Well, to be honest, I find your answer little incomplete too, because it doesn't tell why the penalty of sin is death. Why couldn't God just forgive?
Because that is the penalty God set forth i the Garden. When he told them of the consequence of there actions when he said, "when you eat of the the fruit, you shall surely die." That was the curse that God said would happen when they eat of the fruit. Here is how PUal explained the situation.
Romans 5:12-21 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
The reason death is around us so that it is possible for us to be changed from the bondage of sin. Imagine living forever while your body is having problems? It is just not much of a good thought I would say. And the Bible does say that those who believe in Christ will have there bodies changed. Have a look at this chapter and see what it says.
1 Corinthians 15
Also you cannot forgive someone if they do not ask for it. How can you forgive someone if they still believe that they are doing the right thing when they are doing the wrong thing? It is just not possible because the person receiving this "forgiveness" will just continue in his way and when yo are forgiven of something it shows that you have done something wrong. There are two conditions on receiving forgiveness. The first one is confession, meaning that you are admitting that you are wrong.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The other condition is repentance, literally meaning to change one's mind.
LUke 17:3-4 Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.
4 And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.
How can you possibly forgive someone who does not meet those conditions? Lets say you are married and your wife commits adultery and you find out and she does not stop, are you going to forgive her, even though she knows she is guilty of doing wrong and yet she refuses to admit that she is wrong and will not even bather to change what she is doing?This is just an example of situation that might happen to you, so it would be interesting to see how you would react in that situation.
@Lucy, you are spot on. Faith is the requirement we need to have when trusting in Jesus. But it is not blind faith, since if you read the Bible you will see many places where people put God to the test to see how he reacts and they have been rewarded for fully keeping faith in God. Job is a very good example, since he lost everything except his faith in Jesus, so after the end of trials he was rewarded for trusting in God. Having faith in God is the best thing that I have done. Faith is the only way we can be pleasing to God.
Hebrews 10:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Since you have seen that it is faith that is the step you need to take, rare you willing to take that step?
