WHY was Jesus cricified?

[John V]

I'm guilty of many things but I doubt that offending the dignity of Yahweh with "sin" is one of them -- unless, of course, I am presented with something more compelling than an old collection of stories to cause me to believe in this god.

You make it sound like accepting Christian salvation is like finding a twenty-dollar bill on the ground. "Who wouldn't pick it up? It would be crazy not to!" But there's more to it than that. It's not enough that Christ allegedly paid the price for these crimes and everyone's square; that would be free forgiveness. But to reap the benefit of this gift one must accept as true stories that should embarrass a half-bright ten year old, starting with belief in Yahweh himself. And failure to believe the unbelievable results in punishment. Strings don't equal free.

That argument would have some merit if most of you said "I like the idea of salvation and wish it were true, but I just can't believe it." THat's not the case, at least not around here. The much more frequent sentiment here is that, even with proof, salvation would be rejected. So, yes, it's like not picking up the bill.