Why did God have to die on the cross to save us, why didn't He just save us?
Because if God's nature is essentially just He had to pay the price for us. Perhaps God could have saved us without dying on the cross, but in doing so He would be unjust. Thus at the cross we see a perfect harmony between justice and mercy. The result is what Christians consider the greatest act of love in history.
Ok so why didn't God just save everyone after dying on the cross?
Because of what it means to be saved. To be saved, one has to have faith and believe in God. This is something, I believe, which can only come from a genuine choice in people. So if God were to save everyone after dying on the cross, He would have to ensure that we all believe in Him. But this seems to take the genuine choice away. Thus, if this were to happen, everyone would have a relationship with God, but it would be more of a relationship between a hand and a puppet than a genuine relationship between two entities choosing to interact with one another. And if God's goal is to allow us to genuinely and freely know Him, then ensuring that everyone is saved after dying on the cross would undermine everything God worked for. Of course this explanation requires libertarian free will, if Calvinists are correct and we have a purely compatibilist form of freedom, than this view would not be cogent.
God has created so many diseases and so many things which harm humanity, but science has cured them all. Doesn't this show that science is more powerful that God?
This question I get asked a lot by atheists. And one thing it assumes is that God's purpose is to make us happy, and reduce our suffering. I'm curious, since when have Christians claimed this? Maybe some radical prosperity preachers have. In either case I would simply ask the atheist, if God didn't put those harmful things in our way, would we bother to discover the cures for them, would we invent new technologies to overcome them? And if we did, would it be as meaningful? A life that is simply about instant gratification and comfort doesn't seem to hold much meaning or value. And before you ask "what about heaven?" as atheists often do, Christians don't think heaven will be simply sitting on a cloud eating grapes, heaven may be devoid of suffering (but then again perhaps not), but I'm certain there will be challenges and things to overcome.
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