Jesus among other Gods

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Hi, Im looking for references that might address this question plz: why should we believe that Jesus is the true God when so many other Gods were believed to have existed before Him? How do we know that he is not just another manmade creation? i.e egyption, greek and, roman gods. I am a believer but this quesiton has crossed my mind and it has been very disturbing. I apologize if it disturbs anyone else reading it but I don’t know where else to find an answer to this question or what the proper forum would be. Thx
 
While there will be many answers, basically because: he calls himself God, he tells us he is the only way to God (the Father), and he backed it up with predicting his death and resurrection and then dying and resurrecting.

Good luck with your research.
 
There is no real ‘killer’ answer to that question otherwise everybody would be a Christian. There are several different things which taken together can be persuasive.

The four Gospel accounts of our Lord are clearly based upon eyewitness testimony and were written within the lifetime of people who had lived in the Holy Land during His lifetime. This cannot be said to apply to any of the pre-Christian deities.

The existence of the Church in many places within a measurably short period of time after His death is widely documented. This spread and the willingness of the Apostles to suffer and die in His name (but not to kill) are presumptive evidence that there was something at the least very remarkable about Jesus.

The prophecies about the Messiah contained in the Old Testament can be applied to Jesus which suggests some sort of Divine involvement in His mission. The prophecies can be explained in other ways and it could be argued that the Gospel accounts were constructed with them in mind but it is difficult to account for the suffering servant passages in Isaiah and the spread of the faith to Gentiles without including the figure of Jesus in the explanation.

The nature of our Lord’s teaching is of such a sublime nature and of such a high standard that it would be hard to argue for the lower standards proposed by the pagan religions or some of the other monotheist ones to be of Divine origin if His is not. The only real rival would be the Buddha but he never claimed to be God (or had the claim made on his behalf.)

The nearest thing to a ‘killer’ argument would be the experimental one. If you encounter Jesus in your life, through the sacraments, in prayer, in your heart, then you can have no reasonable doubt that He is God.

Finally, there is a book called Evidence of Christianity written by William Paley in the Eighteenth century which is freely available as an ebook. You would think that it must be old fashioned, and of course it is, but also surprised to find that many of the criticisms of Christianity which seem so modern to us were addressed by him way back then. You might find reading it helpful. He was an Anglican so it has it’s limitations but still I recommend it.
ccel.org/ccel/paley/evidence.html
 
actually there is a - good example

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the … - Bible Hub

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the …

Mark 16:17 And these signs will accompany … - Bible Hub

These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out … And these signs shall follow those that believe: In my name they shall cast out …

2 Timothy 3:5-7 KJV - Having a form of godliness, but …

Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive.

cts 19 King James Version (KJV)

19 And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,

2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.

3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism.

4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.

5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.

it is just a matter of choosing a church-- where the Holy Spirit is –

not some – group -or church- who-- is teaching the history of the scriptures-- and memorizing scripture----

where is the Power that Jesus said is present-- ?? if it is not seen regularly in your church

then maybe – it’s not there–

but most people go to a church – to make themself’s FEEL – warm and fuzzy

and holy
 
Hi Ejp123

Research I don’t have. But experience I do have. What I can say is research will only take you so far on this quest. No matter how much information you amass you will eventually still have to take a leap of faith. What will help is your willingness to be vulnerable to God.

In my experience one of the philosophical ways that I find Jesus renders the gods of old obsolete, is the essence of his message. No other “gods” want union with their people. They typically want to rule. No other gods want all their people to participate in their ministry. They typically just want oracles prophets, clergy, soothsayers and healers to participate. Everyone else is just the lower class.

But Christ wants to share the universe with ALL of us, not just make some of us special and the rest of us dumb and dependent. That’s why you have the sacraments and the gifts of the Holy Spirit . Those gifts represent The Trinity’s desire for total inclusion for all in His Kingdom

In addition,
A god doesn’t make themselves vulnerable in the presence of lesser beings, then die for them, But God does.
That is love, total vulnerability. When you’re really in love with someone you are saying Im willing to be utterly vulnerable to you. Thats what Christ demonstrates on the Cross and in his life. vulnerability aka love. I don’t know ancient myths very well but I doubt Zeus or Odin or Amun Ra would ever give up all their power just for you

A god typically wants to demonstrate superiority and dominance. God wants to model humility . And it is in his humility he makes his superiority and dominance indisputable .

To me it wasn’t the miracles that convinced the 12 disciples that Christ was God, I think it was his love/vulnerability. And when the 12 demonstrated humility back to him, he made all apostles True Oracles, True prophets", True “soothsayers” and True healers. And those Apostle made successors, and those successors made more. Until we may all feel included in the Kingdom

With the other “gods” you’re just a spectator to a cosmic event. With Christ, you’re the most valuable player on the team.

Research all you want to, but that feeling inside gnawing at you( is He God or isnt he?) in my experience is God asking you to reciprocate the vulnerability he displayed for you. When you’re willing to do that, you’ll find all you seek.

Sorry Ive gone on longer then I meant to. But If you ignore all that I just wrote, heed this, pray before you research. You’l find what you’re looking for that way.

Just my two cents…Hope that helps.
 
Dear ejp,
No it is not a disturbing question, AND it has a comforting answer!
Jesus is the ONLY God that died and rose again ON OUR BEHALF!
Henceforth we MAY die to our sinful self and live for Him who loved
us and gave himself over to death for us!!! 2 Cor 5:15
 
I don’t like the way you phrased the thread title, because there are NO OTHER “gods.” There is only One God: the Father, the Son Who is Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, Three Divine Persons in the One and only God. We know this for a fact and for the Truth that there is only one God because He Himself revealed this throughout the generations from creation all the way through to now and forever. God told the Israelites that He is the One and only God, and this Divine Revelation came down to us fully through Jesus, Who is God the Son, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.

Paganism is absolutely 100% FALSE AND EVIL. There is One and Only One God: the Blessed Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in One God. We know this for a fact and for the Truth, because God has actually spoken to us human beings and distinctly revealed Himself to us. There is no ambiguity. There is proof in the story of Elijah, when he challenged the pagans to allow the rain to start again in Israel. They were scrambling around like idiots, trying to get their false “gods” to do something. Obviously, nothing happened. But, when Elijah offered a sacrifice to God, He accepted the sacrifice and allowed the rain to start again.

I mean, as another poster mentioned above, research and reason will only get you so far. You need a solid faith in the One and only God in order to be able to believe it as I do.

Please also read this Catholic Answers article on the subject:

www.catholic.com/tracts/the-one-true-God
 
Bodhi303 said:
Hi Ejp123

Research I don’t have. But experience I do have. What I can say is research will only take you so far on this quest. No matter how much information you amass you will eventually still have to take a leap of faith. What will help is your willingness to be vulnerable to God.

In my experience one of the philosophical ways that I find Jesus renders the gods of old obsolete, is the essence of his message. No other “gods” want union with their people. They typically want to rule. No other gods want all their people to participate in their ministry. They typically just want oracles prophets, clergy, soothsayers and healers to participate. Everyone else is just the lower class.

But Christ wants to share the universe with ALL of us, not just make some of us special and the rest of us dumb and dependent. That’s why you have the sacraments and the gifts of the Holy Spirit . Those gifts represent The Trinity’s desire for total inclusion for all in His Kingdom

In addition,
A god doesn’t make themselves vulnerable in the presence of lesser beings, then die for them, But God does.
That is love, total vulnerability. When you’re really in love with someone you are saying Im willing to be utterly vulnerable to you. Thats what Christ demonstrates on the Cross and in his life. vulnerability aka love. I don’t know ancient myths very well but I doubt Zeus or Odin or Amun Ra would ever give up all their power just for you

A god typically wants to demonstrate superiority and dominance. God wants to model humility . And it is in his humility he makes his superiority and dominance indisputable .

To me it wasn’t the miracles that convinced the 12 disciples that Christ was God, I think it was his love/vulnerability. And when the 12 demonstrated humility back to him, he made all apostles True Oracles, True prophets", True “soothsayers” and True healers. And those Apostle made successors, and those successors made more. Until we may all feel included in the Kingdom

With the other “gods” you’re just a spectator to a cosmic event. With Christ, you’re the most valuable player on the team.

Research all you want to, but that feeling inside gnawing at you( is He God or isnt he?) in my experience is God asking you to reciprocate the vulnerability he displayed for you. When you’re willing to do that, you’ll find all you seek.

Sorry Ive gone on longer then I meant to. But If you ignore all that I just wrote, heed this, pray before you research. You’l find what you’re looking for that way.

Just my two cents…Hope that helps.
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Yes, but God is also a god that desires EVERYONE to worship him and include him in their lives, for those that choose not to, they can look forward to an eternity in hell…something about that seems strange to me, sounds alot like…‘worship me or end up in a terrible place’, oh, but you have free will too. well, wheres the free will if one particular choice leads to an eternal punishment? LOL
 
mikekle said:
Yes, but God is also a god that desires EVERYONE to worship him and include him in their lives, for those that choose not to, they can look forward to an eternity in hell…something about that seems strange to me, sounds alot like…‘worship me or end up in a terrible place’, oh, but you have free will too. well, wheres the free will if one particular choice leads to an eternal punishment? LOL
Click to expand...
A very insightful post, but who are you to judge GOD’S ways???
we are but dust and ashes as Abraham realized when interceding
for Sodom and Gomorrah in Gen.18:27. God unleashes his anger
on some, but shows mercy to thousands of others! Only in heaven
in the light of the Beatific Vision of God’s Shekinah glory will we
come to enlightenment of God’s ways, be content to be his creature
made to love and serve Him, according to His will, which is love and
mercy itself!
 
mikekle said:
Yes, but God is also a god that desires EVERYONE to worship him and include him in their lives, for those that choose not to, they can look forward to an eternity in hell…something about that seems strange to me, sounds alot like…‘worship me or end up in a terrible place’, oh, but you have free will too. well, wheres the free will if one particular choice leads to an eternal punishment? LOL
Click to expand...
Hi Mikekle,

I picture Christ’s warnings about hell in the same light as my post.
Imagine heaven vs hell this way. Imagine you’re in heaven and in Church and everyone is singing Amazing Grace. Millions of souls in perfect unison, (and for once on pitch… choir joke…church goers will understand) singing a classic favorite song.

But you are hell bent (pun intended) on singing Enter Sandman by Metallica
(good song, I make no judgements, great to work out to)

There are so many people singing Amazing Grace, when you try to sing Enter Sandman you can’t even hear your own voice. And this is the song you really really want to sing. So to be heard, you exit the Church, and go sing your heart out in front.

So I believe it is with heaven and hell. You leave grace in order to do things that suit you, instead of exuding humility and doing things that suit the entire family we call the Body of Christ. I don’t think Christ kicks us out, I think we walk out.

Ultimately that is sin (IMO), doing what’s in your best interest.

Nothing wrong with wanting to sing that song, but at that moment was it really about “your” needs. At that moment it was about the entire family of heaven. Im sure in heaven, there will be ample time made to karaoke Enter Sandman. Just not at Church

So the choices are living your life to further the Kingdom or living your life for your own sake.
Choose between selfishness (hell) and humility (heaven)… is what God is likely asking. And I agree with you, (but for different reasons) its not much of a choice

This is likely why Jesus’ second commandment is love your neighbor as yourself. He’s asking us to redirect the inherent selfishness in us all, and direct it towards anyone other than yourself.

If what Im saying still isn’t connecting, here’s a simple exercise to illustrate what I mean. For the next 12 documents you need to sign I invite you to sign your surname first, and your first name second. See how that makes you feel. I’d love to know how it works out

Peace be with you…
 
I saw the title of this thread and thought it was about the book, “Jesus Among Other Gods” by Ravi Zacharias.

Ravi Zacharias, was raised in India as a Hindu, although his family weren’t very devote Hindus.

Anyway, he converted to Christianity and was a professor of comparative religions at the University of Toronto and hosts a talk show.

Although he is not Catholic, his book is right on and does not conflict with Catholic doctrine.

He compares Jesus to the founders of founders of Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism.

In the end, Jesus is who He said He is, the Alpha, The Omega, God the Son.

Jim
 
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