Peace to you,
tam wrote:
My argument is based on the perfection of Jesus Christ, and his bold statements about himself, as he placed himself on the same pedestal as his righteous, holy, sacred Father.
Okay:
A - The perfection of Christ (by which I assume you mean Him being without sin).
Yes, exactly.
tam wrote:
You suggest that only God is without sin, therefore if Christ is without sin, Christ must be God. This is circular (as I said in my first post, because you are starting with the premise that only God can be without sin, and you have not proven that to be true).
Ok, so I will ask you a simple yes/no question; can any created being with "free will" have the SAME level (for lack of a better term) of holiness/righteous than the Almighty God?
No - but for a different reason than you are thinking.
Because the Son is Holy, the Father is elevated to the MOST Holy.
Just as a human son may bring even greater honor to his father (or family) because his honor reflects well upon his father. The glory of Christ is to the credit and
increasing glory of the Father (who taught His Son and gave His Son life, to begin with).
Scripture supports this as well.
Christ is the Holy One. His Father (God Most High) is the
MOST Holy One. Scripture demonstrates this in the example given to us by the design of the Temple, and of course Christ confirms this when He says that His Father is greater than Him. In the Temple there was the room called the Most Holy Place and there was the room called the Holy Place. One had to pass through the Holy Place in order to come to the Most Holy Place.
The Holy Place represents Christ (the Holy One).
The MOST Holy Place represents God (the MOST Holy One).
No one ccould come into the MOST Holy except through the Holy. Just as Christ said of Himself and of His Father (God):
"No one comes to the Father except through the Son."
I had thought that what is so great about God, that his ways are wayyyy higher than our ways and no matter how hard we try, we will never amount to such greatness, not just in terms of morality, but in terms of ANYTHING.
God having such high ways is one thing that is great about God, of course. But that should not have the qualifier that we are
not great, as if God is only great because we are not.
God is awesome for the love that He
is, and for the love that He shows. Enough love (
and power) for Him to have brought forth life, beginning with His Son, and then through His Son, bringing forth creation and the rest of life. His mercy, His love, His justice, His Truth, His promises and patience and plan and wisdom.
And here you are contending with the fact that I claim that only God is without sin, as if you believe that it is possible for mere created beings to also be without sin. Well, if that were the case, you are implying that the quality of man's benevolence is the SAME as the Almighty God...which is blasphemous.
How dare you?
I am not speaking about 'mere created beings' or 'man'.
Christ is the Son of God. He is no mere created being, and He is no mere man (though He came in the form of a man for a short period of time).
He is the Son of God. This is what He says about Himself.
So you can skip the theatrics, FTK. How can a person blaspheme by believing what Christ said about Himself?
tam wrote:
B - Christ did
not place Himself on the same pedestal as His Father. He said the exact opposite:
"You heard me say, 'I am going away and I am coming back to you.' If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I."
Christ obviously made that statement after the events of Phil 2:5-9.
I don't think that reasoning is going to work out for you. Christ made all of His statements (in the NT) after the events of Phil 2:5-9. Including the statement that to see Him is to see His Father.
Second, in a school system, the principal is "greater" than the teacher. In the military, the "Sgt" is greater than the "PVT". In the Christian household, the husband is "greater" than the wife.
But in either case, the "greater" person isn't necessarily the "better" person. "Greater" is just in terms of position/rank/role. It says nothing about essence/nature/divinity.
Sure, but that does not work out for the trinity does it? Because the trinity states that the Father and Son and "Holy Spirit" are all co-equal. Yet here the Son is saying that the Father is greater than Him.
Also:
So either Jesus was clearly committing blasphemy, or he is saying that he and his Father are so equal that they are interchangeable, and to see one is to see the other.
But He just finished saying that His Father is greater than Him, did He not? He did
not say that He and His Father are equal.
And Christ committed no blasphemy.
tam wrote:
Except He did not give Himself equality with the Father; He said that the Father is
greater than Him.
"To see me is to see the Father". It really doesn't get any more "equal" than that.
I gave you His words, FTK, not my own. So who are you really arguing with?
tam wrote:
Yes, God created all things
through Christ (who is the Son of God). This is described also in Proverbs 8:22-31.
Hmm. The Proverbs 8:22-31 thing...sounds very "Jehovah's
Witnessy" to me..not to mention the fact that the entire Scripture has NOTHING to do with Christ...never mind that
fact, though.
All religion has some truth, FTK, and some falsehood. You can't dismiss something just because a particular religion happens to teach it. I mean, you can do as you choose, but that is not a good reason to decide something is untrue. To do the opposite - accept a religion simply because it has
some true teachings- is equally unwise.
I digress.
Proverbs 8 is about Christ. Christ is Wisdom.
Does Christ not speak what is true (verses 6 and 7)?
Does Christ not call out to all mankind (verses 4)?
Is Christ not our Teacher, our instructor (verse 10, and throughout)?
Do kings not reign by Him (verse 15, 16... compare to Rev 5:9,10; 3:21; 20:4-6)?
Do we not find Christ if we seek Him (verse 17)?
Is not His fruit (fruits of the spirit, fruit of the tree of Life aka Christ) better than gold (verse 18)?
Are we not blessed if we listen to Him (verse 33)?
If we find Him, do we not find life (verse 35; compare with John 17:3 and John 14:6; John 11:25)?
I did not learn this from the WTS.
My Lord is the one who opened these scriptures to me.
tam wrote:
And again at 1Corinthians 8:5, 6:
For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many so-called gods and lords), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we exist. And there is but one Lord, [Jesus] Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we exist.
So, both the Father and the Son played a part in the creation of the world. No argument from me..
tam wrote:
A - note that all things come FROM God THROUGH Christ.
B - note that Paul states - point blank - that
the Father is God. The one God.
Hmm. But as you pointed out, Paul also stated that there is only one Lord, Jesus...yet,
Deut 6:13
You shall fear only the Lord your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name.
Why is "God" being called Lord if there is only
one Lord, Jesus?
Just as a point of fact, there is no word "Lord" in that verse. This verse actually reads:
You shall fear only JAHVEH your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name.
"The LORD" has been inserted there over "YHWH".
tam wrote:
Just as Christ said previously (praying to the Father):
Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and [Jesus] Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:2
He calls His Father the only true God.
Yeah, that is amazing, isn't it? I mean, Jesus calling his Father only "true" God...only for his Father to also call his Son, "God".
Heb 1:8.."
But about the Son he says, "Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom."
When God says this about His Son, it is more in the following sense (from another post on another thread):
"Because even being called god and savior, this would not mean that Christ is being called the Most Holy One of Israel (God Most High; JAH). Christ is
the Son of God, as He consistently says.
Take the following for example:
"[Jesus] answered them,
Is it not written in your Law, I said, you are gods? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came"and the Scripture cannot be broken" then what about the One whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world? How then can you accuse me of blasphemy for stating that I am the Son of God?" John 10:34-36
And the reference to this is at Psalm 82:6,
"I have said, "You are gods; you are all sons of the Most High."
Being
the Son of the Most High (JAHVEH) does not make that person (even Christ) out to be JAH, Himself."
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Peace again to you,
your servant and a slave of Christ,
tammy