Q: God could have forgiven all sins Himself so why did he send his son to a torturous death to forgive sins?

A: I can think of at least three things that were accomplished by the Cross that could not have been accomplished any other way. First, sin was publicly and fully punished. We have in the gospels a record of the severity of sin and the kind of punishment it warrants. Even though we do not have to suffer that penalty, the fact that the punishment was meted out to Christ in real history is a sobering message to all about the severity of sin. Without the cross it would be all too easy to t...