why do so many religions claim that Jesus is God?

by evergreen 77 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  evergreen

  Hi everyone, i have often wondered why so many religions view Jesus as being God. Every website i look up claiming to be the christian faith strongly believe that this is the case.

  I mean the actual trinity doctrine didnt come about untill about the 3rd or 4th century and was originally the Catholic church that brought it about.

  Although Jehovahs witnesses seem to push Jesus into the background a lot which is something that has always troubled me. I do share their view that Jesus is a separate person and not equal to God as Jesus himself had stated.

  But from my reading of the scriptures Jesus plays a far more important role to each and every one of us and that we can only gain access in prayer to God through faith in our lord and saviour Jesus Christ.

  What should be a very simple understanding has caused so much confusion throughout the world.

  Id be very intersted to hear your views on this and why you believe you are correct
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  Kristofer

  The Trinitarian doctrine I believe can be traced back to 1st Century theologians. Jesus only said that the Father was greater than I when he was on earth. Jesus made himself as a humble slave lower than the angels. But never did Jesus say that God is BETTER. Because when you use the word, BETTER, you are referring to the nature of someone. He did say the Father was greater and when you use the word, GREATER, it is a word meant to describe position. So at that time, the Father was greater in position than Jesus when he was a man on earth. Just as the govenor the president is GREATER than I am, but by no means are they BETTER than I am. I agree with you that Jesus is separate from the Father, but is also God, Almighty as he claims in Revelation. In the gospel of John it also states that by calling himself the SON OF GOD, he was making himself equal with God which is why they wanted to stone him. There always seems to be a lot of confusion with the term SON OF GOD. They tend to think of it like the SON in a family. If you look at other historical writings, to use the phrase SON OF "something" means that you are "OF" that flock or nature. Even in popular movies like Lord of the Rings, when you said he is SON OF "something", it was meant to describe to you the nature of their character. So when Jesus was saying he is the SON OF GOD, he was essentially saying, he is OF GOD. I think I went off on a tangent. I apologize.
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  bikerchic

  Why?

  Short answer, because they can. It don't have to make sense, remember we were all part of a cult that we believed in hook line and sinker.
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  ozziepost

  evergreen;

  sorry to be a nitpicker but the question is wrong, isn't it? Christianity is a religion; episcopalian, catholic, baptist etc are denominations, not religions.

  Hence christians freely fellowship in different churches which are different not in form but practice. It's the style of service that basically differentiates them.

  Now perhaps you mean, why do so many denominations claim that Jesus is God?

  Much like bikerchic, I'd reply, why not?
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  ozziepost

  Although Jehovahs witnesses seem to push Jesus into the background a lot which is something that has always troubled me.

  P.S. I should have added "Me too!" It was this that caused me to reassess my fellowshiping with the Dubs - I just could not accept the WT teaching on Christ.

  Why, in one Watchtower they denigrated him by calling him "a public servant"!
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  bikerchic

  But from my reading of the scriptures Jesus plays a far more important role to each and every one of us and that we can only gain access in prayer to God through faith in our lord and saviour Jesus Christ.

  What should be a very simple understanding has caused so much confusion throughout the world.

  Bingo!

  Maybe just maybe the Bible isn't the word of God the almighty. You might want to set out to prove that it is, or isn't. I would begin at the beginning, is the Bible really meant to be used as it is today or was it merely a historic book of it's time?
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  Spectrum

  If I were to subscribe to a regilious philosophy and bet my soul on it, it wouldn't be that Jesus was God. I mean imagine God the Almighty being humiliated by a bunch of Romans pagans and, Jews that he was punishing for centuries having him flogged and strung up like a dog. I really don't think so.
  
  I think JWs are right not to put Jesus in the highest position but wrong to demote him to Jehovah's side kick.
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  barry

  Evergrain you said 'the doctrine of the trinity wasnt formulated until the forth century' well the doctrine of salvation wasnt developed until the 16th century at the time of the protestant reformation and the doctrine of 1914 wasnt developed until the 20th century.

  Vincent of lerins said way back in the fifth century and he could see even then ' Christian doctrine is developed ' just as a child grows into a man . The modern champion of the developement of doctrine is John Henry Newman who wrote a paper on the developement of christian doctrine. By the developement of doctrine we are not talking of changing doctrine changing the bible or trying to bring into the christian church paganism . We are trying to look into scripture and draw out beleifs we hadent seen before , draw out the implications of other doctrine eg if our suyystem of beleif contradicts other beleifs the the whole system comes crashing down. John Henry Newman cites 7 tests to determine if a doctrine is a true developement .
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  FlyingHighNow

  When I was a child, I asked my mother what the trinity meant. She explained. I took the Bible they gave me at my baptism into the Episcopal church and read all of the gospels. This was a revised King James Version. I could not find one place where Jesus claimed to be God. He always called himself the son of God or son of man. My conclusion? If Jesus was God he would have told us so.

  I would think that if Jesus is God, he'd have made it so clear and so plain that it would be obvious, even to an eight year old child, when reading the gospels.
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  Spectrum

  " If Jesus was God he would have told us so."
  They would have stoned him faster than you could finish reading this sentence.