Is Jesus God?

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I have a question that my friends have asked me and i do not know how to explain it. Is Jesus God?

-- mandy (mistic@webtv.com), July 03, 2001

Answers

Yes, Mandy. Jesus is God. God is made up of the Holy Trinity. God the Father. God the Son. And God the Holy Spirit. Three separate entities in one. Hard to understand, believe me, I know! God the Father saw how humanity was turning and not believing anymore. Not having any faith or belief. Therefore, He (let's say) took a piece of Himself (the Holy Spirit) and sent it down to Earth. Mary, a virgin, was filled with the Holy Spirit and conceived a child, Jesus. In order for humanity to know that God truly understands how we feel and to show His immense love for us, He became Man, Jesus. It says in the Bible: And the Word became Flesh. God became Man. Hope this helps you. If not, post again and I or someone else here, I'm sure, will help you further. Good luck and God bless, Mandy!

-- jackiea (jackiea@hotmail.com), July 03, 2001.

so are you saying it is the same God in the father as in the son like the same person?

the questions that my friends ask me are like. if jesus is God and died then how can God die? or like how can God be borned and grow in wisdom when God is suppost to already know eveything.

thanks for your help

-- mandy (mistic@webtv.com), July 03, 2001.


Hello again, Mandy. Well, now, let's see. I know this is difficult to understand. Heck, I'm almost 30 and I JUST got it a couple of weeks ago. So many times, people have told me "it's just faith". Rather frustrating but gosh! it's true. Let me try to relate something that happened to me recently, ok? I was sitting here at my desk. All was quiet in our home. I had two candles lit on my desk. That was the only light in the house. I was just sitting here thinking about God and being reflective. I put my elbows on the desk; my hands together as if in prayer and I laid my head against my hands. I closed my eyes and a moment or two later, I saw the most brilliant light. In the center, it was as if it were the sun and the rays coming off were translucent. Then, in the rays, I saw a beautiful white dove in flight. Under that I saw the Sacred Heart. And to the right I saw Mary and Jesus standing there. And I was just amazed and in awe. Because God was graciously showing me the Trinity. That which I had struggled so hard to grasp, He was allowing me to see it! And this complete sense of understand completely engulfed my soul. They are all separate but one.

God can not die. But God the Son, Jesus did because He became man. Being human allowed him to feel all the things that we do. The pain, happiness, hunger, thirst, etc. The growing in wisdom part...well, that's been a source of debate around here, Mandy. :) It seems to be in the translation. I think that Jesus always knew He was predestined for this. But growing in wisdom....I think it meant the teachings and growth any other human child would go through.

-- jackiea (jackiea@hotmail.com), July 03, 2001.


Mandy,
We are called to believe God is eternal, with no beginning and no end. He is revealed to us in the Holy Gospel as ONE God. But the One God reveals Himself as three distinct and different Persons. As the Creator of heaven and earth, He's the eternal Father. When the Second Person, the only-begotten Son, also eternal, became man-- He was named Jesus.

But His existence is from eternity. He entered the world to be born as a man, the Son of God on earth. He died on the cross, but was raised from the dead and lives for all eternity again, as man and God. The two natures are one Person now. The Father and His eternal Son generate a Third Person, also One in God, but a Person of His own identity, equal to the Father and Son. He is the Holy Spirit. The words of all the prophets and holy people in the Bible are His words. That's the reason there can be no error or falsehood in the Holy Scriptures. It's the Word of God.

As stated above, these are revealed truths, spoken directly by God, and recorded in the Holy Bible. We are given the FAITH to believe and know them for the truth, by God Himself. They can't be known to us except by His own revelation. Faith is necessary, it's a condition by which we show God we accept His Word. If we have no faith, we lose His salvation. The salvation made possible for us by His Son's death on the cross. In the truths given us by the Holy Spirit we know the Son, who raises us up to His Father. You can and must always believe, God demands our faith.

-- eugene c. chavez (chavezec@pacbell.net), July 03, 2001.


Moderator, please replace the first post with this one. Thank you. In the first post I neglected the word "NOT". Thanks.

Blessed Trinity is not with three "separate entities"; the Persons are NOT separate, they are eternally united, co-equal, co-eternal, of one being, one essence. A tendency to separate is what may have caused Muhammad to reject polytheistic heresies that may have been in his path. The Blessed Trinity cannot be separated to parts as Aquinas demonstrated. A finite perspective will not capture the trinity of eternal divine Persons.

...journey: http://www.allsoulscc.org/ecumenism.htm

... on the way, Joe Faust

-- Joe Faust (joefaust@hotmail.com), November 08, 2001.



Yes, Joe.
The Catechism says:

253. "The Trinity is One. We do not confess three Gods, but one God in three persons, the 'consubstantial Trinity'.[Council of Constantinople II(553): DS 421.] The divine persons do not share the one divinity among themselves [i.e., each getting a part], but each of them is God whole and entire: 'The Father is that which the Son is, the Son that which the Father is, the Father and the Son that which the Holy Spirit is, i.e. by nature one God.'[Council of Toledo XI (675): DS 530:26.] In the words of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), 'Each of the persons is that supreme reality, viz., the divine substance, essence or nature.'[Lateran Council IV (1215): DS 804.]"

267. "Inseparable in what they are, the divine persons are also inseparable in what they do. But within the single divine operation each shows forth what is proper to him in the Trinity, especially in the divine missions of the Son's Incarnation and the gift of the Holy Spirit."

JFG

-- (jfgecik@hotmail.com), November 08, 2001.


Mandy, I am assuming your friends were baptised Christian. All I can tell you is to recommend to your friends to read a Bible. It is obvious they have not, for if they had, they would never have asked such a question. Is Jesus God? Well, Sacred Scripture seems to say so clearly and emphatically in many different ways in order that we could never become confused about the identity of Jesus Christ, the foundation of our Christian faith. And yet, the question still persists. John’s Gospel deals with this subject in several different passages. The opening line of John’s Gospel clearly defines who Jesus was. He hits us right between the eyes with it. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Remember Jesus is the “Word” and He told us so, “Jesus then said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples,” (John 8:31) and “Jesus answered him, "If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23)

Further on in John (5:18) the fact that Jesus taught others that He was in fact God or equal to God, was described, “This was why the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath but also called God his Father, making himself equal with God.” In John 8:58, Jesus told us flat out who He was, “Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." Later Thomas acknowledges Jesus and what He taught and proved to him, that He was his God when He says, “My Lord, and my God!” (20:28)

St. Paul in his epistles deals extensively with the subject of who God is. “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,” (Phil 2:6) He reaffirms this in his letter to the Colossians (1:15-19) “He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities--all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent. For in him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell,”

Again, St. Paul cuts to the chase and tells it exactly like it is, “For in him the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily,” (Col. 2-9) and “awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, (Tit. 2:13).

Throughout the Bible, refences to the deity of Jesus are give over and over again. Jesus is referred to as the first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega, the King of Kings, the power and the wisdom of God, the glory of God, the Lord of all, etc. The list goes on and on. Again Mandy, in answer to your friends who may ask who Jesus really was, tell them to read a Bible.

Peace!

Ed

-- Ed Lauzon (grader@accglobal.net), November 11, 2001.


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