Yes, God could have still forgiven us without sending His Son to die for us, but then God wouldn't have been the God that we know from the Bible. Why is that?
You know the various attributes of God: He is Holy, Merciful, Gracious, Long suffering, Just, to name a few. Because He is a Just God & requires obedience, any breaking of His Laws, however small, requires a penalty. Just like when we over speed on the road & get pulled over. We can give all the excuses to the officer, but he has to still issue a ticket & we have to pay the fine according to the laws' requirements. God cannot give man a law & then overlook any breaking of it - if so, He wouldn't be a Just Judge. So if we break God's Law, we have to suffer a penalty. And because God is Holy & Just, He can & should expect our total obedience. But can we be totally obedient?
But the Bible tells us that "all have sinned & fallen short of God's Glory (or, we haven't met God's requirements): Rom 3:23. And we know this for a fact - not one of us is without sin. So, the payment of sin is death: Rom 6:23a "For the wages of sin is death". We rightly deserve His punishment of death = eternal separation from God because we have wronged God & despised Him. So in reality, when we die we should all go to Hell, to our deserved punishment for violating God's Holy demands.
But God's Love for us constrained Him not to do this, but how could we pay for sin's penalty? All religions teach that we must try hard to do good & please God by our lives to escape His Judgement - but that doesn't work because we still sin & so how can something dirty (a sinner) make itself clean (sinless)? You need something pure to satisfy God's demands & we have nothing to offer.
Jesus steps in: "I will give my life to take UPON ME the penalty of man's sins" Jn 10:15, Gal 3:13. So Jesus, the Pure, Holy One of God, willingly became our substitute to give up His Life so we don't have to lose ours to the Devil: but only if we put our trust in Him.
You know the various attributes of God: He is Holy, Merciful, Gracious, Long suffering, Just, to name a few. Because He is a Just God & requires obedience, any breaking of His Laws, however small, requires a penalty. Just like when we over speed on the road & get pulled over. We can give all the excuses to the officer, but he has to still issue a ticket & we have to pay the fine according to the laws' requirements. God cannot give man a law & then overlook any breaking of it - if so, He wouldn't be a Just Judge. So if we break God's Law, we have to suffer a penalty. And because God is Holy & Just, He can & should expect our total obedience. But can we be totally obedient?
But the Bible tells us that "all have sinned & fallen short of God's Glory (or, we haven't met God's requirements): Rom 3:23. And we know this for a fact - not one of us is without sin. So, the payment of sin is death: Rom 6:23a "For the wages of sin is death". We rightly deserve His punishment of death = eternal separation from God because we have wronged God & despised Him. So in reality, when we die we should all go to Hell, to our deserved punishment for violating God's Holy demands.
But God's Love for us constrained Him not to do this, but how could we pay for sin's penalty? All religions teach that we must try hard to do good & please God by our lives to escape His Judgement - but that doesn't work because we still sin & so how can something dirty (a sinner) make itself clean (sinless)? You need something pure to satisfy God's demands & we have nothing to offer.
Jesus steps in: "I will give my life to take UPON ME the penalty of man's sins" Jn 10:15, Gal 3:13. So Jesus, the Pure, Holy One of God, willingly became our substitute to give up His Life so we don't have to lose ours to the Devil: but only if we put our trust in Him.
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