Is Jesus the son of God? Or God in the flesh? Are you a true christian if you believe Jesus was not God?

Question

How many ways will you bend over backwards before you admit the truth that God sent himself as a blood sacrifice to appease.....
himself...
doesn't make much sense..
does it?
But then, God works in mysterious ways>

and enough of you utuk,
you don't answer the questions, and you get nowhere trying to fight fire with fire,
just remember, attacking the messanger who's attacking the religion doesn't do much for your 'cause',
whatever nonsense that may be.....

sp**messenger.******

utuk: I'm already familiar with many of those philosophers and authors.

aren't you the presumptuous one?

I think you are wrong, it actually is not based on a false assumption,

I am extremely familiar with the Christian relgion,
as are most atheists.

Answer 1

No it doesn't make sense when you think about it. Why would God send himself down to earth for a sacrifice when God knew he would not fail. But if God sent a beloved son down who had freewill, and Jesus did have freewill, because he was tempted by Satan. Anyways Jesus held strong for the love he had for his Father and proved to God that he did indeed love him and all of mankind. You also need to look at the story of Abraham and Issac. God was foreshadowing his own decision in sacrificing his own Son.

Answer 2

Jesus Is the Son of God, The Son of Man, God in the Flesh, The Way and The Light, Aplpha and Omega, The Messiah, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and much more!

Answer 3

Jesus is God ,the Son from all eternity,along with the Father and the Holy Spirit.Son refers to his place in the trinity(2nd person).He became the Son of God when He took on a "tent" of human flesh at the incarnation.Jesus had to be God to die for us.Only a perfect sacrifice would do.No one is perfect but God."God is spirit"Jesus said in John 4.
and since a spirit can't be killed ,He had to take on human flesh.Paul said if Jesus wasn't resurrected then we are still in our sins.You must believe He was God (although not the Father)and that He died and was resurrected ,it's really important.Peter and Paul,that was 99% of all their messages from Pentecost on.Even Thomas ,when he saw Jesus after the resurrection said "My Lord and my God!"to Jesus.(and he wasn't cussing)

Answer 4

Actually, God didn't send himself to appease himself through a blood sacrifice. God could have forgiven sin in any way he wanted. But would man have accepted something so banal as God showing up and saying "Hey, I forgive you."

(Ripping of Paul in Romans) Rather he proved his love for us for when we were still sinners He died for us. Now anyone would die for a righteous person. And maybe just for a regular person someone might find the courage to die... But God? Abassing himself? Becoming human? Dying a horrible death? The Greeks look for wisdom and the Jews signs... but we preach Christ crucified, the wisdom of God and the power of God ("sign" in greek is also the same word as "power" - "dynamis").

The fact that God became man in Jesus is about God's desire to have man participate in his divine life... to bring man into the life of the Trinity! Yes, Jesus's death was about setting man free from sin, but not about appeasing a blood thirsty Father... the Father suffered from the crucifixion too. Sin is about disobedience to God's will in order for some personal advantage. Jesus, in not turning away from God's will, knew he would face death in Jerusalem and he knew that this death freely faced would be salvific (not a new concept to Christianity, also a part of Judaism of the time). God took this evil act that happened to Jesus and used it to fulfill his word of a suffering servant who would be the salvation of many (see Isaiah especially the servant songs). The crucifixion was about God's mercy, not his vengence.

Just a technicality, but one is not a Christian if one doesn't believe that Jesus was God. By the way, please know there is a difference between doubting whether Jesus is God and actually believing that he absolutely was not God. Not understanding how he was God doesn't necessarily mean one has to say he wasn't God.

Answer 5

Jesus is the expression of Gods Love for man , with Jesus you have the answer for your existance and the reason for life itself. People fight this because they want to be God ,the feeling of power is the drug they use . Jesus is the only prophet whos GRAVE IS EMPTY< a mere man can not raise himself from the dead

Answer 6

Yes
Yes
Yes

Study theology.
As the Logos, Jesus is the Creator-Reason, the final teleos of the universe, the Initial and Final Cause. The source of his being is called "Father," and can be identified with the Ain Soph Aur.

I don't have a 'cause' to support. I don't care if you are Christian or not. But this question is like asking "Why did Rasputin start the Russian revolution?" It makes false assumptions from the beginning, and the only way to fix those false assumptions is to go back and provide a tremendous amount of background information.

I'm not trying to be rude, but the answer to your question is literally this: read Plato, read Aristotle, read Plotinus, read Pseudo-Dionysus, read the New Testament, read Philo, read Athanasius, read Gregory Naziazen, read Gregory of Nyssa, read Maximos the Confessor, read Gregory Palamas, read Heideger, read Sartre. Once you do that, you will be able to understand this subject completely. Until you do that, you must either be content with a superficial explanation (which I'm sure your critical mind cannot accept), or reject the concept altogether and accept a substitute that makes more sense to you.

It reminds me of a friend who did not believe in the Law of Propagation of Light. The concept makes sense if you have a background in quantum physics; otherwise, it seems like a logical contradiction.

If you don't want to believe it, don't believe it. God isn't going to 'get you' just because you don't believe in one thing or another.


If you are so familiar with those authors and with the Christian religion (as are most atheists), then why do still think that Jesus died as a substitutionary atonement? That doctrine did not exist until the 11th century, and even then it was (and still is) rejected by all of the indigenous Christians of Russia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, and Asia. (At the time that substitutionary atonement was adopted by Roman Catholicism, there were more Christians in Iraq than all other Christian countries combined.)

For those who don't know, substitutionary atonement, or the 'satisfaction' doctrine is the idea that Jesus took our place on the cross, suffered the penalty that we were supposed to suffer, and appeased the justice of God (which requires death as a punishment for sin). All of this was hinted at by Augustine of Hippo, but it did not become a part of Christian doctrine until the 11th century.

The sources that I listed above explain all of that and more. They also clarify the Trinity, and explain how Jesus was God, and how the Father was God. Even if you did believe in substitutionary atonement, those sources will explain why Jesus did not sacrifice himself to himself. That is the 'false assumption' that I alluded to, and was soundly refuted when Sabelius originally proposed it. The sources I listed explain what the concept of 'hypostasis,' or 'being' means in Christian thought. The 'hypostasis' was added into the Christian definition of the Trinity in order to refute the doctrine that you expressed in this question.

Here is what I mean:
Plato - The essence of God ("ousia") is used in the Platonic sense, as a universal.
Plotinus - This explains how Platonism was re-interpreted into a hierarchy of divine categories. This explains what the Logos meant in Neo-Platonic thought.
Pseudo-Dionysius - This explains how the Christians adopted Neoplatonic concepts and modified them to explain Christian theological ideas.
Philo - Explains what the Creator-Reason is in Hellensitic thought
Athanasius - Explains the unity of essence in the Trinity, as well as the incarnation of the Logos
Heideger - explains the idea of being, or 'hypostasis' as it is understood in Christian theology
Gregory Naziazen/Nyssa - explain why the concept of hypostasis is essential to understanding any doctrine about the Trinity
Aristotle - explains Christian causality.
Maximos, Gregory Palamas - explain how Aristotelian causality accounts for the sacrifice that Christ offered on the cross, as well as the Christian concept of salvation.
Sartre - explains the Christian concept of the fall of man, and the fundamental problem that salvation is meant to address.

Answer 7

God is God.. three roles Father/Light/Spirit can find this in Genesis 1

Jesus is the Light in this passage.

God is "I AM what I AM" found in OT and NT.. God Almighty and Almighty God (Father/Son)

God is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end... (Father/Son)

God is LORD, Jesus is Lord

Spirit is the Restrainer and Comforter

In layman terms: You are a granddaughter, daughter, and friend. One person with three different roles. Does this make you three people separately? No, it does not!

Same with God... He is Father/Son/Spirit.

Like fire.. oxygen, fuel, heat remove one element then you have no fire.

Same with God... you remove on role.. you have no God.

You can believe in God
believe Jesus was in the flesh
believe there is a Spirit
but if you don't believe and accept all three... you are NOT a Christian...

You have to accept God's Son, who is the Tree of Life... in order to enter God's kingdom.

Jesus tells us "I and the Father are ONE" If you see me you have seen my Father.

Answer 8

well hun... i can see where this is confusing to u lol....but if u ask Christ to help you understand these things, you will understand EVERYTHING...u must remain open to His teachings and words when He speaks to u....anyways.... Jesus IS the Son of God...now to be the SON OF someone in those days meant to pretty much BE that person...like say a king had beef with some other country and both of the opposing kings died and their sons took the throne, those 2 new kings wud go at it too lol...TO BE THE SON OF is to BE...and yes Jesus is God in the flesh, and why wud such an almighty God come to earth if He is so mighty? its because He is humble, and very very kind indeed lol.and as for that last one there, its what you KNOW that makes u a Christian...and if u missed the fact that Christ is the son of God come to earth to save you, well...then you pretty much missed the whole point of salvation in Christ didnt you?which means u missed the whole knowledge of Christ...which means ur all like " who is Jesus?"

Answer 9

how can Jesus be the son of God and God. that does not make sense. Jesus is the son of the Most Holy Father Jehovah. Jesus is not God. no one has seen Jehovah but they seen Jesus. who was Jesus praying to? you cannot pray to yourself. Jesus said he cannot do anything without the Father in the heaven. if Jesus Christ is God, how can he be seating at the right hand of himself, so he is not God.

Answer 10

Jesus said he was the son of man. His implied that he was the Son of God. I believe he was the son of God. He told his disciples that in his father's house are many mansions. I will go to prepare you a place there. If he was talking about Heaven, then he must have been refering to God as his father.

However, it was the other authors in the Bible that extended him to being God incarnate.

Following Jesus' instructions is what is really important.