I have read and been told;
"Jesus dying on the cross is a demonstration of how much God loves us. God wants us to see that, by sacrificing Jesus on the cross, it is a demonstration of His love."
This has been a puzzle to me and I would like to ask you "how"?
How does allowing someone to die demonstrate the greatest love?
1) i) Didn't Jesus cry and beg to be saved according to the Bible.
"About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" {Matthew 27:46}
If I had the power to save someone who was bleeding, crying, praying and begging to me to save him or her, I would save them. Not to save them would prove I was heartless, to save them would show I have Mercy, let alone love.
Not saving Jesus only demonstrates God does not listen to our prayers, does not have mercy, not even to his prophet according to the Bible.
Not to mention discrediting his prophethood to millions of Jews past, present, and future.
Please be logical in your explanation and kindly keep in mind that God is All Powerful and does not need "blood" to forgive sins.
ii) Another question to consider in your reply, if Jesus's intention was to be a sacrifice, why would he "Beg" and "Pray" to God to be saved, and if your answer is that Jesus had a moment of weakness, than why say Jesus is God, seeing many Christians say "Jesus is God in human form", because Jesus had the power to heal and raise people from the dead and walk on water, why then is Jesus at this moment helpless and powerless and most of all, not wanting to be sacrificed?
iii) According to Matthew 7:7-11, Matthew 18:19, Matthew 21:22, Matthew 26:39, Luke 11:9-13, Mark 14:36, and Luke 22:42, whatever a true believer asks, God will do. Jesus cried out to be saved, and was not saved. Does this mean God has lied? Or does this mean God is not as Merciful, not as Loving, not as Forgiving, as you, makes Him out to be? Why was Jesus not saved? Or is Jesus not a true believer? In which case, WHO IS?
God killed Jesus in the Crucifixion when He could have easily used His All-Powerfulness to forgive sins.
2) If I were in a room full of people and there was one person singled out to be sacrificed so all the other people in the room could be saved, wouldn't the loving thing be not sacrifice at all. Wouldn't the loving thing be to just forgive?
Understand that: If your sin is as large as a mountain, God Created the Mountains and can remove them as well.
If your sin is as deep as the Sea, God Created All the Seas in this world and the Universe and can remove them too, God loves and could have saved Jesus.
God is All-Powerful, so He has the ability to do something other than the crucifixition. God is All-Knowing, so He could have thought of a different way of forgiveness, instead of painfully crucifying an innocent man.
But instead, God let Jesus suffer a slow, cruel, excruciatingly painful, and totally unnecessary death.
3) Deuteronomy 24:16 "Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin."
God let a human being suffer. That means God let a human being suffer torture, instead of using His Power and All-Knowingness to find another way to solve 'the problem' (some say sins...some say the original sin) without torturing people.
Could God really choose to let someone suffer instead of saving them? No.
According to the Christian doctrine, Jesus died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins. Every human is born with sins, or all humans will eventually sin, and therefore it was necessary that someone as pure as Jesus would be crucified to nullify these sins. The question is; why does anyone have to die for our sins when God, the all merciful, could as easily grant us forgiveness if we asked for it? Why does He have to make someone suffer for our sins or for someone else's sins? Isn't that unjust of Him? According to the Bible the way to redemption could be obtained without the need for sacrifice. The Bible says:
Ezekiel 18:20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. Ezekiel 18:21 But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
Clearly the soul that sins shall die. Clearly, no one shall bear the iniquity (sins) of others. So Jesus cannot bear the sins of others either. If one is righteous then it shall be upon him, and if one commits a sin then it shall be upon him, and not on Jesus. Thus there is no original sin from Adam and Eve. Each soul shall bear its punishment.
The way to repentance and forgiveness is by turning from all sins, doing what is right, and keeping the commandments.
Also we see the same message given by Solomon. He says in the book of Ecclesiastes 12:13 "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man." This is the whole message, and this is the conclusion of messages. It is that one should fear God, keep His commandments, and nothing else.
Again in II Chronicles 7:14 "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land" This clearly states that to seek forgiveness from God we have to humble ourselves, pray, seek God, and turn away from wickedness.
Finally the Bible says in I Samuel 15:22 "And Samuel said Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." This clearly states that obeying God is better than sacrifice whether this sacrifice is of objects, animals, or humans, or any other type. What God likes is for us to heed and obey Him, and if that is what God likes then it is not of Him to come later and change His mind and His ways.
So which is right? Is it the Christian doctrine of the crucifixition? Or is the Old Testament which says that God will never sacrifice one person for another or that God will never put one person's sins on another?
4) (Directed only at some Christians): Some Christians believe that Jesus took all the sins of the world on himself. (God says in Genesis, because Adam sinned, he willl die. And so, these Christians claim that Jesus took all the sins of the world, and that is why he died). If Jesus took these sins on himself, does this mean that Jesus, who carm.org believes to be 100% God and 100% human, has sinned? Does this mean that God sinned? Is God guilty of stealing, committing adultery, and lying? Is God guilty of making idols and worshipping them?
5) The Bible says sacrifice is not mercy:
Hosea 6:6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
The fact that the speaker desires mercy not sacrifice, means mercy is not sacrifice.
I repeat in conclusion:
If I were in a room full of people and there was one person singled out to be sacrificed so all the other people in the room could be saved, wouldn't the loving thing be not sacrifice at all.
Understand that if your sin is as large as a mountain, God Created the Mountains and can remove them as well.
If your sin is as deep as the Sea, God Created All the Seas in this world and the Universe and can remove them too, God loves and could have saved Jesus.
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