How do we know Jesus is God?

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I’m reaching the point where I don’t know what I believe anymore. How do we know Jesus is God and not merely a prophet or false messiah as Islam and Judaism respectively claim? God in Judaism does not become a part of the created order. Did Israel really reject “the Gospel” or simply a wannabe false messiah? In Christianity’s favor, a body hasn’t been produced.
 
Do you accept His teaching? If so how do you explain its origin? If not why not?
 
tonyrey said:
Do you accept His teaching? If so how do you explain its origin? If not why not?
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Why are you offering something that either side of which is already contingent on an answer to the question?? What putable offering can you make that is material to the question? You have only set up a straw man dilemma as a trap. All you can do with an answer to either is go to dogma, from your faith viewpoint or admit another paradigm which you will attempt to refute, again with dogma. That word contains within it its own conundrum, if you are perceptive.
 
josephback asks** : “I’m reaching the point where I don’t know what I believe anymore. How do we know Jesus is God and not merely a prophet or false messiah as Islam and Judaism respectively claim?”**

Well, hopefully a Christian (looking for an increase in his Faith) will NOT read the Koran, looking for Christian Doctrine there.
The Koran directly states that Jesus is NOT the Son of God, and that ANY Muslim (or, other Follower of the Koran) who claims that Jesus IS God, will have Blasphemed Allah, and that Sin will NEVER be forgotten (and that person will burn in Hell).

Next, Jews, who base their ENTIRE religion on the Old Testament, do NOT have the benefit of reading the Gospels about the Life and sayings of Jesus Christ.
And, the Jews are NOT looking for a God-man … they are simply looking forward to the coming of the Messiah.
So, I would expect Jews to not “Jump on the Bandwagon” about Jesus actually being God (AND the Messiah).

OK, now we can examine what people would think about this Issue, who read the New Testament.
The New Testament is full of “PROOFS” that Jesus Christ is the Messiah.
Often, if quotes from Old Testament prophets, who have foretold of the upcoming Messiah.
Then, it places those quotes in the New Testament, with a statement that this “Attribute” of the Messiah is fulfilled in Jesus.

So, you either BUY the Concept that the New Testament is accurate … or you DON’T.
Each person is Free to decide for herself whether the words printed in the Bible are True, or False, or somewhere in the Middle.

God gave us all Free Will … and God allows us to believe whatever we want to believe … and conversely, we also have the Free Will to NOT believe in anything we want.

The Catholic Church was set up to assist people who DO believe that Jesus is NOT a false prophet or false Messiah.
Most Protestant Churches also have that purpose.

Truly, at the Most basic level, a person needs to believe in Christ to be a Christian.
Then, it is good for a person to believe in the New Testament, to be a Catholic.
 
josephback said:
I’m reaching the point where I don’t know what I believe anymore. How do we know Jesus is God and not merely a prophet or false messiah as Islam and Judaism respectively claim? God in Judaism does not become a part of the created order. Did Israel really reject “the Gospel” or simply a wannabe false messiah? In Christianity’s favor, a body hasn’t been produced.
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I don’t believe you have your facts quite straight. It is true that Islam does not hold Jesus to be God. But it does not consider Jesus to be a “false messiah.” In fact, it is quite the opposite. Islam holds Jesus to be the messiah.
The word Masih literally means “The anointed one” and in Islam, Isa son of Mariam, al-Masih (The Messiah Jesus son of Virgin Mary) is believed to have been anointed from birth by Allah with the specific task of being a prophet and a king. In orthodox Islam, Isa is believed to hold the task of killing the false messiah al-Dajjal (similar to the Antichrist in Christianity), who will emerge shortly before him during Qiyamah. After he has destroyed al-Dajjal, his final task will be to become leader of the Muslims. Isa will unify the Muslim Ummah under the common purpose of worshipping Allah alone in pure Islam, thereby ending divisions and deviations by adherents. Mainstream Muslims believe that at that time Isa will dispel Christian and Jewish claims about him. (source: Wikipedia: Messianism)
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Counterpoint has made the common mistake of thinking that EVERYTHING in Wikipedia is True** : “It is true that Islam does not hold Jesus to be God. But it does not consider Jesus to be a “false messiah.” In fact, it is quite the opposite. Islam holds Jesus to be the Messiah.”**

I have read the entire Koran, and I have spoken to a local Imam about some questions I had.
The Koran does NOT claim that Jesus is the Messiah … it simply calls him a Prophet of Allah.

It also claims that Jesus Christ was NEVER hung on a Cross (which is ONE of the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah)… and many other denials of what the New Testament says (about Jesus fulfilling the requirements of being the Messiah).
 
Sochi said:
Why are you offering something that either side of which is already contingent on an answer to the question?? What putable offering can you make that is material to the question? You have only set up a straw man dilemma as a trap. All you can do with an answer to either is go to dogma, from your faith viewpoint or admit another paradigm which you will attempt to refute, again with dogma. That word contains within it its own conundrum, if you are perceptive.
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The teaching of Jesus is either divine or it is human…
 
Counterpoint said:
I don’t believe you have your facts quite straight. It is true that Islam does not hold Jesus to be God. But it does not consider Jesus to be a “false messiah.” In fact, it is quite the opposite. Islam holds Jesus to be the messiah.
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I meant that Islam claims Jesus is a prophet, and Judaism that he was a false messiah. I’ll have to look into how Islam understands Jesus to be the messiah but not God.
 
4love2God said:
OK, now we can examine what people would think about this Issue, who read the New Testament.
The New Testament is full of “PROOFS” that Jesus Christ is the Messiah.
Often, if quotes from Old Testament prophets, who have foretold of the upcoming Messiah.
Then, it places those quotes in the New Testament, with a statement that this “Attribute” of the Messiah is fulfilled in Jesus.
Click to expand...
Can we prove Jesus is God from the Old Testament alone, without the New Testament to interpret? How do we know the Pharisees were wrong in their rejection? One would think the Jews, coming first, would have a proper understanding of who the Messiah was supposed to be. Anyway, it troubles me. The other part of me says, “where’s the body?”
 
josephback said:
I’m reaching the point where I don’t know what I believe anymore. How do we know Jesus is God and not merely a prophet or false messiah as Islam and Judaism respectively claim? God in Judaism does not become a part of the created order. Did Israel really reject “the Gospel” or simply a wannabe false messiah? In Christianity’s favor, a body hasn’t been produced.
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If you read the New Testamet and what Jesus said about Himself, ask yourself if He was a lier (what He said was false), a mentelly ill person, or the Messiah and the Son of God?? 🙂 🤷 :gopray:
 
He literally rose from the dead, bro. Just in case you’d like some scientific proof. He also told us that he is the son of God. Many times. And as a part of having faith, we believe in what He said. And that is what he said.
 
josephback said:
In Christianity’s favor, a body hasn’t been produced.
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Thousands of bodies have been produced. The martyrs. 800 of them in one small town in Italy (Otranto) alone.

Three things to defeat this spiritual attack on your beliefs:

Indirect route: Prof. Peter Kreeft’s and Ronald Tacelli’s Handbook of Christian Apologetics or the Pocket Version. In it, they use reason to demonstrate the existence of God, and of the efficacy and truth of the trinity.

Direct route: Go and spend time before our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. No, really. Call your parish and find when they offer adoration. Then go and ask our Lord Himself. But, be as patient with Him as He has been with you. As Fr. Benedict Groeschel says, “When you are aware that He is there, you will be changed.”

To always bear in mind: Knowledge of the four main tactics of the devil.
 
The OP responds to my Post : "Can we prove Jesus is God from the Old Testament alone, without the New Testament to interpret?"

I would say NO.
The New Testament is about a person who claims to be the Messiah.
So, since the Old Testament just discusses the eventual coming of a Messiah, there would be NO Facts in the Old Testament that Jesus Christ ever actually (100s or 1000s of years later) Lived at all.
And, there were almost NO historical documents, which recorded the existence of Jesus.
That is why (in my mind) the New Testament was written.

And, "How do we know the Pharisees were wrong in their rejection?"
In that SAME pesky New Testament, which claimed that the Pharisees DID reject Jesus.
The Gospels were each written by a close follower of Jesus, AND it was written by “Jesus is the Messiah” supporters.
In must be obvious that he included that passage about the Pharisees rejecting the Divinity of Jesus, to (somehow) help show that Jesus IS the Messiah.
I seriously doubt that he would have written that to “convince” Christians that Jesus is NOT the Messiah.
If you choose to cite the New Testament in your Argument, then please allow respondents to ALSO cite the New Testament as a Source.

And,** : “One would think the Jews, coming first, would have a proper understanding of who the Messiah was supposed to be.”**
One thing you may not be aware of is that all 12 of the Apostles ARE Jews.
And, eventually, they came to believe that Jesus is the Messiah.
Also, many 1000s of Jesus’ Jewish disciples believed that Jesus is the Messiah.

Then, after the death of Jesus on the Cross, many MORE 1000s of Jews believed that Jesus is the Messiah.
So, your argument is: Why didn’t EVERY SINGLE Jew believe that Jesus is the Messiah?

I think the answer is obvious.
Some Jews didn’t care to consider that Jesus could be the Messiah.
Other Jews didn’t believe in God at all.
And, many Jews (probably) didn’t hear that Jesus ever existed.
 
I don’t think you can know that Jesus is God, just instead you have to just look at his teachings and say that you believe that he is God. If we were able to know with absolute certainty then people would be able to prove to people of other religions or atheists that Christianity is right. It’s about faith and what you believe to be right, not what you can prove is right or wrong
 
I just noticed that josephback also asked the following question** : The other part of me says, “where’s the body?” **

Where is WHOSE body?

I will assume that you mean, Where is the cadaver of Jesus Christ?

Jews have often wondered this EXACT same thing.
Where is the corpse of Moses (the MAIN Jewish Prophet of the Old Testament).
Where are the remains of Abraham (the First Jew)?
Not ONE body of ONE Old Testament prophet is available for inspection.

It is sort of like, People Live, People Die, People are buried, THEN years later, either (1) the body decomposes beyond recognition (or, completely) … or (2) people forget where the grave is, and on that basis cannot find the Body.
 
josephback said:
I’m reaching the point where I don’t know what I believe anymore. How do we know Jesus is God and not merely a prophet or false messiah as Islam and Judaism respectively claim? God in Judaism does not become a part of the created order. Did Israel really reject “the Gospel” or simply a wannabe false messiah? In Christianity’s favor, a body hasn’t been produced.
Click to expand...
Well, the resurrection is the proof. Without the resurrection there is no good news. No gospel and Jesus is not God.

The New Testsment gives tons of evidence for the resurrection.

More than that though is the fact that his followers dropped everything to proclaim Christ risen. They took it to their deaths…all of them. Not one recanted. That is overwhelming evidence.

I would prayerfully search for evidence for the resurrection. Dr William Lane Craig has some scholarly work and there are lots of others.
 
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