Mec
Jesus is the Son of God
Jesus is also God
Jesus became flesh john1:1
Jesus is the second person of the Godhead.
''This is foolish to the natural man''
Mec and mutz
You guys ignore passages like this and I am paraphrasing, but will be happy to look up the passages for you guys although you guys are faniliar with them, but Pride is keeping you guys from coming to a ''saving'' grace and knowledge that is Christ Jesus... God incarnite...
''If you have seen me, you have seen the Father''
'' my Lord and my God''
'' To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ''
''I am the alpha and the omega''
So again if Jesus is not God then explain this to me.....
Why was the early and present day church so concerned about the doctrine of the Trinity?
ONLY HALF of the early church was FOR a 'trinity'. That was EXACTLY what the council of Nicea was concerned with.
Most of the present day denominations are nothing more than off-shoots of the Catholic Church.
Now, the important issue and a valid question which you asked. Here's the answer. I have offered it over and over again but here it is again.
The Romans of influence at the time Christianity was introduced were MOSTLY followers of Mithra. Mithra was considered a 'three part' god. It then becomes quite obvious that they would have been accustomed to and familiar with a 'trinity'. Not surprising then that when Christianity was introduced, Father, Son and Holy Spirit had the 'same' conotation and therefore seen as 'existing' in the same respect as what they were 'use to'.
There WERE many and HAVE BEEN MANY from that time and since that have refused to accept this 'man-made' doctrine.
Now, I ask YOU a question. WHY would the RCC find this doctrine of 'their OWN creation' SO important that they would torture and MURDER those that refused to accept it? IN THE NAME OF CHRIST, no doubt. If these that perpetrated such treatment upon their flock were TRULY inspired, PLEASE explain to me HOW they were able to justify such treatment of their brothers and sisters in Christ.
Is it really essential to hold to the full deity of the Son and the Holy Spirit? Yes it is, for this teaching has implications for the very heart of the Christian faith.
First, the atonement is at stake. If Jesus is merely a created being, and not fully God, then it is hard to see how he, a creature, could bear the full wrath of God against all of our sins. Could any creature, no matter how great, really save us?
And see, it is YOU that insist that God be contained within a 'box' of YOUR understanding. God is capable of doing as He PLEASES. NOT as we please. We have NO control over God whatsoever. Yet this is EXACTLY what you have offered in your statement above. That God MUST react as 'you see fit'. Vanity, my friend and nothing more.
Second, justification by faith alone is threatened if we deny the full deity of the Son. (This is seen today in the teaching of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who do not believe in justification by faith alone.) If Jesus is not fully God, we would rightly doubt whether we can really trust him to save us completely. Could we really depend on any creature fully for our salvation?
I depend upon GOD and the sacrifice that HE OFFERED, His ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, Jesus Christ. I do NOT worship Christ AS God for the simple reason that HE GAVE US HIMSELF. He stated on NUMEROUS occasions that what He offered WAS NOT HIS OWN, but GIVEN HIM BY THE FATHER. That He was/IS The Son of God. And we KNOW that the Father IS God.
Third, if Jesus is not infinite God, should we pray to him or worship him? Who but an infinite, omniscient God could hear and respond to all the prayers of all God’s people? And who but God himself is worthy of worship? Indeed, if Jesus is merely a creature, no matter how great, it would be idolatry to worship himâ€â€yet the New Testament commands us to do so (Phil. 2:9–11; Rev. 5:12–14).
Christ IS worthy of worship in that He IS the Son of God. It is those that accept this 'trinity' that INSIST that He is to be worshiped AS God. I do not. I worship Christ as the Son of God and thank Him daily for what He has offered. I pray to God in the NAME of Jesus Christ for this is what we have been instructed to do. But I DO NOT place Christ in an EQUAL position of God. He IS God's Son and there is ONLY ONE GOD.
Fourth, if someone teaches that Christ was a created being but nonetheless one who saved us, then this teaching wrongly begins to attribute credit for salvation to a creature and not to God himself. But this wrongfully exalts the creature rather than the Creator, something Scripture never allows us to do.
WRONG. Christ simply obeyed the will of the Father. The sacrifice was designed BY GOD. Christ simply followed the will of the Father. Not only in His submitting to sacrifice, but His ministry itself was designed BY GOD. His power was given Him BY GOD. And even the words that He offered were given Him BY GOD.
Oh, and you raise a really important point. We were warned that there would come a time that those that 'claimed' to follow the will of the Father would begin to worship the creation MORE than the Creator Himself. So, in your own words you offer that for Christ to be created then to worship Him AS God would be to worship the creation MORE than the Creator. So, you are right in that scripture does NOT allow us to worship the creation in the same way that we worship the Creator. It expressly offers that those that would live in darkness would do such and to their own folly.
Fifth, the independence and personal nature of God are at stake: If there is no Trinity, then there were no interpersonal relationships within the being of God before creation, and, without personal relationships, it is difficult to see how God could be genuinely personal or be without the need for a creation to relate to.
Christ WAS the Son of God PREVIOUS to His taking on flesh. The exact WHEN of Christ becoming the Son is not something that we have been offered at this point. But the simply nature of the words Father and Son show order, do they not?
Sixth, the unity of the universe is at stake: If there is not perfect plurality and perfect unity in God himself, then we have no basis for thinking there can be any ultimate unity among the diverse elements of the universe either. Clearly, in the doctrine of the Trinity, the heart of the Christian faith is at stake. ''
[/b]