why do people call jesus god?

Question

These were claims made by early christians who had their lives changed by the love , compassion and forgiveness of jesus

These people who grew up under a jewish theistic tradition then wrapped that theism around jesus

can christian friends comment on this subject?

former muslim / free thinker

Answer 1

The Holy Scriptures (the Bible) are the foundation of our knowledge and understanding of God. It is to them we must look to understand God's nature.

The nature of God and Jesus has been controversial from the foundations of Christianity. The Jews -- not understanding the Scriptures they studied so diligently -- could not accept that Jesus was God; they called it blasphemy. Christian heretics could not accept the message of Jesus on face value, and so created all sorts of imaginary views. Those heretical beliefs that developed into the Catholic Church tried to merge their many pagan religious beliefs with the Jewish monotheistic misunderstanding.

But the Bible, both Old Testament and New, show that God is NOT a single person. Some OT Scriptures that Jesus used to prove to the Jews that they did not understand the nature of God show that there were more than one person in the godhead:
Psalms 110:1 -- {A Psalm of David} The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool."
And Jesus said, "How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David? For David himself said by the Holy Spirit: 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool." ' Therefore David himself calls Him 'Lord'; how is He then his Son?" (Mark 12:35-37).
And,
Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law {the OT}, 'I said, "You are gods" '? {quoting Psalm 82:6} If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? (John 10:34-36)

John 1:1 shows that Jesus "was God and with God" for all eternity before he was conceived.

But he had given up his divinity to become a human being:
". . . Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped {a thing to be held and prized -- Vine's}, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men" (Philippians 2:5-7).

The one who was to become Jesus Christ, gave up his godly position to become a man, so that he would be like us, die like us, and rise again to his place in God's family as his firstborn son like those who live like him.

And this has been God's intent from the beginning, "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. . .' " (Genesis 1:26). Jesus became like us, so that we would believe that we can become like him.

So, the reason Christians call Jesus God is because God's Word, the Bible -- both in the OT and the NT -- call him God.

Answer 2

Because Christ taught his Apostles that after both him and they died a great apostasy (or falling away from the "truth") would happen. This happened first, sadly around the last of the first century with the Gnostics and the almost totally in the 3rd century when Constantinople incorporated pagan practices into Christianity. They QUICKLY gave up the believe in 3 separate entities. Christ taught his followers before he died that "his father was greater than him." That he was obeying the will of his father. The he DID NOT WANT TO DIE, BUT HE WOULD IF HIS FATHER WOULD NOT TAKE THE BURDEN FROM HIM (HE DIDN'T.) Also, the Holy Spirit, although often mentioned with some degree of intellect, is never mentioned in a pronoun (he/she/it). It simply (as far as we know) came into being as co-existance at the same time Yahweh/Jehovah God WILLED HIMSELF TO BE. In other words, lets call it a gender non-specific POWER SOURCE OF LIMITLESS ENERGY THAT NO FINIT BRAIN CAN FATHOM. It can be called male the same as your "boat" maybe called "she" however, as something that is equally old as our loving father and useful (in whatever way) it should be loved and respected.

Christ Jesus was Gods only creation in this or out of this, UNIVERSE. In any sense of the word, God only made ONE THING with his own creative will-power. The pre-heavenly Christ Jesus. THIS, AND THIS ALONE is why he is called "god's only begotten son." Throughout the scriptures he is called God's Master Architect, because god used him to creat all the angels, then Heaven, God's throne. OUR physical universe, etc. THE ONLY THING IN HEAVEN, OUR UNIVERSE OR OUTSIDE OF IT CREATED BY GOD, WAS DESTROYED FOR WEAK MEASLY HUMANS.

This is what turned Satans stomach. He was made from fire, precious stones and eternal life. He would live forever, always young and beautiful with his beauty, wings and glory while COVERING Jehovahs throne while the "others" walked up to THEM and NOT DARING TO LOOK AT THEM, bowed flat on the ground, prostrated, grovelling his, err gods glory. Let the mortal mud and water dirt beings have their minute.

Answer 3

John 1:1-4 (Amplified Version), "In the beginning (before all time)was the Word (Christ) and the Word was with God and the Word was God Himself. (Is. 9:6) He was present originally with God. All things were mad and came into existence through Him; and without Him was not even one thing made that has come into being. In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men."

Jehovah's Witnesses claim they know the Greek translations of the scripture, but no Greek scholar would agree with them. They claim that this verse says the Word was a god, but this is wrong. The Greek says "the Word was the God". Just wanted to clear that up, in case there is another point of view given.

You will also see Isaiah 9:6 squeezed in the middle of the verse. It reads, "For unto us a Child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His Name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father (of eternity) Prince of Peace."

Jesus made claims Himself, for example, when He healed the paralytic. He started with "Your sins are forgiven". The Pharisees were livid - "Only God can forgive sins!". Well, yeah. To show His authority, as well as mercy for the paralytic, He healed the man.

Keep searching the scriptures. You will see more.

Answer 4

Read the Gospels (accounts of the life of Jesus) in the Bible and you will come to realize He was not just a loving compassionate man. He was either God, a mad man, or a con man.
He said I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father, except by me. That's a bold statement. When Moses asked God's name, He said, Tell them I AM sent you. This means the eternal One that always is and has been. When Jesus was talking to the religious Jews, He said, Before Abraham (born around 400 years before this) was, I AM. He claimed to be God in this statement. There are many other instances like this. If you really want to know, read it for yourself; ask God to reveal truth to you, and see something amazing happen. the Bible isn't just a Book, it is truth and spirit and life to all who are WILLING to hear from God.

Answer 5

Because. Oh brother hear we go again, why don't all you who question Jesus as God pick up a Bible once and a while? First off Jesus said he was God, everything that was in scripture Jesus spoke out of his mouth does one grow up believing in God and just one day decide to go out and claim he is God? No because he would fear him and his wrath so he would not say it unless it was true. Check it out, so you can understand Jesus fulfilled the propchey of the Old Testament which spoke of God being born in human form. Now what is most peoples concept of God? That God is invisible , alive, omnipotent, and all powerful right? Well another concept written by those who were IN THE SPIRIT meaning God spoke to them in trance is that GOD IS THE SPIRIT, which of course is Holy. The concept of Jesus being that HE IS THE SPIRIT BORN INTO FLESH: NOT MAN TAKEN INTO TRANCE WITH THE SPIRIT of God. In John 1 it says in the beginning was THE WORD which was and IS GOD. What does that mean, it means GOD'S MOUTH his personality what his thinking is, and in John 1 THE WORD is made flesh, MEANING WHEN JESUS SPOKE IT WAS GOD SPEAKING. Also in The Book of ISAIAH GOD says "I AM THE FIRST AND THE LAST, BESIDES ME there is NO GOD!" In The Book of Revelations JESUS repeats "I AM THE FIRST AND THE LAST." and THERE IS NO GOD BUT THE FIRST AND THE LAST! GET IT??????????
OK I got to go,
PEACE!

Answer 6

Isaiah 49:6
And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.

Hosea 13:4
Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me.

Zechariah 9:9
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ***, and upon a colt the foal of an ***.

You would have to read Isaiah and the other Prophets in the Bible carefully to understand, but, the basic logic is here.

No one can bring salvation but God. The Messiah brings salvation to all people. The Messiah can not be anyone except God.

Answer 7

in accordance to the Trinity doctrine, Jesus is God, yet a separate person from the daddy. The doctrine teaches that there are 3 separate persons -- the daddy, The Son and The Holy Spirit -- who all contain one God. If this coaching is genuine, there should not be any scripture in the Bible that portrays Jesus as an entity separate and distinctive from God -- separate and distinctive from the daddy, specific; yet not separate and distinctive from God. via way of assessment, notice that there's no scripture in the Bible that portrays the daddy as a separate and distinctive entity from God. it may be fully ridiculous, difficult, pointless and contradictory for the Bible to many times consult with Jesus as an entity separate and distinctive from God, if Jesus is God. however the scriptures you quoted do exactly that. many times they talk of Jesus being on the the superb option hand of, not the daddy, yet God, consequently contradicting the Trinity doctrine. with the aid of fact the Bible is God's notice of reality, the shown fact that it so in many cases contradicts the Trinity doctrine can advise purely one factor -- the Trinity doctrine is fake. (John 17:17) i think -- with the aid of fact i believe maximum folk have a minimum of a modicum of intelligence -- that deep down, many Trinitarians understand that the doctrine is fake. yet delight and/or a prefer to slot in with the 'Christian' crowd compels them to play alongside, pretending or convincing themselves that they believe it. Many are consequently in a state of denial approximately this falsehood. merely look at how they answer the question. Many won't even tackle the specific situation you have raised, head on -- with the aid of fact they are in a position to't. Their purely determination is to forget approximately approximately it and quote different so observed as 'info texts'. that's not with the aid of fact they lack intelligence. that's with the aid of fact there's no credible and passable argument to disprove what the Bible -- God's authoritative notice of reality -- very blatantly shows.

Answer 8

A couple of centuries before the time of Jesus, the Hebrew language had--by and large--been eclipsed by Greek. When Jewish scholars translated their Scriptures into Greek for the Library at Alexandria, they had to find a rendering for the Hebrew Name for God: YHWH. They couldn't bring themselves to pronounce it--it was considered too holy--and to think of it on a Gentile tongue was JUST TOO MUCH for their sensibilities.

They chose to translate it as the Greek word 'Kurios' ("Lord").

By the time of Jesus, the Jews used this word, Kurios, almost exclusively in reference to their God. That Jesus was referred to that way hundreds of times, and even during His life, ALLOWED PEOPLE TO CALL HIM BY THAT NAME, is indicative that Jesus Himself, believed He was God, and accepted WORSHIP.

He did things only God can do, like forgave people's sins, stilled storms, changed water to wine, raised the dead.

I think He has well proved He is Deity Incarnate!

Answer 9

Because Jesus is God. The Word that became flesh. Read John 1:1-
Jesus was a Jew. He did not ask us to become Jews. He asked us to follow Him. He also said it in Matthew 16:13- that who has seen Him has seen God.

Jesus wanted to free us form religions. He is the way. : )

Answer 10

Because of "DECEPTION" the title "GOD" was used. The name of the true messiah was changed also; from Yahshua to Iesus to Jesus as the world uses. There is no "J" in either The Hebrew or Greek alphabet. Also, remember Paul (Shaul) said that the gentiles would be "grafted" in! So, who is the God of this world?