This Topic has been under discussion for around 2,000 years, there is nothing new under the sun. These arguments and examples are just basic scriptural support for the view of Jesus' deity. If you have objections to whatever is in this essay message me and I will respond to it. If you want a more in depth (with some greek scholarship) I can provide that to if you wish. Again this is basic Christian theology 101.
Many people in the world today consider Jesus (if they believe He existed) to be a good person or a good moral teacher and nothing else. There is quite a huge problem with that claim, if any one of them ever read the claims or teachings of Jesus recorded in the Bible and especially what John the Apostle recorded their stance would be slightly rendered. With what Jesus claimed, He was either a complete lunatic or He was God in flesh.
Most people I talk to or have conversations with have never grasped the concept that Jesus Christ is God,
even students in my old youth group never knew in detail the claims of Jesus. And to me that is one of the most exciting things about Christianity. Christianity is not just another religion that claims it can help you find the path to an afterlife or complete knowledge it is based on a man who started a revolution which sole purpose was to drastically change the way people thought about God.
Today i am going to talk about Jesus Christ and how we know that He is Divine. For this short period i will be teaching out of the Gospel of John which is considered to be centered more around Jesus' divinity then any of the other gospels.Firstly We will begin by examining seven claims that should not be taken lightly. In exodus chapter three verses 14 through 15 Moses asks God what he should tell the Egyptians that he is to go and
free from captivity who sent him to their rescue and God declares to him tell them "I AM sent you". We are focusing here on the I AM statement. Now in the Gospel of John, John records seven statements by Jesus claiming the "I AM". Here they are "I AM the bread of life" (John 6:35). " I AM the light of the world" John 8:12, "I AM the door" John 10:9, " I AM the Good Shepherd "John 10:11," I AM the Resurrection and the Life" John 11:25, Sixth which is the most famous" I AM the way, the truth, and the life "John 14:6, finally " I AM the true vine" John 15:1. The origin of the I AM statement from the Hebrew language and used 6828 times in the Old Testament means "To Be", so Jesus' claim is to be, leaving no room for speculation as to His divinity.
There is one more "I AM" statement that proves of Jesus' divinity, in John chapter 8 verse 58 Jesus makes a tremendous claim by saying. "Before Abraham was, I AM" Now Abraham was considered the Father of righteousness to the Jews, and also the Jews took pride in being the descendants of Abraham Issac and Jacob. There are two important aspects to this claim first is "BEfore Abraham was" reveals the Jesus
existed before Abraham who lived 2,000 years before Him. A couple verses before this statement Jesus tells the jews that "Abraham rejoicedto see My day, and he saw it and was glad."
# "In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw Yahweh sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. " Isaiah 6:1
# "For my eyes have seen the King, Yahwah of hosts." Isaiah 6:5
# "Then I heard the voice of Yahweh, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I. Send me!" " Isaiah 6:8
# "These things Isaiah said because he (Isaiah) saw His (Christ's) glory, and he spoke of Him (Christ)." John 12:41
Jesus in these passages makes the same claims YHWH or Jehovah of the Old Testament made, which elevates Jesus to equality with The Father,
The second thing we are going to look at is The very first verses in the first chapter of John. John 1:1-2; 14 states " In the beggining was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And Verse 14 "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." The WORD or LOGOS in the greek, is Jesus Christ as signified in verse 14 when it states "dwelt among us," notice how John descibes how the WORD was
present in the beginning of the universe, also how He was with (face to face with) God and was God. As stated before John 1:14 states the Word became flesh, if you put the words together you can say without a doubt that, In the beggining was Jesus, Jesus was with God and Jesus
was God.
In John 20:27-29 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."
28Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"
29Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
Thomas calls Jesus his Lord and His God, some will go to the lengths of saying that Thomas committed blasphemy when hesaw Jesus, but if that is so why did Jesus compliment Thomas right after and say "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." IF Thomas did commit blasphemy Jesus would have certainly corrected Him.
A few more verses to conclude this topic is
JOHN 5:18
For this cause therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was
calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.
John 10:33
Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, 32but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For
which of these do you stone me?"
33"We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God."
In conclusion the bible clearly states that Jesus Christ is God, The he has existed forever and took the form of a man and died so that we may have ternal life through and with Him. The bible is not just a fable made up but, a historically accurate account of the days of Jesus Christ, and testifies of a God who is Love.
These are only passages out of the Gospel of John there are 26 other New Testament books that testifies as does this Gospel that, Jesus Christ is God over all blessed forever amen...
Friday, March 4, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Character of the Regenerated
I'm not sure why I'm picking this topic as my first blog but, it's one that is very interesting. Now when speaking of regenerated I mean "saved" or "born-again" but, like most terms used within the Christian faith these seem to be added to the massive bowl of cliché's. So when referring to "born-again" or "saved" I often used regenerated. (Also, cause well, it just sounds cool to) Anyway, the character of the saved is one revealed to us through A. the bible and B. the Christian lifestyle.
Now throughout the New Testament it is very apparent that regenerated people evangelize; in today's church especially evangelism is completely dead. As the "collective" Catholic (Universal) church increases is membership, the percentage of Christians in the world compared to other religions are decreasing. This is not because of the rising Islamic movement in Europe, or the eastern religions of Buddhism and Hinduism. It is because of an outdated version of evangelizing. We don't live in the time of Jesus anymore where the majority of believers believe in a god, on the contrary it seems like the opposite. Instead of just preaching Jesus loves you and wants you to repent because, you need to be purged of your sins and start a new life. We the Church needs to be on the offense of God instead of on the defense. We need to publicly affirm and promote ration reasoning for believing in Deity. It is a WAR out there which needs to be played strategically. Though through the Holy Spirit and the preaching of the cross people do get converted and convicted. That simply cannot be the only means of evangelizing. Don't get me wrong it is important but, it has it's place.
Now how I got on that whole subject I really have no clue... but! I was leading into the fact that regenerate Christians need to follow the example of 1 Peter 3:15 and prepare a defense for the hope that we have in Christ Jesus. Not only a rational and intellectual defense but, one in which we can patiently listen, understand, and respectfully discuss with others outside of our faith. The Christian character needs to be patient and kind there is no getting around it. If you loudly rebuke (even curse) people in response to what they have not only said but, maybe do. You are a perfect example to base all other Christians off; you have now given this person justification to turn away from your faith and any future encounters other Christians may have of preaching to them.
Integrity is among the very dieing characteristics in today's society. It is such a beautiful and amazing thing to do upon others when given no credit or reward. I have watched countless times in my life "Christians" trying to seek credit; most of the time it was not openly or even noticeable to most. I count myself as a very observant person; some call me rude, or anti-social, and even judgmental because, I love to sit back and just watch how people interact with others. These"Christians" often get what they want to and it becomes a tangled mess of pride and selfishness mixed in with their outlook on life. It kills me to see people who were "once" on "fire" for God become victims of pride and simply degrade spiritually and physically. Some may think I'm exaggerating but, never the less it is apparent.
Back to the point... Regenerate Christians should go out of their way to show and do loving acts toward others when no one is watching or can ever find out. There you will find joy unspeakable.
Martin Luther is often quoted for saying "Christian life consists of faith and charity."
Christian character is also one that does not back down from a fight (no hitting involved.) If someone lets says most likely "post-modernists" makes irrational claims about God but, yet as no proof to substantiate that claim other than their infinite knowledge... should be flat out rebuked or for that matter at least challenged. The United States (and some still think it is) is considered a Christian nation but, it seems to us as Christians society as in a way built up around us, absorbing some of our holidays and beliefs and incorporated it in their society but, in the root of it all it is not Christian. We are surrounded by the media, public schools, and stupid religious bashers like "Richard Dawkins" who use the ill-minded and ignorant college students to promote this "new Atheism" which is taught to our kids in grade school and taught as if it is an indisputable fact... We as Christians need to win back the minds of our society by all means necessary.
It's late and I want to go to bed, I didn't cover everything I wanted to about Christian character but, it's at least a start =)
Now throughout the New Testament it is very apparent that regenerated people evangelize; in today's church especially evangelism is completely dead. As the "collective" Catholic (Universal) church increases is membership, the percentage of Christians in the world compared to other religions are decreasing. This is not because of the rising Islamic movement in Europe, or the eastern religions of Buddhism and Hinduism. It is because of an outdated version of evangelizing. We don't live in the time of Jesus anymore where the majority of believers believe in a god, on the contrary it seems like the opposite. Instead of just preaching Jesus loves you and wants you to repent because, you need to be purged of your sins and start a new life. We the Church needs to be on the offense of God instead of on the defense. We need to publicly affirm and promote ration reasoning for believing in Deity. It is a WAR out there which needs to be played strategically. Though through the Holy Spirit and the preaching of the cross people do get converted and convicted. That simply cannot be the only means of evangelizing. Don't get me wrong it is important but, it has it's place.
Now how I got on that whole subject I really have no clue... but! I was leading into the fact that regenerate Christians need to follow the example of 1 Peter 3:15 and prepare a defense for the hope that we have in Christ Jesus. Not only a rational and intellectual defense but, one in which we can patiently listen, understand, and respectfully discuss with others outside of our faith. The Christian character needs to be patient and kind there is no getting around it. If you loudly rebuke (even curse) people in response to what they have not only said but, maybe do. You are a perfect example to base all other Christians off; you have now given this person justification to turn away from your faith and any future encounters other Christians may have of preaching to them.
Integrity is among the very dieing characteristics in today's society. It is such a beautiful and amazing thing to do upon others when given no credit or reward. I have watched countless times in my life "Christians" trying to seek credit; most of the time it was not openly or even noticeable to most. I count myself as a very observant person; some call me rude, or anti-social, and even judgmental because, I love to sit back and just watch how people interact with others. These"Christians" often get what they want to and it becomes a tangled mess of pride and selfishness mixed in with their outlook on life. It kills me to see people who were "once" on "fire" for God become victims of pride and simply degrade spiritually and physically. Some may think I'm exaggerating but, never the less it is apparent.
Back to the point... Regenerate Christians should go out of their way to show and do loving acts toward others when no one is watching or can ever find out. There you will find joy unspeakable.
Martin Luther is often quoted for saying "Christian life consists of faith and charity."
Christian character is also one that does not back down from a fight (no hitting involved.) If someone lets says most likely "post-modernists" makes irrational claims about God but, yet as no proof to substantiate that claim other than their infinite knowledge... should be flat out rebuked or for that matter at least challenged. The United States (and some still think it is) is considered a Christian nation but, it seems to us as Christians society as in a way built up around us, absorbing some of our holidays and beliefs and incorporated it in their society but, in the root of it all it is not Christian. We are surrounded by the media, public schools, and stupid religious bashers like "Richard Dawkins" who use the ill-minded and ignorant college students to promote this "new Atheism" which is taught to our kids in grade school and taught as if it is an indisputable fact... We as Christians need to win back the minds of our society by all means necessary.
It's late and I want to go to bed, I didn't cover everything I wanted to about Christian character but, it's at least a start =)
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