Why would God send Jesus to die for our sins? Why couldn't he just forgive us?

Question

I am a freethinker and do not believe in God or organized religion but I would like Christians to think about this question.

Ok, so I have read a few answers and another question came up. Why do we need to kill (Thou Shalt Not Kill) to have our sins forgiven? I feel like this whole God thing is a big scam. The funny part is that I used to be a Christian but it never made any sense.

Answer 1

Jecka, great question!

Well, you can look at it this way:

Jesus = died for our sins.

God = sent Jesus to die for our sins.

Jesus/God = same being. Therefore, Jesus knew he was going to die, and God sent himself to die. He also knew we would sin...

Therefore: "He" is a sado-masochist.

He didn't "just forgive us" because he is ...um... a sado-masochist.

I think you should look at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_God_Who_Wasn't_There

Or check our Richard Dawkins. A renowned Atheist who has written books and done documentaries on this topic. I suggest you see "The Root of All Evil?" as it will help to better explain how religion just might be the... root of all evil.

Cheers:)

Answer 2

I asked this same question last year, when as an atheist in a Catholic high school I had a lot of opportunity to get people thinking.

The way that the chaplain (who was teaching the class at that time) explained it is that it ties in to the OT understanding of god and that the OT god needed blood sacrifices or the penance wasn't complete. He said that this is actually inaccurate, that god would forgive the people with or without bloodshed, but this was the Jewish custom. So, because Jesus was Jewish, the idea was that he would be the sacrificial offering, and because he's supposed to be both god and man, it's better than some pigeon or a lamb. His blood was supposed to be the epitome of sacrificial offerings.

When I asked the chaplain why that mattered since he'd just said that god would forgive with or without bloodshed, he looked a little bewildered and moved on to a different subject.

It does indeed seem as though the logical thing for the omnipotent and omnibenevolent Christan god to do would be to forgive everyone instead of, essentially, committing suicide. But apparently logic doesn't work, as with most if not all religions. It just makes a good sensational tale. You're not supposed to ask questions, remember?

Answer 3

Because you must first truly believe in your heart of hearts that you are a sinner unable to save yourself from your sins, and that you truly need Jesus as your Savior and only Him alone can save you.
Read John 3:16, Then read the book of Romans.
Many people think that if they just get baptized they are saved but they never believe, Others think if I'm just a good person, Some think they have to do works to be saved. All Our works are like filthy rags to God (useless). Salvation is free Jesus payed the penalty for all our sins On the cross (once)and for all, finished, He is the only One able too, or ever will be. Its an easy question to answer but hard for one to fathom. Seek and you shall find. keep seeking.
You say you were a Christian, I seriously doubt that you ever were.

Answer 4

It is because He is not just a loving God, He is also a righteous and just God.

The penalty for sin is death; both physical and spiritual (removed from God -can not have a relationship with God since He is holy and we are sinful).

If death is the consequence for our action then it would not be fair if He just forgive us.

Since He is both loving and righteous, in order to satisfy His own righteous requirement (since obviously we can not do it ourselves), He lived a perfect life as Jesus and then laid down His own life on the cross to pay that penalty in full for our sins. It really was the only way.

However, if you really think about it, He did actually just forgive us. What did we actually do in all of this? Nothing.

So actually He did just forgive us first. For while we were yet sinners and His enemy, He laid down His life so that we may have a relationship with Him and everlasting life.

Open your heart, He is knocking at your heart, let Him in and experience the peace that is beyond understanding. He loves you and has always loved you.

Answer 5

Its called The Trinity. God is: Holy Spirit, Father, and Son. If He just "forgave" us, that wouldn't show how much he cares for us - it would just show the power He has.

Plus, if He just "forgave" us, we would still debate whether he exists. That's why He sent his Son so we can actually see him, because us Humans have a tendency to be curious. Historians and many scientists say that Jesus did exist - but the thing to question is that is He the Son of God? And I believe He is.

I am not the type of person that just looks at only "one side of the story" - I look at both Science and Religion. As Albert Einstein said: "Religion without Science is blind. Science without Religion is lame".

And as for those that do not believe - I really cannot change their mind. Yes, the evidence of Evolution seems correct in my opinion. Charles Darwin stated that Our purpose is to spread our genes to future generations. But God said that too: "Be fruitful and multiply on this Earth". Everything has some false things and some true things in my opinion. (Although the word of God may be 100% true, the scholars at the time did not do not do a good job of keeping it to His word only).
Simply reading only one side of the story will not help. It will just bring a thousand more questions. The Big Bang theory may be correct. Who knows? Its a matter of faith to believe in God. I would rather have some faith than to have none. And if a great scientist like Albert Einstein can believe, then who can't?

Good question.

Answer 6

Good question.

What if I hurt you and then promptly say, "Sorry". Then hurt you again....and again....and again....Would that make sense? No. By saying sorry I'm telling you 'I didn't mean to hurt you and I'm not going to do it again'. Only then does it make sense. Forgiveness is not just saying sorry and then I forgetting all about it. It could take a lifetime to mend a broken relationship and prove that indeed what I did was unintentional.

As sinners we disobeyed God and hurt Him. The punishment for disobeying God is death simply because He is the Lifegiver. If He forgives, then He is not being just. Disobedience deserves punishment. But if He punishes everyone for sinning then there will be no one left on this earth. This is where Jesus comes in. He could take the punishment for all of us and still live again, because He Himself did not sin. He was as holy as God Himself is because He was God. When we accept Him we are promising to God that we will be faithful to Him just as Jesus was. Only then forgiveness to sinners makes sense.

Answer 7

When we as children misbehaved or did something wrong we were punished in some sort of way by our parents (if we had good parents). Otherwise we wouldn't have any consequences to our actions. Our parents could have just forgiven us and overlooked our mistakes, but then we would have kept making them. There has to be a price for our misbehaviors (sins). That is why God came down as Jesus to pay the price for our sins. The price for sin is death.

Answer 8

Jesus volunteered to return to the pass, He knew He could have got to come as a human little one and be raised by means of people, in order that He might real be human as good as God. He knew all of the discomfort and discomfort He could suffer earlier than He got here, but He desired to return besides. When He cried out that God had forsaken Him, He noticed that God had grew to become His face away, He might no longer undergo the discomfort on Jesus, and Jesus requested Why had He forsaken Him. But God simply could not watch His Son tackle all of the sin of the sector, in all that discomfort. I wager mothers and fathers can relate to that. But the Bible says He might have referred to as 10000 angels to smash the sector, and set Him loose, however He died by myself for you and me. Even in His discomfort He requested God"Father forgive them,for they realize no longer what they do." The thief at the left pass requested Jesus to keep in mind Him while He got here into His kingdom, displaying He beieved who Jesus was once. Jesus stated"This day you'll be with me in paradise". He had all that love, even in that so much discomfort. God certainly not forsakes any of His kids, that feel in Him and love Him. May God bless you.

Answer 9

Because God is righteous. By definition he CAN'T just excuse sin.

If you go out and steal a car and wrap it around a pole, why does the judge need to send you to jail? Why can't he just ~*forgive*~ you?

..Catchin' on?

When a wrong is committed, it must be punished. That's the law of justice and righteousness, both of which are God. What Jesus did for you was pay for your wrongs so that you don't have to be punished. And God gave you the free will to accept that or turn away and pay your own price anyway. What a shame to have to pay when you don't have to, especially after He bent over backwards to give you an escape.

Answer 10

With all due respect to your free-thinking friend, I believe that a free thinker truly must never feel under threat by other peoples thoughts. But to advance something of an answer to your question, it all hinges on whether one is a Christian or not, as there are other religious traditions in the world, some even older than Christianity. Truth does not depend on scientific fact, this is a hang-over of the Enlightenment; an atheistic philospohical aproach to human thought and epistomology that often runs counter to religious truth. My point is that a story or a tradition can be true without being historically or empirically factual.