Comments on: Jesus is God – A Biblical Portrait

By: 1angeleye

1angeleye — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:58:09 +0000

Good day Msgr. Pope and Happy Feast day of Christ the King AND Happy Thanksgiving day. I really enjoyed reading your site. Your lesson today is very informative it reminds me of my simple faith. I remember the day I talked to Jesus in Spirit and accepted Him as the true Son of God and His divinity and then I asked Him a favor of revealing to me the true church and if it is true that He (Jesus) has chosen our national hero (Rizal) as a servant of our country, I begged Him (Jesus) to show to me in person, in the Spirit and in Truth, our hero – Rizal and whatever church he belongs ( i know that Rizal was a catholic), there I will follow and whatever example he (Rizal) showed I will also try to imitate him (Rizal was not afraid to expose the wrongdoings of the people during his time even if the church was involved in his revelation and it caused his death by firing squad). And true enough to simple believers like me, after offering prayer and fasting, God showed Rizal to me in person physically. It only took me 3 days of prayer and fasting and God in His mercy answered my request. From that time on up to the present I did not leave my faith and church no matter how my fellow catholics hurt my feelings for not believing in what i am sharing with regards to my spirituality. Until now, i still remains a suffering servant from my fellow catholics. But i do believe that God in His time will give justice to my advocacy and love for Him in Spirit and in Truth. Let us give thanks to God nor only during Thanksgiving day but everyday of our life. Have a blessed day to all of us.

By: Allan Svensson

Allan Svensson — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:41:53 +0000

Hi,
I found your Web Site by Google
And I wish you the best you can get,
the peace of God through Jesus Christ.

Most people don’t know whom Jesus is. Also many who
profess that they believe in the Bible, deny that Jesus is God.
In Hebr. 1:1-14 it is God Father himself who speaks to his
Son, and calls him God. Verse 8 and 9.

All God’s angels will worship him. (Verse 6). If Jesus is not
God, it would imply that all God’s angels would be guilty
of idolatry when they worship Jesus.

When Thomas said to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!” then
Jesus had no objection. John 20:28. When the disciples
worshipped Jesus, then he received their worship, and he
said nothing against that. Matt. 28:9, 17.

In John 8:24 Jesus says: If you do not believe that I am what
I am, you will die in your sins. (The New English Bible).

In Matt. 19:16-17 Jesus says:
“Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is,
God.” With this Jesus means, If I am good, then I am God.

If you want to do God’s will, then you understand that Jesus’
teaching is from God. John 7:17.

By: cialovesyou

cialovesyou — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 09:38:27 +0000

Exactly My point….Vat II opens the door to an interpretation of the Gospel as a “sythesis” of events in order to speak to the contremporary Churches – in the case of John, somewhere between 80-100 AD. We are then to imagine how this all works. I hope you will agree that we are talking about literature here, not live footage. Hence, if I am speaking of a community which is requiring strenthening in the matter that Jesus is “ego eimi”, for instance, then some 50 years after the event, we may use a story which we have in the tradition, and structure it with a conversation which relays this point to the contemporary Church.

I do admit if there was ever any doubt about the divinity of Jesus – this is heresy – and you have reason to be annoyed.

But taking a swipe at the rest of the issues is not fair either…it is simply retreating from a deeper understanding.

By: Bender

Bender — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:25:07 +0000

Well, if “Q” and that tent-maker Paul and probably Jerome all simply made most of it up (with Matthew, Mark, and Luke simply plagerizing Q rather than independently writing their own material), they really do deserve the prize for the greatest literary geniuses of all time.

The immense depth and complexity and interrelatedness of the New Testament, as well as the Old Testament, which I’m sure some people say is largely made up also, not to mention the philosophical and theological sophistication, and the presentment of truths which, upon proper inspection, are entirely consistent throughout, all of these aspects of the scriptures is staggering. So staggering, in fact, it is doubtful that they were made up. If these scriptures were not true divine revelations, were not the fruit of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, were not what was truly said and truly done, but were largely the inventions of certain first century men, then those men were without doubt the greatest literary geniuses ever. But it is also highly unlikely that any two or three men of the first century could have been so perfect in their writing or otherwise have pulled it off.

It is so much easier and more rational to believe that Jesus actually did say what the Gospels say He said and did what they say He did.

This is yet another area where belief is so much easier than unbelief and so much more reasonable than unbelief.

By: Msgr. Charles Pope

Msgr. Charles Pope — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 06:03:21 +0000

In reading your comment I was also mindful of the old saying “aut Deus, aut mendax” Either Jesus is God or he is liar. There really isnt middle ground as some would wish. Either Jesus is God as he claimed or he is a blaspheming liar and usurper.

Thanks for your thoughts, they spurred my memory!

By: Msgr. Charles Pope

Msgr. Charles Pope — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 06:00:34 +0000

THanks for this contribution and addition. And yes, it seems as to your last point that a Catholic who denies the Divinity of Christ has not just left the Catholic faith, they have left the Christian faith altogether.

By: Msgr. Charles Pope

Msgr. Charles Pope — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 05:58:07 +0000

Yes, clearly they took him to claim divinity for himself!

By: Msgr. Charles Pope

Msgr. Charles Pope — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 05:57:24 +0000

Great glad this helps

By: Msgr. Charles Pope

Msgr. Charles Pope — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 05:57:03 +0000

Yes but the PBC Statement must be balanced with the VC II Statment in Dei Verbum (18-19) ” Holy Mother Church has firmly and with absolute constancy maintained and continues to maintain, that the four Gospels just named, whose historicity she unhesitatingly affirms, faithfully hand on what Jesus, the Son of God, while he lived among men, really did and taught for their eternal salvation, until the day when he was taken up…The sacred authors, in writing the four Gospels, selected certain of the many elements which had been handed on, either orally or already in written form, others they synthesized or explained with an eye to the situation of the churches, the while sustaining the form of preaching, but always in such a fashion that they have told us the honest truth about Jesus. “

By: Msgr. Charles Pope

Msgr. Charles Pope — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 05:52:26 +0000

Sometimes Jesus speaks in terms of his humanity, sometimes in terms of his divinity. Hence the “my God and your God.” is spoken of in ference to his humanity. Another thought is that even the Father in Hebrews 1:8 speaks to his Son, saying, “Your throne O God shall endure forever.” Hence it is seems that one person of the Trinity may also call another “God” As to Jesus doing nothing of his own initiative this too could be said of his humanity. But it also seems that there is nothing to preclude the Son “doing only what he sees the Father doing.” Hence John 5:19 Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. This verse seems to emphasize that the Son and the Father have wills so perfectly united that the Son “cannot” do other than the Father. The divine wills of the Father and Son are absolutely united. You might also consult the Summa Prima Pars Q. 42 article 4 “Whether the Father is equal to the Son in Greatness”