Originally posted by Deetermined
Jesus wasn't just a man. He was the only perfect man that ever walked the face of the earth. He was the Son of God and was given power over the
heavens, earth and man BY GOD.
Only God can resolve and forgive sin. Christianity doesn't say that God had to die for them.
1. He can be as perfect as it gets, he is still a MAN. A Human. And according to Bible - no human shall bear the sins of another. According to the
christian belief (and I mean mainstream christianity, don't know which sect are you) only God can pay for the sins of humanity. Therefore God HAD TO
become human in order for him to experience the suffering and the pain and ultimately to take upon him the punishment of death, so that he can pay for
all humanity.
No matter what power was he given by God, he was still a HUMAN.
And if we maintain that he was human, then he could not possibly pay for the sins of humanity.
2. The (mainstream) christian belief is that God is a Trinity: ONE being, but 3 persons.
Therefore: When Jesus died, and according to Christianity he was God, then God died. Since God is ONE being (and NOT three) then GOD DIED. All of it.
Nothing left. God was dead.
This is impossible - because God cannot die!
If we maintain that only Jesus the God died, while Father and Holy Spirit were still alive - then this means there are indeed THREE BEINGS and NOT
ONE. Which means THREE GODS.
Since the christians however refuse to say that they are polytheists -> they then say that only Jesus' "Human part" died - not the "God part".
But, as I said, again and again, and I am through with it: If ony the Human part of Jesus died (because God cannot die) - then it was a HUMAN that
DIED -> and, according to the Bible, and to the christian doctrine, no human can pay for the sins of mankind, only God.
Therefore, if this is the case, there was no atonement.
I am trying to illustrate to you here the conundrum created by Paul here, because I do not believe Jesus died in the first place. He prayed to God to
save him - and God did just that.