Jesus Christ IS God...not merely a good person or a prophet

Have you ever encountered someone who remarks that Jesus Christ is merely a man? Or someone states that Jesus was just a good person or a prophet? Do you find yourself off guard at such comments?

Who did Jesus say that He was? Who does the Bible (the most accurate and well-attested to literary work in history)say Jesus is?

Here are some helpful references to Jesus Christ's and the Bible's claims to the diety of Jesus Christ:

Mark 9:37 - "Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me."

John 5:23 "that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him."

John 8:19 "They said to him therefore, 'Where is your Father?' Jesus answered, 'You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.'"

John 12:44-45 "44And Jesus cried out and said, 'Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. 45And whoever sees me sees him who sent me.'"

John 14:1 ""Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me."

John 14:7 "If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."

John 14:9 "Jesus said to him, 'Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?'"

John 15:23 "Whoever hates me hates my Father also."

Matthew 11:27 "All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."

John 5:17 "But Jesus answered them, 'My Father is working until now, and I am working.'"

John 10:30 "I and the Father are one."

John 14:10-11 "10Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves."

John 19:7 "The Jews answered him, 'We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.'"

From the ESV Study Bible:

Jesus Is God: Specific Examples Where Greek Theos (“God”) Is Applied to Jesus

John 1:1	In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:18	No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.
John 20:28	Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
Rom. 9:5	To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
Titus 2:13	. . . waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ . . .
Heb. 1:8	But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.”
2 Pet. 1:1	To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ . . .

Jesus cannot merely be reduced to being a good man or a prophet...because of the nature of both His and the Bible's claims, He is either God in flesh, a lunatic or a liar. Who do you say that He is?

Mark 8:29 "'But what about you?' he asked. 'Who do you say I am?' Peter answered, 'You are the Christ.'"

Quote - William Carey

"All my friends are but one, but He is all sufficient." William Carey

Twilight - A Christian Parent's Perspective

What are Christian parents to think of the Twilight series of vampire novels?

Taking on Twilight by Wendy Nentwig is a helpful Christian article on the phenomena of Twilight. Her main points are outlined below:

• "When it comes to the vampire storyline, which has a starring role in the books, it’s less offensive than any of the scary movies currently aimed at teens—and a lot more chaste. "
• "Further complicating things is the Cullen family’s desire to be 'good' vampires."
• "For me, the biggest issue I’d have letting a teen I know read this series is the one that seems the most innocuous on the surface: the love story"
• "As Christians, we should give much more thought to everything we allow to entertain us. It isn’t just the wizards and the vampires that pose a threat. In fact, they may be more harmless than the stuff we allow to chip away at our morals everyday. Pop culture is a powerful thing. If you don’t think so, ask your family and friends how many Bible verses they can quote and then ask them how many TV theme songs they can sing. "

Chuck Colson's The Point blog makes these points (two blogs The Wrong Message & Conversations with Your Daughter):

• an "old, dangerous idea that a 'bad boy' can easily be won and tamed by a 'good girl'—an idea that has brought heartache to untold millions of good girls"
• "the vampire Edward has disturbing habits like sneaking into Bella’s room and watching her sleep, eavesdropping on her and her friends, encouraging her to deceive her father, and even disabling her truck and kidnapping her to keep her from seeing other friends."
• "Bella is completely without self-confidence. She’s constantly putting herself down and treating her boyfriend as some superior being, using terms like “god” and “angel” to describe him"
• "So the bottom line is, be sure you are reading what your kids are reading. That’s a message that my family—and families everywhere—ought to take to heart."

My biggest concern?? That teenagers can and will read 500 page fiction novels, but spend little to no time reading God's Word. It is concerning how teenagers, often learning from the model of their parents, can spend significant hours a week immersed in media & culture but only a few minutes per week with their Lord and Creator.

My challenge to parents?? Take your child to your local Christian book store and encourage them to read Christian books...even if that means starting them out in the fiction section. Help them to prioritize their devotional life and Christian walk over their entertainment life.

1 Corinthians 10:23 "'All things are lawful,' but not all things are helpful. 'All things are lawful,' but not all things build up."

1 Corinthians 10:31 "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."

"The children will follow the example, instead of following the advice." -Lord Palmerston

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS FROM SVBC'S VERY OWN BECCA OWSLEY...

I was reading the Christian perspective on Twilight blog the other day and I don’t think one of the people cited read the books because his evaluation of the characters was wrong and I was surprised to see that it came from Colson b/c I would have thought he would have put more research into it. The below statements are actually not accurate to the book. The vampire in the book is not the “bad guy”. He’s actually more of a gentleman than any character I’ve ever seen in a book since Mr. Darcy. He’s very protective of her, encourages abstinence and pretty much puts her needs above his own. Bella is also not what you would call the “good girl” vs the “bad boy”. Actually she pushes the limits more than he does and he has to remind her to behave. I’m thinking Colson just assumed that b/c he is a vampire his statements below would be true but they are not. I also don’t remember him encouraging her to deceive anyone except to keep them from being eaten by another vampire. :-) They are relatively clean and being a sci-fi nut, didn’t have a big problem with the vampires. I’m not defending the books …I’m just big on making sure the facts are straight on things. I saw a lot of this in the Harry Potter series that I bought into but after reading the books for myself realized most of the criticism came from people who had obviously not read the books and were completely off base. They were noting like what the buzz against them were about. Jonathan’s right though…and I stressed this to my Sunday school class. If we can read those books and spend time taking about it, we should be spending more of that time talking about and reading the Bible. And if you think the Bible is boring than you obviously haven’t read Judges. :-) By all means read, read, read (my vocation depends on it J). But remember to read the most important thing you will every read (the Bible) first and filter all other things you read through it. Colson’s statements that aren’t exactly accurate:

• "old, dangerous idea that a 'bad boy' can easily be won and tamed by a 'good girl'—an idea that has brought heartache to untold millions of good girls"
• "the vampire Edward has disturbing habits like sneaking into Bella’s room and watching her sleep, eavesdropping on her and her friends, encouraging her to deceive her father, and even disabling her truck and kidnapping her to keep her from seeing other friends."