I've never understood the whole "Christ died for our sins" supposition.?

I'll preface this by saying that I'm not an atheist, I just am somewhat dissentful of some of the interpretation of the bible. It seems somewhat contrived that he died specifically so we could have the sacrement/communion--at least this was what I was told in my 8th grade religion cl (a long time ago). Why do we need to consume the body of Christ to be forgiven?