The suffering of Jesus for our salvation

[ecstazy]

Hi all,

I am new here and I thank you for running such a nice forum. I was baptised when I was an infant and I have been practising my catholic for a short while. I was lost for about 15 years and now I repented. I am sorry for what I was.

Since my “return” I have been praying much more, go to mass every day, rosary every day and the more I pray, the more I feel like I need to understand God more.

My biggest question now is, why did God need Jesus to suffer in order to give all mankind salvation? With due respect I have no intention to challenge this faith and I understand God sent his only Son to save us because HE didn’t want to see us die. But God is almighty and HE can do anything good, then why didn’t God just forgive all of us and reopen the door of heaven without sacrificing Jesus?

I know there must be a reason behind and I have read Salvific Doloris (the apostolic letter by St. JP II) but I still don’t understand. May I ask if there is an offical answer from the Church on this?

Thanks a lot and God bless.

Claude

P.S. I am from Hong Kong and I am not a native english speaker, please pardon my grammar or poor use of English, peace.

 

[strange_guy]

Jesus was terribly tortured and killed but he was ressurrected, so he is victorious against death. And this victory he acomplished is free for everyone who choose to believe him and follow him.

 

[KyleOfOrigen]

Your question isn’t stupid and I have asked this and have heard other people ask this also. Even after accepting the fact of Jesus needing to die for our sins as an atonement- the question still remains “Why?”.

I think of Lot. Atheists point to Lot and are disgusted and say “What kind of God would ask a father to sacrifice his own son?” showing how universally that is seen as “the ultimate” thing anyone could do.

How funny then that this was then EXACTLY what God did for us.

"But God demonstrated his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us’- Romans 5:8.

Why God does what he does is up to God- but if He would have just magically forgave everyone there wouldn’t be nearly as a beautiful picture of His love as we have in Jesus agonyzing and dying on the cross, put on display for the world to see.

Your question isn’t stupid. Get a crucifix and gaze at it for hours and think about how much God loves you.

 

[St_Redemption]

I like the way that CS Lewis described his thoughts on the matter. He stated that because God is so Holy that He must punish sin, and that to allow it to go unpunished would be a complete contradiction to His nature. So Jesus took the penalty for us. It is said that He sacrificed His Son. Well He did, in the sense that He allowed His Son to die for us. But it was obviously only His body that died. And Jesus could offer up a sacrifice for our sins because He was perfect, and because He was perfect, He was the only one who could do so perfectly.

Atheists saying “well it makes no sense why would God do this to His own Son” is really kind of silly. To me the difficult doctrine of Christ’s atonement for our sins does is more evidence for the faith. Why would somebody inventing a religion make up such a difficult to explain doctrine? It is the real things that are complicated. It is the simple and easy to understand things which are made up. God being all beyond our understanding, is impossible for us to comprehend. So if to Him the only way for us to be forgiven (through a complicated reason which our finite minds cannot comprehend) was to sacrifice His Son, then it had to be so because it was His will that we should be forgiven.

Yes God is all-powerful but He has also set rules and barriers where He will not interfere. For example, He does not interfere with free-will. So for Him to operate and complete His goal in a universe were He allows Himself to be restricted so that we can be free and love Him, it became (through a way we cannot comprehend) necessary for Him to give up our Son so that we may be forgiven and, thus in doing so, completed His plan.

 

[HelenRose]

Your question isn’t stupid and I have asked this and have heard other people ask this also. Even after accepting the fact of Jesus needing to die for our sins as an atonement- the question still remains “Why?”.

I think of Lot. Atheists point to Lot and are disgusted and say “What kind of God would ask a father to sacrifice his own son?” showing how universally that is seen as “the ultimate” thing anyone could do.

How funny then that this was then EXACTLY what God did for us.

"But God demonstrated his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us’- Romans 5:8.

Why God does what he does is up to God- but if He would have just magically forgave everyone there wouldn’t be nearly as a beautiful picture of His love as we have in Jesus agonyzing and dying on the cross, put on display for the world to see.

Your question isn’t stupid. Get a crucifix and gaze at it for hours and think about how much God loves you.

Minor correction. It wasn’t Lot. It was Abraham and Isaac was his son.
I have always thought of this story as a major teaching of those times when human sacrifice was practiced by other religions. God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son but by stopping Abraham from carrying out the sacrifice, God showed Abraham that human sacrifice was not to be practiced. It was the end of human sacrifice.

 

[SighGuy]

I don’t teach with the authority of the Church… I don’t know the theological answer, here. What I have assume is this:

God is Just. The entirety of Justice is found in God. Likewise, Mercy, and Love.

Every bad action is justly requited with punishment, and every good action is justly requited with reward. To ignore bad action and completely turn His head to it, God would be contrary to Justice. To satisfy it on man and send all men into the darkness, God would be contrary to Mercy. To satisfy Justice on His Son is both merciful (His Son can bear it, His Son is God) and Just (the price that Justice demands has been paid).

Although when you think about it, perhaps that doesn’t make sense. It seems as though Justice could be satisfied in Purgatory? Or perhaps the only reason we even have access to Purgatory is because we can be forgiven, now that the price has been paid in full.

 

[KyleOfOrigen]

Minor correction. It wasn’t Lot. It was Abraham and Isaac was his son.
I have always thought of this story as a major teaching of those times when human sacrifice was practiced by other religions. God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son but by stopping Abraham from carrying out the sacrifice, God showed Abraham that human sacrifice was not to be practiced. It was the end of human sacrifice.

Hahaha. My bad. I was reading about Lot when I read this question- that’s why I said Lot and not Abraham.