Stuart,
Your reply is very interesting but has one fatal flaw. No evidence. What you
have written is your opinion, but why should anyone accept it?
Bob Miller
> >Hi,
> I am a little mystified. You say that Jesus is divine but not God
incarnate.
> You must have some shade of meaning that I have missed. Is He divine
> sometimes and sometimes not? Paul says in Phil 2: 6 that His very
nature is
> divine so how can you separate it?
>
> I looked up some places in the scripture where Jesus and others lay
claim to
> His divinity, which I am sure you are familiar with, but I offer them
in
> catagories. They make a powerful statement and this is only a small
sampling
> I threw together in a hurry.
>
> Jesus claims divinity Jesus' enemies recognize His claim
> The apostles claim Old Testament claims
> John 5:20 - 23 John 5:17, 18
> John 1:1, 14 Matt 22:43
> John 10:30
> Phil 2:5 - 11
> Matt 28:17
> John 8: 12- 59
>
> Bob Miller
>
>
> First of all, Bob, I hope you can forgive my inclusion of your personal
letter here in my redress
> .
> Now for the fun.
>
> Let me reiterate and expand on a statement from one of my previous posts -
There should bea distinction between Jesus, the man, Christ Jesus, the
saviour, Christ, the divine sonship of all mankind, and God, the
Father-Mother or Divine Parent.
>
> Jesus was a man, flesh and blood, he toiled under the sun just like any
one else on this planet. Although born under exceptional circumstances, and
with the exception of a few remarkable instances in his youth, he led a
pretty normal life as a Jewish boy and young man. He did not begin his
ministry until he was a full grown man at 30 years of age. Something roused
him to this ministry, and that was the revealing of the Christ, (Matt
3:13-17) and the power of Truth over error (Matt 4:1-11), the fulfillment of
prophecy (Matt3:3) and the promise of complete salvation from the claims of
mortal existence (Matt 3:11-12), the claims of sin, disease and death. He
knew his destiny and his mission, and he knew it would be controversial and
that he would incur the wrath of the established religious order. But he
would not be swayed, for he wielded the sword of Truth in defiance of all
supposed material law(Matt 3:10). This living, practical exemplar was endued
with the Holy Ghost, or !
> the
> divine Spirit of Truth, which would overcome all material error and
establish the knowledge of the everpresent kingdom of God and His
Omnipotence, so that all who believed (understood) on him would be saved
(Matt 4:16)
>
> This man now endued with the Holy Ghost, was Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus
was the Messiah, the saviour of all mankind, the divine exemplar, the good
shepherd, the living water. He was anointed with the Holy Spirit to proclaim
the Gospel unto the world, so that all men, through him, might be saved. God
had sanctified and blessed Jesus from his conception, and had been preparing
him for his mighty life work throughout his childhood and early adulthood.
But he was as mortal as any of us, or else there never would have been a
need for Joseph to flee to Egypt. And if mortal, then a flesh and blood
human being just like the rest of us.
>
> Christ Jesus was to reveal the deathless reality of Life, untouched by the
aggressive claims of mortal existence, the claims of sin, disease and death.
He proved, through his works that Life was above and beyond this triad of
error, as he went about healing the sick, cleansing the lepers, casting out
demons, and raising the dead. He also taught his disciples how they could do
likewise, and they were able to do the same healing work. How? Jesus
revealed the Christ as the true spiritual nature of all mankind, the divine
sonship,the immortal reflection of God's being, maintained and nurtured by
God, and upheld by His omnipotence.
>
> Jesus revealed through his healing works, that man is forever held in the
bosom of the Father, spiritually perfect and complete, never touched by the
aggressive claims of mortal existence, which he proved as being nothing more
than the aggressive belief of life in matter, a belief which he rebuked time
and time again with the power or Spirit of Truth over error. He showed his
disciples how to do this, and he expected all who followed him to do
likewise. Yet he ascribed all power unto God, over and over. He was deeply
humble before the source of all power (omnipotence) and prayed constantly to
feel the omnipresence of that power and so that the omniscience of that
power would be revealed. Omni- all. God- all-in-all, the great I am. God,
the Father. God, the Mother. God the Divine Parent, who holds his beloved
creation forever in His bosom. Jesus knew this, and he demonstrated it, yet
he claimed that "the works I do, the Father doeth". (pp)
>
> Jesus never claimed to be God, the closest he ever came to that was when
he said 'I and my Father are one". He meant, I am at one with my Father, he
was referring to quality, not quantity. Man was made in the image and
likeness of God and all that God makes is divine. But God is not in His
creation, for man is the image and likeness of God. He is above it, looking
over it and maintaining it. We, as followers of Jesus, need to know our own
at-one-ment with God and how all of His creation is one with God and we will
be endued with the same Christ spirit that Jesus had. His early disciples
demonstrated it, and they weren't born of virgins. Jesus demonstrated the
Christ, the true idea of God, but He was never God. God is the source of all
being, for He is all-in all. Just as light is the manifestation of the sun,
but the light is not that sun, so too is Christ the manifestation of God,
but is not God himself.
>
> How do we achieve messiahship? We need to follow the master in the
understanding of spirtual being and by possessing that "mind which was also
in Christ Jesus" How do we do this? The Beatitudes are a good place to
start. The sermon on the mount as a whole needs to be studied and lived. Why
do you think Jesus said "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which
is in heaven is perfect." Jesus knew the truth of being to be wholy
spiritual and perfect and he showed the way to fulfill that perfect
spirituality. His mission was to demonstrate salvation. Salvation is
atonement or at-one-ment with divinity or God. The road to atonement is
humility and devout obedience to see the perfect man of God's creation
always. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that
man is peace." God is our ever present helper in this struggle. When we
demonstrate even a little of our God given dominion over material existence,
we are partakers of the messiahship, the perfect m!
> an
> maintained by a perfect God, through the divine inspiration of Truth, Life
and Love.
>
> OK, that's all for now. I would love to go over your citations one by one,
but I hope this overview will clear the waters a little bit. Or not.
>
> Peace and grace to you all.
> Stuart Kirkley
>
>
> 2,000,000,000 Web Pages--you only need 1. Save time with My Lycos.
> http://my.lycos.com
>
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