By Peter Lundell
Good Friday. The day we remember the Cross. Jesus’ suffering. God’s answer to our sin problem.
And I ask Christians, “Why did Jesus have to die?”
One stares at me, maybe thinking it’s a trick question or that if he waits long enough, I’ll give the correct answer. Another gives me the typical answer: “To save us from our sins.” I can tell they’re repeating what the preacher or Sunday school teacher told them and haven’t thought much about it since.
Inside I groan—again, because I get these types of responses so often. And so few believers ever think much about the depth of what salvation means.
So why do Christians insist Jesus had to die? Why couldn’t God just shout from heaven, “I forgive you!”—and be done with it? And why, oh why, isn’t it enough to simply be a good person?
Every other belief system on earth basically says that if you do this, obey that, or give this, you’ll get fixed or earn your way to paradise or enlightenment or nirvana or some kind of big banana in the sky. Only biblical Christianity insists that Jesus’ substitutionary death on the Cross is the one way to getting right with God and all that follows.
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