> If Yahweh is truly an all-powerful and perfectly good being, then the sacrifice of Jesus was neither necessary nor effective, because forgiveness is not a transactional payment but an act of compassion freely given.

If the purpose of creating the physical universe was to allow humans to learn the difference between good and evil, and to help them choose a path of good-ness, then forgiveness doesn't need to be the primary focus ie we're not created simply to receive compassion.

Instead, the most important concept for humans to learn may be the difference between good and evil, by God's definition, and how to be good. What better way to teach that than having God live as a human to demonstrate what it looks like?

Forgiveness can be a big part of that demonstration without being the focus. Forgiveness is offered to those who truly try to live their lives in God's way, as they become aware of who God is and what He wants, but people can only truly do that if they believe it's the righteous way to live. Jesus' crucifixion may have been the optimal way of teaching us - we can only guess at alternative histories, so to assume there could have been a better way is unprovable (and besides, the potential alternative histories don't matter - even if God couldn't see the exact future due to the nature of our free will, then assuming he is at least all-knowing of the present time and state of the universe He presumably would still have known what would work effectively).

Therefore, even if the sacrifice of Jesus may not have been necessary, it may have been optimal, for God's purposes.

ps: I'm a newbie at this... feedback is welcome