Wasn't there a better way for God to forgive his people of sin?

Question

He is God after all... the best he could come up with was sending Jesus down to live for 33 years, then get crucified?

LOTS of people got crucified it was nothing new.

Oh I don't know Beta... he could have taken away free will for a day. Make people realize just how important that is. Then they'd have to know that believing in him was the only way to survive.

Answer 1

You will see many many responses that will have phrases like:

"God had to"
"need to fufill"
"must"
"can't"
etc.

It's so funny that in the next breath, Christians will say God is omnipotent. If so, why all the constraints on how God can or can't forgive sin?

Answer 2

Jesus was the only sinless person who was crucified. That is because He is the only sinless person who ever lived (besides Adam And Eve before the sinned). There was no other way . Read Matthew 26:36-46. There Jesus Christ asked God the Father the same thing three times and He did not come up with any other answer. This whole thing was planned way back in eternity past and nothing could change it. God knew what He was doing. He doesn't.t make any mistakes. Thank Him that He loved us so much to give His only Son to die for our sins. If you never have, believe that and be saved from all your sins.

Answer 3

Definitely one of the big questions. I'm sure there is a better way for God to forgive people of sin, and I don't think it requires human sacrifice. However, when the books of the Bible were being composed, sacrifice was the general means of atonement. Even the pagans made sacrifices to their Gods. It is most likely that what happened is that Jesus gained a considerable following by people who were fanatical about him. After his death, the entire Jesus event was then reinterpreted against the backdrop of the Jewish religion. He was then seen as the perfect sacrifice to atone for the world's sin. It's more of a mythical rewriting of history than anything else, sprinkled with religious fervor.

God is all powerful afterall, and could have just waved the divine hand and forgiven everyone I suppose. And human sacrifice makes God out to be quite barbaric. Many people say that the crucifixion is evidence of God's love, but Jesus' life and teachings in general are better evidences of God's love than are images of him hanging on the cross.

Answer 4

Read in the book of Isaiah, the Old Testament. It outlines in chapters 50-54 what the messiah will entail, how he will be born, how he will live, and how he will die. God had a master plan all along for how He would save His people after Adam and Eve made a little mess of things by eating the apple. God always has a plan, and His plan entailed His only son to die on a cross for our sins. Only the blood of the messiah can wash away our sin. If you have a question beyond that, read your Bible and take it up with God Himself.

Answer 5

God could have chosen any of a million ways to forgive sin but He felt it the best way, to lower Himself, come to earth, live and work as a human in a sinful world. Teach people His ways and take the punishment for not only one sin but every sin everyone has committed or will commit from beginning to end. And then rise from the dead on the 3rd day to prove He is God and not just a human.

Answer 6

If you are trying to rile up the Christians and get us to be insulting, it's not going to work on all of us.

God wanted to make his love known to humanity. God communicated with the Jews (His chosen people) in a multitude of ways, many documented in the Old Testament. He sent prophets to proclaim his word in human language. He finally sent his son (or, theological, God incarnated God's self into the world) as the ultimate show of love.

Think about that last part for a minute. Isn't it a great sign of love and respect to walk a mile (or a year or a lifetime) in someone else's shoes? Don't we try to experience things that are important to our loved ones in order to show how much we love them? Parents play "make believe" with their children, not just because that is that level where the children are at, but because them love them so much that they are willing to enter a "child's world."

So God sent Jesus. Jesus proclaimed God's message. People didn't like it, were threatened by it, etc. and reacted by killing him. This is FREE WILL at work. Humanity could have welcomed God's message whole-heartedly at any time.

Given the situation, God showed his power and resurrected Jesus. Death is not an end. It has no hold on God (in any form) and thanks to God's love, Christians believe that death does not have an eternal hold on humanity, either.

Answer 7

Dear Selnyk,

No, there was NO OTHER way except through the cross! You do not understand the requirements Christ had to meet to save just 1 sinner! It was not the brutality of the cross that justified anyone. The Lord Jesus Christ had to endure eternity under the wrath of God Almighty condensed into the space of the cross (Gethsemanae to "It is finished.") During this period of time the Lord Jesus Christ was experiencing the wrath of God for all the sinners He came to save! This was not for the whole world but for His elect; those whom He chose before the foundations of the world. The Lord cannot allow sin to enter into heaven and so those whom Christ chose to save had to have their sin debt paid. The payment of course is eternal damnation (hell). But none of His sheep (elect) could endure eternal damnation and come out at the other end! Only God could endure that immense suffering. That is what the Lord Jesus Christ did for those whom He chose to save(Ephesians 1:3-6). Those chosen or elect are not of a particular nationality or mentality or position. They are rotten sinners whom God loved and chose to redeem. God is no respector of persons. During the lifetime of these elect, they will hear the word of God and He will make them a new creation (born again). That is why Jesus said many times in the Bible, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." If you are not saved, I would encourage you to read the Bible and ask the Lord to have mercy on you. That will not guarantee your salvation but the Lord will know of your desire. Salvation is completely of the Lord.

Answer 8

First, God has always asked us to have faith in him. So it is by faith that we accept his way of forgiveness from sin. And it is quite simple to do. All we have to do is ask him. Then by faith, with know we are forgiven.

As far as Christ dying on a cross, just like a great many men did, it seems to me this shows Christ's humanity all the more. His sacrifice was voluntary, for one thing, and so is our accepting the forgiveness it offers. I think this is the key to forgiveness, we do have the free will, or better put, the free choice, to accept or reject it.

Answer 9

God is a God not only of love but of justice, Perfect justice. His justice calls for soul for soul. The life Adam lost was a perfect life, when he sinned he became imperfect and so did all his offspring so that no one could pay the price for the perfect life Adam lost. Only by sending his son from heaven to be born as a perfect human man could the ransom be paid. Jesus held his integrity to God and never sinned, so the perfect life that was taken away from him could be offered to his Father to pay for the perfect life that Adam lost, Since Jesus never sinned, he never should have died. The payment of his perfect life was able to buy back Adams life enabling us to have forgiveness of sins by exercising faith in that ransom sacrifice, this satisfied Gods standard of perfect justice, soul for soul.

Answer 10

Mrs. God came to Mr. God and said "Why you be buggin'?" ( or the nearest omnipotent-being equivalent ) "Why you be all 'sacrifice a lamb' and I'll forgive you and stuff?" And after many centuries of reasoned debate from Mr. God and hysterical rantings from Mrs. God, Mr. God decided to really show her. So he sent her only begotten Son down to be crucified. And that may be why Nietszche thought God was dead, but it was really Mrs. God giving Mr. God the Silent Treatment and Mr. God pretending that it bothered him.