Divinity of Jesus

One for Brien and John W. (and anyone else who wants to pip in,)

What are your respective doctrines (J.W. & L.D.S.) concerning Jesus' divinity?

Years ago, i spent couple of hours in discourse with a gentleman from the J.W. (who rang my dorbell and woke me up early one saturday,) and i seem to remember that we got into a debate about the that subject. His side being that Jesus was not divine. Is my memory faulty?

John, or anyone else knowlegable in L.D.S. doctrine, what do the Mormons hold?

What about any other flavors of christianity, or even other faiths?

i guess also i'll extend the question to non-believers as well as to:

1) Jesus: human/divine?
2) Jesus: mythical/real? (although i anticipate the answers to that one.)

Thanks,
-mw.

I say:

1) human (my opinion)
2) real (I think the discovery of James' burial box last year pretty well sewed that one up)

Probably these anwers are obvious, but anyway...

>>1) Jesus: human/divine?<<

Human.

2) Jesus: mythical/real? (although i anticipate the answers to that one.)

Real. Although he may not have been taken note of by other writers of the time, I think the Bible at the very least establishes that Jesus was a real person.

Hi Mike,

I would not comment on what people believe, but what the bible teaches is that Jesus was God in Human flesh. (John 1) That He was "God with us" (Is 7:14) "Mighty God" "Everlasting Father" (Is 9:6) The creator of the universe (Col 1:16) and eternal. (Mic 5:2) So according to the bible, Jesus was both devine and human.

Some Christian denominations reject these, for example the Christadelphians, Unitarians, JW, etc. The seeds of their beliefs can be found in the teachings of the gnostics of the first century AD and the Origen in the 3rd century AD.

I would think that there would be few people today who would deny that Jesus was a real person. However, wheather people believe He was "God with us" of just a religious teacher who made a blunder in PR, depends very much on how they view the biblical account.

Cheers,

Maurice

Mike - contrary to what is sometimes repeated in the "fundamentalist" Christian circles - members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are Christian:

"Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He was the Creator, He is our Savior, and He will be our Judge.
Under the direction of our Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ created the earth (John 1:10; Hebrews 1:2).

When Jesus lived on the earth (approximately 2,000 years ago), He led a perfect life. He taught by word and example how people should live in love of God and others.

Through His suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane and by giving His life on the cross—that is, by performing the Atonement—Jesus Christ saves us from our sins (1 Peter 2:21) as we follow Him. Because of the Atonement, you can be forgiven of your sins when you sincerely repent.

Through His Resurrection, Jesus Christ saved us from death. Because He overcame death, we will all be given the gift of resurrection (Acts 24:15; 1 Corinthians 15:22). When life on this earth is over, Jesus Christ will be the final Judge (Acts 17:31; John 5:21–22; Acts 10:42). "

We believe that God the Father and Jesus Christ are two individual, separate, perfect, glorified beings, both with perfect, glorified, immortal physical bodies.

The Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit is the third member of the Godhead and, as the name implies, is a personage of Spirit, not possessing a body of flesh and bones.

Latter-Day Saints also claim what some here have called "special knowledge" in that Jesus Christ has appeared to our prophets in our age. So for us it's more than a 2000 year-old story - it's quite real.

John W

Mike,

Here goes the JW view about Jesus' Divinity:

Jesus is divine now in heaven, or god-like (from dictionary). He is a god, which means mighty one, strong one. He is called the only-begotten god, since God produced Jesus as his first born son. Jesus was evidently the first angel that God created. Evidently, he was the only angel that God created directly. Then God through Jesus Christ as his Master Worker (Proverbs 8:22-31) produced everything else, meaning the rest of the angels, the universe, man, ect (John 1:3).

God (Jehovah) had Jesus' lifeforce transferred to the womb of Mary, and Jesus was born fully human, being a perfect man, the same as Adam was. Jesus did miracles because God gave him power, and holy spirit to do them. Jesus served God under trial the way that Adam should have. He willingly gave up his eternal life on this earth to buy back obedient mankind. God lovingly provided another perfect man for this ransom or atonement, since imperfect humans could never provide a proper substitute or sacrifice for God's justice to be served. Adam, through his willful sin as a perfect man, threw away a very precious gift from God (eternal, perfect life) for himself, and his offspring.

God resurrected Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion as a powerful spirit, and Jesus appeared to his disciples for 40 days, then ascended back to heaven to sit at God's right hand until he received his kingdom from God (Psalms 110:1).

There is also an angel called Michael, who is called an archangel, who leads God's people (see Daniel 12:1), and who battles with Satan and his demons (Revelation 12:7). Since Jesus leads his congregation of disciples today, and since Jesus was to do the same battling with Satan (Genesis 3:15) this points to Michael as being actually the resurrected Jesus Christ, Jesus taking back the name (Michael) that he had previously in heaven before he came to the earth. Also, at 1 Thessalonians 4:16 Jesus is said to have an archangel's voice.

However this insight into Michael being Jesus is not what trinitarians believe, since they say Jesus is God. But if you believe that Jesus is God's son, not God, then the whole puzzle comes together. Of course, trinitarians have their own story, but if you examine closely you will find which is true yourself. Also the early church fathers tended to believe in Jesus being a subordinate being to God. Also the words of Jesus testify to his subordinate role.

Brien