So, I have this friend that has significantly and profoundly impacted my beliefs and my operations as a Christian in a way that no other person has since I became a Christian. He challenged my beliefs in many areas that, frankly, I didn't think needed challenging. His own beliefs have radically evolved in the few year gap in our friendship where we didn't hang out together.
One of the beliefs he has altered is the divinity of Jesus. He no longer believes that Jesus is God, though he is quick to affirm that Jesus is the name to be praised above all others, and that He is worthy of our worship and admiration such as no other man alive. He was the first of all men to be completely united with the Holy Spirit of God Himself to become the thing that God wishes for all men to become. He also doesn't arrive at this decision willy nilly. He views it as simple logical cohesion. How can you believe in one God, yet there are different personages for him? My friend said this is mental gymnastics trying to accomodate a simple untruth.
It's a frightening idea. Not only is it the core tenant of my beliefs, but I'm certain all American Christians. If Jesus is indeed literally God, to deny that would be a blasphemy I would not be willing to take.
It's also empowering. Jesus said these mysterious things like, "be holy as I am holy," and "greater things than these will you do," and it seems a little defeating knowing that He's God. But if He isn't, and we can have the exact same access to the exact same Power and Personage He does, then that's an exciting possibility. That opens up potential for us that seemed impossible prior.
As such, this is something I want very much to be able to arrive to a conclusion on my own. I've always taken the "truth of the matter" for granted, but do wonder if perhaps there is merit in my friend's words. I want to dedicate myself to reading the new testament. I want to start with hebrews, as i think this book has the most information as to who Jesus is, and his nature. After I've accomplished that, I want to read what others say about the topic, both Christian and non-Christian. I feel this is something important that I most definitely need an answer for.
About Me
- The Horns and the Hawk
- 10,000 hours to master a thing. I couldn't guess how many hours I've spent writing. Maybe 6,000, but I don't know.
3 comments:
I've been confronted with this idea and similar ones that place Christ at a level on par with humans before. Granted, it may place him as the highest human, but if it is something that one can attain through humanity then Christ is simply ahead of the rest of us in getting there, which makes him on par with us since we could become what he is. And I'll be honest, the idea never really made any sense to me. The amount of scripture that has to be disregarded or "interpreted" in some sort of drastically different way is enormous. Like your blog said, Hebrews talks quite a bit about who Jesus is. I'm far from any kind of a theologan, but I do believe that if God is a God who communicates with me as a layman then he will speak in a way that a layman will understand, and that as such I could read his scripture myself and, more or less, understand what God is saying. And so I went to Hebrews to look and see what I could find relating in any way to who Jesus was. And here's what I found. Hebrews 1:1-2
" 1In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe."
It could be argued that any Christian is God's son and so that is generic, but I don't see how it could be rationally believed that, if Jesus is simply the first one of us to make it to that unity with God, that he would be described as having the universe made through him. If I had an agenda (and it's not hard to argue that I do), and if that agenda was arguing against Jesus being God then I could try to argue that time exists non-linearly for God (which is certainly does, He is outside of time) and so Jesus simply became one with God first, and since he was one with God, using that non-linear view of time God used Jesus, the highest human, to create everything. But even this is an absurdity conceived in my mind to meet a conclusion I was starting at. And even despite that, it's simply not a good argument, because it argues against God existing within time and then uses the word "first" to say that FIRST Jesus became one with god and THEN he created everything, and if we necessarily take God out of a linear context we can't very well explain a linear chronology of events as a reason that Jesus is man.
Kudos to you for tackling the tough issues.
I concluded that Jesus must be God because there's nothing in the Bible about him being "created" but there's nothing in my theology that is specifically concrete at this point.
Let me put it this way: Jesus may very well be God, but the concept of the Trinity is an invention of man. How about that?
Good words.
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