Here's the whole problem with the Christian faith as we were taught it:
"But know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death,
ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof: for of a truth the LORD hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears." Jer.26:15
Do you know how much God despises the shedding of innocent blood?
"Keep thee far from a false matter;
and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked. " Ex.23:7
Do you understand God is commanding that His Son should not be harmed? That was not God's will for His innocent Son to be murdered? Christian theologians have twisted the scriptures into something God never intended.
Will he let sin into his kingdom? If a kid steals, knowing full well God hates stealing, what should God do? Does he not punish sin? Does he let sinners do what they please?
No. God is long suffering and corrects wrong doing:
"Love is patient and kind..." 1 Co.13:4
God loves people and has put this understanding within humans so we might know a little about the kind of love He has for us:
"Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him." Ps.103:13
No, according to Christian doctrine, God punished the Innocent.
...and also gives mercy to those who have faith in the one he punished for them, Jesus Christ.
Not true. God shows mercy to those who repent by reason of His Son:
"He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." 1 Jn.2:6
God sent His Son here so we would repent:
"From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Mk.4:17
Your God might think a kid stealing a comic book while knowing it was wrong is okay, but my God punishes any hint of evil. On judgement day we will see how God deals with these so called "Menial" sins, as if such a thing could exist.
You are judging righteousness by human standards. If one sins, they deserve a sinners death and punishment. That is how serious God is about Good and Evil!!! If one does Evil, they are Evil, period!
My God judges in righteousness and saying a child who steals a comic book is totally evil and deserves hell is baloney. Complete depravity is something people can degenerate into, but it isn't how people are born.
Don't you see now why his mercy is so great? That he would send his son in place of us? Mere rebels?
No. I see God sending His Son for the purpose of teaching us about what is acceptable to God, just like God sent the prophets to Israel so they would repent:
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And the LORD hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear." Jer.25:4
"God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;" He.1:1-2
People perished for rejecting God's prophets by not repenting. Jesus is greater than any prophet:
"The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here." Mt.12:42
There are two types of people in this world: Vessels of Mercy and vessels of Wrath; Children of God and children of Adam.
You either have Christ or you don't! God doesn't let sin slide into his kingdom unpunished. That punishment either falls on you, or Christ.
And to say a kid stealing a comic book knowing it is evil is no big deal is to say sin is no big deal.
Sorry if this upsets you. I'm simply arguing for what I believe is the truth.
What upsets me is not realizing how one becomes a vessel of Mercy through Jesus:
"If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work." 2 Ti.2:21
"Who will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:" Ro.2:6-7
This is the true gospel. The idea that God punished Jesus is not.