Re: Passion
mattttt, If you don't mind, I will attempt to explain, at least the way I understand it. <br />To go to heaven one must be like the Father. God is perfect, and he realized that people were not perfect, so nobody would end up in heaven. He sent Jesus to Earth first to teach us how to live by Gods word, and second to bear the sins of mankind, so in essence, a person could sin, and if that person repented for those sins in his heart, then the path to heaven would be open for him/her.<br />So imagine it like this, Jesus was perfect and without sin. Because God loves us so much, he sent his Son to Earth to shoulder the sins of all mankind. That means every sin that will ever be committed by every human that will ever walk the Earth. I am not one to quote scriptures, but I loved the story of one of the thieves on the cross next to Jesus. Heres a fella who hadn't done anything right in his life. He was a thief, and put up on the cross to die. In the last moments of his life, he believed and repented for his sins in life. (Again, Soulwinner can probably quote exactly what was said), but basically Jesus said to him, that he would now join him in paradise. In those last moments of his life, in his heart he became a Christian.<br />Anyway, many people have asked me why Jesus was beaten so bad, and again my explanation was always this. If Jesus was just put up on the cross, and we were told that he died for our sins, the message might not have been quite as clear. God had to show us just a small portion of the suffering that Jesus had to endure by shouldering the sins of humanity. Many people when they watch the movie seem to concentrate on the beatings that Jesus endured. The real suffering for Jesus was the sins that he carried on his shoulders alone. One cannot fathom what it would be like to shoulder the sins of mankind.<br />When Jesus cried out to God from the cross, "Father, why have you forsaken me"? At that moment, even God could not look at Jesus, for all he saw was the sins of all mankind.<br /><br />So, Jesus died for our sins. As Soulwinner said we all killed Jesus. The gift that was given us cannot be ignored. That gift is eternal life in paradise at Gods side.<br /><br />I hope through my "layman's" way of explaining this it has helped you understand. I am learning more everyday and look forward to sharing with everyone.<br /><br />Have a nice day.
