Believing that Jesus took the punishment due you for your sins is to believe that God isn't loving and forgiving of sins for those who repent (turn away from) them. It's the Jewish idea that God is cruel and dead-set on punishing all those who dare rebel against his laws. The cruelty is in God punishing his own son for our sins. Not even a sinful human father would punish his own son for the misdeeds of others. This idea was invented by the Jewish ex-Pharisee-turned-apostle (Paul) who wanted to blend Judaism with Christianity by showing that God is still the legalistic hell-bent-on-punishment heavenly dictator whose thirst for revenge was satisfied by the torture of Jesus, the "sacrificial lamb". Paul vindicated this idea by interpreting Isaiah 55 literally and not figuratively (as it was meant). Paul loved his Jewish religion and feverishly wanted the Jews to accept Jesus as the fulfillment and continuation of Judaism.
But this idea isn't found in the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) or the book of Acts. Why? Because they obviously didn't believe that. In these 5 books salvation is always dependant on faith (manifested by goodness) and repentance.
Luke 10:25-28 " And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live."
Luke 15:7 "I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repents, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance."
Luke 16:16 "The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presses into it." Notice how Jesus made John the Baptist the dividing line in the chronology of salvation. But the current false doctrine makes the death of Jesus the dividing line because they think that Jesus purchased salvation for all by his sacrificial death. (If he died for all sins then doesn't everybody have the right to go to heaven, bad people included?)
Luke 24:46 "And [Jesus] said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."
Acts 2:38 "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." He didn't say that Jesus had already remitted (erased) sins and that all you have to do is accept your remission. He said the remission is dependant on your repentance and baptism (which is an act of repentance. Baptism of babies is useless because they don't/can't repent.)
Acts 3:19 "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord". Notice that the blotting out of sins is future tense, not in the past when Jesus died.
Acts 5:30 "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins."
The Bible rejects the concept of an innocent person dying in place of a guilty one. Moses pled with God to punish him instead of his people but God refused:
Exodus 32:32-33 But now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written." But the LORD said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book."
Deuteronomy 24:16 The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor shall the children be put to death for the fathers; every man shall be put to death for his own sin.
Ezekiel 18:4 Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sins shall die.
Sacrifices, in and of themselves, are never sufficient to atone for sins:
Proverbs 15:8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
Isaiah 1:11-16 What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of he-goats.
Amos 5:22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and cereal offerings, I will not accept them, and the peace offerings of your fatted beasts I will not look upon.
The Bible strongly prohibits human sacrifice:
Genesis 22:10-13 (Abraham is stopped from sacrificing his son)
Deuteronomy 18:10 There shall not be found among you any one who burns his son or his daughter as an offering
Because of forgiveness to all who sincerely repent of their sins and return to God, there is no need for the Messiah to atone for our sins:
II Chronicles 7:14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Ezekiel 18:20-22 The soul that sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. But if a wicked man turns away from all his sins which he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness which he has done he shall live.
(also Jeremiah 36:3, Isaiah 55:6-7, Jonah 3:6-10, Daniel 4:27, Hoseah 14:1-3, Proverbs 16:6)
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