Why is Jesus God?

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I hate to ask, but right now I’m struggling with this issue :o

I made another thread like this, but I still don’t have an answer.

Here’s my line of thought:
Jesus was the Messiah. No doubt about that. However, I still don’t know why that makes Him God. Couldn’t He have just been a great miracle worker who healed people, etc.? And couldn’t God have just raised Him on the third day? Couldn’t Jesus have just thought He was God, but been in error?

Sorry; I hate to ask this. :o 😦 any help would be very much appreciated.

As a sidenote: I’ve had several book recomendations but I can’t read them. If I checked them out [from the library] I would be an outcast in my family for being ‘the religious one’. I’m already going to church and Confession (weekly) so I really don’t want to risk any more alienation. Just so you all know that’s why I can’t read any book recommendations.

Thank you in advance,
coolduude:cool:
 
coolduude said:
I hate to ask, but right now I’m struggling with this issue :o

I made another thread like this, but I still don’t have an answer.

Here’s my line of thought:
Jesus was the Messiah. No doubt about that. However, I still don’t know why that makes Him God. Couldn’t He have just been a great miracle worker who healed people, etc.? And couldn’t God have just raised Him on the third day? Couldn’t Jesus have just thought He was God, but been in error?

Sorry; I hate to ask this. :o 😦 any help would be very much appreciated.

As a sidenote: I’ve had several book recomendations but I can’t read them. If I checked them out [from the library] I would be an outcast in my family for being ‘the religious one’. I’m already going to church and Confession (weekly) so I really don’t want to risk any more alienation. Just so you all know that’s why I can’t read any book recommendations.

Thank you in advance,
coolduude:cool:
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Sorry for asking but I am confused.:confused: What exactly didn’t you understand in your last thread? There was really good advice there.
 
True.

But when I asked about the Covenant the responses I got were things like ‘read this book it explains it all!’. Trust me, if I could get those books I would and I would stop asking. But if I don’t have to be alienated I won’t be. So I’ll just stick with asking on here for the time being.

Otherwise, it was a good thread.
 
Anyway, I would say that he was God because he simply claimed to be GOD. He also did it in a way that would seem to indicate this.

Remember when he said that he and the Father were one. Also the verse were in says that in the beginning the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
 
coolduude said:
True.

But when I asked about the Covenant the responses I got were things like ‘read this book it explains it all!’. Trust me, if I could get those books I would and I would stop asking. But if I don’t have to be alienated I won’t be. So I’ll just stick with asking on here for the time being.

Otherwise, it was a good thread.
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CD, I’ll get with you on the Covenant query. And I won’t make you buy a book to understand! 😉

Let me find my info.
 
Stay close to Pope Benedict XVI…

“The resurrection, then, is not a theory, but a historical reality revealed by the man Jesus Christ by means of his “Passover”, his “passage”, that has opened a “new way” between heaven and earth (cf. Heb 10:20). It is neither a myth nor a dream, it is not a vision or a utopia, it is not a fairy tale, but it is a singular and unrepeatable event: Jesus of Nazareth, son of Mary, who at dusk on Friday was taken down from the Cross and buried, has victoriously left the tomb. In fact, at dawn on the first day after the Sabbath, Peter and John found the tomb empty. Mary Magdalene and the other women encountered the risen Jesus. On the way to Emmaus the two disciples recognized him at the breaking of the bread. The Risen One appeared to the Apostles that evening in the Upper Room and then to many other disciples in Galilee…” Pope Benedict XVI

vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20081022_en.html

vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20080903_en.html

vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2006/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20060614_en.html

vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2006/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20060315_en.html

vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2006/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20060322_en.html

etc…they are all great…
 
I see what you’re saying, Bookcat. However, couldn’t have God just raised Jesus, much like how Jesus raised Lazarus? Couldn’t the same have happened to Jesus?

I wish I didn’t think like this. I do though. 😦
 
coolduude said:
I see what you’re saying, Bookcat. However, couldn’t have God just raised Jesus, much like how Jesus raised Lazarus? Couldn’t the same have happened to Jesus?

I wish I didn’t think like this. I do though. 😦
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of course Jesus claimed to be the Son of God…to be one with the Father…as CS Lewis put it he is either a liar, a lunatic or Lord.

And given the content of Revelation…and knowing Christ…in Scripture, the Church, the Sacraments, prayer…he is Lord!

and those who knew him…came to see who he is…and proclaimed him to the world…they were his witnesses…

the approach one takes when such questions come to one is the ancient “Faith seeking understanding”… we need always stand firm of course in our Faith …and seek to understand …and sometimes one must stand as a martyr even at times against ones own thoughts that come to one…

again…I urge you to read those links from Pope Benedict…and to read his homiles etc…for instance for holy week and Easter and other major feasts …for each year so far…
 
coolduude said:
True.

But when I asked about the Covenant the responses I got were things like ‘read this book it explains it all!’. Trust me, if I could get those books I would and I would stop asking. But if I don’t have to be alienated I won’t be. So I’ll just stick with asking on here for the time being.

Otherwise, it was a good thread.
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Here are several articles about Covenants. What they mean and how they are formatted.

agapebiblestudy.com/documents/Covenants_Documents_Menu.php
 
**Excellent question! **Although these type questions have been around since Jesus first preached, they are just as relevant & often misunderstood today!

That is the beauty of the Catholic Faith, it is the only place you can find the fullness of the Truth. All of these questions have been discussed, debated & answered by the greatest human minds over the past 2000 years, & when needed, the Pope, in communion with the Synod of Bishops, guided by the Holy Spirit, has answered definitively resolving these disagreements!

Read the Catholic Answers Article “The Divinity of Christ”( found here; catholic.com/library/Divinity_of_Christ.asp)

The article begins;

"**Christ’s divinity is shown over and over again in the New Testament. For example, in John 5:18 we are told that Jesus’ opponents sought to kill him because he “called God his Father, making himself equal with God.”

In John 8:58, when quizzed about how he has special knowledge of Abraham, Jesus replies, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I Am”—invoking and applying to himself the personal name of God—“I Am” (Ex. 3:14). His audience understood exactly what he was claiming about himself. “So they took up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple” (John 8:59)… **

Here is another excellent article written by Tim Staples responding to the Jehovah’s Witness claims that Jesus is not God; goodcathinfo.com/ccarchjesnotgod.htm

This question has been around since the earliest days & when Christianity was first allowed to be practiced publicly by Emperor Constantine, without fear of persecution in the early 3rd century, the Council of Nicaea was convened to deal with untruths & false teachings called"heresy."

**Papal Encyclical, Church Councils & Documents can be found on the Vatican website here; **papalencyclicals.net/Councils/index.htm

“Though the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15 and Galatians 2) was the first Church Council, attended by the Apostles, the first Ecumenical (world-wide) Council was called by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great with Pope Saint Sylvester I sitting on the Throne of Peter as the 33rd successor of Christ’s appointed Apostle.” dailycatholic.org/history/councils.htm

“The focus of the Council of Nicaea was the divinity of Christ … Arius taught that Jesus Christ was divine and was sent to earth for the salvation of mankind but that Jesus Christ was not equal to the Father” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianism.

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, Ora Pro Nobis Peccatoribus!

mark
 
coolduude said:
I see what you’re saying, Bookcat. However, couldn’t have God just raised Jesus, much like how Jesus raised Lazarus? Couldn’t the same have happened to Jesus?

I wish I didn’t think like this. I do though. 😦
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God COULD have done all manner of things. What He chose to do what to become flesh and dwell among us, to take on all our sinfulness and undergo the punishment that justice demanded for our sins, to offer a pure and living sacrifice and make it possible for us to partake of it.

Why? Because He loves us.
 
coolduude said:
Would this be the article to read about why Jesus (God) had to die to disolve the Covenant?
agapebiblestudy.com/documents/The%20Bible%20and%20Yahweh’s%20Covenant%20Treaty%20with%20the%20Church.htm

Bookcat- I read one of the homilies. Pope Benedict XVI really is eloquent! 😃 I enjoyed it and I’ll read more later 🙂
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I’m not sure if this article (Agape) covers really why Jesus had to die to dissolve the Covenant, although one can draw this conclusion on their own.
 
coolduude said:
I hate to ask, but right now I’m struggling with this issue :o

I made another thread like this, but I still don’t have an answer.

Here’s my line of thought:
Jesus was the Messiah. No doubt about that. However, I still don’t know why that makes Him God. Couldn’t He have just been a great miracle worker who healed people, etc.? And couldn’t God have just raised Him on the third day? Couldn’t Jesus have just thought He was God, but been in error?

Sorry; I hate to ask this. :o 😦 any help would be very much appreciated.

As a sidenote: I’ve had several book recomendations but I can’t read them. If I checked them out [from the library] I would be an outcast in my family for being ‘the religious one’. I’m already going to church and Confession (weekly) so I really don’t want to risk any more alienation. Just so you all know that’s why I can’t read any book recommendations.

Thank you in advance,
coolduude:cool:
Click to expand...
Jesus is a part of the Holy Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. To believe in God, you also acknowledge that God created Jesus in the form of man, to be born of the virgin Mary, to come to earth, and redeem us by His dying upon the cross. Jesus is the Son of the ever living God. God the Father and Jesus are one and the same. God had shown Himself to man in a way that man could understand Him. In human form, but without the stain of original sin because Jesus was God. I hope this sort of clarifies things for you CD.
 
mary1173 said:
Jesus is a part of the Holy Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. To believe in God, you also acknowledge that God created Jesus in the form of man, to be born of the virgin Mary, to come to earth, and redeem us by His dying upon the cross. Jesus is the Son of the ever living God. God the Father and Jesus are one and the same. God had shown Himself to man in a way that man could understand Him. In human form, but without the stain of original sin because Jesus was God. I hope this sort of clarifies things for you CD.
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We need to be very careful with language when we discuss these mysteries. The Church explicitly denies any use of “Created” with reference to Jesus - because He is Uncreated God. (“Begotten, not made, one in being with the Father.”)

The Word was God and Became Flesh and Dwelt among us (John 1).

I don’t mean to suggest that you don’t believe this, Mary, I’m just clarifying because the words can get us into trouble. . . .
 
I’ve still been reading up on this to further increase my knowledge on the subject and here’s what I found:

Question: Why is Jesus God?
Answer:

We believe Jesus Christ is God because God Himself revealed this truth:

first, through the Prophets of the Old Testament who foretold that the promised Redeemer would be God;

second, through Christ Himself, who claimed to be God and confirmed His own testimony by the holiness of His life, by the fulfillment of His prophecies, and by the miracles He worked in His own name and by His own power, especially His Resurrection.

What I’m confused on is the first part. Where do the Prophets say Jesus will be God? I’ve never seen that in the OT (then again I’ve never read the OT). Does anyone have an answer to this?
 
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