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Why did 'God send His Son to atone for our sins'?

I took my daughter to a Christingle service last Sunday because it's a special one for the children that they all enjoy and I won't let my feelings about the church ruin my kids' enjoyment of Christmas at 6 years of age.

The vicar talked of the 'Blood of Christ sacrificed for our salvation'.

I thought ....OK, an omnipotent Being sits on his cloud and is jarred off at the human race (his pets/toys/proteges etc.) and feels they have been bad. REALLY bad. So bad they are never going to get into heaven unless they are forgiven and to get that they need to do some serious 'sorry work'.

He decides to send Number One Son down to them to preach the Good Word of love, peace, honour and respect and low carbon footprint etc. The REALLY bad human race listen to his Son and decide he's a troublemaker. Not content with a few whip lashes or a mild stoning they nail him to a tree and stick a bloody great spear in him. Dead.

Now, if we are to believe the Bible ( The so-called word of the Big Man Himself) this made everything OK.

'GOD' then felt that the humans had 'Made Up For Their Transgressions' and could now be admitted to His Heaven Club.

By murdering His Son.

Right.

Is it me or can anyone see a teeny-weeny little flaw in this thinking?

Or am I missing something?

I know there are some True Believers out there with an IQ of 130+ capable of Critical Thinking Skills, let's hear from you. (My IQ is 143 in case you ask.)

Update:

Sexy-naughty... You are off your head. Barking!

Schmo, I agree and do teach them the bible stories are just stories - NOT the truth. I have shown my elder son (11) the similarities between stage hypnotists and evangelists. His reaction? "Er, which one was which, Dad?" I want them to think for themselves, not follow the sheep.

12 Answers

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favourite answer

    no you are not missing anything at all....but I doubt that you will find any christians to answer this who can still think for themselves in a rational way

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    I wouldn't let my kids listen to such drivel. For one thing, what if they thought their OWN parents might decide to murder THEM for some reason just like God did to his own son?

    If my kids did happen to hear such a thing, I'd be quick to teach them about all the much earlier (than Jesus) mythologies which are word for word the same as the story of Jesus in the new testament, and teach them that these are all just make-believe stories, none of them are real even though some people think they are.

    And that goes for that perverted abusive teaching of Original Sin that Christianity has. Judaism doesn't even have this.

    Imagine teaching your beautiful little children that the most pure, holy part of them - their very souls that God breathed into their bodies - are tainted and filthy and worthless.

    Yeah. If someone ever taught that to my kids, they'd face some big time Wookie wrath.

  • 1 decade ago

    Please excuse the long reply:

    Faith is an individual thing. Faith in the sanctity of the Bible is an individual thing, as is religious adherence and church attendance.

    It’s good that you introduce your kids to religious thinking (by all means teach them also about religious tolerance through knowledge of other religions) but they need to make their own decisions, ask their questions and draw their own conclusions.

    The messages given by some “leaders” of churches are selected to inspire both soul-searching, journey selection and to promote thinking on such matters. In your case his message has worked. You have gone away and are doing your own research thinking – he “sowed the seeds” and they are growing in you and you are sharing it with us.

    It is my simple, personal interpretation, of this (your) very relevant question, that the Son of God was sent to teach the world about sacrifice, love and obedience. In accepting His fate He was showing obedience. God decided before Jesus was born, that would be His fate. I suspect the purpose of Jesus being crucified “for our sins” was to “step into the breach” for all of mankind present and future to represent the sins and sinners of the world and be the sacrifice on our behalf, so that future deaths and the judgment faced upon death, would not be based on a person’s level of sin in life, but on their Faith in God and measure of the outward expression of that, in life. The cleansing/atonement part is hard to wrap the mind around but for me it is the symbolic “wiping out” the sin factor in the Judgment as mentioned above. I am probably way off the mind of God here, but I am sure He will correct that at some stage.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Oh, the humans had no actual role in the forgiveness... it was all between the Man Who Lives In The Clouds and the son of man.

    It was all about a blood sacrifice. There was no moral aspect. None.

    And no, it does not make sense.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    The son of man which God sent down from Heaven was chosen to do this to represent and give the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of man and the opportunity to do Gods will and so that we do not have to do the same. Jesus at first did not want to die on the cross as it as written in the bible but loved his father so much did he obeyed him.

    You obviously do not believe in Christianity so why do you question what happened in the bible when you do not believe its existence?

    To preach low carbon footprint, I think not? I'm not a Global Warming believer because of facts such as the ice age and that I'm sure we weren't driving SVUS millions of years ago and ended the ice age.

    I'm 14 years old and my IQ is 138. My grandparents are pastors, this is their website if your interested :http://www.fatherandsonministry.net/

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Little flaw? There is a few big flaws.

    1. His Omni-potentness who is supposedly Omni-knowing created the blunder in the first place, putting a tree there knowing his creation will eat from it.

    2. His Omni-potentness who is supposedly Omni-forgiving cannot forgive directly.

    3. His Omni-potentness already know who is going to hell, so why the hassle?

    ----

    In John 8:58 "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!"

    This above verse speaks a lot about who Jesus really is.... or is it?

    In Ninja-Turtle 8:58 "I tell you the truth." Ninja Turtle answered, "That idiot lied".

    ----

    How does this sound :

    This god raped his mother to give birth to himself so he can kill himself who is disguised as his own son to forgive the sinners who were ultimately blunder he himself created.

    The song "I am my own grandpa" makes more sense.

    ---------

    Is IQ listing a requirement? Sorry, I did not had my IQ checked.

  • 1 decade ago

    Do you know you took the words right out of my mouth....well, actually my words always are 'I don't understand how Jesus being sacrificed on the cross washed all our sins away?' But, since I am normally just saying this to my family, or friends (none of whom are chuch-goers) it kinda falls on deaf ears.

    I will wait to hear the responses...I am genuinely interested in what they will have to say.

  • 1 decade ago

    Don't expect a logical answer because it doesn't make an ounce of sense. I think some people just turn off their brains when it comes to the irrationality of religion.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Sin must be paid for. For man to pay for his countless sins he has to spend eternity in hell . Jesus being the Lamb of God ( perfect, sinless ) paid for those sins by his blood , any man who comes to him and accept his free gift of eternal salvation will be with Jesus in heaven. Romans 10:13 " For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Atheist 15 yr old and a 134 IQ!

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