This topic is one of the most debated topics. It is even debated
amongst Christians themselves. (Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and
Unitarians)
First we must put Jesus to the "God test".
In my previous post I went over the traits of God that He alone
possesses. So lets see if Jesus has these.... God's Attributes
Is Jesus ETERNAL?(No beginning, No End)
Now logically analyzing this... You have to ask yourself was Jesus created?
If you answered yes, then logically it was God who had created Jesus, therefore Jesus is NOT eternal.(He has a beginning)
If
you answered no, then besides non explicit verses about Jesus being the
creator, Where in the Bible does Jesus "share" the almighty throne?
There are verses that proclaim that "the son of man" will sit at the
"right" hand. Is a Boss's right hand man also the Boss?
As far as Jesus on earth, he had a beginning and an end.
Genesis1:1 "In the beginning God created..." Not God and Jesus.
Isaiah 44:24 "I am the Lord, the Maker of all things, who stretches out the heavens, who spreads out the earth by myself" All by "MYSELF" God created the heavens and the earth.
Is Jesus HOLY?
If
Jesus was human on earth, he could not be considered Holy. This would
be the only trait that is not provable for or against, but I will list
some non Holy actions by Jesus.
Jesus and Secrets:
Mark 4:11-12 “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you." Jesus only speaks without parables to his disciples alone so that the "outsiders" don't understand.
Mark 4:33-34 Again here Jesus only speaks clearly when he is alone with his disciples.
John 18:20 "I said nothing in secret."
In his trials he proclaims that he spoke openly to the Jews and nothing
in secret. If he had spoke openly and clearly to the them, then why
then did Jesus explain everything clearly once he had the disciples
alone?
Jesus creates a scene:
John 2:13-16
Jesus is angered that merchants are making money off of people during
the Passover on the Temple grounds. He fashions a whip and drives off
the animals and overturns some tables. This may have been the only way
he could get his point across, it is not the nature of actions of a Holy
man.
Mark 11:12-14
Here Jesus is hungry, he goes to the fig tree and it has no fruit
because it is out of season, so he smites it to never bear fruit again.
At no fault of the tree Jesus, who fails to acknowledge the season,
smites the tree. again not the actions of a Holy man.
Is Jesus UNCHANGING?
If
Jesus was a spirit prior to becoming flesh on earth, that in itself is
definition of changing. On earth he was human and in his death he had
become spirit.
Is Jesus OMNIPOTENT?
Mark 6:1-6 "He could not do any miracles there..." Jesus goes to his home town and is unable to perform any miracles. Not characteristic of Almighty or All Powerful.
John 5:30 "By myself I can do nothing" Jesus explicitly proclaims he can't do anything by himself(without God's power) So he himself denies being omnipotent.
Is Jesus OMNIPRESENT?
If Jesus was here on earth and in his death he is now at the right hand of God Mark 16:19
then it would be unexplainable without creative theology to represent Jesus as omnipresent.
Now if proven that Jesus is God, then yes assuming Jesus is God then Jesus would be omnipresent.
Is Jesus OMNISCIENT?
So is Jesus all knowing?
Luke 2:52 Jesus "grew" in knowledge, he was not born with the knowledge of God he had to learn.
Mark 11:12-14 Again the story of the fig tree... Jesus didn't "know" that the tree was not in season.
Mark 13:3 The Son doesn't know when judgment day will happen. If Jesus were God he would surely "know" everything(omniscient).
John 8:28 "...what the Father has taught me."
It is God who teaches Jesus. Jesus learns from God therefore is not omniscient.
Is Jesus ONE?
Well
we know there is only one Jesus... but is Jesus the one and only God?
Is he one with God? or Is Jesus and God one in the same? Let's look at
what Jesus says...
John 14:28 Jesus proclaims "...for the Father is greater than I."
Of
all the verses that Jesus says about the Father this one explicitly
states that not only is the Father separate from Jesus, the Father is
greater than Jesus. So the two are different and are not the same.
Luke 22:41-42 Jesus
prays to God. If Jesus is God why is he praying to God? Just doesn't
make sense. Also in this passage Jesus is asking God to not go through
the death that is coming upon him. If Jesus were God and in Jesus' death
being the most important event in Christian doctrine, why would he even
think about changing his mind?
Elsewhere in the NT...
Acts 7:55-56 Colossians 3:1 Revelation 5:7 Here Jesus is clearly at the right hand of God in heaven. So even after Jesus' ascension Jesus is separate from God.
1 Timothy 2:5 "For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus,"
One God "AND" One Mediator between God and Man.. the "man" Christ Jesus. Couldn't get more explicit than this. Two separate entities, and Jesus is called a man.
In
each attribute there are many more verses that explicitly deny Jesus of
that specific attribute. Out of redundancy I do not list them all.
SUMMARY OF THE FACTS:
1)
Jesus never claimed to be God nor showed any traits that belong to God
alone. Just as God did with many of His other prophets and messengers,
God gave Jesus the power to perform many miracles and gave him knowledge
that wasn't known to man. God however did not give Jesus all His power
or all His knowledge as is evident in the examples above.
2) If Jesus even fails one of the attributes of God, then he by definition is not God.
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