Are you afraid of God? / Is Jesus God? / Who is God?

[Kat]

Hi John,

John 5:37  And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me...

So what Jesus said is true; a being, the Father sent Him. You don't send yourself, the Father (one being) sent (another being) Jesus Christ. Also Jesus prayed to the Father, not Himself. Jesus spoke of His Father often, He was not speaking about Himself.

John 12:49  For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.

But no doubt most get confused when Christ said "believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me" (John 14:11), this does not mean they are one being. This is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that made them ONE, just like we too have the Holy Spirit indwelling that gives us oneness with Christ and the Father.

John 14:23  Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

This is a complicated topic, just keep reading and studying and slowly but surely things will start falling into place like the pieces of a puzzle.

Something that really confuses me is if no man has seen or heard the Father, then who was speaking at the baptism of Jesus?

John 5:37 ...You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.

Luke 3:22  And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, "You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased."

Here is an email on this.

http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,5374.0.html ----

Notice that it was "a" voice, not the Father's voice. God has many millions of messengers (erroneously called "angels" in Scripture). A messenger delivers messages. These particular message was that "This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him."  The messenger ("a voice") delivered the message.  Simple, huh?

God be with you,
Ray

[JohnMichael]

I must say, Kat, you have a gift. That does make a WHOLE lot more sense. Light bulb yet again

EDIT:

I have just one more question then, and I think I have the answer, but I want to be sure. When we pray, should it be to Jesus or to the Father or both? It would seem that it should be to Jesus because "No man comes to the Father but [through] Me (Christ)." Wouldn't that also include prayer?

[Duane]

John Michael...In the model prayer that Jesus gave the disciples when they asked "teach me  to pray"  Jesus said "Our FATHER who art in heaven..."  so I would assume that we are to pray to the Father- though Jesus in the intercessor (mediator) between God and man.  The
Ho;y Spirit , then puts our thoughts and words, to the father in a language better (more perfectly) than ours--"with groanings we can not utter".

[gmik]

Is it only a prayer when we first say...Dear Father/Jesus, please.....

I assume all my thoughts are prayers and kinda just talk like to a friend. 

[Duane]

gmik...if we are instructed to "pray without ceasing", I think you are more right than wrong
in assuming a "running dialogue" with God throughout the day.  What a wonderful thought!
Picturing a running dialogue with God all day should sure help in the idea of purifying our thoughts, however, I guess that's the case ANYWAY with the Holy Spirit in us!
Enjoy your comments.

[JohnMichael]

Is it only a prayer when we first say...Dear Father/Jesus, please.....

I assume all my thoughts are prayers and kinda just talk like to a friend.  

Not at all. Kind of like that old song, "Jesus on the mainline, tell him what you want..." I think of it that way. God knows my thoughts, and this past week especially, my thoughts are always on Him. I see that as prayer. When I feel led to ask for something, I'll say the "Dear Father" or "Dear Lord." Otherwise, I'm just talking as you said, "to a friend." Feels really good to know He's there.

As a side note: it really, really is a big let down to hear "Christian" songs now. There are so many doctrines of Babylon in them.

"People get Ready...Jesus is Coming" by Crystal Lewis. Secret Rapture. Trash.
"Heaven is Counting on You" by Ray Boltz. Free Will. Trash.
Anything by Carman. Trinity/Free Will/Hell/Secret Rapture. Trash. Trash. Trash.
"Thank You" by Ray Boltz. Materialistic Heaven. Trash.
and on, and on, and on the list goes.

[jeetkunejimi]

Hi guys,
           In John 20, didn't Jesus tell Mary not to touch his resurrected body just after he had risen, (why I wonder!? What was happening to it, what form was his body in). And then sometime later didn't Thomas stick his finger in our Lord. Why coudn't Mary touch Christ but Thomas could? Whatever happened to Christ's bodily form inbetween Mary seeing Jesus and Thomas touching him.
As far as I know in the Old Testament, the High Priest went into the Holy of Holies once a year (where the Ark of the Covenant was), to the mercy seat of God, to atone for the sins of the people. To do this, he had to be specially prepared. After this special purification, he could not have been touched by anyone prior to entering the Holy of Holies to make atonement for the people.

This is a physical type of Jesus Christ appearing before God the Father and being accepted as the complete sacrifice for human sin and being inducted into the office of our High Priest in Heaven.

In like manner, Jesus could not have even been touched by any human, including Mary, before this took place, or He could not have been accepted as our sacrifice for sin. But Jesus could not surely have stood in front of himself to be accepted by himself, could he!? We are also told that Christ was ressurected by God. So I can see how Jesus is representative of God and co-equal in authority as he holds God's sceptre but he also hands the reconcilliated human race plus all things in creation unto God so God mat be seen as ALL-IN-LL (1 Cor 15:28).

Don't know if any of that  monologue helped anyone get another angle on Eriik's excellent post or if I was just wandering of topic.

God's will be done .

[mharrell08]

Hi guys,
           In John 20, didn't Jesus tell Mary not to touch his resurrected body just after he had risen, (why I wonder!? What was happening to it, what form was his body in). And then sometime later didn't Thomas stick his finger in our Lord. Why coudn't Mary touch Christ but Thomas could? Whatever happened to Christ's bodily form inbetween Mary seeing Jesus and Thomas touching him.
As far as I know in the Old Testament, the High Priest went into the Holy of Holies once a year (where the Ark of the Covenant was), to the mercy seat of God, to atone for the sins of the people. To do this, he had to be specially prepared. After this special purification, he could not have been touched by anyone prior to entering the Holy of Holies to make atonement for the people.

This is a physical type of Jesus Christ appearing before God the Father and being accepted as the complete sacrifice for human sin and being inducted into the office of our High Priest in Heaven.

In like manner, Jesus could not have even been touched by any human, including Mary, before this took place, or He could not have been accepted as our sacrifice for sin. But Jesus could not surely have stood in front of himself to be accepted by himself, could he!? We are also told that Christ was ressurected by God. So I can see how Jesus is representative of God and co-equal in authority as he holds God's sceptre but he also hands the reconcilliated human race plus all things in creation unto God so God mat be seen as ALL-IN-LL (1 Cor 15:28).

Don't know if any of that  monologue helped anyone get another angle on Eriik's excellent post or if I was just wandering of topic.

God's will be done .

That's not exactly true Jeetkunejimi. Here are a few email replies from Ray explaining the 'touch me not' statements from Jesus after His resurrection:

Email reply from Ray (http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,3909.msg29873.html#msg29873):

Dear Serena:
    It was NOT the gardener. At first they "thought" it was the gardener, but it really was Jesus, and Mary knew that it was Jesus when she said: "Rabboni: which is to say, Master. Jesus said unto her, touch Me not...." (Luke 20:16 & 17). My King James Margin says for "touch"--"Do not CLING to Me."  They WERE touching Him--they were HANGING ON TO HIM AND WOULDN'T LET HIM GO.  Matt. 28:9 explains it further: "And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail.  And they came and HELD HIM BY THE FEET, and worshipped Him."
     
    God be with you,
    Ray


Email reply from Ray (http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,5343.msg42454.html#msg42454):

Dear DAnte: It isn't that Jesus didn't want them to "touch" Him, for they DID "touch" him:  "And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail.  And they came and HELD HIM BY THE FEET, and worshiped Him."  (Matt. 28:9)

This is the very same even that took place in John 20:17, where Jesus said: "Touch me not..."  The word touch means to "Cling."  Jesus didn't want them to KEEP HOLDING HIM, as they did not want to let him go. Not that they couldn't give him a little touch on the arm or something.

God be with you,

Ray


Hope this helps,

Marques

[JohnMichael]

I wonder if the word "in" is giving us a closer indication as to what Paul meant:

But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him (family again); and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. (1 Cor. 8:6)

So all things are OF the ONE GOD, THE FATHER, and we are IN HIM (THE ONE GOD), and we are in Him BY Jesus Christ (who is also part of the family of God).
Does anyone else see something hidden in this verse, something which relates to the relationship between Jesus Christ and His Father, the ONE GOD?

1 Cor. 8:6 (WNT)  "yet *we* have but one God, the Father, who is the source of all things and for whose service we exist, and but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom we and all things exist."

The WNT, to me, puts it in a clearer way.

Eph 4:5 (WNT) There is but one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
Eph 4:6 (WNT) and one God and Father of all, who rules over all, acts through all, and dwells in all.