How can Christ sacrificing himself on the cross show mankind its errors or wash away its sins?

Question

- Why did God agree?
- And people in other lands never heard of Christ at that time.
- It is a gruesome story. It brings to mind human sacrifice to pacify gods, practiced earlier societies.The Incas sacrificed their children, and so did Abraham, nearly.

Answer 1

You bring up a good point. We're told this so often, we accept it without thinking through the implications of such a thing.

We've got this violent image of a 'sacrifice' and then the extended simulated savagery of 'eating' his body and 'drinking' his blood with bread and wine.

The barbarians were even too civilized for that; the idea is truly savage in my opinion.

Answer 2

It is the responsibility of Christians to answer questions like these. You came to the right place for an answer.

"How can Christ sacrificing himself on the cross show mankind its errors or wash away its sins?" God has shown that the whole world has disobeyed Him and is thus sinful. Sinful mankind deserves to be punished, just like lawbreakers deserve to be punished. God instituted animal sacrifices in the past, not because He liked them (He said He didn't), but to show us that He accepts substitutionary sacrifices. Jesus was the final substitutionary sacrifice. That means that Jesus' death on the cross satisfied the penalty for every man, woman and child in the past, present and future.

But the work of the cross, forgiveness of sin, is not automatic, but conditional. If you believe that you have broken God's laws and must be punished, then you can ask God to forgive you. Then God will wash away all your sins and you will not be punished for the sins of the past. That is why it's so important to see the "substitutionary" aspect of Christ's death on the cross - He died for YOU.

"- Why did God agree?"
God and Christ agreed to this plan so that we see that Jesus was not forced to die on the cross, but voluntarily submitted Himself. In this way, we Christians see how much we are to submit to God's plan, even to death if necessary.

"- And people in other lands never heard of Christ at that time."
No they haven't. That is why Christ has called His people to go everywhere and explain what this is all about. That is why I am posting this. I am deaf and this is a good way for me to reach others.

"- It is a gruesome story."
It is gruesome in the way that any death is horrible. However, if you know a policeman died in the line of duty to save a household from killers, then the death takes on new significance. It is no longer gruesome, but honorable, even though the death itself was horrible. Christ's death was indeed gruesome, but He died to save others, and that is an honorable death. His death is different from the deaths of many others, for He rose again from the dead to prove that He has power over death itself. This is why Christians have hope in the next life, and why we can bear our burdens. Our suffering is for only a little while, then we will live forever.

I hope these answers help you understand the story better.

Answer 3

God's ways are not our ways and blood sacrifices were used in the old days of the old testement. Since one man brought sin into the world, God gave His only son to take the sin away from us, IF we wanted it. It had to be blood sacrifice and Jesus was the only one that could do it. Thank God He did because if He had said NO, then there would have been no redemption of sins and we all would have gone to hell. Jesus could have called a legion of angels down to rescue Him BUT, He chose to die for us. Now that is some great love. By the way, Abrahams' son was never in danger. God told him there would be a sacrifice there and he knew there would be. He knew God kept His word , so he was never worried.

Answer 4

Jesus deliberately came down from heaven because man's sin had brought death to us. He chose to come as a human just like we are. When He died, he went into battle against death and because He'd never sinned was able to overcome it. Satan did not understand what Jesus had come to do because He saw Him as a mere human even though He knew who He was. Satan thought that when Christ died, he had won the victory over Him but then Christ came back to life and gained the victory over Satan. Jesus has promised that anyone who accepts Him and the sacrifice He made for their sin will share in His victory and inherit the Kingdom of God. He commanded and still commands His disciples to tell the world that whoever does this will have eternal life through Him. At the time of His death, those outside of Israel didn't know about Him, but since then He has been preached all over the world. Many religions did demand human sacrifice to their 'gods' but Jesus was different. He was not sacrificed to a 'god' but was God himself come down to defeat every other so called 'god' and to set us free so that we can be with Him. He gave His life as gift to us but like any other gift, it has to be received, which is why new Christians invite Him into their hearts. He has promised that whoever invites Him in, He will come in and dine with them and they with Him:)

Answer 5

The lamb of God went to the cross for your sins and mine. The blood of the lamb washed away those sins. All you have to do is confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and repent of your sins to receive everlasting life. There is no other way, choose life through Jesus Christ.

Answer 6

Mankind needs to learn to listen to great thinkers.
Lord Jesus was attempting to correct the errors of the Roman rulers of that land.

What greater act than to die for a cause?

Today nobody listens to those warning us about global warming.
We just carry on the way we have lived over the last 100 years.
In fact there is greater use of the earth resources now with massive increase in human population.

Answer 7

Because: 1. Jesus is God and it shows us how depraved we are that we would crucify our Creator, especially after he had healed and helped so many thousands of people. 2. That Jesus was prepared to forgive his crucifiers, shows that however rebellious we have now become, God is ready to forgive us. It would be difficult to imagine anything more rebellious against God than to crucify him.
Your question, 'why did God agree' does not make any sense to my way of thinking because Jesus is God.
Your other words are opinions rather than questions.

Answer 8

But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Gal. 6:14.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ always forces an issue of will. Do I accept God’s verdict on sin in the Cross of Christ? Have I the slightest interest in the death of Jesus? Do I want to be identified with His death, to be killed right out to all interest in sin, in worldliness, in self—to be so identified with Jesus that I am spoilt for everything else but Him? The great privilege of discipleship is that I can sign on under His Cross, and that means death to sin. Get alone with Jesus and either tell Him that you do not want sin to die out in you; or else tell Him that at all costs you want to be identified with His death. Immediately you transact in confident faith in what Our Lord did on the Cross, a supernatural identification with His death takes place, and you will know with a knowledge that passeth knowledge that your ‘old man’ is crucified with Christ. The proof that your ‘old man’ has been crucified with Christ is in the amazing ease with which the life of God in you enables you to obey the voice of Jesus Christ.
Every now and again, Our Lord lets us see what we would be like if it were not for Himself; it is a justification of what He said— “Without Me ye can do nothing.” That is why the bedrock of Christianity is personal, passionate devotion to the Lord Jesus. We mistake the ecstasy of our first introduction into the Kingdom for the purpose of God in getting us there; His purpose in getting us there is that we may realize all that identification with Jesus Christ means.

Answer 9

There was a price that had to be paid to redeem all that Adam had handed over to Satan by his disobedience to God and doing what Satan wanted him to do. So all that God had given Adam, dominion over the earth and all there in, was now Satan's property the earth and everything on it, including mankind. So when Satan killed Jesus though he was sinless and spotless Jesus took the sin of the world up on himself and shed his innocent blood that pure blood washes away all our sins when we join with Jesus Christ by accepting him as our Lord and Savior. When you plant a seed in the ground in the natural, that seed dies but is reborn and springs up many of its kind. That's what God the Father did with his Son Jesus and gained many sons and daughters..Death is the sacrifice of a seed to gain many of its kind..Whatever you see in the natural was in the spirit realm first..we Christians are many sprouts...

Answer 10

Religions are borrowed and share with other cultures as humans travel for trade long long ago.

They sacrifice whatever to satisfy their needs and desires.

Humans are not as intelligent as they do claim. Very sad on humanity.