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Thursday, August 24, 2006
Big Questions
Here goes...I was talking with a friend and she asked me about God having His hand on everything and that led to God's involvement with us and the world. Finally we became stuck on the question, why did God send Jesus to die for us? Why didn't he simply change our hearts and remove our sin, and if it was so that we would have something to believe in, why didn't he just give us that faith? Looking forward to your answers!
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12 comments:
That is a big question...I would have to say it has to do with what brings Him the most glory. What greater display of love and grace to undeserving people than to give His Son for us? And you know, I think He does simply change our hearts, remove our sin, and give us faith. But all that comes through Jesus.
without Jesus and understanding more and more the price, the sacrifice it took to reconcile us to God, we would never have an idea of how merciful, kind, loving God is in this act.."while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.."
great questions sara. and good to think about. i'll pose the question also, why did God let adam and eve sin? couldn't he have just prevented it and let us live in a perfect world?
i think lisa was right in saying it all has to do with what brings him glory. if we never sinned, we wouldn't have any need of him. we would be totally self-sufficient people who only wanted to glorify ourselves.
and if Christ never died to pay the punishment of our sin, and if he just changed our hearts without Jesus...then i think we would not fully understand God's grace. we deserve hell...we deserve to pay the price for our sin, but God chose to show us what a merciful God he is and he wanted us to see our need for a saviour.
i'm not sure if this answers the question...like i said before, its such a great thing to think through!
I used to ask my parents that question all the time. They would always say that if God had just forgiven us, then He would no longer be a "Just God". My sin was too bad to just cover over. It had to be done away with all together.
Here is my simplified answer on why God didn't just create us or change our hearts to have faith and be obedient, etc.
Think of it like with your husband. IF you pitch a fit and gripe at him because he never sends you flowers...and THEN, the next day, he sends you flowers...it just isn't the same as if he had just sent you flowers of his own "free will" just because. I don't want to tell my DH to send me flowers I want him to want to because he loves me. I think God likes to be loved like that, out of our free will, as well.
As far as why Jesus had to pay the price in the way he did...that overwhelms me and I don't know that I could give a clear answer. Jesus was not human, God is not human and from our human vantage point somethings are bigger than us.
Why would God let us fall and sin against him only to send His son to die for us...it seems like it would be easier for him to just make us faithful servants?
It took me 20 minutes to set up my own blog thingy.....I'll have to come back later and say something profound. : )
I believe just a smal/large part of this is God's amazing love for us, His creation, and that He longs for a relationship with us. And only by our desperate need for Him, when the Holy Spirit awakens out spirits to life and we see our sin in the light of His glory, do we see a need for a Savior to appease God's wrath and enter into fellowship with Him, that's when we experience His grace, mercy and love, something that the angels will never experience because they have never sinned. Amazing Grace ...Praise You Lord!
People have made great points. Another point is that God displays attributes of His character through sending Jesus - His wrath, His justice, His mercy & His grace. He reveals who He is through the cross.
Thanks for making me think at the end of the week, Sara Bare! ;)
--Deborah
I love what Colleen said about the Angels not understanding because they have never sinned! Now that is something to ponder. Thanks Sarah for the question to make me think!
Hi Sarah,
I have been thinking about your questions a lot for the past few days. I have asked the same thing myself. The more I have thought about it and spent time in the Word this week the more I see how every passage in the Bible is about the Gospel. The Gospel reveals the amazing character of God. He reveals so much about Himself in the Gospel. Our salvation is so very costly and beautiful. Like others have said God is all about His glory being revealed. We would miss so much if He had chosen to save us another way.
Claire Weaver
I was thinking about your question again today. I am reading The Pleasures of God by John Piper. He writes that God always acts perfectly according to His nature. All of His actions come from the joy that He has within Himself and the Trinity. He never has second thoughts or acts begrudgingly. It gives me great comfort to know that the Gospel rescue was and is a joyful expression of a happy God. This may raise more questions, but I thought that I would share anyway. Thanks for making me think!
Claire
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