Jesus' Crucifixion and Resurrection

I know why Jesus supposedly had to die. The thing is, if God is omnipotent, he could have done it any way of his chosing. He could chose to allow us to be forgiven. He could chose to give us the necessary knowledge at birth. The omnipotent part is really what makes the story questionable.

 

the concept of sacrifice nd forgiveness is not understood by christians.

if cparso steals my ipod, i cannot forgive him by smashing my gamecube. it doesnt make any sense to destroy things to forgive people. if god wants to kill his son, good for him, makes no sense.

besides, god cannot possibly give up anything or suffer any losses. he is omnipotent and only can have exactly what he wants.

imagine if you had never heard of christianity how silly it would sound if presented to you as a sane adult.

if i told you "hey guess what i have good news, the thing that created everything made a son in human form who was also god and then had him killed thousands of years ago, so your sins are forgiven, but he wasnt really permakilled, he just rose to magicland, but still, we are forgiven, hooray for us!".

you would be stunned that anyone took that seriously.

 

I take it seriously, and it's okay that you don't. I am okay with you being stunned.

 

Martin, I'm not going to refer directly to your posts and highlight certain parts, etc. I don't have the energy to pick out the relevant sentences,etc. right now but the points you bring up touch on a couple of key principles in theology. One of those points is the trinity and the relationship between God, Son and Holy Spirit. No one is going to be able to give you a clear description of it because it is a "Mystery". Even the Church recognizes that man is not able to comprehend it fully. It's somewhat like expecting a dog to understand the workings of a doorknob.....he just can't grasp it, it's too much for him. No one would have come up with this idea on their own, either. The only reason it developed is because of Jesus and his claim to be the Son of God. No other religion has this aspect to it because no other religion except Chrisitianity has a figure like Jesus, who really is "begotten not made". People don't use that word anymore but it means that is of the same essence or material as the thing from which it comes. When people beget something then that is going to be a human being. Women give birth to men and women, not some other creature. When God begat something it was also of that same material, ie, God.

The other thing you have trouble with is why Jesus was crucified. This is much easier to understand if you would change your point of view a bit. The thing to understand is that He was helping us. Jesus wasn't being punished by God. Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice to redeem mankind. He did it of his own freewill and his sacrifice was accepted by God. To argue that somehow it wasn't a valid sacrifice because he was God really betrays a deep misunderstanding of the situation. Not unlike a man who is drowning and is about to be saved by another man standing on firm ground who is offering his hand to save the drowning man. It would be ridiculous for the one who is drowning to protest, "it's not fair, your standing on solid ground, your not in the same weakened state that I'm in!". It is precisely because of his superior state/position that he is able to save the drowning man.....and a little gratitude on his part would serve him well.

 

and this is why i tell people it is silly for them to actually argue that science and religion agree, because this obviously something you cannot believe without faith. shut your eyes and brain and believe it, because questioning it will get you nowhere. beyond human comprehension.

 

I had a great Easter.

My 9 year old daughter was Baptized in Church today. :thumb:

 

I still remember my baptism...Our pastor must have made a pretty impassioned plea that day...No less than 11 baptisms were done that day...Saved a lot of souls that day!