Being Easter and all...

There's something I don't quite understand. Why did God allow his son, Jesus Christ, to be crucified so that he (God) would forgive the world's population of their sins? I mean, why couldn't have God forgave our sins without his son having to die? God is supposed to be a loving God and a forgiving God. So why did Jesus have to bare the torture he did and die like he did in order for God to forgive all sinners? And another thing I don't quite understand... If God is such a loving and forgiving God, then why are we supposed to fear him? Here is something I heard on a TV show... "God doesn't cause or allow bad things to happen; they just do and when they do his heart hurts just like ours." I'm sorry, I can't remember what program I was watching or who said it. I want to say it was on the Today show when they interviewed a Priest and a Rabbi at the same time.  I'm a subscriber of the following and get daily inspirational emails from them and the one I got today I wanted to share... Tell me what you think. From The Daily Encounter Inspirational Email list... http://www.actsweb.org/daily_encounter.php "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."1 According to Doug Batchelor in his book, Broken Chains, "There's a story about two Filipino brothers, identical twins, who lived in Manila and made their living by driving jeepneys, Filipino taxis.* Though they were twins and had similar jobs, they lived very different lives. One was married and had children; the other was single. Then one day, the married brother accidentally struck and killed a tourist with his taxi. Accused of reckless driving, the twin was sentenced to twenty years in the notorious Manila prison—a devastating fate that would leave his wife and children without an income. "One day, his twin came to visit him in prison. He said, 'Brother, your family desperately needs you. Put on my clothes and take my visitor's pass and I will put on your prison uniform and serve the rest of your sentence. Go to your family.' So, while the guards were not looking, the twins exchanged clothes, and the married brother walked out of the prison unchallenged. Do you think the twin who was freed could ever stop thinking about the sacrifice that his brother made in trading places with him?"2 Though having limitations it is still a powerful illustration of what Jesus Christ did for you and me at Easter time 2,000 years ago when he exchanged places with you and me and died in our place on the cross of Calvary. He did this out of his great love for us to pay the penalty for all of our sins, so we could be freely forgiven by God and receive his gift of eternal life in Heaven to be with him forever. 1. John 15:13 (NIV). 2. Doug Batchelor, Broken Chains, Pacific Press 2004.     Cited on WITandWISDOM www.witandwisdom.org. *Joy has ridden in jeepneys when on a mission trip in the Philippines. They are old converted military jeeps.