studentofTruth:


My dear I love your question. I understand your confusion... it stems from pastors' confusion on that statement..."it is finished". But if you really understood my "bridge" analogy, you will understand that Christ's death does not mean that sin and "evil" will no longer exist on earth.

"it's finished" means "it's completed". it means that He has completed His work. It means the "bridge has been built". Put in another way, it means "the work of building the bridge has been completed". So humans can now get to their destination... Heaven. However, it doesn't mean Human will automatically be transported to their destination. Each and every individual must transport himself via that bridge to his destination. The journey to his destination via that bridge is a lifetime process with may bumps and delays (personal sins) on the way. So every thought, word, action and inaction of man determines if he's accelerating or decelerating during his journey on the bridge OR IF he has TOTALLY fallen off the bridge.

Another analogy:
Christ bought a ticket to heaven for us, Having the ticket does not take us to the plane and starting our journey. Each individual has to do that himself. Having the ticket does not mean we can't loose it(personal sins) or fall into mud(personal sins) with it such that the mud cover our name on the ticket completely rendering it useless until it's washed clean and our name become legible.

Yet another analogy. this one was used by Christ himself. Christ death opened the gate to heaven. prior to Christ coming and death, the gate was closed. His death opened the gate. But opening the gate doesn't mean automatic entry. You must strive to enter through that gate.
("It's finished" means the gate has been opened, it's now left for humans to strive to enter through that gate).

To bring it to Bible context, Christ death on the Cross opened a way for humans to get to heaven but does not automatically put humans in heaven. Put differently, Christ's death ONLY gave humans a chance to heaven but it is left for the individual to grab the chance. Christ himself said..."only the violent taketh it by force"Mt 11:12. Jesus here used analogy of a gate....."strive to enter through the narrow gate" Lk 13:24. St. Paul said..."workout your salvation with fear and trembling" Phil 2:12.

So Christ's death was never to abolish personal sins and shortcomings neither was it to abolish "evil". Christ's death was NEVER to abolish our FREEWILL (AS FAR AS HUMANS HAVE FREEWILL, EVIL MUST ABOUND).
Christ's death was ONLY to open the gate of heaven for humans. it's left for each individual to strive to enter through that Gate..."the way to the Father" Jn14:6. We must make effort to enter. Any pastor that tells it's "finished" ...just your faith alone, lied to you. By your every thought, word, action and inaction, you're either moving toward your destination or you're stumbling or you're completely missing the way.

So my dear, Christ's death wasn't useless because without His death, there was never any possibility of heaven.... the gate of heaven would have been locked to us. His death opened the gate thereby giving us the opportunity to enter heaven. So know that if we follow His teachings, we will be able to enter through that gate.
He has opened the gate therefore NO EXCUSE. We must strive to enter through that gate.

peace.

This is called making it up as you go along. If he ever existed, his death was useless. He certainly did not die for me or anyone else.

Zodiac61:

This is called making it up as you go along. If he ever existed, his death was useless. He certainly did not die for me or anyone else.

If you are a muslim or an aetheist thats OK. I thought you wanted to understand.

peace