was jesus the son of GOD???

Great Debates
21

JCR has it straight, but Prof. – a particular theology re: Jesus isn’t terribly important. If you hate the world, and believe Jesus spoke the truth, you are pretty much OK even if you regard him as a prophet, admittedly one that should trump other prophets where there is a disagreement between them.

Lemur866 – I’m not going back to the Mormon thread: it is less of a whole thread and more a collection of Irish pennants at this point! But, if you’d like to debate Jesus’s teachings on alms, start a new thread and I’ll show up.

22

Thanx. Well I guess I’ve gotten enough. I don’t think it really matters whether Jesus was a God or a prophet even though I would agree with the Muslim explanation as being much more convincing and less theatrical. It is all about beliefs and what really matters is the good that comes out of religion, no matter what religion it is or what sort of belief it is. I don’t get why church people have to use so much smoke and mirrors i.e those theatrical words. I just can’t stand it. Why can’t things just be straightforward. No wonder there are so many atheists and agnosists around. P.S this was just my opinion.

23

Poly, I’m curious. Would you mind sharing your views on Hell? Specifically, what happens to those people (after they die) who reject the teachings of Jesus? I come from a rather standard Southern Baptist background, so I know that traditional view, but from what I’m reading here, you seem to have a rather different take on things. And might I mention, your post above regarding the substituionary atonement theory was fascinating. You’re right. A Divine Sadist doesn’t make too much sense.

24

First, I just realized I never responded to Grienspace on the atonement.

It’s an article of faith to me that Jesus of Nazareth chose to die to bring to a close the estrangement between God and man. That’s the atonement – and it’s the sublimest pun in the English language that the verb for “to make recompense” is homonymous with a synonymous phrase for “into unity” – at_one. What I reject is God (sc. the Father) demanding such a death as payment for sin – anyone’s. That’s not how He operates. And yet… somehow that death has touched millions of lives and called them to be better than they were. It’s important, too, to remember that Good Friday is not the end. Easter follows, with the promise of new life, and the assurance that death, any death, is not the end.

Now, on to Hell (! :D) …

Let me start out with a line from an old, ironic song:

I’ve known wonderful people who got into addictive drugs. And I’ve seen their personalities decay. I cannot think of a better way to put that: what had been youthful ideals, caring, anger, love, pain, joy turned into nothing but craving and con artistry to support the craving.

It would be my contention that anything but God (perhaps including even religion), taken to the extreme, turns into something cloying and yet addictive, where it is no longer satisfying and yet is still craved. This is not a healthy hunger but “an endless, aching need.” It is torture to the spirit of the person who takes things to that extreme, and corrosive, eroding away the person and leaving only an ash.

To choose to turn from God and cherish things of this world instead of him, instead of taking them as His gifts and valuing them but being willing to give them up and go on to the next thing, is to put them in His place, and since they do not have His illimitable capacity, they end up being that unsatisfying/addictive/corrosive thing.

And to permanently turn to this instead of Him is Hell. And it is both annihilation of the soul – leaving only ash – and eternal torment – as that craving becomes the sole purpose of the ash that survives and is never fulfilled.

And God has absolutely no interest in anyone having to undergo this – but, if His efforts to get through to us are not enough, ultimately with sadness honors our free will to choose it.

That’s my take on Hell.