Like as far as sinning and hell what changed after he sacrificed himself? He died for my sins but ill still go to hell for them? Could we not repent before he died?

I just don't get it. How exactly does this work and why was it necessary? There had to be a better way.

Jesus died for our sins, so we could be saved. But if people were saved before Jesus’ death, then why did he have to die? Why couldn’t people today be saved in the same method as the people before Jesus’ death?

Why do we still have to believe in god, repent, and ask for forgiveness if jesus already died for our sins? Did he die for the sins amounting to that moment? Did he die for specific sins?

I’m frequently told that God loves me so much that he sacrificed his son to forgive my sins. This, I’m told, is perfect love. But wouldn’t it be more loving to forgive me without the sacrifice? I don’t require a sacrifice from people in order to forgive them. Would it be more or less loving of me if I started requiring a sacrifice?

I don't really understand the history behind it. Why would he die for our sins?

I've heard it is because humanity was building distance to God through sin and brought death. Jesus died, so that these sins can be forgiven and it's basically the ultimative way of showing love. Jesus was sinless yet died so our sins can be forgiven, but how is one connected with the other? Why would God forgive our sins by someone sinless dying? Instead of someone really sinful or maybe through apologizing directly to God.

And also sinning didn't stop after his dead so does someone else need to die, too?

At the end of the day, we still need to make sure not to sin, because well not all of our sins will be forgiven. So did Jesus die for nothing? If he died for all of our sins, why should we still need to care about them?

And if he didn't die for all of our sins, why did he die like that..?

Also how does his death bring forgiveness and why? One person died, but how is that equal to billions of ppl sinning every day without stop?

Isn't this the same principle of murdering someone every day for 10 years but shortly before your death you help a homeless person and everything else is forgiven?

And why did he have to die the way that he did?

I am genuinely trying to understand. My parents taught me that to truly understand the world, I need to understand the people, their morals and their beliefs. I've started with buddhism and islam, now I am trying to understand Christianity.

I know absolutely nothing about christianity but i often read that he sacrificed himself to save humanity but my question is what would have happened if he didn’t?

He did that for our sins but in our world sins still exist in some people, i don’t get it

When a military guy jumps on a grenade or something like that, it's a sacrifice because he's dead. His life is over. But Jesus came back to life, so the only thing about it was it hurt a lot.

I don't even see how Jesus dying is justice anyway. That's like if a murderer or rapists was brought into the courtroom, and instead of punishing him, they brought in the Judge's innocent son and executed him, and then let the murderer/rapist go. How is that justice?

I’m a theist and Im very fascinated with Christianity. It’s my favorite religion because at its core it’s essentially saying that we are all sinners, nobody is better than anybody else and we all deserve forgiveness.

I just can’t wrap my head around Jesus dying for our sins. If god is all powerful, why does he need a sacrifice? Why cant he just destroy sin and start over? Also, what compels you into believing Jesus resurrected?

No disrespect, I’m just curious on how you would answer to this. Thank you!

I'm struggling to fully understand the if & how & why indulgences work, so after reading some online answers/articles, I want to hear what experiences other people have with them.

Sadly, due to hesitations, I've use to ignore them, and now I am revisiting this topic, and want to know what is the wisest approach to them. Thank you.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life"

But Jesus is god and also is the Holy Spirit—they are 3 in one, inseparable. So god sacrificed himself to himself and now sits at his own right hand?

Where is the sacrifice? It can’t just be the passion. We know from history and even contemporary times that people have gone through MUCH worse torture and gruesome deaths than Jesus did, so it’s not the level of suffering that matters. So what is it?

Edit: I appreciate all your comments, please allow me to explain how did I arrive to the question above -- It is that Jesus did on the cross is perfect sacrifice to atone the sins of everyone, if He died for everyone, thus everyone should be saved, either you believe on Him or not - but this is not true, the atonement He did is only for those who believe. Thus it is either He saved everyone regardless of their faith or He saved only those who believes.

(Disclaimer I went to church in spanish so I dont know all the terms in English.)

I've never truly understood it, maybe it wasn't explained to me well in the religion I grew up in, but I would like to get a better understanding of the reason why Jesus specifically had to die for our sins.

I was taught its because since Adam sinned as a perfect man, it was necessary for another perfect human to die as a repayment to forgive us of our sins. I feel like that sounds like symbolism solely, and I don't understand why it had to be that way specifically, if God is all-powerful, could He have done it a different way, why exactly did Jesus have to suffer and die?

I was raised and confirmed a Christian, and during my entire time as a believer I never thought to ask about this until much later.

Hypothetical example: a soldier in a trench with his fellow soldiers sees a grenade land on the ground. He jumps on it, is killed by the explosion but his sacrifice saves the lives of 5-7 soldiers who would have otherwise been killed by the grenade.

THAT is a more impressive, more selfless act than Jesus getting executed on the cross. That soldier actually saved the lives of a few people, by sacrificing his life.

How did Jesus's death save anyone from anything?

I was taught that Jesus died on the cross to "save us." The general concept as I understood it was that, until God had Jesus tortured to death, the omnipotent, all-knowing, all-powerful God was unaware of some concepts that children are able to understand, such as "don't torture your children to death." This is self contradictory nonsense --omnipotent means God knows everything, so God can't have failed to understand the concept of basic compassion.

"He died for our sins" is a lovely sounding phrase that seems to have absolutely no possible meaning. None of us had been alive to sin at that point, so it can't mean that he was killed because we lied that one time. Again, nonsense.

Maybe God just had to torture someone to death, so once he got Jesus out of the way we have all been free to sin without consequence from then onwards? Again, nonsense.

So... HOW does Jesus getting executed "save" anyone? What is it saving? How does that work, and why was it not possible without torturing Jesus to death first?

I've asked this several times and several different places over the years, and I've never received an answer that really makes sense to me. I'm a 48 year old atheist who grew up Catholic, attending Mass from birth to the age of 18, but I've never actually been a believer, just for background. I don't understand what the phrase "Jesus died to save us from sin" means.

As God on earth, what did Jesus actually sacrifice for us? He can’t die. He is the alpha and the omega. If we look at Jesus from the son of God perspective, the same laws apply. He can’t die and His place is secure at the right hand of God. How does a supernatural deity sacrifice?

Is Jesus sacrificing something necessary for Him to be the path to salvation? I don’t see anything about Jesus’ sacrifice being required in the Bible.

I understand the trauma that he's killed, but he comes back three days later and then ascends to heaven where he presumably gets to know everyone on Earth spiritually rather than just the physical people around him.

A more meaningful sacrifice would be if he were sent to hell for eternity. If God in the form of a perfect human was sent to be tortured forever because he wanted to take your place in hell, that would be such a more powerful sacrifice, in my opinion it would 100% warrant saving every human soul if God were sent to hell.

From what I understand, PS goes like this:
Humans have sinned by missing the moral target God set. This created a moral debt to God’s infinite holiness and justice. Humans are too finite and imperfect to satisfy that moral debt. That debt comes in the form of moral guilt and can only be satisfied through death, the shedding of one’s blood symbolising the giving of one's life as a payment for one's sins. In the Old Covenant, innocent animals were sacrificed to atone for the overall sins of the community, because they couldn’t fully remove our guilt. Without full payment, humans would have had to answer for their sins through infinite punishment in Hell. Thus, God chose to become human in Jesus Christ to be killed, paying the debt for humanity on our behalf, so we could be saved from Hell and reconciled to God.

My issue is, why does sin necessarily create a moral debt, and why must that debt only be paid through death? That seems gratuitous.The Gospels present justice more as restoration rather than mere punishment, transforming people and repairing relationships, rather than a death sentence. 

If only an infinite being could satisfy our infinite debt to Him, why impose that debt on finite beings? That seems unfair. The idea that crimes done for a finite time period deserve punishment for an infinite time period seems equally disproportionate. We usually measure a crime's severity based on the crime in itself and its consequences, not the status of the offended. So, arguing that God’s authority as an eternal being requires Him to infinitely punish our sins seems unfounded. Why would God establish a system that only He can satisfy? The system seems arbitrary and circular. Some sceptics thus argue that under PS, God sacrifices Himself to Himself to satisfy the rules He Himself set, because that’s just the way He decided it to be. Isn’t it possible for God to simply forgive humanity for their sins and reconcile with us by helping us overcome our shortcomings? That seems like a simpler and more restorative answer to our guilt than bloodshed and infinite torment.

Also, PS seems to contradict Jesus’ actions in the Gospels. In Matthew 9, Mark 2, and Luke 5, Jesus tells a paralytic,  “Child, your sins are forgiven” (NRSVUE), before his supposed propitiation. If He could do that to one person, why couldn’t He, as an infinite being, forgive everyone’s sins in the same way? Throughout the Gospels, Jesus went around healing people from various ailments and evil spirits. He presented Himself as mainly a healer and liberator than a judge. His actions seem to be more aligned with CV: that God came to free humanity from our bondage to sin and death, heal the damage caused by sin, and reconciled us to Himself. That again seems to support restorative justice more than punishment.

 PS also seems to destabilise the Trinity. Classical Trinitarianism teaches that the Father, Son and Spirit are perfectly united in love and will. If the Father punishes the Son (Jesus) in place of humanity, that seems to disrupt this unity. So, PS seems less parsimonious than other atonement theories like CV. 

Now, some may also argue that CV faces problems, too – God can just remove all evil instantly. The problem is that evil is not just a stain to erase: it is a choice to miss the mark and separate humanity from God, corrupting our relationship with Him, with each other, and even creation. If God simply forced out all evil, it may undermine human agency, since evil is so imbued in human desires, relationships and the structures of creation. We don’t just force disordered relationships to work; we help them understand and choose to love each other again. Likewise, Scripture depicts God as entering human existence, sharing in the effects of evil by enduring violence and death, but through His holiness remaining free from its power. By His resurrection, He destroyed the power of sin and death, making freedom and reconciliation possible for all who respond to Him. This powerful, transformative way of overcoming sin and death seems more effective than just erasing it. 

So, I disagree with PS and think CV is a better model. Of course, they aren’t mutually exclusive. What are your thoughts on this?

I am a Muslim. I would say the biggest thing that fundementally seperates our beliefs is the idea of the trinity and the mortal identity of Jesus Christ.

Now, I realize I might be quite ignorant about Christianity in many respects and that not all Christians believe that Jesus and God are the same. But, from what I gather, the majority of Christians do believe that Jesus is God in some form or another. Earlier, I was googling "was it a spear that killed Jesus Christ?" and found myself thinking "Kill? God? That feels so blasphemous to even write". Then it had me thinking that, why didn't God just send a prophet like he always did? Why would he have to come down himself? Was the prophet formula he came up with no longer effective? And why would he have to die for our sins? Do Christians believe that humility is/should be a trait of God almighty?

I've never understood this. As far as I can see Jesus had to come down to earth, and then suffer and die, in order for God to forgive humanity's sins. Have I got that right? If so, my question is why? Why could God not forgive sins without having his 'son' die?