text: isn't it a bit naive (though very convenient) to believe that someone else can "pay" for your sins? it is nice to have a scapegoat, but everyone has to own up to his/her errors ultimately.  nobody eles besides you can save you. ""isn't it a bit naive (though very convenient) to believe that someone else can "pay" for your sins?""  not only is it naive, it is also against what the bible says!  the christian understanding is that the messiah, jesus, died for the sins of the people. the messiah is supposed to be a human sacrifice that is the blood sacrifice necessary for the forgiveness of sin.  but we are taught in our torah that no one can die for the sins of another. in deuteronomy 24:16 it specifically says this:  deuteronomy 24:16 the fathers shall not  be put to death for the children, neither  shall the children be put to death for the fathers:  every man shall be put to death for his  own sin (eesh b’chet-o yumatu).  in exodus 32:30-35, moses tries to offer himself to atone for the sins of the people. to be written out of gd's book, means to be written out of the book of life, which means moses was asking to die for the sins of the people. gd's response is no, it does not work that way, each man dies for his own sin:  exodus 32:30-35 and it came to pass on the  morrow, that moses said unto the people,  ye have sinned a great sin: and now i will  go up unto the etrnl; perhaps i shall make  an atonement for your sin. and moses  returned unto the etrnl, and said, oh,  this people have sinned a great sin, and  have made them gods of gold. yet now, if  thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not,  blot me, i pray thee, out of thy book  which thou hast written. and the etrnl  said unto moses, whosoever hath sinned  against me, him will i blot out of my  book.   the whole of chapter 18 of the book of ezekiel is about this idea, that no one can die for someone else's sin. further, this chapter of ezekiel teaches us that all we have to do for gd's forgiveness is to stop doing the bad and start doing the good, and gd will forgive us:::  ezekiel 18:1-4; 20-24; 26-27 .....behold, all  souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so  also the soul of the son is mine: the soul  that sinneth, it shall die. eze 18:20 the soul  that sinneth, it shall die. the son shall not  bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall  the father bear the iniquity of the son: the  righteousness of the righteous shall be upon  him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be  upon him. but if the wicked will turn from all  his sins that he hath committed, and keep all  my statutes, and do that which is lawful and  right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.  all his transgressions that he hath committed,  they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his  righteousness that he hath done he shall live.  have i any pleasure at all that the wicked  should die? saith the etrnl gd: and not that  he should return from his ways, and live?....  eze 18:26 when a righteous man turneth away  from his righteousness, and committeth  iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity  that he hath done shall he die. again, when  the wicked man turneth away from his  wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth  that which is lawful and right, he shall save  his soul alive.   so, the bible is clear, no one can die for the sins of another, and this means that jesus cannot die for anyone else's sins.