How was it so noble that Jesus died for our sins if he came back to life anyway?

[Danielos]

The resurrection was necessary to show that Jesus really was more than just a religious prophet. It is the basis of the entire Christianity! So, I think he had to die not mainly for the sins but to later resurrect himself as the son of God. Of course, it would have been much more spectacular to actually resurrect himself on the very cross, smash the crosses to pieces and walk away triumphantly. It would have been a miracle none would have been able to deny...

 

[Azale]

Because it really really hurt?

 

[LightFang]

Because this thread CAME BACK TO LIFE!

 

[El_Machinae]

Before Jesus, the options to not fail in God's eyes were to either not sin (good luck) or to engage in ritual blood sacrifices to hide the sin, to gain forgiveness. With Jesus, all the blood rituals are done, if you let Jesus's blood be the necessary blood rituals.

Remember that God used to require a bunch of blood sacrifices to appease Him.

 

[JollyRoger]

If you still do the blood sacrifices, do you need Jesus?

 

[Narz]

Personally, I take the view that the most important element of the saga is that Jesus was resurrected. The resurrection stands as a symbol that despite the suffering, torture and death one may recieve, that life defeats death, justice over injustice, etc. I don't see it so much as Jesus taking our punishment, as Jesus showing us the way beyond the suffering of the world as it stands.

But then he left & ran away to heaven, anyway.

At least Bodhisattvas continue to come back & help, Jesus just came, gave some monologues, healed a few Jews, killed a fig tree, got himself killed, came back just to show he could & hightailed it on out of here.

 

[warpus]

Oh, come on, Jesus has done so much more than just that. He walked on water! He turned water to wine! He's helped countless of rappers with their rhymes (They always thank him - I'm assuming it's the same Jesus)

 

[GoodGame]

My suggestion Narz, go read a Catechism if you want an official answer.

 

[Theige]

Didn't he go to hell for 3 days?

 

[Defiant47]

Too bad God isn't omnipotent to create a world such that everyone has free will and is saved.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

It's always a certain kind of people necroing the threads...but this is worth discussing, so yeah. As for the question, I think the key phrase here would be "pain is the cleanser".

 

[Gustave5436]

Too bad God isn't omnipotent to create a world such that everyone has free will and is saved.

Or omniscient so that he knew humanity is curious by nature. Had he known that, instead of putting the tree of knowledge right there for humanity to inevitably investigate it, he wouldn't have placed it in the garden at all, leaving humanity stupid and ignorant for all eternity, as was His original wish.

It was only after humanity attained the knowledge forbade them by God that he became so enraged (this perfect being, this God of love and compassion, ironically being quite violent and wrathful by nature) that he decided to doom us to all the miseries of the universe, both of this life and of the one following in Tartarus.


As for the story of Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection, it makes no logical sense whatsoever. God fathered a son with Mary (but she was still a virgin anyway, because that's how the story goes), then had him cruelly tortured and killed by the Romans, so that he could rejoin his father in the heavens. Somehow, this cleansed humanity of the great evil it had committed by attaining knowledge, calming God down enough so that he decided not to send everyone who died to Tartarus, opting instead to allow some few who were exceptionally good at rejecting their own individuality and submitting themselves to Him to join him in the sky, instead. That is the whole point; since it makes no sense, it is mythical and separated from the normal human instincts of logic and reason. People see that it doesn't make sense, but instead of allowing this to set off alarms and red flags, they suppress their misgivings and submit to the authority of the religious figures who seem all the much better than them for the learned way in which they act.

 

[Greizer85]

Many famous and powerful people have believed in (or appeared to believe in) Christianity for a very long time. That is all I have to say.

 

[warpus]

Many famous and powerful people have believed in (or appeared to believe in) Christianity for a very long time. That is all I have to say.

Gotta love drive-by appeals to authority.

 

[Greizer85]

Gotta love drive-by appeals to authority.

Ahem... I admit I'm sometimes overly subtle, but I think christianity is bogus.

 

[Bill3000]

Many famous and powerful people have believed in (or appeared to believe in) Christianity for a very long time. That is all I have to say.

That's nice, but has nothing to do with the topic.

 

[Nylan]

If you still do the blood sacrifices, do you need Jesus?

The required sacrifice is "a broken heart and a contrite spirit" now.

 

[Greizer85]

That's nice, but has nothing to do with the topic.

People will believe anything if enough famous and/or powerful people 'believe' in it long enough and in great enough numbers. Sure, it may be a redundant statement, but making sense out of nonsense (=theology) is boring.

 

[Bill3000]

People will believe anything if enough famous and/or powerful people 'believe' in it long enough and in great enough numbers. Sure, it may be a redundant statement, but making sense out of nonsense (=theology) is boring.

Theology is not nonsense, and regardless of the truth of the statement, it has absolutely nothing to do with this thread.

 

[warpus]

you're a theologist