Is Jesus God?

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Yes He is. The secret is in the symbolism of the hebrew alphabet. When G-d revealed His Holy name to Moses it was written in the form of the Tetragrammaton(YHWH) in Hebrew it is pronounced YOD-HE-WAW(OR VAV)-HE, Hebrew: יהוה‎ (written). Check out this link and then visit a site with the symbols of the Hebrew alphabet. I will provide both. Check it out and do the math.

Secret name of G-d revealed
youtube.com/watch?v=1wiBtYITrxM

Hebrew Alphabet
soul-guidance.com/houseofthesun/treeoflifeletters.htm

ancient-hebrew.org/28_chart.html
 
I have always been under the impression that according to Catholic doctrine as described by the various creeds, including the Athanasian, that Jesus Christ IS God.

I am in a discussion with a lapsed Catholic who is adamant that while Jesus is the SON of God, he is not, in fact, God, and neither is the Holy Spirit for that matter. They do regard them as part of the trinity (which is bizarre given their other stance), but not as God.
Yes, I’ve had this same discussion with several Catholics–and experienced the same frustration. I finally concluded that when they say “God” they are actually thinking/meaning “God the Father”–but it’s sort of a no-win conversation.
 
Yes, I’ve had this same discussion with several Catholics–and experienced the same frustration. I finally concluded that when they say “God” they are actually thinking/meaning “God the Father”–but it’s sort of a no-win conversation.
I would suspect you are right and they are just not articulating themselves very well. The Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Father (likewise Holy Spirit), yet each “Person” is fully God. The Gospel of John shows the distinction really well. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” God has distinct, but not separate “Persons”. (I personally do not like the expression “persons” as it is so easily misunderstood, but it is meant to express the relationship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I guess we just have to make do with our inadequate human expressions when we try to describe God)

The best way to find out the truth about Catholic teaching is to consult the documents of the Church… starting with the Catechism. Here is just one bullet which should put this matter to rest for the OP. This section of the CCC talks about the Trinity in further detail. Believe me when I say that Catholic teaching is clear: Jesus is fully God and fully man. The lapsed Catholic was just wrong or poorly wording their understanding of the teaching.
262 The Incarnation of God’s Son reveals that God is the eternal Father and that the Son is consubstantial with the Father, which means that, in the Father and with the Father the Son is one and the same God.
 
Well, they are confused. They even posted a link to this site:

[

and then insisted that it was proof that Catholic doctrine was that Jesus was NOT God.

I don’t see how they can have that interpretation from reading through the information in that link.

That is the official Catholic position, right?](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15047a.htm)

I just scanned through this thread and I didn’t notice this linked information being addressed. Although your link did not work, I will now provide one that does for the sake of the discussion at hand:

New Advent’s Definition of the Blessed Trinity

To answer your questions (and give feedback on your observations)…
  1. The New Advent’s Catholic Encyclopedia is, indeed, a reliable source of Catholic teaching, although I encourage people to use the Catechism of the Catholic Church as a primary source for such knowledge. Nevertheless, because the Catholic Encyclopedia provides a lot of historical information, it can be a useful secondary source.
  2. I agree that the lapsed Catholic you have been interacting with is confused. After all, he cited New Advent saying that its article on the Blessed Trinity proves that the Catholic Church teaches that Jesus is not God. And yet in the third line of that article it clearly states, “…the Son is God” (and the word “Son” is linked to another article that identifies this term with Jesus). Naturally I presume you quickly spotted this as well, which motivated you to state that the linked article did not actually support the lapsed Catholic’s position.
So yes, he is clearly confused because his argument apparently goes like this: “Catholicism teaches that Jesus is not God because New Advent’s Catholic Encyclopedia says that he is.” Please encourage this person to eat more fish (which is supposed to increase brain power).
 
Hi,
If Jesus is not God, then He gave up his life for nothing.

Jesus stood before the High Priest the eve of his death and was convicted of “making
himself to be God.” That was blasphemy and death was the penalty. And then
they said, “what further proof do we need?” Then they marched him off to Pilate to get
approval for his death.

Would anyone die for some lie?
 
Well, they are confused. They even posted a link to this site:

newadvent.org/cathen/15047a.htm
and then insisted that it was proof that Catholic doctrine was that Jesus was NOT God.

I don’t see how they can have that interpretation from reading through the information in that link.

That is the official Catholic position, right?
It is confusing that they would use that link to say that Jesus isn’t God since it says the exact opposite. 🤷
 
Keeping in mind that God id pure Spirit, with no material substance:
God the Father is fully God; and knows Himself totally.

God the Son is the Father`s Selfknowledge; and possesses the fullness of the Godhead because everything that the Father is is “contained” in His Selfknowledge.

Between the Father and the Son, there is TOTAL Self-giving Love: in both directions.
God the Holy Spirit is that Love; and possesses the fullness of the Godhead because everything that the Father is and everything that the Son is in that Love.

Again: remember that were dealing with a Being whose essence or nature is spirit "only"; and so, doesnt occupy space.

Jesus is fully God as the Second Person of the Trinity ,or Son of the Father; and as a person, Hes the Son. He also fully possesses a human nature, complete with body and soul. So, Hes fully God and fully Man.

PS
Huskerfan:
Your confusion expressed in your last sentence is understandable; but youre "witnessing" the woeful state of current "Catholic" "catechesis"! :shrug: In most places, its worse than pathetic; and there are so many ex-Catholics like the one mentioned, who think they know all about Catholicism. The ranks of the JWs, SDAs et al are full of them, complete with their new-found, but actually horribly skewed, “Bible ‘knowledge’”.
Hello,

I’m new here, so this is my first reply! Trinity, an interesting topic! My brother is a JW and he and I have had conversations over this subject! I asked him the the question of “Is Jesus God?” He was brought up Catholic, and at the age of 19 began to study Hebrew, Greek and has turned his attention to Coptic, as it works (with qualification) much as English does with the articles!

He showed me some scriptures from my own Catholic Bible “Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition” (red covered)

Here are just two examples and I was unable to answer him, as he asked straight forward logical questions, so perhaps, there might be someone on here, that would be able to provide and answer to him, because, I am at a loss to!

John 5:26

“For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the son also, to have life in himself”

My brother said something like,

'This text was inspired by God and the apostle wrote it down, by this time, the son was in heaven for some sixty years, so it wasn’t that the son was on earth! Another term for the expression “life in himself” is called “immortality” i.e. self perpetuating or generating life, life within ones-self If a being is immortal, such a one cannot die, be made subject to destruction, cannot be dissolved, be made subject to decay etc!

God the Father has always been “immortal”, but we see here, that as a gift, the Father “granted” (“given” in some translations) to the son this “life in himself” = immortality! If the son is God in the fullest sense, as the Father is God in the fullest sense and God the Father has always had this “life in himself” then why was it necessary to “grant” unto the son, that which he always possessed, he being God in the fullest sense, as the Father is God in the fullest sense; God cannot give to God, that which is already the posession of God, for God the Father to give to God the son, that which was suppossed to already be the possession of the son, by his being God, as the Father is Godleads to an absurdity and therefore, Catholic dogma contradicts itself…says my brother; how can you be given, that which you already possess and have done, the one doing the giving is thus embarrassed and would be in front of the rest of the heavenly hosts!’

He also said, that v 27 is also interesting, in that the son whilst in heaven and he supposed to be God, is “given” “authority”, by another, just as he was (v26) given “life in himself” by another, which (he says) shows that Jesus cannot be “God” in the fullest sense, but was dependent upon another for certain things!

The second scripture he showed me was from John 6:57, which says, “As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats…”

He said, this text shows, that the son owes his very existence to another, which he wouldn’t have, if it had not been because of the will of another, so that the Father is the cause of the son’s existence!

He said (I don’t understand what he means) that the relationship between Jesus and his Father from a Catholic Trinitarian point of view is a metaphysical one, built on the foundations of “Plato” and someone called “Plotinus”?

MY brother seems very objective and does not poke fun at Catholics, but treats us kindly and believes that they are not being given all the facts by Catholic Chuch leaders and because we are generally not schooled in such deep matters, are being mislead and that the priests are hidding empirical evidence from us, is this true?

Can any one help, please!

Happyhippo
 
John 5:26

“For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the son also, to have life in himself”

My brother said something like,

‘This text was inspired by God and the apostle wrote it down, by this time, the son was in heaven for some sixty years, so it wasn’t that the son was on earth! Another term for the expression “life in himself” is called “immortality” i.e. self perpetuating or generating life, life within ones-self If a being is immortal, such a one cannot die, be made subject to destruction, cannot be dissolved, be made subject to decay etc!
God the Father has always been “immortal”, but we see here, that as a gift, the Father “granted” (“given” in some translations) to the son this “life in himself” = immortality! If the son is God in the fullest sense, as the Father is God in the fullest sense and God the Father has always had this “life in himself” then why was it necessary to “grant” unto the son, that which he always possessed, he being God in the fullest sense, as the Father is God in the fullest sense; God cannot give to God, that which is already the posession of God, for God the Father to give to God the son, that which was suppossed to already be the possession of the son, by his being God, as the Father is Godleads to an absurdity and therefore, Catholic dogma contradicts itself…says my brother; how can you be given, that which you already possess and have done, the one doing the giving is thus embarrassed and would be in front of the rest of the heavenly hosts!’

He also said, that v 27 is also interesting, in that the son whilst in heaven and he supposed to be God, is “given” “authority”, by another, just as he was (v26) given “life in himself” by another, which (he says) shows that Jesus cannot be “God” in the fullest sense, but was dependent upon another for certain things!

The second scripture he showed me was from John 6:57, which says, “As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats…”

He said, this text shows, that the son owes his very existence to another, which he wouldn’t have, if it had not been because of the will of another, so that the Father is the cause of the son’s existence!

He said (I don’t understand what he means) that the relationship between Jesus and his Father from a Catholic Trinitarian point of view is a metaphysical one, built on the foundations of “Plato” and someone called “Plotinus”?

MY brother seems very objective and does not poke fun at Catholics, but treats us kindly and believes that they are not being given all the facts by Catholic Chuch leaders and because we are generally not schooled in such deep matters, are being mislead and that the priests are hidding empirical evidence from us, is this true?

Can any one help, please!

Happyhippo
Welcome! Your brother has my head realing. Jesus is not only God but man as well. Jesus speaks in these versus as man. It is ironic that your brother sees John 5 : 26 as disputing that Jesus is God when it is Jesus who is claiming to be God. He claims two divine prerogatives. 1. to give life 2. judgment. He is reveling here the Trinity. It is the same as when He told the Pharisees that before Moses “I am” which was the name of God. They understood Him, that is why they tried to kill Him.

The second verse is from what is called the Bread of Life. Again Jesus is man like us in all things but sin. The Trinity was revealed by Jesus. JW’s have had to alter their scripture in order to eliminate this revelation. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God has been changed to In the beginning was the Word and the Word was a god. Hopefully someone will explain better than me.
 
I have always been under the impression that according to Catholic doctrine as described by the various creeds, including the Athanasian, that Jesus Christ IS God.
I am in a discussion with a lapsed Catholic who is adamant that while Jesus is the SON of God, he is not, in fact, God, and neither is the Holy Spirit for that matter. They do regard them as part of the trinity (which is bizarre given their other stance), but not as God.
Here’s the evidence you need to prove him WRONG:blush:

Mt. 3: 13-17 PROVES that God Is a TRINITY, and That Jesus is God and a Part of the Trinity…🙂

[13] Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. [14] John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” [15] But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness.” Then he consented.
[16] And when **Jesus was baptized/B], he went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and alighting on him; [17] and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Now that my friend is the evidence but when dealing with folks who think they know MORE and know BETTER than God, the Bible and the Pope, don’t be surprised if you CAN"T convience them. Some folks just REALLY have a “death” wish [spiritual that is]:o

God Bless you,
Pat**
 
I have always been under the impression that according to Catholic doctrine as described by the various creeds, including the Athanasian, that Jesus Christ IS God.

I am in a discussion with a lapsed Catholic who is adamant that while Jesus is the SON of God, he is not, in fact, God, and neither is the Holy Spirit for that matter. They do regard them as part of the trinity (which is bizarre given their other stance), but not as God.
That person is not a Catholic and I suspect he/she is a Jehovah Witness posing as a lapsed Catholic… any Catholic child who has been preparing for First Communion can tell you that “we Believe in One God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit!”

Maran atha!

Angel
 
As you can see, I’m Lutheran, and know Lutheran doctrine on the subject.

I had always thought that despite some deep theological differences between Lutheranism and Catholicism, the core beliefs concerning the divinity of Christ were very similar, if not exactly the same. Both Lutherans and Catholics subscribe to the Athanasian Creed as far as I know–which clearly states the Church doctrine that Jesus IS God and the Holy Spirit IS God.

I was very confused by this person who, while not being a practicing Catholic for quite some time, was raised Catholic and was very adamant that Jesus was NOT God according to Catholic doctrine.
I find that the problem lies not in what such people say they are/were but in what they accept as Doctrine.

I am fluent in English and Spanish and I understand some Italian and Portugese–does that make me a linguist?

If you truly want to figure out Catholics, I wellcome you to bring your queries to this forum and to seek an actual Catholic (practicing that is)–preferably a Deacon, Nun or Priest.

Maran atha!

Angel
 
Well, they are confused. They even posted a link to this site:

[

and then insisted that it was proof that Catholic doctrine was that Jesus was NOT God.

I don’t see how they can have that interpretation from reading through the information in that link.

That is the official Catholic position, right?](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15047a.htm)If you want the official Catholic position I suggest that you visit Vatican.org–it can’t get any more official than that.

Maran atha!

Angel
 
Anyone who labels himself or herself Catholic and says Jesus is not God is thereby not Catholic. A Catholic, by definition, and by canon law, believes everything the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church teaches. The Church teaches that Jesus is God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. This is the core doctrine of Christianity. Those who do not believe in the Trinity, as defined by the Catholic Church, are not Christian.

Jim Dandy
…sorry to interject… but I just noticed your religious affiliation…

You’ve cracked me up! :bowdown2::bowdown2::bowdown2:

Thanks for the feel good!

Maran atha!

Angel
 
God is immutable. He IS in one eternal act of BEING.
That is exactly what those who reject the Holy Trinity fail to understand: Jesus and the Holy Spirit cannot be lesser beigns attached to Yahweh God–God, the Spirit, is God Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Eternal, Immutable!

Maran atha!

Angel
 
Yes, I’ve had this same discussion with several Catholics–and experienced the same frustration. I finally concluded that when they say “God” they are actually thinking/meaning “God the Father”–but it’s sort of a no-win conversation.
…ever heard of whites/latinos acting black?

I cannot believe that a person born or converted to the Catholic Faith can conclude that Jesus is not God or that the Holy Spirit is not God and claim that it is Doctrinal Teaching of the Catholic Church; even the most nominal person who has been catechized to do the First Communion would have been taught that we Believe in One God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Sadly, many people do not accept the Church’s Doctrine which can include the fact that God is One in Three Divine Persons.

…these malcontents, just as the politicians who claim to be Catholic, support the culture of death while simultaneously wanting to be seen as Catholics; they are, as St. Jude put it, people who attack what they do not understand; rather than humbling themselves by accepting that they are ignorant of the Faith, they claim superiority by maligning the Church. They can easily have become the pawns of Satan!

Maran atha!

Angel
 
Hi,
If Jesus is not God, then He gave up his life for nothing.

Jesus stood before the High Priest the eve of his death and was convicted of “making
himself to be God.” That was blasphemy and death was the penalty. And then
they said, “what further proof do we need?” Then they marched him off to Pilate to get
approval for his death.

Would anyone die for some lie?
…worse, if He is not God, Yahweh, the Father, is a wimp since Jesus, the Lamb, took over His Territory, His Titles, His Peoples, His Servants, His Power, His Spirit (“I AM,” “…everything the Father has is Mine,” “I Am the Rsurrection and the Life,” “…no one can come to the Father but through Me,” “the Father and I are One,” “if you’ve seen Me you’ve seen the Father,” “…you Believe in God, Believe also in Me,” “…you call Me Master and Lord… and I Am…”) and on top He Raised Himself from the dead and Taught His Apostles that everything was Created by Him and for Him and that it is He Who Holds everything in its place!

…wow, for a non-God, Jesus is quite Omnipotent!

Maran atha!

Angel
 
Hello,

I’m new here,…!
Hi!

Welcomed!

I must confess… my head is still spinning!

Due to text limits I must cut both your post and my response, so please do not interprete this as disrespect or evasion…
Trinity, an interesting topic! My brother is a JW… the question of “Is Jesus God?”

He showed me some scriptures from my own Catholic Bible…
It is not the version of Scriptures that matters but the sect’s interpretation of Scritpures.
… John 5:26

“For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the son also, to have life in himself”

…'This text was inspired by God and the apostle wrote it down, by this time, the son was in heaven for some sixty years,
… have you noticed how you have to take his word on a major premise of Faith: Jesus was in Heaven for 60 years… really? …so the interviewer was granted passage to Heaven in order to quote Jesus?
“life in himself” …God the Father has always been “immortal”, but we see here, that as a gift, the Father “granted” …immortality! …Catholic dogma contradicts itself…
…Scriptures tell us that Yahweh God’s Way is far removed from our understanding… here’s what your brother, and his group, keeps missing: Jesus is not only immortal but He is Eternal! The Father could never go back into Time (Existence) to grant Him the Power of Always Existing–once a micro/nano second has experired Eternity has been concluded: Jesus, the Eternal Word, has always Existed!
…is “given” “authority”, by another, just as he was (v26) given “life in himself” by another, which (he says) shows that Jesus cannot be “God” in the fullest sense, but was dependent upon another for certain things!

…John 6:57, which says, “As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats…”
…does that mean that they believe, as Catholics Believe, in the Real Presence in the Eucharist–since they accept that the Father has given Life to the Son and has granted the Son to give Life to those who Eat Him, they too eat and drink Christ’s Body and Blood, correct? …it is Divine Doctrine… that we, all who desire a Life in God and with God, must Eat Jesus… so they do, right?
He said, this text shows, that the son owes his very existence to another, which he wouldn’t have, if it had not been because of the will of another, so that the Father is the cause of the son’s existence!
…again… interpretational quirks…

…a while back JWs used to quote Jesus as a means to demonstrate that He could not be God… they loved to quote “the Father is greater than I…”

I would agree with them and come back with “the Father and I are One…” and “the Father is in Me and I am in the Father” and “if you have seen Me you have seen the Father…”

…it always turned out that Jesus was only literal when He stated that the Father was greater than He… the rest of the times… you’ve guessed it, was not literal!

Here’s a perfect example of that sect’s interpretational error: God says He is God, JWs insist He is not:

6 And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith: And let all the angels of God adore him. 7 And to the angels indeed he saith: He that maketh his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire. 8 But to the Son: Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of justice is the sceptre of thy kingdom. 9 Thou hast loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. (Hebrews 1:6-9–DRV)

…God, the Father, Commands the angels to adore the Son, Jesus–but did He not demand that we worship/adore only God? …then He calls Jesus God–is it not confusing? God acknowledges another God besides Himself! …but wait… why are Scriptures revealing to us that God is God’s God?

…has it began to spinning yet?

…what if I tell you that God, the Father, is Spirit and that the Holy Spirit is Spirit… then throw in how the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, the Father and the Spirit of God, the Son?

…Hebrews also reveals that the Holy Spirit is God:

7 Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith: To-day if you shall hear his voice, 8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the desert, 9 Where your fathers tempted me, proved and saw my works, 10 Forty years: for which cause I was offended with this generation, and I said: They always err in heart. And they have not known my ways. 11 As I have sworn in my wrath: If they shall enter into my rest. (Hebrews 3:7-11, read to verse 19–DRV; check against Numbers 14)
…that the relationship between Jesus and his Father from a Catholic Trinitarian point of view is a metaphysical one… seems very objective and does not poke fun at Catholics… not being given all the facts by Catholic Chuch… not schooled in such deep matters… hidding empirical evidence from us, is this true?
…only he can tell you what he means; sadly, anti-Catholic propaganda has had terrible influence on those who reject the Church’s Authority (they are still claiming that the Church taught a flat earth); if you truly want to know about keeping secrets check out “the Catholic Church: Builder of Civilization,” on EWTN."

…as far as deep… check out Apocalypse 5:7-14–why are these Heavenly hosts so disrespectfully rendering worship to both the Father and the Son?

Maran atha!

Angel
 
Welcome! Your brother has my head realing. Jesus is not only God but man as well. Jesus speaks in these versus as man. It is ironic that your brother sees John 5 : 26 as disputing that Jesus is God when it is Jesus who is claiming to be God. He claims two divine prerogatives. 1. to give life 2. judgment. He is reveling here the Trinity. It is the same as when He told the Pharisees that before Moses “I am” which was the name of God. They understood Him, that is why they tried to kill Him.

The second verse is from what is called the Bread of Life. Again Jesus is man like us in all things but sin. The Trinity was revealed by Jesus. JW’s have had to alter their scripture in order to eliminate this revelation. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God has been changed to In the beginning was the Word and the Word was a god. Hopefully someone will explain better than me.
Regarding Jehovah’s Witnesses’ “New World Translation” Bible and its rendering of John 1:1, it may interest you to know that, in support and explanation of their wording of this verse (especially within the third clause with “a god”), there is soon to be published a 19+ year study (as of 8/2011), a thoroughly researched reference work - an historical analysis & exhaustive annotated bibliography - it will be entitled, “What About John 1:1?”

To learn more of its design and expected release date, you are invited to visit:

goodcompanionbooks.com

When finally published, apart from discussing many of the other topics and scriptures often related to the Trinity doctrine, you will also discover that we have collected information on about 430+ scholarly reference works (mostly Trinitarian) which, throughout the centuries, had opted to say something other than, “and the Word was God,” and that, included among them are over 120 which had chosen to use “a god” within the third clause of their renderings.

As you might expect, we are very excited at the opportunity to share our findings with others.

Agape, JohnOneOne.
 
Regarding Jehovah’s Witnesses’ “New World Translation” Bible and its rendering of John 1:1, it may interest you to know that, in support and explanation of their wording of this verse (especially within the third clause with “a god”), there is soon to be published a 19+ year study (as of 8/2011), a thoroughly researched reference work - an historical analysis & exhaustive annotated bibliography - it will be entitled, “What About John 1:1?”

To learn more of its design and expected release date, you are invited to visit:

goodcompanionbooks.com

When finally published, apart from discussing many of the other topics and scriptures often related to the Trinity doctrine, you will also discover that we have collected information on about 430+ scholarly reference works (mostly Trinitarian) which, throughout the centuries, had opted to say something other than, “and the Word was God,” and that, included among them are over 120 which had chosen to use “a god” within the third clause of their renderings.

As you might expect, we are very excited at the opportunity to share our findings with others.

Agape, JohnOneOne.
I am not a linguist so I will not attempt to school you on the accidents of languages… but as I understand it, the Hebrew language does not contain vowels (“a god” could not be rendered) and suggesting that God existed along side “a god” (a rendering by any other language that would use an article) would mandate that there be more than One God; further, if God existed with a “created” “god” then God could not be Immutable and Eternal; regardless upon the research done, Scriptures are exact: One God revealed in Three Divine Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Maran atha!

Angel
 
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