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I grew up in the church and still believe that Christ is God's son. However, the older I got is the more I realized that Jesus prayed to God while he was on earth. I know about the concept of the trinity, but even using that concept, Jesus praying to himself, answering himself and receiving his own blessing when he's baptized by John...how do you explain that even from the perspective of one who has faith. [/quote]
Gizmo, to understand Jesus as God on earth praying to His Father in heaven, we need to realize that the eternal Father and the eternal Son had an eternal relationship before Jesus took upon Himself the form of a man. Please read John 5:19-27, particularly verse 23 where Jesus teaches that the Father sent the Son (also see John 15:10). Jesus did not become the Son of God when He was born in Bethlehem. He has always been the Son of God from eternity past, still is the Son of God, and always will be.
Isaiah 9:6 tells us that the Son was given and the Child was born. Jesus was always part of the tri-unity, along with the Holy Spirit. The tri-unity always existed, the Father God, the Son God, and the Spirit God, not three gods, but one God existing as three persons. Jesus taught that He and His Father are one (John 10:30), meaning that He and His Father are of the same substance and the same essence. The Father, Son and Spirit are three co-equal persons existing as God. These three had, and continue to have, an eternal relationship.
When Jesus, the eternal Son of God, took upon Himself sinless humanity He also took on the form of a servant, giving up His heavenly glory (Philippians 2:5-11). As the God-man, He had to learn obedience (Hebrews 5:8) to His Father as He was tempted by Satan, accused falsely by men, rejected by His people, and eventually crucified. His praying to His heavenly Father was to ask for power (John 11:41-42) and wisdom (Mark 1:35, 6:46). His praying showed His dependence upon His Father in His humanity to carry out His Father's plan of redemption, as evidenced in Christ's high priestly prayer in John 17. His praying demonstrated that He ultimately submitted to His Father's will, which was to go to the cross and pay the penalty (death) for our breaking God's law (Matthew 26:31-46). Of course, He rose bodily from the grave, winning forgiveness and eternal life for those who repent of sin and believe in Him as the Savior.
There is no problem with God the Son praying or talking to God the Father. As mentioned, they had an eternal relationship before Christ became a man. This relationship is depicted in the Gospels so we can see how the Son of God in His humanity carried out His Father's will, and in doing so, purchased redemption for His children (John 6:38). Christ’s continual submission to His heavenly Father was empowered and kept focused through His prayer life. Christ’s example of prayer is ours to follow.
Jesus Christ was no less God on earth when praying to His Father in heaven. He was depicting how even in sinless humanity it is necessary to have a vital prayer life in order to do His Father’s will. Jesus' praying to the Father was a demonstration of His relationship within the Trinity and an example for us that we must rely on God through prayer for the strength and wisdom we need. Since Christ, as the God-man, needed to have a vibrant prayer life, so should the follower of Christ today.
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Originally Posted By: Marklon
I am a direct decendant of god, David the PSLAMIST said dont you know that ye are all GOds decendants of the most high God, let go of the white mans made up religion, i love Jesus but i am not a fool my Christian Brother.
Marklon, you quoted one part of the scripture and left out a key part: I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
Back to my original question Mr slippery. Are you going to die as a black man or are you going to die as a man of God? Marklon, what color is God?
Love thy nieghbor as thyself, let go off the black and white thing and start doing the will of God: Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
And you got it wrong again, I am not a Christian. I am a Believer or a Saint, same thing, in the Bible that I read the words: Christian nor christianity are not in it, and I can't be your brother, not until you're born again and washed by the cleansing blood of Jesus.
I rest my case, some one on the forum wrote never argue with an idiot, he wiil make you look like one, i can not help you, your level of ignorance is beyond me.
Registered: 09/29/03
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Originally Posted By: Marklon
I rest my case, some one on the forum wrote never argue with an idiot, he wiil make you look like one, i can not help you, your level of ignorance is beyond me.
You didn't have a case to begin with, so you turn to what you know best, verbal Abuse.
Within the circle of our influence and power come many people, gifts, talents, possessions, or opportunities. What we do with what we receive is a reflection of who we are and how worthy we are to be entrusted with more. We can maximize these gifts or people, or we can abuse them. Abuse comes in many different forms. It may be violent or verbal or it may be as quiet as benign neglect or abandonment of a trust. Abuse can be perversion, but it can also be steady depreciation of human worth, like dripping water wearing down a rock. Abuse may inflict pain or rob personhood; it may leave scars on the skin or lacerations on the heart. Its result may be superficial, the response to a careless comment, or it may be a lifetime wound resulting from a neglected or mismanaged trust. Abuse requires an abuser and an abused, and thus creates two victims. But God grants healing-both physical and spiritual-through forgiveness and a new way to live. The abuser can change, becoming truly transformed by God’s Spirit. The abused, through Christ, can forgive the abuser and find true healing. This allows the abused to halt the cycle of abuse, which can become multigenerational.
WILL GOD FORGIVE A PERSON WHO IS GUILTY OF ABUSE? Acts 2:21 . . . Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Luke 23:34 . . . Father, forgive these people, because they don’t know what they are doing. God forgives all sins, not selected ones. His mercy is to anyone, regardless of his or her past. 2 Chronicles 33:6, 13 . . . Manasseh even sacrificed his own sons in the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom . . . when he prayed, the Lord listened to him and was moved by his request for help. Manasseh was the most wicked king in Judah’s history, abusive to the point where he burned his own sons on an altar, but later in life he sought God’s forgiveness and God did forgive him, transforming him into a man who did great things for his nation.
Well it is evident you are too dumb to grasp anything i have said, " hey maybe if i cut and paste something", " nah still to dumb". Maybe one day the light will come on.
Registered: 09/29/03
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Empty Barrels make the most noise and that's all you do is make noise. Marklon, let me inform you: you were never a slave and you're not a slave, so why are you wearing chains and shackles and is bitter at every white person?
"Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; None but ourselves can free our minds"
Robert Nesta Marley.
Marcus Garvey: "God and Nature first made us what we are, and then out of our own created genius we make ourselves what we want to be"
You get criticized, because your arguments are almost always round, because you quote something you really want to prove to prove your point. I feel that I am guilty sometimes too...
