"Why does God expect an apology for our sin?"

Yes, it's another Reddit DebateReligion post. In this case, I'm answering a fellow who put forth the idea that God is too "big" to care about our sin, and that demanding a sacrifice to pay for it would be a sign that God is brutal. Here's my answer:

If one of my daughters starts wilfully ignoring household rules and basic manners, and starts bugging her sisters, how does it possibly affect me? Why would I expect an apology?

The disobedient child's disobedience disrupts the whole household. It reflects poorly on the parents. If my two daughters are fighting, I can't just sit idly by. The form of my intervention may vary from scolding, to temporary separation, to punishment. I've had to take stuffed friends away at night, and from their reactions you would think that I was crucifying them. Certainly they don't think that any punishment is fair when they are going through it. But then, I'm the one with the greater perspective here.

We don't see our sin as God sees it. We don't see death as God sees it. Yes, our sin can't "spoil" him, but it can spoil other parts of His creation. Christians believe that mankind was intended to have a particular place in God's creation, as creatures of both body and spirit. We are to be connected to God on the one hand, and the world on the other. When we decide that we don't want or need our connection to God, that decision has ramifications. That is what sin does.

In order to make it possible for that relationship to be healed, the Son of God, second person of the Trinity, came into this world to experience it as we do. To walk our walk. And yes, that included dying, as we do, and experiencing our separation from His Father. As Jesus cried out from the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?", He was feeling that loss and emptiness that every one of us has faced at some point in our lives. But it could not hold Him. And if we follow Him, then we can find our way back to the Father.