A question for Christians: What would be different if Jesus had NOT died for our sins?

[Kablooie]

What did "dying for our sins" do for anyone?
Would the world be different today?

And of course he only died for a 3 days so it wasn't that big a sacrifice.

I was raised Christian but I honestly never understood anything about this.
It's never made any sense to me.

[RockRaven]

5. It wasn't even 72 hrs. IIRC, it was supposed to be 3 in the afternoon (on Friday) when he died

and then he's out of the tomb the second morning (Sunday) following. If you call it 6AM...

By my count that is 39 hours.

[RockRaven]

2. Would Xians be less shitty to other people because they'd be worried about actually being

accountable for their misdeeds, instead of having this prepaid "get out of jail" card they supposedly have now?

[Irish_Dem]

3. Never understood it either.

Why did he die for our sins?
And what good did it do?

[dchill]

4. It never made any sense to you because it never will.

It just doesn't.

[Thomas Hurt]

6. Christ's teachings, which the christians routinely ignore, would be the same whether he rose or not.

I think Christ's death and resurrection is really more about the everlasting life that is the reward.

[SledDriver]

10. Jesus gave up his weekend for your sins

[unblock]

11. ...

[twodogsbarking]

12. You must believe.

If you can't understand it then you need greater faith.
It's all your fault.

[Deuxcents]

13. Hmm.. I thought that an Easter time question

IMO .. it’s religion. Period. Either you do believe or ya don’t. After having it jammed down my throat for the first 16 years of my life.. no thank you. Of all the gifts given us.. a brain comes to
Mind. I’m trying to show my thanks by using it the best I can.

[consider_this]

14. Here's kinda how i understand it...

Supposedly all are 'sinners' because 'sin' is all things that separate one from God. (not just your basic obvious bad deeds). As humans we spend much of our time in modes of thought or behavior that are separating us. (In fact most spiritual pursuits are seeking ways to close that separation.)
SO then JC comes along and is both fully human and at the same time god incarnate. So god gets to see what it is like to walk around and live as one of us. hold that thought for the next part...
So the old testament understanding of god was that 'he' wants you to pay for not following the rules - a sacrifice is demanded. Somehow sacrificing animals was supposed to fill that atonement need. This was the understanding at the time.
So someone/thing has to pay for our sins in that mindset.
Now JC tries to teach it is not about laws etc to be right with god, but what really strikes the point is that he (as man and god - cuz he is one with god, remember) is going to do the needed sacrifice, but the big deal of it is - (remember the 'why has thou forsaken me' part?) he is separated from god at that point - he feels what it is like to be just man separated from god -thus feeling and taking on sin (remember my earlier definition of sin).
SO basically - the thing i get from it is that god loves humans enough to experience the pain of being human, and therefore, we should take confidence that god/the universal force, whatever you want to call it can understand our pain and struggles firsthand - we belong to the universe.

[Ocelot II]

17. That's one of the better explanations I've seen, but it's still confusing and weird.

[consider_this]

18. Agreed, but

That's the best sense I can make of it. Oh and I left out the rising up part. To me that's like no matter how separated you are from God you can always come back.

[Lulu KC]

20. Good job

Not an easy thing to wrap one's head around--good summary. It didn't make sense to me as an idea until I grasped the historical context of sacrificing in atonement.

[3catwoman3]

15. Killing one's son seems a most peculiar...

…way of telling humanity they are loved.

[3Hotdogs]

16. Look what He did on behalf of your sorry ass......

and you can't afford a few $$$ in the collection basket?

[twodogsbarking]

21. ?

[3Hotdogs]

22. The focus on the voluntary, sacrificial death of Jesus is to instill a sense of moral obligation

from of Jesus's sacrifice and a "debt" to the churches and their ministers that are kind enough to devote their time to saving our souls.


To repay our debt to Jesus, we should obey the 10 Commandments. "Every sin is like another Roman soldier's spear in Jesus's side." I remember that one quite well.


It was also this feeling of obligation to churches, pastors and priests that allowed abuses to continue for thousands of years.

--- and while we're at it, a couple of extra dollars on behalf of Jesus would also be a good idea.

[twodogsbarking]

23. I see.

[sanatanadharma]

19. Had Jesus not died and left, he could have taught for another 30-35 years

Perhaps, if Jesus had taught for decades instead of years, his followers might have actually 'understood' and now the world would be a better place.

As it is, his teaching was totally misunderstood and the result is fake Christians today claiming to actually 'know' God.
(The churches, however, are officially "agnostic" since defeating the "Gnostic" heresy that said God is knowable.)

Of course, as a non-Christian, I am not required to defend the indefensible and I can say Jesus spent his lost years in India where he was taught the truth that his followers failed to understand when repeated by Jesus.

[edhopper]

24. If you think that is confusing

don't try to figure out the Trilogy!

[Act_of_Reparation]

25. No Cabury creme eggs.

[old as dirt]

26. I wonder...

…would afropatianos still climb el cerro del Manzanillo and make pacts with the devil?

Apparently, they do it between the crucifixion and the resurrection during Easter Week because Christ is dead during that time. Otherwise, being good Catholics, presumably they’d be worried that Christ might find out.

My wife’s culture might have been very, very different over the last several centuries under your hypothetical.