Category: Is Jesus God?

Contradict Movement – First Animation!

I saw a Go Animate video put together by a student for a class project.  It got me thinking, maybe I can make a Go Animate video for the Contradict Movement.  I managed to make a Jesus character and a Buddha character.  I wanted to share a lot of verses from Jesus’ own mouth, so this was a great way to do it.  About 95% of everything the Jesus character says in this video is all “words in red!”  That’s what I like so much from this video.

If the verses I have quoted in this video are all true, and I firmly believe they are, they are the best news anyone can hear!  There is life after death, death has been swallowed up in victory.  Jesus is our all sufficient Savior and he loves us all, so much, that he innocently died in our place, like a an exchange on death row!

The downside, the side that brings me tears, is that if the verses quoted in this video are all true, and I firmly believe they are and that there is historical proof that they are, then all must repent and call upon the name of the Lord to be saved.  Apart from Christ there is no salvation is what these verses claim, so it’s great that our savior is revealed, but they also reveal the depth of our sinfulness, we must be in Christ to be a new creation, to have eternal life.  Many are not.  Many actually believe that it doesn’t matter what we believe as long as we do good.  But all of us have fallen short of God’s standards and we aren’t good in his sight, no matter how much we serve the poor.  The only way to be seen as good in the eyes of the Lord is to have the righteousness of His Son, which only comes from faith in Christ.  Don’t fool yourself – yoga leads to death, the eight-fold path leads to death, the five pillars lead to death, observing the Laws of Moses leads to death, and so on and so on.  For it is by grace we have been saved, through faith, and this not of ourselves, for it is a gift, so that no man may boast.

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Hinduism – Connecting Hindu Beliefs to the Gospel of Jesus #1

It is good for Christians to spend time studying other religions.  Christians are commanded by Jesus to go and make disciples.  If Christians are to expect other people to listen to the message of Christ because we hold it to be true and the only way to salvation, it would greatly show other people that we truly care about them, by first knowing what they believe.   I will attempt to start with Hindus, their beliefs and practices, and try to make connections to the Gospel of Jesus Christ from their beliefs, as Paul did with the men of Athens in Acts 17.  
Hinduism originated in India.  Its roots go back over 4000 years ago.  The Harappa culture was an ancient civilization in the Indus River Valley before 2000 BC.  They were very advanced in some ways.  Many symbols from this culture exist in Hinduism, so it is suspected that aspects of Hinduism arose from this culture.  Around 2000 BC there was an immigration of a group of people called the Aryans from modern day Russia.  It is here during this time that a melting pot effect took place.  The gods of the Harrapa culture and the Aryan culture began to blend and mix.  They had many, many gods, some of them are still worshiped today, but many of them are not.  Worship of these gods took place at fire altars where sacrifices of grains, milk, and animals were made, as well as the use of sacred chants.
The sacred chants of this time were later written down, forming what is now called the Vedas.  The Vedas are the only revealed scriptures of Hinduism, meaning that the authors did not create them, but they only heard them and passed them down to later generations.  The good questions to ask here is, who exactly revealed these and who exactly first received them?  These answers when compared to the Gospels do not have historical reliability.  The Vedas consists of four collections of writings – the oldest of which is the Rig Veda.  If you go to Barnes and Noble or Borders and check the Hindu section you will certainly find this book.
The Rig Veda contains an account of the formation of the world, claiming that the universe, as we know it, was formed from the sacrifice of the God Purusha.  This means that the universe itself was made from a divine substance, thus in Hinduism, all things are at their deepest level divine.  The universe consisting of Purusha’s body is therefore eternal.  From this sacrifice, the other gods were then formed, or evolved.  It’s all very unclear in Hinduism how all of this unfolded.  In fact, the account of Purusha’s sacrifice of himself as the formation of the universe is even questioned by the Vedas themselves, because the Rig also recognizes that no one was there to witness and confirm its genesis.
Still none of this initial information about Hinduism has touched on the core teachings of the religion, simply its formation and its explanation of the universe’s existence, but connections to Jesus can still be made in conversation with a Hindu from these teachings alone.  It can be noted that Christians also believe in the special nature of the universe, that Genesis teaches that all things was created by God and that their original state was “very good.”  However, it was not formed from God’s divine nature.  Instead, it was created by God out of nothing through his spoken Word.  Although, Christians don’t believe that God sacrificed himself in the formation of the world, we do believe that there was a sacrifice made before the creation of the world.  Revelation 13:8 refers to Jesus as “the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.”  Instead of saying that God sacrificed himself to create the world, Christianity teaches that God in the person of Jesus Christ sacrificed himself to save the world before the world was even created.  This of course is possible because God is outside of linear history, unrestrained by the fourth dimension, time.
Christians certainly agree with Hindus that the divine was involved in the creation of the universe and that a sacrifice on the part of God was made from the beginning.  Christians however believe that this God has revealed Himself clearly through his Word delivered through the prophets and apostles of the Bible, and through the person of Jesus Christ, so that there isn’t any doubt about who God is, who we are, and what God has done for us.
Rig Veda - The universe was created from the cosmic sacrifice of Purusha.
Rig Veda – The universe was created from the cosmic sacrifice of Purusha.
Christianity – Before the foundations of the world, Christ was slain.

Andy Wrasman5 Comments

Who is God #2

The Doctrine of the Trinity

Scripture provides two truth statements concerning who God is: “There is only one God” and “That one God exists in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit”.   These two statements appear to contradict each other, but they do not contradict.  This is called a paradox.  If the teaching is expressed as God is one, but not one; God is three, but not three, then this would be contradictory teaching, because one must be one.  One cannot not be one! Three must be three.  Three cannot not be three!

There isn’t a contradiction with the Trinity because essentially it is taught that God is one “what” and three “who’s”.  The “what” is the divine substance, or essence, of God.  Substance is the deity.  There are three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who are one in substance.  It could be expressed as saying that God is one (one divine substance) in three persons.  The word person does not refer to being human either.  Person simply refers to someone, not something, who is distinct and recognizable with a self-conscious, able to think and act on his own.  It is with this understanding of “person” that the doctrine of the Trinity states that God is three in person and in substance.

The following video helps to illustrate this doctrine with citations to many verses from the Bible.

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Who is God #1

Some people don’t believe in God.  Some people believe in many gods.  Some people believe in only one God, but they disagree on whom that God is.  Others take the stance that there’s no way to know for sure if there is a God or not.

A broad definition of “god”

Martin Luther defined a god as whoever or whatever we fear, love, and trust above all things.  According to this definition even people who claim to believe in the God revealed in the Bible probably have other gods in their life.  It can become very easy for anyone to put trust in our own abilities and provision instead of the one true God.  If people believe in the Christian God and do this, they are not rejecting their belief in God; they are placing an idol alongside God, or above God.  It can become very easy to begin to pursue money, making decisions and living for the pursuit of financial gain, or to fear and seek the approval of men above God.   Luther’s definition is good for generically defining a “god.”  The goal at hand is to show how God has revealed himself to humanity in the Bible.

God revealed in the Bible      

The God in the Bible is clearly revealed to be one.  One of the most cited verses to support this doctrine comes from the Shema, an early creed of Israel, found in Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”  At the same time God is revealed to be three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  All three of these persons are called God in the Bible.  Malachi 2:10 says, “Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us?”  Matthew 6:9, Luke 11:1-13, 2 Peter 1:17, and Colossians 1:2-3 all show that the Father is God.  Matthew 3:16-17 clearly shows the Father proclaiming Jesus to be his son, “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him.  And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”  In addition to numerous other verses that refer to Jesus as God, Titus 2:13 contains a clear statement by Paul that Jesus is God by saying, “while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.”  The Holy Spirit is referred to as the Spirit of God or the Spirit of the Lord numerous times throughout Scripture and is referred to as a separate person with the Father and the Son such as in 2 Corinthians 13:14, “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

From these verses and numerous others it can be concluded that there is only one God.  Yet the Father is God, Jesus is God, and the Holy Spirit is God.  Therefore, all three persons must be the one God.

Do Muslims and Jews worship the same God as Christians?

Christianity – One God, Three Persons

Judaism and Islam – One God, One Person

Christianity – Jesus is God.
Islam – Jesus is a prophet.
Judaism – Jesus is a false-prophet.

Andy Wrasman1 Comment

Did Jesus Claim to Be God?

Jesus either is God, or he is not God. 

It’s pretty simple logic.  A cannot equal Non-A. 

Since we have four biographies of Jesus’ life, two of which were written by eyewitnesses, Matthew and John, and the other two recorded by men who wrote based on the testimony of eyewitnesses, Mark and Luke, it makes sense that we should look to their accounts to see what they record of Jesus’ opinion of himself.  If Jesus said, “I’m not God,” then I think it’s safe to agree that he isn’t God.  If he said, “He is God,” then we should take a closer look at his claims.  So what did he say about himself?

Some will say that Jesus never said he was God (which Muslims and Jehovah Witnesses claim).  This technically is true, but only in the sense that the gospels never record Jesus  using the direct words, “I am God.”  There are however numerous verses in which Jesus says he is so close or similar to the Father that in fact he is saying, “I am God.”  Jesus also made statements which directly stated his divinity.  To such statement his audience responded with insults and shouts of “blasphemy.”  However, because we are not fully aware of the ins and outs of Jewish culture or even the teachings of the Bible, we might miss the meanings of such direct statements.  It also makes sense that Jesus never verbatim said, “I am God,” because He was sent to give glory to His Father in heaven.  This is why when Jesus usually stated His divinity, he also gave honor to His Father.

Jesus picture spray painted by Josh Conrad.
This is an image of Jesus that my friend, Josh Conrad, spray painted. He took a picture of his work and made stickers to share with his friends. This is a picture of his work on my laptop. Here’s the link to his blog: http://silentartistjc.blogspot.com/

Verses in which Jesus puts himself equal to the father:

John 14:23 “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”

Look up these other verses for more examples.

Mark 9:37
John 5:23
John 14:1
John 14:7
John 14:6
John 14:9
John 14:21
John 15:23
Statements in which Jesus directly claimed divinity upon himself (evidenced by the audience’s response):

John 10:30-33 “I and the Father are one.” Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” “We are not stoning you for any of these,” replied the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”

John 5:17-18
John 8:58-59
Mark 14:61-64

Other Verses that show Jesus’ divinity though what Christ said or did or allowed others to do:

Mark 2:5-7
Matthew 28:16-17
John 5:21-27

Andy Wrasman1 Comment