God Almighty (Part 1?): The Death of Jesus

There are hundreds of pages of the teachings of Jesus that are at least as important, if not more important, than his crucifiction. This is the reson why it seems bizzare to me that in a house that is dedicated to him and his Father, instead of one of the many examples of love, peace, and forgivness that he preached, we symbolize his most painful and violent moment. How do you think Jesus feels about the fact that we symbolize him through his dead or dying body, in his last, painful moments?

How would you feel if it were you?

Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Ray, Jesus died for our sins. It is in his death that we are forgiven, and we symbolize it to show everything Jesus sacrificed for us."

Now, that's a great sentiment, but I'm calling bullshit.

God is Almighty, all powerful, omnipotent. Even, for some reason, He were not, I'm going to take a risk here and say that a being powerful enough to create life doesn't need to have any life destroyed in order to forgive, least of all his own son's. He could simply just do so.

He's God after all, isn't He?

So what, then, would be God's reason for allowing Jesus to die in such a way? There had to be a reason, didn't there? The bible seems to make it clear that Jesus not only knew what was coming, but had the power to prevent it, but made no move to do so.

Why?

To show us that his word meant so much that he was willing to die for it. That it was a Word so true, so valid, that it was better to die for it, then spend the rest of his life running from authority (on the lamb?) to preach it. As such, the crucifiction of Christ is not the main statement of the New Testament, it is the exclamation point at the end, meant to say with emphasis, This is the way!

To oversimplify. it's God's way of letting us know that the simple fact that the things that are worth the most in life, the things truly worth having or being a part of, require sacrifice.

(It's also a much better ending than, "Jesus did the whole love and forgivness thing for the next 20 or so years, and then retired in Nevada, popping back up to do the occasional show in Vegas.")