Jesus question...

I’m pretty sure it was said that Jesus was God’s son, but he came down to heaven to do God’s work, so technically they are kind of the same person, but not exactly. They share the same name a lot of times

Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit are 3 in 1. They have separate rolls, but are all God.

Yes. And no. It depends on how you view the Trinity.

Mmm, dogma.

Trinity!

It actually depends on your view of the Trinity. Some denominations designate that they are three separate entities…others say they are all the same entity.

The Trinity is one tricky concept. Here is the way that is was best explained to me…

To my wife, I am husband.
To my son, I am dad.
To my dad, I am son.

I am the same person, but I have different roles and appear differently in the eyes of my wife, son and father.

Steelmarket: I like your example. I think of the Trinity as H2O: steam, water, ice. Three forms of same substance.

Funny, I think of them all as non-existent.

Sorry, but it was wide open…

@shadling21: that’s not funny:)

It’s not?
Thanks for reminding me- I need to get my sense of humor fixed.

I probably do, too. I know you were just responding to the opening this thread left for you.

Yeah, I really don’t want to take it down that path.

It’s a great question. There does seem to be a lot of confusion out there about the words “Jesus” and “God” and what they exactly refer to. It’s not a theological question so much as a sociolinguistic one.

I’m confused. I thought Trinity was Neo’s girlfriend.

I always kind of wondered about that too. Especially in the prayer before eating, “Bless us, O Lord…through Christ our Lord. Amen”

The Jesus I read about didn’t seem like he would want to be the object of worship over God. However, since Jesus is the path to God for Christians, it is easy to see how he would become the object of reverence.

Plus, since God is the Father and Jesus is the Son, it makes sense even in human terms. The King was Lord, but so was the Prince.

I still don’t understand how that isn’t polytheism.

I see a lot of the reverence for Jesus, Mary, St. Jude, etc. as moving towards idol worship. It does seem to be a diversion from the teachings. I can understand identifying with the people and their characteristics, but to hold them in reverence equal to or higher than God is wrong to me.

From the Westminster Shorter Catechism:

Q. 5. Are there more Gods than one?
A. There is but one only, the living and true God.

Q. 6. How many persons are there in the godhead?
A. There are three persons in the Godhead; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.

I’ve always wondered about ending prayers “In Jesus’ name, Amen.” Does asking in Jesus name add special urgency to the request? If God and Jesus are the same why ask in Jesus’ name? Isn’t that kind of being redundant?

@Ontheroad, I always kind of felt that way about the worship of saints. My grandmother (a devout Catholic) explained that she didn’t really think of it as worship, but these people are saints after all and probably have God’s ear, so why not ask them to appeal to God on your behalf. I was never sure I bought it, but I gave her credit for thinking of it.

@Supermouse, Lurve to your Grandmother for being resourceful!

Once the New religion did away with polytheism and worship of any kind of Goddess, the adherants invented reverence of Saints and the Virgin. These things just come naturally to a segment of the population that never really wanted to give up the old ways anyway.

@chuck, do you think of ice, water, and steam as three different substances or can you accept they are all H2O?

Trinity =GOD+ Holy Angels + Jesus Christ
They are the same people.

cdwccm- I don’t think that metaphor applies. Those are all water in different forms. You can say God takes different forms but I seem to recall that Jesus and God communicated with one another which indicates to me that we are either talking about separate individuals or multiple personalities.

Here is what the Westminster Larger Catechism has to say about praying in the name of Jesus:

Q. 180. What is it to pray in the name of Christ?
A. To pray in the name of Christ is, in obedience to his command, and in confidence on his promises, to ask mercy for his sake; not by bare mentioning of his name, but by drawing our encouragement to pray, and our boldness, strength, and hope of acceptance in prayer, from Christ and his mediation.

Q. 181. Why are we to pray in the name of Christ?
A. The sinfulness of man, and his distance from God by reason thereof, being so great, as that we can have no access into his presence without a mediator; and there being none in heaven or earth appointed to, or fit for, that glorious work but Christ alone, we are to pray in no other name but his only.

@chuck. Good observation. I’ll think on it…..

Jesus also cried out, “Father, Why have you forsaken me”

@chuck: When Jesus took human form, he also took up the way that humans communicate with God, which is through prayer.

If you are going to ponder God, be sure that you don’t limit Him with our limitations, such as personalities, time, space, cause & effect, entropy, etc.

“what if God was one of us, just a slob like one of us…”
sorry, couldn’t resist

In the first century, the disciples thought that Jesus was the son of God. They thought that the God and Father of Jesus was the only true God. They worshipped the God that Jesus worshipped.

(John 20:31) But these have been written down that YOU may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and that, because of believing, YOU may have life by means of his name.
(Matthew 16:15–17) He said to them: “YOU, though, who do YOU say I am?” 16 In answer Simon Peter said: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 In response Jesus said to him: “Happy you are, Simon son of Jo′nah, because flesh and blood did not reveal [it] to you, but my Father who is in the heavens did.
(John 10:36) do YOU say to me whom the Father sanctified and dispatched into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, I am God’s Son?
(Luke 1:35) In answer the angel said to her: “Holy spirit will come upon you, and power of the Most High will overshadow you. For that reason also what is born will be called holy, God’s Son.
(1 John 4:15) Whoever makes the confession that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, God remains in union with such one and he in union with God.
(Acts 9:20) and immediately in the synagogues he began to preach Jesus, that this One is the Son of God.
(2 Corinthians 1:19) For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among YOU through us, that is, through me and Sil‧va′nus and Timothy, did not become Yes and yet No, but Yes has become Yes in his case.
(Hebrews 4:14) Seeing, therefore, that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold onto [our] confessing of [him].
(John 11:27) She said to him: “Yes, Lord; I have believed that you are the Christ the Son of God, the One coming into the world.”
(Matthew 26:63–64) But Jesus kept silent. So the high priest said to him: “By the living God I put you under oath to tell us whether you are the Christ the Son of God!” 64 Jesus said to him: “You yourself said [it]. ...”

(John 17:3) This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ.
(1 Corinthians 8:5–6) For even though there are those who are called “gods,” whether in heaven or on earth, just as there are many “gods” and many “lords,” 6 there is actually to us one God the Father, out of whom all things are, and we for him; and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things are, and we through him.
(John 14:28) YOU heard that I said to YOU, I am going away and I am coming [back] to YOU. If YOU loved me, YOU would rejoice that I am going my way to the Father, because the Father is greater than I am.
(1 Corinthians 11:3) But I want YOU to know that the head of every man is the Christ; in turn the head of a woman is the man; in turn the head of the Christ is God.

(2 Corinthians 1:3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of tender mercies and the God of all comfort,
(Ephesians 1:3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in union with Christ,
(1 Peter 1:3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for according to his great mercy he gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
(Romans 15:6) that with one accord YOU may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John17:3;1Cor8:5-6;1Cor11:3;John14:28;1Cor15:27-28;&version=NASB;YLT;HCSB;DARBY;NLT;