooses.

Why did Jesus himself, never claim to be the "son" of God??
He did, and even Satan and his demons did. Matthew 16:15-17;Matthew 4:3
;Mark 5:7etc.

If he was the son, who was Mary?? Would she be God's wife?
His mother, wife of Joseph. Matthew 1:22-24

If Jesus is the son because he performed miracles, why is Moses not the son?
He was not the son because of the miracles. He simply was God's son. Matthew 1:22-24

God is not a human being, so why do christians attribute human characteristics to him??
He was both the Son of God and the son of man. God incarnate, without all His powers, in human form.

Who is the Holy Spirit?? Why is there need of a Holy Spirit?
He is another aspect of God that lives within the believer. He is the seal given to those who believe, who helps them to grow and learn of the things of God. He is God, which lives within the minds and hearts of those who believe.

Why does God need someone to die inorder to forgive our sins??
This is best understood in terms of what a covenant is, and is reflected in what Abraham did with Issac. Christ represents us, mankind, before God. It is why He became a man. We are adopted into the family of God , bonded by this oath in his blood. By it we are made one with Him, inheriting all the blessings of God, based solely on His love, mercy and grace.

Where is the accountability in all of this?? So is noone a sinner??
All are sinners, destined to die in our sins. it is only through Christ that we may find forgiveness and redemption. After being saved, the believer is still tempted and will occasionally fall because of sin, their own lusts and desires. What they do and choose not to do will be judged as well, and those works will be tried by fire. John 15:6; 1 Corinthians 3:13-15


Alot of questions... hope this helps.

Answer 5

1st. Yes God is the most merciful God.
2nd. Again correct that God is not a human. Where was Jesus before he came down to the earth as a perfect man? In heaven he is refered to God firstborn of all creation, he is a spirit creatureor an angel. The answer can also be found at Col. 1:15-17.
3rd. Who was the first man on the earth? Adam before he sinned Adam was perfect but still had freewill. You also need to look at who was requestin that perfect life. Was it God or was it Satan? Satan did just as the scriptures say eye for an eye tooth for a tooth. It does not say foot for a nose. Therefore perfect life for a perfect life. Ths answer is also found at Romans 5:12.
4th. As was discussed earlier he did not he ( Jesus) was the first born of all creation.
5th.Jesus died so that we have a hope of perfection. If someone spoke badly about you and spread lies about you and then said that they were sorry shortly thereafter would you immediatley trust them again? NO! You would want to wait a while and see wether they had really changed or not. That is ithe same with Jesus ransom sacrafice. We are being given a chance as the human race to prove wether we are living by bible princapals in order to recieve the blessings of that ransom sacrafice.
6th In the bible hell is refered to the common grave of mankind. If you really think about why would a loving God torment his children in a fiery hell. Eccl. 9:5,10 says that the dead are conscious of nothing at all. The orgin of hellfire started with Babylonian and Assyrian beliefs
7th When Jesus was baptized in the Jordan river there was a voice that came out of heaven and that was God speaking this is at Matthew 3:17 God says this is my son the beloved ......
8th Mary was Jesus' earthly mother she gave birth to Jesus and got pregnant by holy spirit
9th No she is not Gods wife., God’s ‘wife’ (prophetically foretold in the words of Isaiah and Jeremiah as cited in the foregoing), would be made up of many spiritual persons. It would be a composite body of persons, an organization, a heavenly one.
10th Tech. we are all children of God because it is by him that we all have life.
11th.If you look at Gods 4 main attrubites we see love, Justice, Power and mercy. Now look at human kind we are all capable of love we all have a sense of justice and so on and so forth.
12thThe holy spirit is not a person it is Gods active force
13th the holy sprit helps us to face many problems that we have today that we would not be able to endure on our onw.
14thWe already discussed that one in number 5.
15thWe all sin because we all have imperfect parents
I hope that this helps to answer your questions. If someone comes to your door with a bible and magazines in hand ask them your questions.

Answer 6

You have too many questions to be answered right here. I really suggest you start reading the New Testament, starting from the beginning. I suggest The Living Bible translation. Also, get the book "He Chose the Nails" by Max Lucado and "A Case for Christ" (not sure the author). I think these books will help answer your questions better than anything else.
Good luck:)

Answer 7

I can only answer your initial question.Before Adam and Eve sinned against God in the Garden of Eden,the Earth belonged to them. God made it for them. They named the animals and things of the Earth. It was theirs. But when they sinned they effectively gave the earth to Satan to rule over instead.Satan knew that if he could get Adam and Eve to sin against God that he would have power over them for good . Only a man without sin could reclaim the Earth for us, so God sent his Son in human form to to be the sacrafice that would once again give us the power over Satan that we had given away in the Garden of Eden.

Answer 8

ur right...
thats wat Islam teaches
God sayz be and it happens... so Jesus didnt need a father to be born...
n if God is Jesus's father doesnt that make Adam his son 2??
God has no son or father
and everone is accountable for their own sins.... if we Jesus had paid for our sins... y are we here ?? shudnt we be in heaven already??

Answer 9

Yes God is most merciful it is us humans that are not. Jesus is the son of God is faith. If you read the old testament it is full of sacrifices and requirements why Jesus was sent as a lamb? I have wondered it myself, a person full of fierce love, peace, and joy that spoke to the mases about this it was humanity that killed him not God. God spent his son to teach and he was killed sacrificed for our sake so we could be forgiven out of a great tragedy, brutal torture. Jesus's words were if you know who I am that is from the one that sent me. His cries in the garden Abba (daddy) in his prayers. Okay I really don't think it was God that required it it is humanity perhaps humanity did. In Judeo-Christian lineage and world view. Man seperated himself from God by his own actions the fruit from the tree of knowledge good and evil. From a point of Love, Truth, Peace to Fear, Ego, Divison. (Not the fear of God, peity fear of seperation from God, but fear terror, anxiety etc.) Adam, Abraham, Noah, Moses men that followed Yaweh's commands or did not from miraculous events or great tragedy. Their life stories and lessons are recorded, they died. Jesus is the one that rose from the grave in Christian belief. Yes, I believe amoung others that Jesus is our salvation, why do we still sin? How many of us have reached the point of self denial or selflessness to get back to the connection fully? How many of us do only good works or actions and not bad or evil ones that serve us only? Are not sins very selfish? Pride, lust, greed what do they serve? the self the person ego, causes division pain ultimately. Since Adam's time or the beginning self serving actions, desires, sins have kept us from God, it hasn't changed since it is also said the path to heaven is very narrow and few will get there. I believe Jesus said this and he taught a way to get there a path to see God. Yes he died and rose again. Which is what to believers proved divinity, something made devout Jews risk death to tell and preach the gospels. Which Christians believe that it was the Holy Spirit that guided them and assists all followers. The paracelate, to guide us in love, truth, and peace. The spirit of truth, the spirit of God we were not left alone to fend for ourselves. Hell and heaven are not just Judeo-Christian many spiritualities and religions describe similar divisions after death. I view heaven as light being in the presence of God and Hell as being in the dark and the absence of God. Mary was Jesus's mother, she was a faithfull Jew that said 'yes' to God and allowed her faith to guide her ( another selfless action). She is the new Eve in many ways, not God's wife but a diciple of Yaweh and a guide to us of humbleness and trust. She was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit to provide light for our paths. His 7 gifts, and 12 fruits are all means to get back to our original face and are the substance that good works or actions are made off charity, wisdom, knowledge, understanding, etc.. Back to love, truth, unity. We describe God with human characteristics because we are human it is within our understanding. God is beyond it. We, you, me, everyone is accountable for their path to God (or not it's a choice of beliefs) WE are accountable for our actions we will be judged by our works what we did and how we used our gifts. Jesus died for us, and gave us a path and guide to follow a key to it is humility. A chance of forgiveness it's up to us to do what we will with it.

Answer 10

he wan making the payment to Satin, to pay for our sins