Isn't saying 'Jesus the son of God died for YOUR sins' the ULTIMATE guilt trip? Can you think of a bigger one?

try- "if you dont start behaving more righteously im gonna have to die for your sins"

God doesn't just make up rules and do anything He pleases. He's holy and good, and the rules for what is and is not good could never have been otherwise. God told the early humans that their only happiness lies in Him, and any other choice would lead them to death and misery. That's not something God could have made otherwise if He felt like it- it's just a simple description of the nature of reality. . . sort of like telling someone that if they jump off a tall building they'll die. But, they chose to go their own way and do their own thing anyway, and, just as He told them, they suffered the consequences for that. God wouldn't be righteous or holy if he simply overlooked that sin and let them do anything they pleased. The penalty for sin is death, and if God is to be just, then that debt must be paid, somehow. But God, being the loving creator that He is, wasn't willing to let that be the end of it. He was willing to pay that price Himself, so that we could be saved from hell. Because if we don't pay the price, then somebody surely must do it in our place. Jesus could do that for us because He never sinned, and therefore he didn't owe a sin debt at all. It's sort of like if you commit a crime and get thrown in jail. The other prisoners are not going to be able to help you post bail. Only somebody who hasn't commited a crime and is therefore not in jail himself will be able to come bail you out. So our sin-debt was paid by Jesus' death, and because of that, we can be right with God again. The righteousness of God is satisfied, and His love for us is proved at the same time.

Quite the opposite actually. It is a release from the burden of your sin. Many people are crushed by the knowledge of the consequences of their own actions. Jesus frees people from that. If you are still at a point in your life where you insist that you are innocent and no harm has ever come from your existence, your scope of view is still too narrow, or you are too selfish, or you are in denial. But within an honest person's life, there always comes a time when he sees that he is just not good enough to call himself a good person. That is when we need Jesus to set us free.

But...the problem is that it really wasn't a sacrifice since he's The Immortal Creator of the Entire Universe. So he actually just had a lousy day being nailed to a stick, and then took a nap for a day and a half. After that, he simply resurrected himself at will and fluttered back up to his cosmic throne.

Only now, he subjects every living (and yet-to-be-born) human under a loving 'boo hoo, look what I did for you' melodramatic cosmic guilt trip.

In fact, he loves humanity so much that he will have us set on fire for the next thousand billion trillion years if we don't telepathically accept him as our master.

Even as a Christian, I actually did have a guilt trip for a while. And that is one of the issues I think exists generally in modern Christianity: the guilt trip. For example, "we deserve eternal hell / to be separated from God forever", etc. I do not agree with it either.

But over time, I started to view Jesus' death in a new way. I see it simply as Jesus being selfless, compassionate, and non-violent. I see Jesus' life and death as extensions of his teaching. For example, it is said in the New Testament that, while Jesus was on the cross, he said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." To me, this is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, things Jesus said on the cross, because it demonstrated his compassion for enemies.

Earlier in his life, Jesus said to love our enemies.

I feel there is absolutely no reason for a guilt trip, especially when being told about God's love for you.

I believe God loves you very much, whether or not you are a Christian, and that He does not want any of us to carry guilt on our consciences.

In "The Lion King", when Scar tells Simba that if it wasn't for him, Mufasa would still be alive.

Sounds like a pretty big guilt trip to me.

I think the problem is that you see the world in a negative light, instead of complaining whoa is me what a guilt trip why not thank god for the free gift of his son's death to pay for your sins which you did nothing to deserve? Before you even lifted one hand to help someone else in need God loved you. So now get off your butt, stop complaining and do some good in the world. That is all Christ asks of you. Is that so difficult? Is that so objectionable? Do something to help ease the burden of someone less fortunate.

You have correctly perceived that guilt and fear are the two worst enemies of man, you think religious institutions do not know this? Your avatar, logic, reason, evidence...do you want the most logical reasonable evidence I have ever found about this story, the one that makes sense check out this link, amazing information. Easy to read and understand also. 15 minutes and you will have some serious debunking material. http://jesusastrotheology.netfirms.com/

It's actually a rather silly statement.

Is Jesus dead? Christians would say no. Then how exactly did he die for your sins? This has never made any sense to me. The whole basis for their religion is illogical.

Yes, that may be so, but there is also the ultimate difference between saying it "this guy died because of YOUR sin" and "this guy died because of MY sins". So, the real and ultimate difference is "who" says that to you.

No it just makes me more firm about my nonbelief. It doesn't make any sense for god to send jesus to die for our sins simply to appease himself. If anything, it just makes me glad I do not worship such a vindictive and bloodthirsty god.