revjohn
Well-Known Member
Luce NDs said:What was that adage about corruption 've authority?
Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Is this the adage you were thinking of or was it some other?
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Luce NDs said:What was that adage about corruption 've authority?
Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Is this the adage you were thinking of or was it some other?
Excuses! Excuses! What a surprise!Since you won't open your blinky blinky eyes to see the evidence that God has put all around you, I'm certainly not going to waste my time offering mine.
Excuses! Excuses! What a surprise!
Your evidence for the existence of Godde is the existence of reality as accessed by the human senses? I'm thinking that only works for a pantheist.
Well, it could be indirect evidence of a Divine Creator depending on how you read some observations, but it only works as direct evidence for a pantheist and, perhaps, some forms of panentheism.
Well, no, there's a perfectly good scientific explanation for exactly why that tree exists.
Jae: "Here Jesus is saying that he is God."
Click to expand...
John: "Actually he doesn't say that he is God in that context. That is the clear inference of his comment."
No, there are in fact 2 ways of taking Mark 10:17-18: "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said to him: Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.""
(1) Jesus is fishing for an affirmation of His Godhood.
(2) Jesus objects to flattery and is both denying both that He is good and, that He is God.
Option (1) must be rejected for 2 reasons:
(a) If Jesus were fishing for an acclamation of His Godhood, one might expect he subject of His status to be resumed in this periscope. It is not.
Rather, the subject here is what the rich young ruler can do to achieve eternal life. Jesus' response implies that the man must correct his spiritual deficiency, materialism; more specifically, he must sell his goods, donate, the proceeds to the poor, and follow Jesus.
(b) Jesus understands Himself in terms of the messianic title "Son of God," but never takes the next step and claims to be God. Rather, Thomas acclaims the risen Jesus, not the earthly Jesus, as God (John 20:28). On the background of the messianic or Davidic origin of the very human title "Son of God" see 1 Samuel 7;14.
(2) John objects to option (2) "So either he is not a good teacher or he is God."
He poses these alternatives as if it goes without saying that Jesus considered Himself intrinsically good. But Jesus' point is more likely that human goodness is derivative from divine goodness and it is only by grace that our lives can display goodness. 2 Gospel texts are relevant to this insight:
(a) "Jesus grew...n favor with God (Luke 2:52)." How can Jesus grow in favor unless He was previously less in favor with God?
The implication is that Jesus' humanity required Him to learn by trial and error just like the rest of us. This thought is further radicalized by Hebrews 5:8: "Although He was a Son, He learned obedience though what He suffered." The natural interpretation of this text is that Jesus needed to grow out of a period of disobedience. But does Jesus' need to learn by trial and error refute the doctrine of His sinlessness (see Hebrews 4:15)? Not if we understand sin as a condition of separation from God and affirm that nothing in Jesus' learning curve separated Him from God.
(b) Why would a sinless Messiah feel the need to receive a baptism of repentance? It won't do to cite Matthew 3:13-14 in support of the claim that He needed no such baptism, but was merely trying to set a good example. The phrase "fulfill all righteousness" implies a willingness to repent and not a mere effort to set an example. And neither of the other Synoptics hint at an implication that Jesus didn't need His baptism.
John: "In all of the synoptics the conversation appears as such, "Why do you (call me/ask me) about good (what is)? There is none good but God."
This confusing comment obscures the decisive point: The scholarly consensus rightly recognizes the Mark is a source for Matthew. Matthew's reason for redacting (editing) the Marcan text in question is best grasped by quoting both texts side by side:
Mark 10:17-18: "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said to him: Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.""
Matthew 19:16-17: ""Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?" And He said to him: "Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only One who is good."
Matthew takes offense at Mark's implication that Jesus denies both that He is good and that He is God. Remember, for Matthew Jesus is Emanuel, God with us (1:23)." To remove these implications Matthew changes "Good teacher" to "good deed" and the question, "Why do you call me good?" to "Why do you ask me about what is good?"
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Jesus is God. Everything he ever spoke, everything he ever did, said that he is God.
Your pontification without evidence establishes nothing is not helpful. Do you realize, for example, that weather control was ot deemed a sign of divinity in Jesus' day? Elijah's inspired word controlled rainfall. But so did the prayers of Honi the Circle Drawer, a charismatic Jewish sage who lived in the generation before Jesus.
Kindly address the specific arguments made in my post. I am not denying Christ's divinity. But we are discussing the evolution of Jesus' messianic consciousness, not the doctrine of the Trinity. For starters, you need to recognize that in a first-century Palestinian context the messianic title "Son of God" is not equivalent to the claim to be God. Many thick books have been written on Christological titles in the Gospels. The scholarly consensus is that they can't be simplistically reduced to your claim.
Well, no, there's a perfectly good scientific explanation for exactly why that tree exists.
No,
There is no scientific explanation for life from non-life. If there was, they could reproduce it.
Science relies on faith for a lot of things.
I don't like the God that tempts people...