A: They say he died for our sins.
Z: Yes, but why did he have to die?
A: God is holy and perfect. People are sinners. The consequences of sin is death. Jesus died in our place.
Z: So what. People die in any case. Of old age, disease, war, or accidents. We are the product of evolution, and as nature tells us, all biological organisms die at some or other stage.
A: Maybe Jesus died standing up for his principles.
Z: Maybe he was in the wrong place at the wrong time? He had a following and went to Jerusalem during the Passover festival. Pilate made use of the opportunity to make an example out of him. “Thinking of causing trouble”, he tells them, “Look then what will happen to you”.
A: Maybe he died understanding it to be God’s will.
Z: So God essentially killed him.
A: Some would say, God killed himself.
Z: Or do we kill him, everytime we do not love?
A: Maybe he died to confuse the living hell out of people asking why he had to die. Or perhaps he set an example that the way to salvation is the complete dying off and humiliation of the self.
Z: Even so, who of us asked to be here? Who of us asked to have a self and our own will? Who asked to be here and to be told you have a choice: heaven or hell? Who of us asked to be in our bodies, cultivate thoughts both evil and good, and ultimately be judged as utterly hopeless and sinful, and that without God’s grace we are lost? And why can’t we be made perfect to begin with?
A: Your point being?
Z: Think about it. We are here, something not of our own choosing, but now that we are here, some or other remedy is needed for our wrongheaded existence. You are required to be lumped with guilt, something that could have been prevented, or differently engineered, and indeed, makes no existence preferable. Certainly, I would think it proper to have been given the choice!
A: Havn’t you heard? You are a lump of clay, and not entitled to an opinion on these matters.
Z: Still, I have no power over the fact that I’m here, or now that I am here, that I am so useless, that somebody had to die in my place!
A: To exist or not to exist, what is the advantage or disadvantage of both?
Z: The advantage of the former is that you are privileged and able to listen to my dribble. The disadvantage is the choice appears to be heaven or hell. Your destiny, oh reluctant sinner, is one of compulsion, either way. Of course, heaven is the obvious choice, but the illusion of choice is another matter altogether.
A: But is existence really just about that?
Z: About what?
A: I mean, we are here and given a choice between heaven or hell?
Z: Who knows. But here we are and supposedly equipped with free will, so choose your heaven or your fire, but never be in control of your existence to begin with, nor the nature of alternative destinies. What about choosing non-existence! Even better, not existing at all. Then Jesus needn’t have worried dying.
A: So what about the advantages or disadvantages on non-existence?
Z: I think, to begin with, the advantage would be that you will be completely oblivious to nonsense such as this. The disadvantages … well, I cannot think of any really.
A: What is the whole thing about your life’s purpose then?
Z: Still, I would have appreciated having the choice.
A: Maybe Jesus died because he was so great, and the world, well, can be a place filled with stupid people. And if he was raised from the dead, it shows that stupid people won’t have the final say.
Z: You mean the same stupid people who didn’t ask to exist and who didn’t really ask to be stupid?
A: Jesus wasn’t stupid. Compared to us he was marvelous.
Z: True, which begs the question, what did he know, that we don’t?
A: It’s a mystery.
Z: A most unhelpful, but perhaps, most appropriate answer available.
A: It’s also a mystery why he had to die. That’s why we keep on coming back for more.
Z: Like moths to a flame?
A: If we are truly creatures thrown into a stew not of our own making, is our task not to enjoy the stew, and accept what has been decreed?
Z: You mean, submit to something like a divine will, if something like that really exists.
A: Yes.
Z: I find that a most intolerable solution.
A: Maybe you are to full of yourself.
Z: Perhaps, but I have the right to understand.
A: The stew has decreed you only have the right to believe.
Z: Believe?
A: Yes.
Z: OK. I will buy my ticket for the journey I never chose to take. Happy?
A: At least you are part of the journey. Let it take you where it leads.
Z: How Stoic of you.
A: No, you choose not to choose. Someone already made the right choice for you. Its like putting a puzzle together. You can choose to fit the pieces together, but what that picture looks like is already decreed.
Z: And what if I choose to choose?
A: Then you will always ask why Jesus had to die.