But I am also intrigued by the Jesus story about salvation and grace. One thing that is confusing to me, why does the Christian God need to send Jesus and have him killed? If God can do anything why didn't he just forgive us our sins from Heaven, directly?
You bring up a very good point, and I'm impressed that you've already sniffed out
Substitutionary Atonement and
Penal Substitution.
If you want to learn more about what the original Christians believed, I'd suggest reading these 4 short links:
Christus Victor, Moral Influence,
Ransom Theory, and
Recapitulation (<--this last one's REALLY short, lol)
Jesus didn't come and die to satisfy our debt to God. If you'll check out those Wikipedia articles, you'll see that both of those ideas were invented way after Jesus's time.
But, Jesus DID come to free us from slavery to sin and death. Pegg has already provided Romans 6:23, which is a fantastic verse. You may also like to read the context of that verse to get an even better idea of what it's saying.
Romans 6:12-23
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members
as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members
as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! 16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin
leading to death, or of obedience
leading to righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that
though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19 I speak in human
terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members
as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness
leading to
more lawlessness, so now present your members
as slaves
of righteousness for holiness.
20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things
is death. 22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin
is death, but the gift of God
is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
If you take a look at this, it's clear that Jesus died to free us from sin and death. But how exactly does that work? 1 Corinthians 15 has our answer:
20 But now Christ is risen from the dead,
and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since by man
came death, by Man also
came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those
who are Christ’s at His coming. 24 Then
comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. 25 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy
that will be destroyed
is death. 27 For “He has put all things under His feet.”[
a] But when He says “all things are put under
Him,”
it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. 28 Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.
. . .
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal
must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”[
g] 55 “O Death, where
is your sting?[
h]
O Hades, where
is your victory?”[
i]
56 The sting of death
is sin, and the strength of sin
is the law. 57 But thanks
be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
It is Christ's Resurrection that finally breaks the control of death and sin over us. His Crucifixion and Resurrection together ransom us from the power of sin and death, and Jesus stands victorious over both. Ephesians 2 elaborates upon this as well.
And you
He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised
us up together, and made
us sit together in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in
His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves;
it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
So no, Jesus didn't really die to satisfy God's sense of justice or to pay a legal debt, but to free us and transform us, making us holy and making it so that we can draw near to God.
