My understanding of Christianity is based on the words in the bible, not any particular denomination. I am also not American.
I apologize for assuming that you're American; it simply just so happens that most Christians I've met with the views you describe are American Protestants.
I'll go through your prior points and explain them:
''I said therefore to you, that you shall die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am, you shall die in your sins.'' John 8:24
I am the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6
That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16
I don't believe that someone whose heart is open to Jesus, yet hesitates on becoming a Christian, is necessarily damned to Hell.
Without original sin, how is the death of Jesus necessary?
Your understanding of original sin seems to be the Augustinian/Reformed definition: That when Adam and Eve sinned, they put all of humanity in a legal debt to God, a debt that could never be satisfied, even if all of mankind was damned to Hell. This is not the ancient understanding of Christianity. It's a later innovation. The original teaching of "original sin," if it can even be called such, is that Adam's and Eve's sin corrupted the human nature, making it subject to sin, disease, suffering and death. We do not inherit the GUILT of Adam and Eve's sin, for as it says in Ezekiel 18:20, "The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son." Sin separates us from God, Who is the Source of Life. Therefore, separated from that Life, we suffer from death.
"Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come."
This is from Romans 5, yes? I'm familiar with the passage. I quote it often to combat the satisfaction theory of atonement.
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned 13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. 15 But the free gift
is not like the offense. For if by the one mans offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. 16 And the gift
is not like
that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment
which came from one
offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift
which came from many offenses
resulted in justification. 17 For if by the one mans offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)
18 Therefore, as through one mans offense
judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Mans righteous act
the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19 For as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Mans obedience many will be made righteous.
20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
DEATH reigned over mankind. Humanity became slaves to sin after the Fall. It is not from God's wrath that we need to be saved (it is absurd that God would need to save us from Himself), but rather it is from sin and death that we need to be saved.
For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be
in the likeness of
His resurrection, 6
knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For
the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but
the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6. Keep this passage in mind.
"many died by the trespass of the one man"
Because of the mortality introduced by the corruption of human nature.
"Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people."
How can you say the central part of the religion, Jesus dying for our sins, is not scriptural?
The question is not IF Jesus died for our sins, it is WHY.
If you say that Jesus died on the Cross to take the punishment for our sins and satisfy God's wrath and sense of justice, I entirely disagree. An innocent man dying for crimes he did not commit while the guilty go free is doubly unjust.
If you say that Jesus died to demonstrate His love for us, I would agree; after all, He said, "There is no greater love than this: To lay down one's life for a friend."
If you say that Jesus died to take on the burden of our sins, I would agree; He died, that sin might die with Him.
If you say that Jesus sacrificed Himself as a ransom for us from sin and death, I would wholeheartedly agree. Death cannot hold the Immortal; corruption cannot hold the Incorrupt. The end result of Jesus dying on the Cross in this scenario is that Jesus breaks apart the grip that sin and death have over mankind; we will still sin and we will still die, but we are not forever bound to them as before. We can now take God's hand and be resurrected from the dead to eternal life with Him.
If you say that Jesus died on the Cross to experience death, the weight of sin on our souls, and even separation from God, all that He might fully share in our human experience, that we may resurrect from the dead just as He did and begin to experience God's life, I wholeheartedly agree. With this understanding of Jesus' death, one realizes that He died to reconcile God and man, and He rose from the dead to open the door to Paradise. After agreeing to cooperate with God in our salvation, we begin to open ourselves up to Him, and allow Him to guide, sustain and assist us in our efforts to "become perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect." This process of becoming more Godlike is known in Greek as "Theosis."
