Jesus QUESTION from Al Klein on July 21, 2002 Please explain to me, without using religious mumbo-jumbo, or apologism like we can't understand the ways of God, why an omnipotent god had to have Jesus die on a cross in order to forgive us the sin of having been descendents of Adam, who didn't really commit any sin (one can't commit a sin if one doesn't know that what one is doing is evil).
ANSWER by John-Paul Ignatius, OLSM on July 22, 2002 Dear Mr. Klein:
Sorry, all I know is religious mumbo-jumbo.
Jesus had to die on the cross to pay the penalty for sin that was brought into the world through the free will of Adam.
Adam's sin brought the cancer of sin into the world and contaminated human nature to be inclined toward sin.
Sin is a rebellion against God and his perfection.
To redeem mankind a sacrifice of blood was necesary. Blood is the symbol of life. Man, through Adam, tried to be the gods of their own lives. They took from God the lordship of their lives and kept it to themselves.
To offer a sacrifice of blood, we are saying, Lord, I give back to you that which was never mine. I offer my life (blood) to you. Take it Lord.
That sacrifice of life-blood REDEEMS mankind.
To put it another way, Adam stole the deed of the house of the human person away from God and gave it to Satan and to himself. He thought he could take care of himself without God.
The sacrifice of blood, ultimately with Christ as the paschal lamb, gave the deed of the human person back to God where it belongs.
Jesus said if we wish to save our life we must lose it.
God loves us so much that he became a human being so that he could pay the penalty of sin FOR US, so he could be the blood sacrifice that offered back to God the deed to our lives.
How is that for religious mumbo-jumbo?
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