This is the first time I've looked at this section and there is lots of reading which I haven't time to look through right now.
I consider myself a Christian although I do not go to church. I believe in God and when I pray I always pray to Him. The problem I have is.....is God and Jesus one being or two separate beings. I cannot get to grips with Jesus's death 'to save our souls' how did that help, what happened before his death. I realise some of you are very educated people but could you please explain in layman's terms.
RE: Is Jesus God
Hello Orangeblossom (what a pretty name!),
Welcome to HP - I haven't seen you before!
Wow your question is very close to my heart and it's one I could write pages on, (but I won't as I haven't time) but just briefly, I understand Jesus to be the coincidence between the divine and the human. Jesus the man was human, but he embodied the Christ, the idea of God. I see God as infinite Spirit and you couldn't posssibly fit all of infinity into one material body.
Regarding your quandery about salvation, there were several threads around Easter one that i wrote is this:
"He proved Life to be deathless and Love to be the master of hate"
http://www.healthypages.net/forum/tm.asp?m=53446
and there was also a very lively and interesting post about the Passion of Christ
http://www.healthypages.net/forum/tm.asp?m=52297
Love and peace,
Judy
RE: Is Jesus God
Dear Orangeblossom, hi!
Your basic question is whether God and Jesus are one being or two separate beings. There are in the end many different opinions on that! Which is why even quite a few years ago, no less than 20,000 different Christian sects or churches could be identified, each with a different doctrine or practices to the others. For this reason, some academics no longer speak of "Christianity" as one religion, but use the term "Christianities".
With that in mind, this is just a quick general overview, but for the most part Christian belief has it that Jesus was the only and unique Son of God. This is hard to get to grips with and understand. (All the harder since I don't believe it and I don't believe Jesus meant to leave this idea behind him.) But the basic idea here is that yes, Jesus is God, but God is also a Trintiy - Father, Son, and Holy Ghost/Spirit - and Jesus as the Son is one of that Trinity - yet they ar all three still God.
That's the usual Christian doctrine. But many people, especially in recent times, think of Jesus in a New Age way or a mystical and enlightened, independent way. This view of Jesus has it that he was not unique (except in the way that we are all unique) but that he was a person like you and me apart from the fact that he became very, very attained spiritually. Was he then a part of God? Yes, but so are we all. Was he then the ONLY Son of God? Well, he was the only "Son" of his own God Self or Higher Self, just as we are all the only Son and Daughter of our own Higher Self. And we too can pray to that Higher Self as our "Father" or "Mother" in heaven as Jesus did.
He died to save us? Traditional Christian doctrine takes that literally, but I have a mystical or New Age view on this. No one can balance your karma for you, not even Jesus, and "karma" is referred to as "sin" in the Bible. So Jesus' death IMO could not balance our karma. But the life and mission of Jesus can be seen as ushering in a new era of spirituality and Love, so in the long term he has laid the groundwork for us to help ourselves.
"Be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect" - Jesus.
"And greater works than these [by Jesus] shall ye do, because I go unto the Father" - Jesus.
Love,
Venetian
RE: Is Jesus God
Hi Venetian,
Is there somewhere in the New Testament, not necessarily in the Gospels, where Jesus says, this or something very similar
"I am the Son of God and Ye are my Bretheren" which I grew up having it interpreted as - Jesus and God and all of us are one and the same?
Thanks
Gillyxxx
RE: Is Jesus God
Gilly,
I'm sure there are many statements along those lines - certainly in the Gnostic gospels. But I'm not a Biblical scholar and wouldn't know where to look.
V