It means the only way for us to be reconciled to our Father the Creator is by a pure sacrifice. Christ Jesus of Nazareth was that pure sacrifice. By His death we now have a way back to the Father. By his stripes we are healed. Those who believe on His name and follow Him are given that opportunity. Those who deny this simple truth will have no place with the Father.
every human makes mistakes. with every sin we grow more distant from godliness. but through Christ, the debt has been paid, and we can be reconciled with God.
An ordinary human could never make amends for sin to God who is infinite. The offense is literally, infinite. ONLY God could make amends. So the Son of God, Second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, was sent by His Father to earth as the God-Man Jesus Christ (truly God and truly man) to offer Himself in place of every member of the sinful human race, unable to help itself. This "solution" was foretold even in the first book of the Bible, after the sin of Adam and Eve, and Christ's death was spoken of by the prophets in detail, especially in the writings of Isaiah about the Suffering Servant. God pursued sinful humanity through the ages which culminated in the gift of His Son. He is still offering us His love and mercy and a call to turn from sin and accept the salvation His Son has won for each of us.
I really want to have this kind of faith, but I don’t. I’ll share the best I can do. Jesus came and spoke and what he spoke resonated as profoundly true to people. As his popularity grew, he threatened the powers that be, because his message contradicted the current hierarchy. Jesus was then threatened, tortured, ridiculed, and crucified and it wasn’t enough for him to succumb to the powers that be, or enough from him to change his message, to lie, or to turn from God. He stayed true. Then, he was reborn because the truth and the loyalty to God gave him new life. So I imagine that he died in order to teach us how to live.
God had to sacrifice himself to himself in order to provide a loophole to rules he knew we could never live up to. Cool, huh? He tried different things at first. Killing everybody but Noah and his family as a do-over, for example. But then he had this one crazy idea..
I’m on an island among Christians, but I think you make a good point. That’s why I believe God is omniscient, but in that He knows all POSSIBLE future outcomes. God tried to steer humanity towards Him with certain methods, the flood, the exodus, but people continue to turn. I believe God saw these things as ways to help people turn towards Him, and it was possible. God foresaw a path where humans would come to repentance for those things, but it didn’t happen. In the end God had to come down Himself to solve the problem, which was always His ace in the hole, but He would have preferred not to do it that way. Does that make sense? God is never surprised by anything, and will always make it work, but He would have rather had humanity turn earlier, but since we have free will we continually choose ourselves over others. Think about it like a web of possibilities, God knows the infinite possibilities, nothing surprises Him, and He reacts to humans perfectly. But us humans with free will keep on screwing up so in the end He said ‘I’ve given you enough shots at it, I’ll do it myself’, and brings Jesus.
Why do people say Christ died for our sins? What does that mean?
It means the only way for us to be reconciled to our Father the Creator is by a pure sacrifice. Christ Jesus of Nazareth was that pure sacrifice. By His death we now have a way back to the Father. By his stripes we are healed. Those who believe on His name and follow Him are given that opportunity. Those who deny this simple truth will have no place with the Father.
every human makes mistakes. with every sin we grow more distant from godliness. but through Christ, the debt has been paid, and we can be reconciled with God.
An ordinary human could never make amends for sin to God who is infinite. The offense is literally, infinite. ONLY God could make amends. So the Son of God, Second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, was sent by His Father to earth as the God-Man Jesus Christ (truly God and truly man) to offer Himself in place of every member of the sinful human race, unable to help itself. This "solution" was foretold even in the first book of the Bible, after the sin of Adam and Eve, and Christ's death was spoken of by the prophets in detail, especially in the writings of Isaiah about the Suffering Servant. God pursued sinful humanity through the ages which culminated in the gift of His Son. He is still offering us His love and mercy and a call to turn from sin and accept the salvation His Son has won for each of us.
I really want to have this kind of faith, but I don’t. I’ll share the best I can do. Jesus came and spoke and what he spoke resonated as profoundly true to people. As his popularity grew, he threatened the powers that be, because his message contradicted the current hierarchy. Jesus was then threatened, tortured, ridiculed, and crucified and it wasn’t enough for him to succumb to the powers that be, or enough from him to change his message, to lie, or to turn from God. He stayed true. Then, he was reborn because the truth and the loyalty to God gave him new life. So I imagine that he died in order to teach us how to live.
God had to sacrifice himself to himself in order to provide a loophole to rules he knew we could never live up to. Cool, huh? He tried different things at first. Killing everybody but Noah and his family as a do-over, for example. But then he had this one crazy idea..
Why would God try different things? Hes infallible and omniscient, he would know the outcome ahead of time.
I was being sarcastic. God would certainly know the outcome, which is why the story makes no sense.
I’m on an island among Christians, but I think you make a good point. That’s why I believe God is omniscient, but in that He knows all POSSIBLE future outcomes. God tried to steer humanity towards Him with certain methods, the flood, the exodus, but people continue to turn. I believe God saw these things as ways to help people turn towards Him, and it was possible. God foresaw a path where humans would come to repentance for those things, but it didn’t happen. In the end God had to come down Himself to solve the problem, which was always His ace in the hole, but He would have preferred not to do it that way. Does that make sense? God is never surprised by anything, and will always make it work, but He would have rather had humanity turn earlier, but since we have free will we continually choose ourselves over others. Think about it like a web of possibilities, God knows the infinite possibilities, nothing surprises Him, and He reacts to humans perfectly. But us humans with free will keep on screwing up so in the end He said ‘I’ve given you enough shots at it, I’ll do it myself’, and brings Jesus.