Why did jesus need to die to save us? And HOW does his death save us?

Question

still trying to find an answer... : [

Answer 1

Christians have been trying to explain this one for the last couple of thousand years, and I'm not aware of any satisfactory answer. If God is all-powerful, then why did he need to resort to killing his own son to save humanity? Why not just save humanity Himself?

Some things don't make sense. Despite all of the ink and paper that's been wasted to explain why "salvation" is necessary, this is one of those nonsensical things. For comparison, the Mahayana Buddhist concept of salvation makes a bit more sense. The reason the bodhisattvas have the power of salvation is because they can continue tutoring you if you are reborn in their realm.

Answer 2

He is our sacrificial lamb who shed his blood to cover your sins: past, present and future. If not he died at the cross in vain. He full filled and nailed the 10 commandments to the cross (Colossi ans 2:14). God will remember your sins no more (Hebrews 10:17). You are a sinner for life, there is nothing that you can do not to sin (1 john 1: 7 - 10). You can not go out into the world and do what ever you wish, just because Jesus cover your sins (Romans 6: 1 - 3).

If you have faith in Jesus and are obedient to God, then you are not under the 10 commandments.

If you do not believe in Jesus, then you are under the 10 commandments, now you need to bring your unblemished goat to the alter every year and sacrifice it to cover your sins but with Jesus, he is our new covenant.

You are justified by faith and not of your works

www.mylordmysavior.com

Answer 3

1. Satan rebelled against God
2. Satan enticed Eve to sin, in turn, Eve enticed Adam to sin. They both therefore joined Satan in his rebellion. In so doing, they earned the wages of sin. Death. At this point in time Adam & Eve had not had children. When they did have children, they had already sinned and became imperfect & under the sentence of death. Being imperfect, their children also were imperfect and therefore also under sin & death.
3. God's justice is perfect. There MUST be a payment corresponding in value to the crime. Eye for Eye, Tooth for Tooth, ETC. Therefore the only ransom that could redeem mankind from imperfection and death would be the life of a 'perfect' sin-free man like Adam HAD been prior to sinning.
4.Therefore, Jesus came to earth (born of a virgin because the imperfection is passed on by the father), grew up as a perfect man, fulfilled the prophesies made about him in the OT, began the preaching work that his followers would continue after his death and then, after he had been falsely accused and killed, he was resurrected on the third day. He was able then to return to Heaven and present the 'value' of his perfect sin-free life on Earth as a ransom of corresponding value to his father, God, to satisfy that perfect justice.

That is it in a nutshell. I could give you the scriptures that both prophesy and explain it, but that would take a whole lot more space & wording then most would read.

Answer 4

The following is what the LDS Bible dictionary says about the Atonement, or what Christ did to save us. It puts it far better than I could hope to do. I was looking for something else but I could not find it. If this does not answer your question then please feel free to email me and I will see what I can do to get you a better answer.

Atonement

The word describes the setting “at one” of those who have been estranged, and denotes the reconciliation of man to God. Sin is the cause of the estrangement, and therefore the purpose of atonement is to correct or overcome the consequences of sin. From the time of Adam to the death of Jesus Christ, true believers were instructed to offer animal sacrifices to the Lord. These sacrifices were symbolic of the forthcoming death of Jesus Christ, and were done by faith in him (Moses 5: 5-8).

Jesus Christ, as the Only Begotten Son of God and the only sinless person to live on this earth, was the only one capable of making an atonement for mankind. By his selection and foreordination in the Grand Council before the world was formed, his divine Sonship, his sinless life, the shedding of his blood in the garden of Gethsemane, his death on the cross and subsequent bodily resurrection from the grave, he made a perfect atonement for all mankind. All are covered unconditionally as pertaining to the fall of Adam. Hence, all shall rise from the dead with immortal bodies, because of Jesus’ atonement. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15: 22), and all little children are innocent at birth. The atonement is conditional, however, so far as each person’s individual sins are concerned, and touches every one to the degree that he has faith in Jesus Christ, repents of his sins, and obeys the gospel. The services of the Day of Atonement foreshadowed the atoning work of Christ (Lev. 4; Lev. 23: 26-32; Heb. 9). The scriptures point out that no law, ordinance, or sacrifice would be satisfactory if it were not for the atonement of Jesus Christ (Heb. 10: 1-9; 2 Ne. 9: 5-24; Mosiah 13: 27-32).

Sin is lawlessness (1 Jn. 3: 4); it is a refusal on men’s part to submit to the law of God (Rom. 8: 7). By transgression man loses control over his own will and becomes the slave of sin (Rom. 7: 14), and so incurs the penalty of spiritual death, which is alienation from God (Rom. 6: 23). The atonement of Jesus Christ redeems all mankind from the fall of Adam and causes all to be answerable for their own manner of life. This means of atonement is provided by the Father (John 3: 16-17), and is offered in the life and person of his Son, Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5: 19).

Answer 5

1. (Why) Because he loves us so!

2. (How) Many focus on God being all loving or all powerful, but they forget that He is also just.

The righteousness of God demands that he cannot fellowship with evil. Since all men have sinned (Romans 3:23), then we all have sin that separates us from God. Isaiah said, "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear." (Isaiah 59:2)

Being separated from God, we are in a state of being lost.

Also since we have sinned, we have earned eternal death. Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

The justice of God demands that these wages be paid. This debt remains due. Either you can pay it yourself with an eternal separation from God, a spiritual death, or someone who did not earn these wages can pay it on your behalf.

The only one who has ever lived on earth that did not earn these wages for himself was Jesus. Jesus did not deserve death, but because he loves you so much, he was willing to pay a debt he did not owe.

In the New Testament, there is a plan by which you can accept Christ's gift of salvation! This is the greatest news ever told!

"God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)

Answer 6

I'm not sure if you had a chance to read what I typed in your other question (I was kind of late), but the cliffnotes version is

1. God gave us commandments and he demands 100% perfection and complete sinlessness for anyone to enter heaven. Think about it, if God allowed sin into heaven, heaven would be no different than earth (and so wouldnt be heaven!!).
2. God decreed a punishment for sin, and its that the soul the sins MUST die. This death is eternal death, not the physical death that we think of. ETernal death is sepearation from God, in hell.
3. No one has EVER kept Gods law perfectly (apart from Jesus christ) so it seems that no one at all can get into heaven.
4. But God provided a way for men to meet God's perfect standards, by sacrificing his own son to pay for your and my punishment (remember, that the punishment for sin is death!). so Jesus had to die!
5. His blood had to be shed because, the life of an animal or a person is in its blood, according to the bible.

Hope this helps
Let me know if you want the biblical quotes!

PS, there's nothing automatic about salvation. For the sacrifice of jesus christ to apply to you, you must believe in him.

JOHN 3
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Answer 7

Jesus became the perfect sacrifice for our sins..the Old Testament talks a lot about the sacrifices needed to atone for sins. (Even the pagan gods were presented with sacrifices) And it wasn't necessarily His death but His blood that 'saves' us...in the New Testament after Jesus had risen from the dead, He saw Mary and she wanted to hug Him. He told her not to touch Him because He hadn't yet been to the Father. This is because His perfect blood needed to be presented for our sins to God the Father. He paid the price for us to be forgiven. And no matter what ANY 'religion' tells you, you can't DO ANYTHING to get to Heaven...just accept that free gift of His ultimate sacrifice. Many 'religions' have ways that you have to earn your salvation...so many hail mary's, 2 years of riding around on your bike, only worship on Saturday, you have to be baptized, must speak in tongues, must adhere to the tenet of someone other than Jesus Christ, must kill the infidels, and the list goes on and on. His death and resurrection is so that we know, we too shall be raised from the dead to spend eternity with Him in Heaven.

Answer 8

He did not die, why would God have to make such a great prophet suffer such a horrible death, to teach us something...? No, God is not that cruel, even less to such servant and messenger as Jesus. He made appear to others that Jesus was on the cross but it was not. Jesus ascended to him directly where he stil is now until he comes back. We can only be saved by taking responsibility for our own actions, repent, never forget that He is the all-Merciful, but fear death so you can stay being a great believer everyday.

Answer 9

Human sacrifice, plain and simple. That's what it's all about (though the christian theologians try to dance around the issue).
Just like when the Hebrews would give an animal 'their sins' and then slaughter it. (Scapegoat)
Which is why the early christians gave the pagans so much grief. The pagans were still practicing animal sacrifices and the christians were saying 'you don't have to do that anymore because our god sacrificed himself'. Of course the pagans, being polytheistic could have cared less what the christians wanted.
So the christians got themselves some political power and made a human sacrifice of the non-believers.

Answer 10

It's all about the ancient barbaric practice of scapegoating.

Jesus was the scapegoat who supposedly took on all of mankind's "sins".

Also, the ancient barbaric god of the OT loved blood sacrifices. See Leviticus 1 and on for a few examples and also Leviticus 16 for a description of the scapegoat thing in ancient times.

Oh yeah, and it's all just myths with a little history of the Hebrew people mixed in.