Alpha course why did jesus die

Maybe it's that Graham is not Toby, or that we are getting comfortable with the routine of pizza and God, but my fellow travellers on the Alpha course this week are much more vocal. I also detect that they are picking up the inherent morbidity in Christianity as revealed in this session, and quiz Graham hard.

Although our questions could sound mocking, the tone in church is sincerely inquisitive. Steve, a thoughtful agnostic, asks how transferring sins from people onto someone sinless works? Graham confoundingly offers a scene from Bridge on the River Kwai by way of explanation.

Muttiah, the only one over 40, and only non-white Alpharino, follows with a question about why his own sins result in Jesus suffering. His intrigue stems from his Buddhist belief in karma. Barbara asks "If death is so bad and needs to be 'defeated', why does it exist in the first place? So what was the point? I'm well aware that the level of theological discourse here is rudimentary. But this lesson is so focussed on the fear of dying. Graham is no fire and brimstone bellowing preacher, but it is death nonetheless.

I love that my molecules will be consumed and my atoms will be recycled into endless forms. I am grateful that an indifferent universe conspired to give me life, and I believe that enjoying it is all the more important because my life will be short.

The central service of the church, the Communion service, focuses on the broken body and shed blood of Jesus. Churches are often built in the shape of a cross.

Most leaders who have influenced nations or even changed the world are remembered for the impact of their lives. Jesus, who more than any other person changed the face of world history, is remembered for His death even more than for His life. Why is there such concentration on the death of Jesus? What is the difference between His death and the death of Socrates or one of the martyrs or of a war hero? What did it achieve? Why did He die for our sins? There is therefore something good and noble about every person.

As I mentioned in chapter 1, this understanding of human nature has been a tremendous force for good in world history. In fact, it has laid the foundations for our modern understanding of human dignity and human rights by insisting that we are more than just bundles of genes and products of our environment. There is, however, a flip side to the coin. Certainly in my own life I would have to admit there are things I do that I know are wrong—I make mistakes.

In order to understand why Jesus died we have to go back and look at the greatest problem that confronts every person. If we are honest, we would all have to admit that we do things we know are wrong.

If we compare ourselves to armed robbers or child molesters or even our neighbors, we may think we come off quite well. But when we compare ourselves to Jesus Christ, we see how far short we fall. These can be summarized under four headings. The pollution of sin Jesus said that it is possible for us to pollute the lives God has given us.

These things pollute our lives. But the New Testament says that if we break any part of the Law we are guilty of breaking all of it James Either it is clean or it is not. One driving offense stops it from being a clean record. So it is with us; one offense makes our lives unclean. The power of sin The things we do wrong often have an addictive power. It is easier to see this in some areas of our wrong-doing than in others. First one: the partition has been removed. You can come home!

You see, the cross was not God sort of punishing an innocent third party — that would be barbaric. No, God was in Christ. God himself came to die for you and for me. God was in Christ, reconciling you and me to himself. Reconciliation is amazing. And reconciliation with God leads to reconciliation in marriage, in relationships, between parents and children, in friendships. And then the penalty has been paid.

The guilt has been removed. Someone used this analogy, and it really helped me. There were two friends — friends at school, friends at university. And when they left, they went their separate ways. One became a lawyer, he was very successful, became a judge. The other one went into a life of crime.

And one day the criminal appeared before his old friend the judge. And the judge had a dilemma: what was he to do? He had to be just. God is a God of justice. If there was no justice in the world, the world would be a terrible place. But he also loves you.

That was justice. That was love. We were in a much worse situation — it needed a much greater solution. And the love was far greater. My father had a terrible temper. And I had a terrible temper — I inherited it. But when I encountered Jesus, the power of that was broken in my life. I was set free. There are many things I still struggle with. And then the pollution has been removed. There is continual forgiveness. This is so amazing, this is so wonderful.

Because when you are forgiven, you want to forgive. Before I was a Christian, if someone offended me, I would hold a grudge against that person. But holding a grudge is like letting the other person live rent-free in your head! And if someone offended me, I want to get back at them by not forgiving them. And the hardest thing is to forgive ourselves. God forgives you. Forgive yourself. The first to forgive is the strongest.

And the first to forget is the happiest. It transforms marriage, family life, friendships. And she was caught and arrested, as was her father and her sister, and they were taken to concentration camps.

But amazingly Corrie survived. And after the War she went round just talking about forgiveness, this message of forgiveness. One time in she was in a church in Munich. I have become a Christian, and I know that God has forgiven me. I want to know that you forgive me. She wrote this:. Betsie had died in that place.