Jesus is NOT the Cross
Why did Jesus, the centerpiece of Christianity die? It's interesting how many people believe that the cross was the way Jesus paid our debt to God (or the Devil). There is absolutely no doubt that Jesus died for our sin. But some people think He died because of our sins and some think He died to forgive our sins. There is a distinct separation between the two and there is no shortage of people ready to speculate on them. Some say Jesus paid our debt to God, others say He paid the Devil, and still others say He led by example. These ideas have been debated throughout history, but one idea of Penal Substitution has dominated the playing field for almost 1,000 years. However, it has recently been challenged by the very ideas that it had silenced so many years before. Penal Substitution is a refinement of a slightly older idea known as Satisfaction. For the thousand years before Penal Substitution was created, two ideas were formed about the death of Jesus. One was Ransom, and the other was Moral Influence. The more prevalent of the two was Moral Influence.