EASTER 2025 – WHY DID JESUS DIE? Don Hanley’s blog #93b

I was taught, and I’m sure most other Christians were as well, that Jesus died for our sins. Three days later, God the Father raised or resurrected Him from the dead and placed Him in His rightful place as His Son.

Then, Father and Son send, and continue to send, grace down to give all properly baptized persons the strength to love one another and reach heaven. This is, of course, a very simplistic and simplified summary of what I was taught. All this is taught from the perspective of ancient cosmology, which posits that we live in a three-tier universe. We humans live on the middle deck; God and now Jesus, His Son, reside on the top deck, and the Devil, along with those who do not behave and/or do not believe in God the Father, Son, and their Spirit, will spend eternity in the bottom deck – which some believe is engulfed in fire.

So, believers must work to save all unbaptized persons and live in fear themselves lest they too may go to the bottom deck, known as Hell. So, folks, be careful and be good, God-fearing people, or... Wow! Increasingly, folks are turning away from that God and that story, and now don’t know where to go. 

I, along with many others, have studied this story in its more sophisticated form and developed what I believe is a more humane and hopeful version that better explains why Jesus died. Jesus taught that all creation is destined to connect through divine love, and that this connection will lead to fulfillment both on earth and in the afterlife. This, of course, worried the Roman conquerors of Judea, who arrested Jesus and crucified Him – a horrifying form of torture and death. The Romans formed an empire by forcefully unifying or connecting people through fear, which is neither natural nor life-giving in any way.

So, now we celebrate Easter as a celebration of life, enlightenment, and love! Join others in joyful kindness, not out of fear!