Jesus said Thomas isn't blessed.
Where? Certainly not here:
Joh 20:29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (ESV)
Blessed are those who believe and don't see. This is about Thomas requiring material evidence to believe that Jesus was resurrected. Hence why Thomas has always been called a doubter and he was not blessed for this.
Yet, nowhere does Jesus say that Thomas isn't blessed. Look who else didn't believe without evidence:
Luk 24:8 And they remembered his words,
Luk 24:9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.
Luk 24:10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles,
Luk 24:11
but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.
Luk 24:12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in,
he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened. (ESV)
Joh 20:1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
Joh 20:2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”
Joh 20:3 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb.
Joh 20:4 Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
Joh 20:5 And stooping to look in,
he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.
Joh 20:6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb.
He saw the linen cloths lying there,
Joh 20:7
and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself.
Joh 20:8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and
he saw and believed;
Joh 20:9 for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. (ESV)
All the disciples.
Not so. Jesus came down from heaven.
Exactly. He is the eternal Son of God, or, God the Son, who was the eternally preexistent Word. He existed in intimate relationship with the Father (and the Holy Spirit).
John's gospel begins by saying "he was in the world." This is a reference to earth.
Obviously. I've already explained all of this. It is very straightforward.
The one who was already in the world interacting with humanity is the Father, the only God there is.
As I said before, there is simply no way one can come to such a conclusion by reading John 1:1-18. John 1:10-11 is speaking of Jesus,
after his birth. This isn't in chronological order; John is just introducing and explaining Jesus as being the light of the world, which Jesus himself claims to be several times.
Joh 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Joh 9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
John temporarily leaves the main chronology behind because he first introduced John the Baptist in verse 6, stating that "He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light." John simply went on to further explain the light who "was coming into the world" (v. 9), and that then "was in the world." So, there is a "sub-chronology" from verses 6-13, before John returns to talking about the Word becoming flesh.
This is precisely why you won't find a single example of Jesus saying or doing anything in the world, or heaven for that matter, prior to his birth.
As I said before, this remains to be seen but isn't relevant to this discussion, at least at this point.
Your words are "believe Jesus is God to be saved." Your words don't appear in scripture. It's a false gospel. You should be believing Jesus is the Son of God and the Messiah to be saved.
It is strongly implied in Rom 10:9-13, where Paul equates confessing Jesus is Lord with "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved,” from Joel 2:32. Paul applies that verse to Jesus. Not to mention that Jesus is the central figure of the entire Bible, in whose name alone is salvation. Reason dictates then, that we cannot simply believe Jesus is whoever we want him to be and still think we are saved.
Joh 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (ESV)
If Jesus isn't God, then he is just a creature as we are, no different than the lambs and bulls of the OT which were insufficient for permanent atonement,
because they were mere creatures. However, because Jesus is God, his sacrifice is infinitely better and secures atonement for all time, without the need for continuing sacrifices. That is all addressed in Hebrews.
Yes it's personified. God isn't simply a word, speech, or divine utterance. That is a characteristic of God. The best translation for this is "What God was the word was" i.e., godly.
That is simply your opinion and it isn't supported by Scripture.
I hold the upper ground here with scripture on my side. I just don't see the need to patiently respond to all of your points if after addressing your flawed premises you still don't understand.
You hold no upper ground. Scripture is definitely not on your side, which is why you dismiss things without addressing them. And, you haven't shown that any premises of mine are flawed.
You simply are not open to Jesus not being God. Am I right?
Of course not. It isn't biblical. There is a reason the deity of Jesus has been the historical, orthodox belief of the Church since the beginning--it's literally written throughout the NT.
