Can somebody please explain Christ's "sacrifice" in a logical or useful way?

Question

I don't get it, and I'm genuinely curious. I'm not saying I'll convert once I understand this one concept; it's more like when there's a movie that a lot of people say was really great only it made no sense to me. I want to at least understand the plot, before trying to judge whether it was any good.

God is omnipotent. God makes the rules. God decided that humans didn't deserve to live forever in paradise because the first two disobeyed him and ate some fruit.
Then God becomes flesh in the form of Jesus. Jesus dies on the cross. Now humans can go to heaven.
Did I leave something out? Or is this just a really weird story? What was the point of being born or crucified, if God had the power to grant amnesty all along? And what does it matter if Jesus died, since he was really God all along? A "sacrifice" implies giving something up - all God did was temporarily assume human form and then drop it.

I read the bible already, so please don't answer by quoting scripture.

Answer 1

I don't understand the whole thing.To me, He sacrificed his life on a cross in that he came to earth knowing that he would be rejected and suffer. He did this to show us the Father, who we can know by looking at his life and teachings. It's like if, say your companion, not you ,stepped on an ant hill and destroyed the whole thing. And you loved ants so much that you decided you would become one (if you could) to show them how to rebuild their house (our lives).After all you couldn't just lean down and explain how to do it. But you knew that the Queen Bee along with ants that did not understand what you were trying to do, they would torture and kill you. But you did it anyway because you loved the ants and wanted them to have what had been destroyed.. Jesus did not want to go to the cross if there were anyother way. But he did.
Of course there is much more to it. But I haven't gotten that far yet.

Answer 2

Being crucified is never so simple and without a sacrifice. Even Christians were crucified on the cross for their beliefs.

When Jesus was born he was just as human as you are and he felt every bit of his death on the cross, including all the humiliation that was given to him The pictures that show Jesus on the cross have the nails in the palm of his hands which are inaccurate. It was much worse where they really went, the iniside of his wrists.

The true sacrifice came the second he died. He took on sin of man, every sin that every single person had ever or will ever commit and he descended into hell until he rose three days later. He went to hell for you, just in case you might change your mind before your last breath.

We will never understand it 100% which is why we are not God amd I know that is weak, but all I can say is, until you have an actual heart that is willing and truly wanting to understand, you will never understand it.

Once we accept Christ, the very second we surrender our life, the Holy Spirit who is the Master Counselor, comes into our heart to provide us with the wisdom of knowing and understanding what is spiritual.

The person without the Spirit of God can only look at spiritual things and find them foolish. We who have the Spirit, find the truth confirmed.

God's word was not meant to be intellectualized, for then it would be only for the smartest, and though there are even hundreds of scientists and other extremely high achievers that are Christians, there are also just as many special mentally disabled people who are also Christians, and every type inbetween.

God's word is simple, God loved the world that He created, so He sent His only Son to die on the Cross for you, so that you will have eternal life.

Those who don't accept Him, He will not accept.

You will make the decision where you will spend your eternal life here on earth before you die and it cannot be changed once you stand face to face with Him.

Choose wisely because its forever and ever.

Answer 3

God is omnipotent, he is perfect, but he can't do everything. He can't lie, or commit other sin, because otherwise, logically, he would cease to be God (being imperfect or sinful). He can't violate laws either. Where there is a law there must be a punishment, otherwise, what is the point of having a law?

God is the Father, Jesus is the Son, and they are separate and distinct beings, with their own Spirits and bodies.

We all come to earth to gain a body for our spirit and to be tested. (same as Christ). Adam & Eve were created in a perfect state because God could not do otherwise. They were given freedom of choice because without it, they would never know good from evil without experiencing the ability to choose for themselves (as with all of us). They were tempted and chose, and both spiritual (separation from God) and physical death entered. Christ did the atonement (most miss the sacrifice in the Garden of Gethsemane - great drops of blood, etc. and only focus on the cross) to overcome both, the resurrection is free, but the redemption from spiritual death (to be brought back into the presence of God) depends on our willingness to repent, do good, and accept the sacrifice that was made for us. Eventually all will be resurrected (Body & spirit reunited - same as Christ) and then Judged.

The law was affixed, a punishment was given, neither justice nor mercy is denied. God is still God and we have a way back.

Answer 4

I can see why it's all confusing. Presented with the bare facts, without the purpose behind it all, it makes no sense.

Yes, God is omnipotent, but he is holy and just. Because he is holy and just he must address sin. Even God cannot sweep sin under the rug and say it's all okay now. Sin is serious to the point that it causes death.

We don't pay for Adam's sin, we are only responsible for our own. If everyone were responsible for Adam's sin, then what about when babies die?
I'm trying not to use scripture here since you requested we not.

Anyway, life is in the blood. Blood gives life. So to undo the ravages of sin and death, it takes blood. But it can't be any blood, it must be from a sinless, pure life.......because death has no hold on a sinless life. That's why Jesus could rise from the dead.

So, Jesus (as you said, God in human form) is the only one who could accomplish the deed.

When we accept him, then Jesus' purity, righteousness, and holiness is applied to us. It is then as though we were as perfect and sinless as Jesus himself. When we come to God, it is the righteousness of Jesus that he sees, not our sin.

Just because Jesus as God doesn't mean he didn't suffer greatly. He pain and anguish went far beyond the horrible way he died. In our humanness we cannot fully comprehend what he went through the moment he said, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"

Answer 5

According to the story, it's not so much the eating of the fruit that's important, but rather the legacy of 'original sin' (which may perhaps be best understood as the propensity to sin). When people sin, they separate themselves from the perfection of God. God could simply grant amnesty to all of mankind, but instead he requires some sort of repentence and attempt at reconcilation on our part. In the Old Testament, this could be done by offering an animal sacrifice as a sign of penitence. The problem, however, was that because of this fundamental propensity to sin, the people were never completed reunited with him. They needed some sort of perfect sacrifice in order to reconcile their imperfect natures with God. Jesus was that perfect, sacrificial lamb. His death was a sacrifice in the Old Testament sense of the word. He was human and he was killed by humans, so he was our sacrifice. But he was also God, and so perfect, thus without sin or blemish. By accepting this sacrifice and offering it to God we are reconciling our imperfection with God's perfection. And so heaven is opened to us.

Answer 6

Alright, let's see if I can explain...

God is omnipotent. God makes the rules. The first two broke one rule, and all of their decendents are breaking any rule they can. There was sin. God hates sin; can't, because He is Holy, be near sin. People were sinful, thus they could not be with God. The sin had to die. The Son (who is God and yet seperate- it's the Trinity, don't make me attempt to explain it, please) became a Man. Lived the entire life of a man - sinlessly. Did what we could not. Thus, being without sin, He could take on the sin. Thus he died. And God had to crush His Son. Actually, He saw the sin and "it pleased the Lord to crush Him" - to do away with sin. Then He conqured death and is alive with the Father praying for us.
Now God does not see the believer's sin, He sees His Son.

For a sacrifice you have 1) the pain of destroying His Son
2) the temporary loss of His Glory.

Really, you should talk to someone like my Pastor. He's way better at explaining these things.

Answer 7

There is no way for me to explain the concept of Love in a logical or rational way. Love is really good at not being Logical or rational. If your looking to weasel an answer out of a christian that is safe, simple, or scientific... you wont find one that is 100% the truth.

If you want to find an anser that is 100% the truth, even though it doesn't make a lick of sense to you, you've already read the new testiment... read it again.

The thing is this; We aren't supposed to understand everything about God or about Jesus. In fact, God made sure that there was no way that we could. Because if we are saved by faith, then there can be no room for understanding it all. Because Faith is blindly folwing something even though there is no proof and it most likely doesn't make a lick of sense.

Hope that helped.

~Mikayl-Vodhr

Answer 8

I am totally stuck on this myself, and judging from the answers you have gotten so far, so is everyone else (including those who say they believe it). It's so goofy. You're right, god makes the rules, but for some reason demands sacrifices? He has a son which is himself and he dies but then wait, he's back then rises into heaven? What kind of sacrifice is that? People who went through hurricane katrina went through more sacrifice than jesus!

It all sounds pretty bogus to me. I'll be surprised if you ever get a reasonable answer to this.

Answer 9

You are making assumptions that all Christian groups interpret these events the same. In order to find the answer to your question, you're going to need to do some research into the varying Christian denominations and branches--some the differ greatly. In my Christian faith, we believe that there are certain eternal laws that have to be obeyed by God or else he ceases to be God. Since God can't excuse the breaking of these laws, someone has to pay the penalty for our transgressions of those laws. By not excusing these laws, God remains perfectly just, but by sending Jesus Christ to suffer for all our sins and to die on the cross(two separate actions that happened to happen concurrently for a period of time) God remains perfectly merciful. That is a short, probably inadequate, answer to your question.

Answer 10

The beginning starts in heaven. Lucifer was an angel in heaven. One day he decided that God wasn't fair and that he could do a better job at being God. He got 1/3 of the angels in heaven to agree with him. The unhappy angels could not continue to live in God's presence. Lucifer's name was changed to Satan. If God had just obliterated Satan the angels would have worshiped God out of fear not out of love. Satan would have been justified in defying God. After God had made this earth He gave man the same choice that the angels had. Obey Him or not. They chose not. In God's love and wisdom He knew that this sin thing would have to play out so that everyone would be convinced in their own minds about God's fairness. The Book of Job in the Bible is a good evidence of the workings of Satan in people's lives. Romans 6:23 tells us that the WAGES of sin is death. Jesus took human form and paid that penalty so that we don't have to. Jesus himself still retains His humanity too. He didn't "Get back everything He gave up" He still bears the scars in His hands and feet of the nails. My sins and yours are what held Him on that cross for nails alone could not have done so.