The Bible uses a lot of images to describe the significance of Jesus' death.  Some of them emphasize sin; others do not.  No one picture is complete. 

Here is a post I wrote a while back that tried to provide some big-picture answers to this question: How Does Jesus' Death Save Anyone?

God only accepts perfection into heaven. When we invite the Holy Spirit in, God sees perfection. Adam sinned and ruined what we were created to be. We are born imperfect. As soon as we are old enough to understand this, we are accountable for ourselves to Him. The only way to become sinless is through sacrifice. The blood of lambs only held off judgement, it did not justify the OT saints. Jesus' sacrifice justified them also. We are saved by faith in Him. Rejection of Him is what condemns us. 

The Gospel Saint John is much more clear about the mission of Christ than the Old Testament.

Also, a compendium on the meaning of the Bible written by a reputable source is also recommended. Since the Catholic Church compiled and published the Bible back in the 5th century, it is a great source of information on Christianity.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church is an outstanding reference on the Gospel teachings of Christ. 

Here is the Catechism's first incredible sentence:

1 God, infinitely perfect and blessed in
himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him
share in his own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in
every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know
him, to love him with all his strength. He calls together all men,
scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church.
To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son
as Redeemer and Savior. In his Son and through him, he invites men to
become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus heirs of his
blessed life.

LINK

what boggles my mind is how sin is a collective offense against God, but salvation is an individual choice.  if Jesus has already died and been resurrected, the debt has already been paid.  what role does my acceptance play?  i didn't choose to be born into original sin, so why should it be left up to me to be saved?  what kind of omnipotent deity would leave something as important as eternal life up to a bunch of horribly flawed and, in comparison, utterly stupid beings?  even some of the worst parents in the world know that when their children don't have the faculty or understanding to make a decision, the choice is left up to them, and it's their responsibility to choose what is best (even if the children don't want it).  

We focus so much on what happened on the cross.  But, was it really necessary?  I mean, if God is perfect, all knowing, all caring, able to create worlds without number, why would he create something that meant 3/4 of his creation would banish in hell, or tartarus, the grave.  Is it possible for a perfect God to create such a scenerio?  Is it more reasonable to think his plan was to have all of us be with him eventually, and human actions simply have gotten in the way of his original plan?  And there are tortuous deaths happening all around the world that we know of.  Millions of his children that will never hear the plan of salvation in this life.  So that leaves only one conclusion to me.  It need not be in this life that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess....And there may very well be punishment meted out before we are all with him.  I have found over 50 scriptures that allude to universal salvation.  I will leave this post with but one, Luke 3:6  All mankind will see God's salvation.

@OstentatiousEloquence@xanga - "Why were souls held in prison before Jesus' coming, but those who sinned at an equal level to them after his coming did not have to endure a wait in "prison" because Jesus had already come and they could choose to redeem themselves on his behalf in a much more timely matter?"

We must back up a bit. Before Jesus came, there were those who were faithful (yet still as humans imperfect) and those who rejected God. The faithful ones needed the same sacrifice we all do, only He had not come yet so they had to use goats. After He came, their sins could then be forgotten forever. Anyone else who did not have faith went to hell, where they await the Great White Throne of Judgement, at which time they will then go to the lake of fire. Hell = jail, Lake of fire = prison, that makes it easier to understand. The prison mentioned earlier - waiting for Jesus, was the paradise side of Hades. This is from the words of Jesus in Luke, 16: 19 - 31. So it was not like prison the way you may think of it. 

"So the human form of God (Jesus), besides being a self-acknowledged God, is more perfect than a murdered fetus who has never even had a chance to sin, or a developmentally challenged baby born to a drug addict, or a brutally raped and murdered little child? "

Yes. Because that fetus is pure human. Jesus was born of a virgin, because he had no human father. He, God, entered the womb of Mary and lived a perfect life as a man. But He was God. He was perfect. Whatever Adam was in the garden of Eden, when he sinned, all that changed. Imperfection was added. Sickness, disease, death became possible. And that was passed on to every human after. God lived as a human, in a body capable of death, so He could do what no human could - be a perfect sacrifice. 

As for those unborn babies, and even little ones after birth; All through the bible it is made evident that innocent children get a free pass when it comes to heaven. (2 Samuel 12:19 - 23Jeremiah 19:4-5Jonah 4:11)

"HOW is Jesus' suffering somehow greater than many others who have suffered in the history of this world who have also endured equal to greater torture, JUST BECAUSE HE IS DIVINE? "

His divinity is the thing that made His sacrifice valid, because He was 100% without any sin, and not under the curse of Adam. And no one suffered more than He did that day. He, perfect God Who never knew sin, had all the sins of every human for all time put on Him at that moment. THAT was torture for Him. Also, He was beat to the point you could not even tell He was human. The fact that He did not die is testament to His divinity. His suffering was more than any human can imagine. 

"The connection would make more sense to me if some kind of Savior were present during many of history's great tragedies, as opposed to one time, and had suffered right along with as well as saving the lives of many people. Mother Theresa comes to mind, or Gandhi. Someone more heroic."

But He did suffer right along with them. And He will reward in the judgement. If HE came and saved everyone, people would not believe in Him, love Him, because they chose Him; They would believe in Him and profess love to have a good life. When you take into account the fact that Jesus could see all through time, even you, He could see all the people who would hate Him, and reject Him, and yet still gave Himself for the few who would accept Him, even though most would not really appreciate the suffering He went through, and even though most would reject it anyway - He was still willing to do that to make it possible. To me, that is pretty heroic. Especially when He could have just made a bunch of robots who would do exactly as programmed and serve Him always without question. Instead, He chose to allow us that freedom of choice. 

When you get to the end of the Book, you'll understand how it all ties together.

@OstentatiousEloquence@xanga - I am sorry I did not answer sooner, I only just saw this. You are welcome, any time! 

1.) God is Perfect, Good and Clean

I'm not sure if anyone else said this, but stop reading leviticus! Skip to John, then read the rest of the gospels and then the rest of the new testament. and THEN go back and read the old stuff. If you're not a believer and are trying to learn through reading the bible, the worst place to start is thebeginning. In skimming the rest  of the comments, Id say there's nothing left for me to add. Keep searching and you will find truth.