Why did Jesus have to die? 

This brings up a topic that is so unpopular today that we almost dare not mention the word:  sin. Most of us do not like to think of ourselves as sinners. Yet, if we are honest, we know that each of us falls far short of the kind of person we ought to be. 

On an individual level, either intentionally or inadvertently we have
caused hurt to other people. On a collective level we continue to destroy vast expanses of our environment and allow a great proportion of the world's population to live on the brink of starvation. 

As Christians we believe that this is not only wrong, but that it grieves
and angers God as well. Not only that, but God will hold us accountable for the ways in which we have used (or abused) what he has entrusted to us. 

We also believe that when Jesus died on the cross he took all the pain and alienation that we have caused into himself. What happened on the cross was not an isolated execution but an event of cosmic significance. 

In the Bible's language, Jesus "carried our sins in his body to the cross", so that we might be freed to live, not as rebels who fear God, but as
children reconciled to God and confident in his love. 

While we are far from perfect now (and boy, do we know it!), we look
forward with anticipation to the great day when the healing that Jesus has brought about through his death touches and renews every aspect of God's creation--when God's purposes of love, justice and peace are brought to fruition. 

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