Why would he have a son for the sole purpose of dying for our sins? To be omnipotent is to be all-powerful, which means that he could've done ANYTHING to solve that pesky little problem, so why did he chose the sacrifice of a human being? Is it that he's not really omnipotent, or is it just that he's bloodthirsty and sadistic? I look forward to a lot of crazy and (unintentionally) hilarious answers from Christians.
124839
God has nothing to prove to you or I, The purpose of Christ was to serve multifunction, to fulfill prophesy, To create hope, and to prove to his angels that his casting Lucifer from his position was just. Lucifer held the keys to death prior to this act.\n\nJesus did this to act as a final act of sacrifice to honor the father so that we as sinners might have grace under his selflessness. Prior to this man was accountable to God for his disobedience where God required man to sacrifice the purest and the best of this earth. This ultimate show of faith opened the door to his love to extend to all humanity including you. \n\nYou might not believe this is true but denial doesn't make it any less tangible. You could not believe in air because you cannot see it, yet by its very being you live.
304190
If God is all knowing and all loving, why did He create Satan and allow evil in the world? A good question, to be sure. One that I’m not sure we can ever fully understand, not being omniscient ourselves. While I do believe that a large part of the answer lies in the fact that God decided to give us (i.e. men and angels) freedom of choice, I also believe that is used by most Christians as a pat answer to avoid the discussion (and personal contemplation) in the first place. To examine this question fully we must try to get a handle on many difficult concepts: freedom of choice, the nature of God, the nature of love, the nature of omniscience, and the nature of evil being the primary concerns. None of these are easy topics, and many of them will have to be looked at simultaneously.\n\nOne of the first questions I believe we need to ask is this: Why did God create us in the first place? The answer lies in what He calls us… His children. Why does any parent want to have children? While there may be a few who will answer that they want an heir to their estate or kingdom, and others who might answer that it is their way to immortality, I believe almost everyone would admit that the reason they want to have children is they want to have a child to love, and to be loved by that child. It is no different with God. He wants to (and does) love us. He wants to be loved by us. He wants all the joys of parenthood. With this understood, we now can explore the idea of freedom of choice.\n\nGiving freedom of choice comes both from the desire to love, and to be loved. Let’s look at a couple of examples we can relate to. If someone is trying to completely control his or her spouse or significant other, the relationship is almost always a bad one. No one likes to be controlled. A husband who tells his wife what friends she can or cannot have, when she can go out of the house, when to have dinner on the table, etc., is usually described as abusive. Not always physically, but that often goes hand in hand. Giving someone freedom of choice is also giving them trust and respect. Love cannot exist without it.\n\nI think it is even easier to see the necessity of freedom of choice when we look at the desire to be loved. God is described as a Father, so I am going to explore this aspect by looking at fathers. A father could make his six year old daughter climb into his lap every night and say, “I love you, daddy,” right before going to bed. He could, but I don’t believe most fathers would want to. While most fathers would want very much for their six year old daughter to do just that, if it was forced, it would not mean anything. A father wants his daughter to climb into his lap and say, “I love you,” out of her heart, not out of command. God wants the same thing. Yes, He could have decided not to give us any freedom of choice, but He created us because He wanted to be loved by us. If we did not have freedom of choice, than we could not truly love. Love must be a choice.\n\nNow that we have touched on the nature of love and freedom of choice, I believe it would be good to look at the nature of God. We will also discover much about the nature of evil while examining this topic. While God is called the creator of all, there is one thing that God did not create: evil. God did create Satan, the author of evil, but God did not create evil. Evil is the absence of God. This is why God is described as light, and evil as darkness. Darkness only exists where light does not. They are not true opposites. The only way to have darkness is to block out all light. There is no such thing as a “darkbulb” or “flashdark.” Only light can be created. God is also described as a consuming fire. I like to take these two concepts together and liken God to our sun. If you get too close to the sun you burn up; you become part of it. This is why in the Old Testament it is stated that if you see God’s face you will die. You would be consumed. When Moses was al
246391
Because how can God sacrifice Himself to Himself to appease Himself? Then knowing full well there is no death involved because Jesus is going to wake up in a few days. That's not a sacrifice. Besides human sacrifice is forbidden in Judaism and Deuteronomy 24:16 says no one can die for someone else's sins. Since Jesus hadn't died and risen again allegedly doing away with the Mosaic law at that point, it would have been impossible for him to be a sacrifice for others, let alone mankind.
226771
wow,someone is actually reading the bible right.i actually see the same thing.check this out.when jesus was praying in the garden of gethsemine,if he be the only god everyones cracking him up to be.why would he go thru all the trouble to pray to himself????dosnt sound like sense to me.daaaaaaaaaah.why does he always say "he only does what he see his father do.hhhmmmm.is this the higher being that every body heard at jesus'baptism.quote "behold this is my beloved son whome i am well pleased".this must be the guy who jesus referrs to as father.isnt this a trip.wow!!!!!!!!!!!
236431
What you seem to have missed is the greater point - you're not your own to begin with - He created you, all he asks now is that you recognize that by accepting him and worshipping him - it is not his desire that any should perish - but being good is not what he designed us to do - he designed us to worship - good deeds are results of our worship - not our means of worship.  You are in the midst of spiritual battle and I'm praying that God will give you spiritual rest and a mentor to lead you personally as opposed to this forum. As a parent I raised my son with certain values.  I have entrusted them to him.  It is now up to him to choose to use them.  If he doesn't then there are consequences he will suffer.  Does that take away his ability to choose for himself?  No.  It just means he didn't heed a more learned and wiser, experienced person.  It is a poor analogy, but it was the best I could come up with.
76514
Some previous posters were saying that we send ourselves to hell.  That is insane.  If god creates the system and then offers us a choice - either worship him or go to hell, it's not a "loving" choice.  That's similar to an evil person offering the choice:  1. worship me and I'll give you drugs that will make you feel great or 2. I'll torture you.  \n\nWhat loving god would want to torture anything?!?  Why create a hell in the first place?  Why have everlasting torture for a short period of disobedience?  \n\nYou don't have to beat children for hours because they are disrespectful.  You can do time-out and explain why it was wrong.  You hug your children and try to not them suffer when they get sick.  The xian god does the opposite according to the bible.
362910
I don't fully understand it, nor do I expect to in this life, but it's kind of like this.\n\nGod to us is probably what Allah is to you. Jesus is God in human form who came to earth to become the sacrifice for our sins, while God remained in Heaven.\n\nThere's one more. There is God in a Spiritual manifestation going on at the same time as the other two.\n\nHe is One God, in three different forms, at the same time. One mind, three forms.
506814
I have often wondered the same thing. But God is good and does not condone violence or vengence. However, if he does not condone vengence why does he punish? And why in the bible did he punish all mankind for one action of one? Or was that Adam and Eve story just an add on and not an actual event? Why would he let his own son be killed? Why were so many wars fought for religion, why would God allow that?
253662
Let me give you something to think about. \n\nAccording to the Bible, God is all knowing, right? \n\nWhen he told Adam & Eve, "Do whatever you want, but don't eat fruit from that tree," he knew that Adam & Eve would be snacking on that fruit in due time. How do I know this? God is all knowing. \n\nSo, if God is all knowing, and he knew they'd eat from the tree, why was he so ticked off? HE KNEW THEY'D EAT FROM THE TREE.\n\nEither God is one angry, irrational, and illogical being, or he's not all knowing. If he's not all knowing, what other flaws does he have? \n\nConsider the Garden of Eden as allegory, and that changes the dynamic of the question. Given a choice between a blissful but ignorant life, or a difficult but knowledgeable life, I'd choose knowledge. However, I would really kick myself for not staying dumb and happy. Human nature, what can you do? \n\n(The Matrix movies are a great example of choosing Eden or choosing reality. Overall, I think humans want to know the truth of things.)
359752
If we could be good on our own power, we would be God.\n\nGod didn't make us just so that we would be weak. That is, this was not his aim. But what he created was people, not God. Why didn't he create God? Because there is only one God who exists outside of space and time--who always was, is, and will be--who IS, not who was created. Therefore, God cannot create God. What he made was a creature in his image, but who could not be him.\n\nGod takes no pleasure in our weakness. He has compassion for us because we are weak. This is why he sent our Son--that through Him, we might become perfect, not on our own power, but by the power of God.\n\nIn addition, God created within us the need for Himself. So that upon our constant failures, we would begin searching for the One who never fails.
28019
God does love unconditionally, but love cannot cancel out Justice, they must both be infinite, or God could not claim to be ultimatley Good, which he does claim.  There was sin, and it must be payed for, or God's Justice would consume it regardless of his love for what was consumed. \n\n If you loved your child, but the child did a horrendous crime, would you turn him into the authorities, or would you hide him? Surely it is unjust for a mother to hide her murdering son from the  law.  If the mother is Just, she will turn her son into the police, even though she still loves the kid, because she's a good mom. \n\n So the problem is humanity sinned against an infinite being, and that requires an infinite sacrifice to pay for that sin, otherwise, the sinner must face the punishment.  The animal sacrifices from a Christian point of view, never did remove sins, but was foreshadowing of the atonement that would come, the perfect infinite sacrifice that was required.  \n\nIf he didn't offer a perfect sacrifice to his justice, his infinitely just nature would demand that we be punished.  He cannot do anything else, it would be contrary to his nature (unjust).\n\nGod sometimes asks us to do things that don't seem to make sense to teach us things(regarding animal sacrifice).  All God asks is that we turn from our sin and trust in his perfect sacrifice.\n\nYou ask good questions.  It's so boring seeing "how can a good God allow evil?" over and over again.
436036
Some things you need to think practically about. Why would God need to have a billion son's if one son could do the job of redeeming all of us? Besides, you've missed the point. The one Son made it possible for all of us to be the Father's adopted children. So, in one very real sense God does have billions upon billions of children.\n   May the Lord bless and keep you. May He let the light of His face shine upon you.\n                                 God's and your beast of burden\n                                                   Fr. john
599904
Does that primitive fairy tale sound right to you?  For example why wouldn't Satan use his powers to make Hell really nice so that people wanted to go to Hell?  He could gain power by being nice.  The whole good and evil nonsense in the Bible is really very silly if you actually analyze it.
173350
It makes no sense no matter how you look at it.\n\nIt makes no sense that god would require sacrifices to begin with.\n\nIt makes no sense that being convicted of a crime and executed somehow counts as a sacrifice.\n\nIt makes no sense that someone else's death who you don't even know could count toward relief of your debts.\n\nIt makes no sense that "sin" is considered some kind of debt.\n\nIt makes no sense that this sacrifice only counts if I have faith.\n\nIt makes no sense that god would value faith.\n\nIt makes no sense that god would value anything at all unless he is not self sufficient.
307176
The myth goes that Jesus gave his life to assume the burden of our sins. The myth is, of course, a load of codswallup. \n\nHow does the crucifixion count as an appropriate sacrifice? Quite simply answered, the correct response is; "It doesn't."\n\nJesus spent a few hours, maybe a day, in agonizing pain; but it was no greater pain than millions of others have suffered. In fact many people have suffered greater agony for more extended periods of time virtually every day since the dawn of Man. \n\nIf Jesus really is God (or the son thereof), then He knew exactly what was happening, and exactly how long it would last. There was nothing about the event for which he was unprepared to deal with on a physical, psychological, or emotional level. If there WAS something he was unprepared for, then he could clearly not be God, or the son of God.\n\nWhen it was done, He supposedly ascended to heaven and became the all-powerful ruler of the universe. This is infinitely greater compensation than even the faithful will receive, and infinitely less torture that the damned will receive.\n\n-SD-
296262
You've got it mixed up. This is the actual scripture:\n\nFor God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.\n\nNowhere does it say God killed Jesus.\n\nGod gave his Son to the people to show His eternal Love for us. \n\nThe misguided people killed Jesus.
477576
I think God does not intend for us to "worship" him (and I say "him" for lack of a better word)  I think the supreme entity that designed this whole universe did not just create us but every thing else in the universe.  This God is pure love.  Total and complete.  He knows no jealousy or is worried about good versus evil.  It's really kind of a silly idea to him.  There is no hell because in his infinite wisdom and infinite love he would never even concieve of such place.  He is the ultimate and we don't even have a clue.  All the Gods here on earth are manmade and when a person worships a particular god in a sense they are worshipping themselves.