Calling Christians: How is worshiping Jesus not "idol worship"?

Question

It just seems like the Bible is so anti-golden-cow and then suddenly busts out the "you can worship Jesus though because he totally the son of God". How likely do you think it is that Jesus is in fact the son of God and not just some "enlightened" being or perhaps just another "prophet", or maybe even just some overhyped guy who got his acts blown out of proportion?

Well, it seems as if the majority of the posts as of my writing this (there are 19) were made by very devoted Christians. Unfortunatly many of them may have misinterpeted my question. I did not ask this question to provoke controversey, but rather to provoke thought. I appreciate all the responces and will now clarify my question:
The bible makes it very clear that one should not worship anything/one other than the one true God. Jesus is reconized as a profit by most Muslims and as a man who reached a hightened level of awareness by a great deal of Buddhists. People of many faiths agree that Jesus was a great fellow, but only Christians consider him as a being on the same level as God. Keeping in mind the beliefs of so many other faiths, isnt there a good chance that Jesus was not God?
[A quick note to the person who posted the comment regarding the "not I but us":I believe this is a weak argument because it is based on the translation;I am told it makes more sense in Hebrew.

Answer 1

You're opening up a whole can of worms here - Goodonya !

Don't worry, they'll have a chop at me too !

To Christians Jesus Christ is of course, the only true Son of God, and not an idol / false prophet / etc. So, Jesus is okay to worship because his followers say he's okay. Okay ? I fact he's not just okay, if you want salvation you Must believe. 'We' (his followers) said so.

Just like the followers of all the other one-true-prophet / sons-of-gods etc. believe. For believers of whatever prophet / son of god the truth is always self-evident. For non-believers it's never so clear.

Sadly, most western religion is very exclusive - by that I mean that you are typically only allowed to believe one 'religion' at the exclusion of all others. Eastern faith is not usually so exclusive. (eg.: Belief in the Buddha does not neccessarily preclude belief in Jesus Christ or anything else.) And it is the exclusive nature of western religions that have caused all the bloodshed over the millenia.

I believe that Jesus is the son of God. I also believe he said 'We are all god's children'. Wasn't there something about not killing? Or coveting your neighbours possessions ? Love thy enemy ?

I think that God would be mortified (he he) at the horrors done in his name...because for me the New Testament boils down to three simple, but sadly forgotten words:

God is Love.

Answer 2

"Keeping in mind the beliefs of so many other faiths, isnt there a good chance that Jesus was not God?"

Well, it really doesn't have anything to do with how many people believe one thing vs. how many believe something else. It's not like we get to vote on who is God.

It boils down the the reliability and historicity of the Bible. The Old Testament predicts a Messiah who'll be born in Bethlehem and who'll bear our sins through His own suffering and death. The New Testament shows us the only viable candidate who has ever appeared to fulfill that prophecy. The NT further shows us that that candidate, Jesus, forgave sins, accepted the worship of others, and raised Himself from the dead.

So if you base your opinion on the New Testament, then Jesus deserves worship. If you reject the NT, then you have to find some other criteria to base your opinion on--even though there are no other sources (other than the NT, that is) about Jesus that were written by eyewitnesses. But either way, the truth is independent of our opinions and indepedent of the number of people who believe or deny it.

Answer 3

It's not "idol worship" to worship Jesus because He is God. There is no way that His teachings can be separated from His claims about Himself--that in fact He is God, if His miracles themselves carry any weight--and the fact that if everything He said about Himself were removed from His teachings, all you would have left is just a watered-down version of maybe the Sermon on the Mount. Look at Matthew 9, Mark 2 and Luke 5, where He told a paraplegic that his sins were forgiven BEFORE He healed the man. Those in the room were astonished that Jesus would do such a thing, for they rightly understood that only God could forgive sins (since by definition God is the one who has been wronged when we sin). Jesus proved that He was God and made claims which, if they were false, there were any number of people such as the chief priests and teachers of the Law who could have disproved Jesus from the Scriptures--but instead of doing so, they committed the ultimate ad hominem attack by killing Jesus when they couldn't do anything else to disprove or discredit Him. And to top it off, the evidence for the reality of Jesus' resurrection has never been refuted, especially in light of the change in His disciples' behavior, from hiding as cowards behind a locked door after Jesus' crucifixion to being willing to die later for what they saw and knew was real--that Jesus had risen from the dead and that nothing could tear down their faith in Him because they knew and saw that the claims Jesus made were true and that the evidence for their beliefs could be trusted.

Answer 4

Idol worshipping is the worship of an inanimate object, like in your example, a golden calf. As to Jesus' relationship to God the Father its up to you to seek a spiritual witness that this is in fact true. If you have a genuine desire to know the truth then you only have to ask. It only takes a little faith. Believe me you will get an answer if your desires are genuine.

p.s. Don't believe what some "christian" churches teach about God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost being all the same individual. This is just a misinterpretation of scripture. They are three very distinct being, but totally one in purpose.

Answer 5

Good question.

Shall we start with Old T or New T?

I shall be brief, and should you have serious problem, please email me.

In Psalm, God promised David that his offspring will regin. But when David saw that vision, he called that person lord. Why? That is the vision of the coming Messiah.

There are many more account of that in old testament mention the coming of messiah. One of the famous one is in Isaiah 53.

In John the Gospel, it also says, in the begining was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God. Later he also says, the word become flesh and dwell among us.

That Word was Jesus (even Muslim know that, and called him Kalimatulia). Word of God - Jesus was God in the begining!? How?

In Gen 1:26, the verse did not say, let me make, but let us, It is not siingular.

Well, it is faith. To believe or not. He, Jesus is a prophet, but much more, he is a priest, yes, and much more.

He is the Messiah, the one that come to save. In Koran, they call him, Almasih. Isa (Jesus) Almasih (Christ/ Messiah).

He is not just the enlighten one, He is the one, God. He speaks it so clearly in Gospel John, and other parts.

I do hope that in trying to proof it other wise, you may in turn find God.

Answer 6

You will not get a straight answer from any Christian about this issue because they are too scared to admit that it is a possibility - they would be lost without the idea that the only way to get into heaven is through Christ. It is fear of death and the unknown that causes this; that and their total lack of faith in an all-knowing, unconditionally loving creator.

I believe Jesus was an enlightened man and prophet, but he was a human being just like the rest of us. His divinity was invented by the church as a means to control a lesser intelligent population. I say this with complete faith in an all-knowing, unconditionally loving creator. I have no fear of death and know that when I die my soul will go to a kind and loving place full of warmth and light.

Answer 7

First, you need to understand that Jesus is not only the son of God but he is also part of the Trinity (Father, Son, & Holy Spirit) which is one being. A single individual. As such when you worship him you are worshiping all 3. In otherwords "God".

Second, as far as the likelyhood of him being the son of God, one needs to look to the testimony of others about him. Either he is as he claimed or he is a liar. Either he is the son of God or he is a pretty poor "enlightened being", and a pretty poor prophet (that is if he lied). If he didn't lie then he spoke the truith and is the son of God.

Third, as for being overhyped or lied about in the testimony of the bible, well either the entire thing is a lie and a number of individuals worked together to pull it off and did an extremely good job of it or amazingly the records of 100's if not 1000's of writers seem to form a pretty cohesive argument.

You simply need to look at the evidence for yourself and make an educated decision as to whether you belive it or not. Don't simply take someone elses word on it. I like the statement about Christianity - it's harder to belive than not to. In other words it is easier to simply dismiss it than to look at the evidence and say "Yes I belive that".

**In response to the clarification: A prophet, or even just a good fellow dosn't lie. As he made claims of being the Son of God and God himself either he is a liar or he is as he claimed.

Answer 8

Christians believe in the Holy Trinity - God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is not just an idol, He is God.

Answer 9

Jesus is the Son of God, as is repeated over and over in Scripture. He is part of the Holy Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and as such is God Himself. Therefore, it obviously cannot be idol worship to worship Him. All of heaven will worship Him forever and ever (Revelation 4:11).

Answer 10

The bible is pure and right and no one especially christians have to keep repeating the same thing over and over trying to get people to beleive God's word for his word is right all by itself. You your self know who Jesus is and He's no idol. He is Jesus Christ son of the living. If you didn't beleive it to some point , you wouldn't be asking this question.