Two honest questions about Jesus from a nonbeliever; can you answer them for me?

Question

1. I understand that I can't get to Heaven by good works because, in comparison to God's infinite goodness, I'll always be a sinner. Only Jesus was perfect. Further, he made the ultimate sacrifice. Fine, so Jesus gets to go to Heaven. But what does Jesus's perfection and sacrifice have to do with me? If I'm not good enough to get into Heaven, what difference does it make that Jesus was perfect? How does that make me any more worthy to get into Heaven? I just don't see the connection. (Tiger Woods is a great golfer, but, even if I worship him for it, the fact of his greatness doesn't improve my game any.)

2. How is Christianity a monotheistic religion? I'm honestly confused about this. God is divine, and Jesus is divine. That's two things I'm supposed to worship, isn't it?

Answer 1

Disclaimer: Most Christians online will tell you I am a non-Christian even though most Atheists online think I am more Christian than Cotton Mather.

1) People in the ancient world could understand things in terms of blood sacrifices and atonements. We generally don't think that way anymore today. Personally, I don't think it was God that demanded a sacrifice of Jesus as much as it was humanity who demanded it. Without that act, we would never had had the faith needed to gain salvation.

2) I believe the divine realm is inherently uncountable. There's no way of telling for sure whether Thor and Marduk are one deity or two.

Answer 2

I'll answer your second question first--
God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit are all part of one God. It is the mystery of the Trinity. They are 3 manifestations of the same God. So when you worship Jesus Christ, you are worshiping God. It is a mystery that we as humans cannot understand fully until we get to heaven.

For your first question, we are all sinners. Just because you sin doesn't mean you won't go to heaven. If you are sorry and repent your sins, you can be forgiven. In the Old Testament times, people made sacrifices to be forgiven for their sins. When Jesus came and died, he made the ultimate sacrifice for our sins so we don't have to anymore. But we still have to try not to sin and if we do, we need to truly repent to be forgiven.

Hope this helps. I'm not very good at explaining things.

Answer 3

Here's your answers, my friend.

1. You're correct, no matter what, you're ever a sinner because you CAN'T live up to God's sinless perfection. Thus, Jesus willingly died for the sins of the world, that is, all whom would place their trust in Him would be forgiven and inherit eternal life. Further, when one is saved, i.e., a believer, God the Father looks at you with an imputed righteousness. Pragmatically you're a sinner, but because of the grace of God and His imputed righteousness from Christ, you're perfect. While you will continue to sin subsequent to salvation, these sins are forgiven once for all time. That doesn't permit one to sin repeatedly knowing this, but rather love compels us to sin less. By so doing we maintain a more personal relationship with him. Our works are a separate thing. We are rewarded accordingly by Him in Heaven. Salvation and works are two different things.

2. Christianity is indeed a monotheistic religion in that believers worship One God. God is a trinity composed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Here's is a weak analogy. Water is comprised of 3 forms: liquid, solid, and vapor, yet all are water.

I have included a link for you vis-a-vis the Trinity. Good questions! This should help you.

Answer 4

It seems that you have a pretty good understanding or standing before God. True, God is perfect and do nothing wrong. That's a good place to start. In order to answer the first question, I have to answer the second one first, so bear with me a moment.

Christianity is a monotheistic religion. We as Christians believe that Jesus is God. John 1:1 establishes this. I know this sounds confusing. How can God be in heaven and on earth at the same time in the form of a man? To this question, there really isn't a good answer. We as Christians don't believe in the Trinity because it's neat, but because the Bible forces us to. It is really difficult to understand the Bible without accepting it, but the Trinity itself is hard to understand. God is infinite, and anything that is infinite cannot really be understood, but rather just described. I can tell you what God is like, and who he is, but I can't explain him in way I explain things that are finite. In other words, I can't define God, but rather describe him. I know that Jesus is God and God is God. They are both one in the same, and I have to leave it at that with no rational explanation.

In order to illustrate how Jesus fits in the picture I will use a story that Billy Graham used. Billy Graham once was running late for a revival service, and he was in a hurry to get there. He was going through a small town, and he was pulled over for speeding. The police officer took Graham to the courthouse to handle the case (this was in the day when they handled such cases right away). Billy Graham wanting to be honest, plead guilty. But rather than Billy Graham paying the fine, the judge pulled out his wallet and paid the fine that Billy Graham owed.

This picture is a picture of how God treats us. Jesus is the Judge of all sinners. He has to be God in order to do so, and that is what I attempted to answer question 2 first. God both condemns and pays for our sin himself. When you believe in Jesus, you are entering a guilty plea. Then Jesus steps in and pays the debt of sin you owe for you. He didn't ask anyone else to do it. If he did so, then he wouldn't be just. Somebody else would have to die in your place, which wouldn't be fair. God being infinite has the ability to die for all finite beings, which he did. All a person has to do is accept His offer that they can't earn salvation and believe that Jesus forgive them.

I hope this all makes sense. Let me know if you have any questions.

Answer 5

1. Jesus made the sacrifice so that your sins could be forgiven and so that you too could go to Heaven. You are correct that good works do not get you in, you only need to believe in Him.

2. Christians believe in the Trinity: that God, Jesus and The Holy Spirit are all the same in different forms. Jesus is God in the form of man.

I hope that you find what you're looking for on your journey.

Answer 6

1. The story begins with God's original purpose for man and the earth. Adam and Eve were created to live and procreate in Paradise and live forever. However, because of Satan's rebellion he seduced Eve and Adam and sin and death was introduced into mankind - progressively getting worse the further we grow away from perfection. For this to be corrected there had to be a ransom, an equal sacrifice for perfection to be possible again. Jesus was this sacrifice. Adam was a perfect man, and in human form, so was Jesus. God's original pupose has not changed, therefore, most of mankind have the opportunity of learning the requirements for being apart of this original plan - perfect life, forever in a paradise earth - just as it all began.

2.The bible speaks of there being only 1 true God worthy of worship, and that is Jehovah God (Find this name at Psalms 83:18) his son Jesus is worthy of being imitated - as his time on the earth was filled with lessons, guidance and examples that showed man how to become acceptable to God and attain everlasting life. Jesus was created by God, and mirrors his father in personality and serves as the ambassador of the heavenly arrangement or government in place - he is also the mediator thru which we pray. Only God, Jehovah is worthy of the practice of worship.

For the record, the word Trinity is not found anywhere in the bible and is a false doctrine. The 3 are NOT one. Holy Spirit is God's active force by which he creates and fulfills his purposes - it is NOT to be worshipped. Jesus is God's SON - NOT apart of God.

Answer 7

OK to answer the first question is really simple. the ten commandments is ultimately the way one should mirror one's life. if you do those ten things then perfection or near perfection is achieved. the second is god and Jesus are one and the same, so once you understand that Jesus is god's only son and that god is made up of three parts. the father, son , and holy ghost, will help you account for the monotheistic theme.

Answer 8

Jesus as God, with His merits won on the cross, gives you grace to come to heaven even if you are unworthy as we all are, it's free, gratis in Latin hence the word grace.

It's the mystery of the Blessed Trinity. One God in three Divine Persons. Noone can understand that fully and noone will actually ever do, because it's a mystery, but does not mean it's contradictory to reason it's "over" reason.

Answer 9

1. Jesus is the atonement for your sin. You don't just worship Him. You believe that he paid the penalty for your sin, and accept Him. Example: Tiger Woods is a great golfer, but you only get to watch the PGA from the TV, you cannot participate. What Jesus did allows up to participate. =)

2. God is three in One.

Answer 10

In answer to your first question. Because Jesus died sinless, he did not have any of his own moral crimes to pay for. He never needed punishment from God, on the cross he chose to be punished for the moral crimes of humanity. I'm sorry if I get repetitive I just don't yet know of another way to put this. Because he didn't have any crimes to pay for himself that left him open to pay for your crimes. Thus if you place your trust upon Jesus when you get to Heaven and stand before God, your crimes will have already been paid for and you can enter Heaven with a clean slate.

In answer to your second question. The Bible teaches the concept of the Trinity, One God in three persons. There are several analogies to show how this works (though none of the analogies are without their flaws) such as that a triangle has three sides, but is still one triangle, or that water can be ice,liquid, or steam, but all along the way it's water etc... It is confusing and a bit of a mystery, but it's not contradictory. It's just one of those things as a believer you learn to just accept and move on. I don't understand how my computer works. I have some vague ideas but I don't get all the particulars, but that doesn't stop me from using it. Somethings we just come to terms with.