Saturday, April 8, 2023
CHRISTIANITY / THEOLOGY / CHRIST
I. JESUS IS GOD
The most foundational, absolute and important aspect of all of Christian theology is the simple fact that Jesus is God.
It's so foundational, so incredibly important, that most Christians accept it without any problem or second thought. Jesus is one of the three persons of the triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The three of them, together, make up the entity that we call God. In other words, God is a family of divine beings. While that may seem strange, the best proof of this is our own existence. The foundational element of all animal and human life is that of the male, female, and offspring. Existence itself is modeled after the God who created it.
Jesus is God. That is literally true, not figuratively or symbolically. It is also literally true that Jesus was here on earth in a fully functioning human body, just like our own, that was subject to birth, childhood, and even death. Because he took the form of a human male, it would be an easy mistake him for just another human male, but maybe one with a good message or interesting teaching, like Buddha or Moses or Abraham. But assuming that Jesus was just a human male is a fatal mistake, as he claimed to be far more than just a mere human. To fully understand Jesus, you must understand that he was fully God as well as fully human. He was God coming down from heaven and fully inhabiting a human form. When he finished his mission, he went back to his heavenly throne in his spiritual form, and will retain that form for all of eternity.
Here is a passage from the Gospel of John where Jesus says the quiet part out loud:
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”
They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”
The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
- JOHN 8:31-59 English Standard Version of the Bible
Why did the Jews want to stone him after he said "Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM"??? Because they understood that the statement "I AM", used in the context Jesus was using it, was Jesus claiming to actually be God. God first articulates this name for himself when Moses encountered him in the burning bush, centuries before:
"Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
- EXODUS 3:13-14 English Standard Version of the Bible
Here is another, much shorter passage from John's gospel that lays things out neatly:
"This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God."
- JOHN 5:18 English Standard Version of the Bible
So, was Jesus actually God? Well, if he wasn't, then he was one of the biggest liars who ever lived, and should be despised a lunatic or charlatan, along with his teachings. But if really is God, then we had better pay very close attention to what he said and what he did, as it might have eternal consequences for us.
II. GOD BECOMING MAN
God taking on human form is nothing new, not even in Judaism. It happened enough in the past that it should come to no surprise to anyone. Here are just a few examples amongst many from the Old Testament:
The Garden of Eden:
"And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
- Genesis 3:8-13 English Standard Version of the Bible
Appearing to Abraham:
And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick! Three seahs of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes.” And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man, who prepared it quickly. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate.
- Genesis 18:1-8 English Standard Version of the Bible
Not only does God appear as a man (or men!) in the Old Testament, the pagan mythologies are filled with this sort of thing, perhaps the most famous being the Hindu Bhagavad Gita, where the god Krishna appears to the warrior Arjun as a chariot driver. When a person does a worldwide survey of pagan beliefs, the idea of God becoming man is literally everywhere. It is engrained in our consciousness, regardless of the society or religious system. One might even say we were programmed to believe such a thing were possible.
But while the stories and myths of pagan religious systems remain just that: stories and myths, the story of Jesus is realization of all that men have been waiting for. God finally does come to earth, and comes in a way that almost no one expected, as a homeless beggar. He is not just the fulfillment of some (but not all!) the Old Testament prophecies, he's the fulfillment of many pagan traditions as well.
So instead of appearing as a great king, or mighty general, God comes to earth as the lowliest of persons. He has no need of the pomp and circumstance that our narcissistic leaders need to support their massive ego's, as Jesus knew who exactly who he was, and didn't need all the baggage that a king or president requires. As a matter of fact, he's often very coy about his real identity, and almost never proclaims it to anyone, preferring to allow them to figure it out for themselves. For many people, this makes no sense, for if WE were God, we would certainly let everyone know! But that just shows the genius of God, in that he's quite content to live in a space that allows you to come to your own conclusions without force or manipulation. If you want to believe, fine, if you don't want to believe, that's fine too.
Christian theologians, since the earliest days of the church, have taught us that Jesus was both fully God, and fully man: he had all the attributes of both. Sadly, that teaching, unintentionally, comes across making Jesus sound like some sort of half-breed: a half man, half God creature who really isn't either. He's 50% man, 50% God. Half and half.
Even worse, the good natured intention of the the church fathers was to go out of there way to make sure that you understood that Jesus was fully man. They even convened councils to ensure this. Unfortunately, it comes across as sounding like they were teaching he was just a man, a man who mistakenly thought he was God, bless his heart. The problem with thinking of Jesus as being just a very enlightened man is this: the miracles he regularly performs become almost impossible to believe, as men are just not capable of those sorts of things.
III. THE SOLUTION
Yes, Jesus was, in fact, in a fully human body no different from mine or yours. He had to deal with hunger, pain, suffering, and everything else that comes with having a physical body. He was born, he lived, and he died, just like we all do. So in that respect, he was certainly a man.
But Jesus being a man is almost incidental, as the point of Christianity is that Jesus is God. Not just some inferior version of God, but having all the attributes of God in terms of being eternal, omnipresent, omniscient, and being the creator of us all. His only limitation, is that he decided to temporarily suspend his awesome and infinite powers to live for a while as a man, but as soon as that mission was complete, he went right back to being the eternal being he always was.
The four gospel accounts are chock full of miraculous deeds that Jesus performed. He could heal any disease, he could deliver people from demon possession, he could raise people from the dead, read their minds, know their history, and even miraculously provide food when there was too little to go around. One of the best miracles was his ability to walk on water, and control the weather. These are all things far beyond the ability of the typical human male, and they were not just incidental: in all four gospel accounts they are shown to be the reason why he came to earth. The performing of miracles was very much central to his purpose and his core identity.
If you are a man, these miracles are very difficult, if not impossible to pull off. But if you are a god, then these things are as easy as breathing. God is a being outside of time, who created all that we see, and gives the gift of life to all, so healing a person's illness would be nothing to him, for he's the one who created you to begin with. A creature who normally lives beyond the realm of time isn't going to have a problem knowing your past, knowing your future, and knowing what you think. A being who created the heavens and the earth is certainly not going to be frightened by a thunder storm, but could easily just say a word, and have the storm dissipate as if it were a frightened bird.
As a matter of fact, considering God is the creator of the universe, then if anything, Jesus was practicing incredible restraint in what he did, as he certainly had the power to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted to do it.
And most importantly, as any grade-school child knows, you cannot kill a god...it's literally impossible. Only those who are subject to the constraints of time can die, but if you are not of that realm, then death has no power over you. Hence, being raised from the dead would be the easiest thing ever, because you never really died to begin with. Oh yes, the human body you were inhabiting at the time certainly died, but not the spirit who inhabited that body, as that spirit is eternal and can't be killed.
And since you were the one who had the idea for the human form to begin with, why not re-animate the body after death? It couldn't be any harder than making everything out of nothing as it was in the beginning. So not only the spirit lives, but the body comes back to life, and is somehow transformed into spirit as well, using a process we can only guess at, since we ourselves do not have the technology or know-how to pull off that trick, and probably never will.
If you see Jesus as only being a really smart man, then all that he did and said can be hard to swallow; but if you understand that Jesus is God becoming man, and having accomplished his mission, leaving and returning to his role as God; then the gospel accounts begin to make complete sense, and are quite profound.
IV. IS THIS THE SAME GOD YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT?
The most fascinating part of the whole story about God becoming man is his allowing his own creation to kill him; to put him to death; in the most humiliating way possible. What god would ever allow something that embarrassing to happen to him? If we were God, we'd just wave our arms, and all that opposed us would be wiped-out, never to be seen or heard from again. But for some odd reason, Jesus never did that to his enemies, not even a single time. So how could this be the same God that covered the entire earth in a flood, only saving one man, Noah, and his family? Is this the same God that sent fire from heaven to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorah? Is this the same God that brought Israel through the Red Sea, only to use that same Red Sea to kill Pharaoh and his army? God certainly did not display much restraint back in those days, and there are far more examples that we could cite.
When God came to earth as Jesus, the retribution and the vengeance were suspended. Instead of destruction and judgment, there was healing, prophecy and deliverance. He almost seems like a totally different guy...almost.
But the problem with the bible is that it ends too soon. If we assume that Jesus was crucified, died, buried and resurrected around 30 AD or so, and that the writings of the apostles only continue to 60 AD or so, then there is a very significant historical event that is completely overlooked by the bible, and yet it might have been one of the most significant events to ever happen in world history. So what did the bible leave out? It forgot to tell us about the Romans-Jewish wars that took place soon after the Christian church was established.
"The Jewish–Roman wars were a series of large-scale revolts by the Jews of the Eastern Mediterranean against the Roman Empire between 66 and 135 CE.[10] The First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE) and the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 CE) were nationalist rebellions, striving to restore an independent Judean state, while the Kitos War was more of an ethno-religious conflict, mostly fought outside Judea Province. Hence, some sources use the term Jewish-Roman Wars to refer only to the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE) and the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–135 CE), while others include the Kitos War (115–117 CE) as one of the Jewish–Roman wars.
"The Jewish–Roman wars had a dramatic impact on the Jewish people, turning them from a major population in the Eastern Mediterranean into a scattered and persecuted minority. The Jewish–Roman wars are often cited as a disaster to Jewish society.[11] The events also had a major impact on Judaism, after the central worship site of Second Temple Judaism, the Second Temple in Jerusalem, was destroyed by Titus's troops in 70 CE."
- Wikipedia: "Jewish-Roman wars"
So, perhaps God hasn't really changed after all. In the past, he would send prophets to warn the people of these sort of disasters, and to take heed. This time, he decided to come himself, rather than sending a prophet. But even his own intervention could not stop the judgment and destruction that was about to come upon the Jewish people. As a matter of fact, it was probably the most destructive thing that ever happened to the Jews in world history, with only the WWII Holocaust being comparable.
During the Jewish-Roman wars, it is estimated that about one million Jews lost their lives. But more importantly, their country was totally destroyed, Jerusalem was totally destroyed, and the Second Temple was totally destroyed, never to be rebuilt again. Worse of all, the Romans decided to rename the whole region "Palestine", a name that we still use to the present day. So did the Jews pay a high price for the death and crucifixion of their own God? Yes, they certainly did, there's no doubt about it.
So you can certainly kill your god/man if you want, but you had better be prepared for the consequences of that action.
V. JESUS PROVED THAT HE WAS GOD
Jesus and the apostles never asked anyone to believe that Jesus was a really good guy, or some amazing teacher of moral truths. He was not another Moses or Buddha coming to earth to resolve some ethical dilemma during the height of the reign of the Roman Empire. Jesus and the apostles are completely consistent, as is the Christian church afterwards: the message is that God came to earth as the man Jesus, and he did so for some very important reasons. First of all, he wanted to break down the barriers that He himself created in regards to Jewish tradition. To use a very apt metaphor, it was time for the genie to come out of the bottle, permanently. To oversee such a task, he decided to take it up personally, rather than just leave it to a human prophet.
And to show that he was in fact God; he arranged for the Jews and Romans to gang up and kill him. Not that the Jews and Romans were puppets in this drama, it was just that he knew, being a spirit who lives beyond the realm of time, that the Jews and Romans were going to resent his presence on earth, especially the Jewish religious leaders. But instead of grumbling about this, he found a way to use it to his advantage. If Jesus were just a man, he stays dead in his tomb just like every other religious master who has ever come and gone. But if Jesus were God, then there's simply no way that death could defeat him.
But the resurrection was done in such a way that he only showed himself to those who were on his side, as far as we know. If he appeared to Pilate or the Sanhedrin, we have no record of it, and it's doubtful he did. But to those who he did show himself, they all were completely, totally and absolutely convinced that Jesus was God, not a doubter in the bunch. Well, there was a bit of doubt from a disciple named Thomas, but he got over it quickly.
So Jesus gave his followers and friends all the proof they needed, but no one else. Why so limited a resurrection? Because he wished to allow room for doubt and disbelief. For reasons I will not go into now, it is very important for God to always allow room for his enemies to escape. This is not a mistake, it is critical to his plan and purposes. As much as he would like everyone to come to know Him, and his ways, he absolutely refuses to force himself on anyone, and goes out of his way to leave room for doubt. There needs to be a very real, very legitimate choice between belief and unbelief, even if an overwhelming number of people on this earth choose unbelief. As long as they have chosen this freely, without manipulation or deception, then they have made their choice.
When you read the bible cover to cover, you quickly come to the conclusion that God knows most people are going to choose unbelief. Most people are going to deny that Jesus is God. There will even be a host of people who deny that Jesus ever existed to begin with. God already knows all of this since he is a being who lives outside of time. And yet, just because he knows, does not mean he controls his creation like a micromanaging boss. He gives his creation the freedom that they crave, and allows them to make their own choices, even if their choices lead away from him.
VI. SO WHAT DOES ALL THIS HAVE TO DO WITH US???
The most important thing that Jesus wanted to demonstrate to his followers, is how death is not the end of existence, not by a long shot. Your body might die, but not the spirit inside the body, for that spirit will live on for all eternity. The only choice you get to make is where YOU want to spend that eternity.
It's easy to believe that a god can't be killed, even when it seems like you've killed him. But it's very hard to believe that us mere mortals have an eternal existence ahead of us, even though as you do a survey of world religions, especially those that pre-date Christianity, you come to quickly realize that almost all societies believed in a life after death, and the almost all believed that the life you live in the here-and-now will determine what happens to you after death. None of these things is particularly new in human religious belief. Christianity did not invent any of that, rather it is the proof that those ancient beliefs were pointing in the right direction.
Sadly, Christianity went through its rebellious stage, known paradoxically as "The Enlightenment" where it was somehow decided that all this talk of spirituality and eternal life was a bunch of bunk. We are no more than the stuff we are made of, hence the philosophy of materialism, which guided the biggest names of the modern age: Darwin, Marx, Freud, and Nietzsche. Since there is no god, no heaven, and no salvation, we are just going to have to save ourselves.
But is that "enlightened" view the way things really are?
Almost all of us are familiar with computers, I'm using one right now to type up this essay. Every computer has two major components that when brought together, give the machines their ability to function. Those two major components are hardware and software.
If a computer is all hardware, without any software, all you have a machine that is capable of doing absolutely nothing. On the other hand, if you have a bunch of software, and no hardware, you are also wasting your time, as it is also worthless without hardware to run it on.
Hardware can be touched, felt and handled. It has mass and dimensions. You can weight a computer, measure how tall, wide and deep it is, and even how much power it consumes.
Software, on the other hand, has no weight, no mass, and no dimensionality. Sure, you can count how many lines and characters are used to make up the code, but that code is just a bunch of symbolic nonsense without hardware to run it on. If you were to take a computer that has no software at all installed on it, and then take that same computer, stuffed to the gills with an operating system along with software of every kind and type, and you measured both computers, you would find that a computer sans software is absolutely identical to a computer loaded with software. There will be no change in mass, and no change to any physical dimension what so ever. Hence, one can ask, does software even exist? If it has no weight, no mass, no dimensions, then is it even real?
For all of us who has ever used a computer, we know that it's the quality of the software that make them useful tools. But software does not exist in physical form, it's just a series of electrical charges, nothing more.
In the same way, we are the software that inhabits our physical body. We are not the body, we just inhabit it, much like God inhabited the body of Jesus. We are very literally ghosts in a biological machine. How did we get here, where do we go afterwards? Well, no one really knows for sure, as there's a tremendous level of mystery still out there in the universe.
Despite not telling us how it's all done, Jesus came to earth to let us know that while the hardware has to stay behind, the software lives forever. His death and resurrection were proof of that. The body dies, but the spirit lives on. But in his case, just to put an exclamation point on his ministry, he even resurrected his own body! This was done as a sign to those who are paying attention: Jesus is God, and he has complete dominion over life, death and the body.
But where does our spirit go after death? Jesus talked about two places where a spirit might find itself: the Kingdom of God, or hell. He also explained, quite clearly, how you can choose which one you want to go to visit next.
To get to the Kingdom of God, you first need to believe that you can get to the Kingdom of God, and Jesus is the door that you need to walk through to get there. While God could have done anything he wanted while He was on this earth as the man Jesus, he decided to keep his actions focused into just two main areas: works of mercy, and the teaching of morals. His message was simple: what you see me do, you need to do as well.
"See how I'm taking care of my fellow man? You need to take care of your fellow man."
"See how I'm confronting lies and false teachings? You need to confront lies and false teachings."
He never says that have to engage in the miracle working aspect of his ministry, though you can certainly try it if you like. But you need to take care of your fellow man, and confront evil when you find it.
Obtaining hell in the afterlife is really easy. Deny that there is a God, deny God came to earth as Jesus, and deny all the ethical teachings that come from the Judeo-Christian tradition. Do not show any mercy or compassion for your fellow man, and make sure to believe and spread lies throughout your life. Do all that, and a trip to hell is assured.
VII. GOD IS LOVE
Jesus is not half man, half God. He is 100% God who inhabited a human body, and when finished with his ministry on earth, transformed his physical, human body into a spiritual body. He demonstrated his mastery over death and biology to his followers, and they all believed him, every single one.
Make of Jesus what you will, but you need to evaluate him based on what he and his followers had to say about him, not just your own ideas. Other than the occasional heretic, the church has been completely united and consistent in declaring that Jesus is God, and he is the means by which we can obtain eternal life.
But there is something else that needs to be said, and that is God's love for his creation. While he certainly has shown his wrath against all those who oppose him, he has also shown his goodness to those who choose to honor and worship him.
The number of ancient societies that have come and gone are like grains of sand on the beach, innumerable. And yet, the Jews, who trace their existence all the way back to the creation of the first man, are still with us to this day. That's not an accident or a stroke of luck, it is due to the love of God for his people. The Holocaust of World War II was not God showing hatred towards his children, but rather the forces of evil showing their hatred towards the children of God. If a murderer kills a child, you don't blame the loving parent who raised the child.
GOD LOVES YOU! ALL OF YOU! And he loves every single person reading this, regardless of who you are or where you came from. He desires that all of us come live with him in his eternal dwelling in heaven. But there are conditions for choosing that path, none of which are particularly hard, but they are conditions none-the-less. This is God's game, and if you want to win, you have to play by His rules.
But since he is a God of love, he will never, ever force you to play the game. You can do as you like, even ignore him completely. Love does not force or manipulate. But there will be consequences none-the-less for your choice, or lack of choice. That is unavoidable.
If you are undecided about any of this, there is a very simple test you can use to find out whether or not any of this is true. Jesus is God, and being God, he is an eternal being, very much alive, and very much concerned with you and your life. If you want to know if he's real, just reach out to him yourself. Ask him to reveal himself to you. He longs to connect with each and everyone of us, and is very willing to interact with anyone who is an honest seeker of truth.
VIII. THE LAST WORD
Jesus can only be understood and appreciated if you understand who he really is. Here is another passage from John's gospel where Jesus plainly told the people his secret identity:
At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.”
The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” 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 Scripture cannot be broken— do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.
- John 10:22-39 English Standard Version of the Bible (ESV)
- Pseudo Boethius
