I'm assuming you don't know that Christians believe that the Bible is inspired by God, meaning God worked through the people who wrote the Bible (so basically God told them what to write...so God wrote it).

Your thinking (correct me if I'm wrong) is that Jesus is God, therefore He can do anything He wants to do. I believe this also. But Jesus was also man (and He came to earth as a man on purpose). He experienced pain and suffering. You could say "He's God...why didn't he just make it so He didn't feel any pain?" The purpose behind his coming to earth was to identify with us as humans, and at the same time to live as the perfect example to show us how we should live. He could've chosen not to feel pain, but He didn't (which was necessary for our atonement). Likewise, He was able to write...but didn't (not for our atonement...).

How do you know this? I mean, even if you say you know, how do you really know? He could've faked the pain.

i dont believe this statement one bit, nor do i believe that the bible attests to this. jesus purpose was salvation.

i was a christian for 20 years. i know damn well what christian think

If he didn't suffer, then our sins aren't forgiven, so his dying for us was meaningless. This is not to say that I can prove that Jesus suffered, but I do believe He did. If I believed He is God and didn't suffer, then my faith is pointless.

I don't see why you're arguing then. Like I said above, basically God DID write the Bible. What do you reply to that claim?

And just curious, what did your life look like as a christian? I guess what I'm asking is in what ways was it different than your life now, now that you are not a christian?

If he was peacefully euthanized and didn't suffer at all then his death is meaningless to you? The manner in which he died matters? Also I take it you don't believe in purgatory correct?

That is correct. The whole idea behind forgiveness of sins is the necessity of sacrifice. Jesus suffered in our place, for what we deserved.

Purgatory is something I haven't given much thought to, mainly because it doesn't affect the way I live my life, and also because there isn't much scripture to argue either way for it. But if it was one or the other, I believe that yes, there is no purgatory.

Can you imagine that? Most people give The Bible a tl;dr already. :P

Hold on a second. The wages of sin is death according to Romans 6:23. Supposedly, we're forgiven because Jesus paid for our sin with his own death.

I can't find anything that says the wages of sin is torture on a cross.

men wrote the bible, who may or may not have believed they were divinely inspired.

well i hung out with mostly christians. so that was different. and i also felt a certain sense of superiority over the nonfaithful. thats gone away. other than that, im basically the same person...with a distaste for religion however.

God has just revealed to me, through a revelation, that the Bible has gotten completely misinterpreted, what he wants you to do is to eat pizza every Friday, but no more than 6 slices and no less than 2, and wear top-hats on every 2nd odd numbered day, but not on the odd numbered months.

Oh, and donate 15% of your income to AIDS research, unless that would cause you to stop affording basic necessities.

Why is this not as credible as the bible?

Crucifixions were the norm for executions during Jesus' time. If Jesus were to die today he would have to die some sort of terrible slow death to validate your beliefs?

Well, with death comes torture in hell...

That's an interesting question. I don't really have an answer to that, nor is it very significant to my faith, a "what if..." question such as that, because "what if it was like that"..."well it isn't."

The pain Jesus experienced wasn't just physical though, it was also mental and spiritual. He was segregated from God, and bore the sins of all people.

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is...

Ok...well the two things you mentioned were the people you hung out with and the "sense of superiority." Christianity is definitely not about either of those two things. It's about having a relationship with God.

If God can read our innermost thoughts, why would he need to send Jesus to identify with us or experiences our pain. Makes no sense.

This is getting off topic...

I didn't say he was sent to experience our pain, but rather to suffer in our place. Concerning Jesus identifying with us, I don't see what connection that makes with God knowing our thoughts. Jesus became a man to die for our sins (which is basically what I meant by him "identifying with us").

But your original claim about the method of his suffering wasn't about hell. It was about the method of his death.

Someone asked that if Jesus had been peacefully euthanized, would your faith would be meaningless.

and you said yes.

Just pointing that out. If the wages of sin is death, and Jesus paid for your sins by dying, why is the physical suffering of that death a necessity?

He was not a human. He can walk on water, turn water into wine, cure the sick magically, rise from the dead.

so according to scripture, scripture is from god. gee, theres a compelling argument.

and islam means 'peace.' its amazing how things can get away from what they are meant to be. but i know many a smug christian.

same reason santa claus didn't write anything down

Christians believe Jesus was wholly human and wholly God.

The thing is, we're not discussing the legitimacy of the Bible, but rather "why Jesus didn't write" (that's not to say I don't believe the Bible is legitimate, but that's a completely different discussion). And that clearly explains it, that God did write it.

And fortunately, Christians don't use that passage to support the Bible's legitimacy.

So let me ask you again: how did your life before as a Christian differ from who you are now? What did you relationship with God look like in the past?

Because suffering is a part of "death." Hell is a place of physical and spiritual suffering, which is what we deserve because of sin, and that is what Jesus died in our place for, taking on the physical suffering we deserve.

And non-Christians believe that this is what makes the story of Jesus so enthralling. Christians get to call Jesus human when it fits their argument and then call him God when it fits a different argument. Such a convenience for goddidit goal-post moving.