Christians believe Jesus to be god. The one and only god that existed from the beginning. So unless you want to admit that there were, are and is, more than one god as per scripture , then Jesus is the god that the Brother describes perfectly.
LOL! Yes, I do believe Jesus is GOD. And as such he has existed from eternity - that is what the bible teaches. No problems with that position. There is only one God, the Holy Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - 1 God - three persons. There is no other true God. The bible does talk about other gods - but not in the same league as God. There is only one creator. The other gods are essentially gods made in the image of man. Or gods that humanity are happy to live with - they don't do to much - but sit around like logs of wood - which are blind deaf and unable to talk. With no power etc. Of course Satan too is called the god of this age - he has some power - and I am pretty sure his demons have power as well - and probably would see themselves as gods at least compared to humanity. Similarly, many humans see themselves as gods - they pretty much do whatever they want to do. Within parameters of course. And then there is the passage Brother DT quoted from Jesus about calling the pharisees "gods". I have explained that above.
Yet, none of these gods can be compared to the great and awesome God of the bible.
Brother DT's description of Jesus however is flawed. This is what he has said:
"Within the scriptures, Jesus is a blatant serial killer as Yahweh God incarnate, He is greedy, jealous, selfish, self-centered, petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capricious, and malevolent. Also, our Jesus was an abortionist which leaves a lot of embarrassment if we picket Family Planning Clinics, do you get our hypocrisy if we do?"
A Blatant Serial Killer: Seriously. Let alone the clear nonsense of attributing a human failing to the divine, God can not fit the description of a blatant serial killer. In our world, the definition of a serial killer is: a person who commits a series of murders, often with no apparent motive and typically following a characteristic, predictable behavior pattern.
In the first instance - God has not committed murder on any occasion. There is no evidence whatsoever that God murdered anyone in the entire bible. Murder is defined as the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another. Firstly, God is not a human being - and when he was in the form of Jesus, he never killed any person. Secondly, every person God ever put to death or had put to death was lawful. Please find any occasion that God put anyone to death or had someone put to death in an unlawful situation. You wont find one - because none exists. Moreover, a serial killer has no apparent motive. All people God had put to death or put to death himself - were done so for reasons. God is not a whimsical character - he acts with precision and he does so explaining why he puts people to death when he does or when he asks someone else to do it. In many cases it was because they had broken the law he told them to obey. In other cases, they were enemies of his people - who would destroy his people. His sense hence is either to protect - self defence or to prevent those people carrying out even worse crimes against their own people. If it is true that he has a pattern, it is that he first told the people to obey - and then they did not - and then they were judged - and on occasions they were put to death. This is the same as our criminal law systems in the West today and around the world. If God is a serial killer then this makes every country and state in the world guilty as well. This is a nonsense.
Is God greedy? What a weird thing to say? What is he greedy about? He owns everything anyway - and could make anything he wanted too. Greed is nonsense. If greed is to do with the fact that he wants to be recognised as the only creator and God in this world and he desires our sole worship - I would not call that greed but the right thing and expected thing.
Is God jealous? Well yes and no. He is jealous in the sense that he desires his people not to commit adultery. I do not think that is wrong. It is something I desire as well. I don't want my wife to be unfaithful. And if my jealousy for her love is righteous then that is a good thing. Yet God is not jealous in the sense of a sinful resentfulness, spying and untrusting and distorted manner. God does not go spying on his people - nor does he go stalking them as well. Yet he is desirous that they are faithful to him - and if he sees them being unfaithful then rightfully so - he will respond in justice.
Humans are self-centred and this is a problem because they are sinful. God is God and rightfully deserves all honour and glory. Yet even in his so called honour - he was prepared to die himself for the sake of humanity. This is the opposite of self-centredness and is called humility. Take a read of Philippians 2 to see how Jesus - humbled himself.
God is not petty. That is just a foolish thing to say. Petty is defined as (of behavior) characterized by an undue concern for trivial matters, especially in a small-minded or spiteful way. What nonsense. If this was the case then every human being would now be in Hell. Yet this is not the case - God mercifully extends his grace that enables sinners such as yourself to be able to live despite the fact that it may well deserve death. The fact that you get to breath a new breath every day is evidence that God is not petty.
God is utterly just. He is super just. And he is super mercy. God's law is simple - He is God and you must obey. If you disobey you die. That is the essence of justice. The fact that God does not immediately put you to death when you sin - is called mercy. You deserve death - that is just. Yet in his grace - he is being super just - just letting you live. You dont even understand the meaning of justice if you think God is not just.
God is forgiving. God forgives all people who repent of their sins and turn to him. This does not mean that he does not punish them nor that they dont receive further punishment in this life. An example like Moses springs to mind. Moses repented for his grumbling to God. God forgave him - but told him that this grumbling would see that Moses does not lead the people of Israel into the promised land. Yet God did forgive Moses. God on the other does not forgive those who do not repent of their sins. This does not mean that God would not forgive them if they did repent. He tells us he will. The pre-condition of forgiveness is repentance. Luke 17:3-4.
Control Freak: Again seriously. a person whose behavior indicates a powerful need to control people or circumstances in everyday matters. As i indicated above God is not human - he is not concerned to control every situation in the world everyday. A good example of this is the garden of eden. God put Adam and Eve into the garden and then he set them loose to do whatever they wanted to do - and to eat whatever they waned to do. Sounds like a control freak to me - duh. Only one rule - don't eat from that one tree. One rule - and you think he is a control freak. You have more rules for God than he does for you. And really, at the end of the day - the entire bible is really based on the same principle - Don't eat from that one tree. It is the exact opposite in fact. God allows much freedom - all of which people can do whatever they want - they just have to realise that whenever they eat of that tree there is a consequence.
God is not vindictive. He punishes justly and properly. He could take a vindictive approach and simply wipe everyone out. The fact that he does not - is evidence he is not vindictive. Saying he is - just does not cut the mustard.
Blood thirsty ethnic cleanser. simply wrong. He did advocate wiping out several nations - because they were evil. So evil in fact that despite the fact that Israel did not wipe them out - other nations did - and the nations themselves were already wiping themselves out for their own evilness. You have never read the history of the nations around Israel - you dont get how evil they were. Yet you think God is evil because he says that their evilness - such as butchering their own children - and giving them away as sex slaves and sacrificing them to their gods which were just rock and wood is nothing. You look at the evil of the catholic church and you are outraged - yet you think nothing of the vileness and horror of these nations. And then you have the audacity to suggest that God is evil because he wants them wiped out.
Misogynist:a person who dislikes, despises, or is strongly prejudiced against women. More nonsense - The God of the bible loves females - and is not biased against them. Heroes in the bible include Ruth and and Hannah and Esther and Deborah in the OT - and in the NT there are many more - The Jewish nation was a country mile ahead of every nation around them in the rights of females. Yes, males were the head of the home - after God. Yet, it was males who were circumcised - not females. It was females who were to be honoured and looked after and cherished. In the NT it was Paul's words - which put male and female on the same level - against what the Romans and the greeks would have liked. In Rome and in Greece woman were treated less than slaves - had no rights - but because of the Biblical teaching on females - they have had their rights continue to increase through history. The fact that you cant see this - just demonstrates your prejudice against the truth.
I will continue the rest tomorrow.
