Why do we have to die to get to heaven?

D asked me this question...

Why do we have to die in order to get to heaven? Why do we have to die in order to attain a good life?

I stopped eating my pho, put my chop sticks down, looked squarely into D's eyes in which I replied....

You are asking the wrong question.  The question we should all be asking to ourselves is why do God willing to let His Son died for us to get to heaven?  

Then I go on explaining God's Grace.  Ridiculous Grace.  As Tim Keller called it, the Prodigal God (Prodigal meaning someone who spends recklessly, freely, extravagant).

This is how we are saved.

Though pho might not be spiritual food....I am thankful for a spiritual conversation among a Vietnamese dish!

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16