Why did Jesus have to die?

by Crazyguy 33 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • CalebInFloroda
    CalebInFloroda

    It bears repeating, and it is a good way to see if a person is open to reasoning even from Scripture.

    Ezekiel 18.1-32 is clear that people don't inherit sin from either Adam or their parents. This false belief was once circulated around Israel in the days of Ezekiel, and the word from G-d was:

    What do you mean by this proverb of yours about the land of Israel: “When parents eat unripe grapes, the children’s teeth suffer”? As surely as I live, says the Lord God, no longer will you use this proverb in Israel!...Only the one who sins will die.

    People are not declared innocent by the shedding or animal or human blood. Ezekiel continues:

    People are declared innocent when they act justly and responsibly.

    Christians will oddly protest that this Scripture doesn't somehow apply, but G-d asks all who would oppose his thinking:

    You will say, “Why doesn’t the child bear his parent’s guilt?”

    G-d's answer:

    If the child has acted justly and responsibly and the child kept all my regulations and observed them, then the child will surely live. Only the one who sins will die. A child won’t bear a parent’s guilt, and a parent won’t bear a child’s guilt. Those who do right will be declared innocent, and the wicked will be declared guilty.

    Does a person need to have faith in blood shed on their behalf to be forgiven for some wrong? That has no effect on justice.

    But if the wicked turn away from all the sins that they have committed, keep all my regulations, and act justly and responsibly, they will surely live and not die. None of the sins that they committed will be held against them, but they will live because they do the right things. Do I take pleasure in the death of the wicked? says the Lord God. Certainly not! If they change their ways, they will live.--Ezekiel 18.1-23.

    At this point most Christians will quote Hebrews 9.22 which says that "there is no forgiveness without blood being shed." But these words do not come from the Hebrew Scriptures. In fact they contradict the above words of Ezekiel where G-d merely asks that "the wicked turn away from all the sins that they have committed" and "keep all my regulations, and act justly and responsibly," adding that because of doing these things "they will surely live and not die" for their sinful actions of the past. This promise is never made on the basis of requiring anyone to have faith in the shed blood of anyone or anything.

    If they change their ways, they will live.

  • stan livedeath
    stan livedeath

    i wonder what happened to the tree of life ?

    i guess it died

  • little_Socrates
    little_Socrates

    CalebinFlorida... thank you for the well thought out response. I learn a lot from your posts.

    Yes those passages have a different meaning for Jewish people. However, are you certain that the understanding that the Hebrews had was a complete understanding? Maybe the passage was meant to have one meaning for the people of the day... but then a much greater understanding at a later date?

    If you believe in divine inspiration, is it crazy to think that a passage of scripture was meant to have a different meaning for different people?

  • little_Socrates
    little_Socrates

    jws... the way I see it, Jesus didn't die to sate God's wrath, God is in need of nothing.

    Jesus had to die for US. We had to see the humanity of God. It was done to woo our hearts. It is the answer to the question "why do good people suffer". It was to give value to suffering. God could not partake in something that has no good. Simply by Christ suffering... our own suffering also becomes a redemptive act.

    God looked down at humanity and saw the suffering he was moved by pity and decided to join himself with our suffering.

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