Ok look, to begin with we must define "god". We must define the attributes that "god" would have. Not
a god, but god. There are many belief systems out there that are polytheistic. You will find, (and lg will argue the case adamantly), that while there are many gods in a polytheistic system there still has to be one chief, one lord.. one boss god. To highlight the Sumerians you'll find the boss was tiamat. Yes, marduk created us but tiamat was the big boss, the god of gods as it were.
Now, you would argue that jesus
is god. Not
a god, but god. This undoubtedly fails without even going into much of a debate purely given but one of his statements:
Matthew 24:36
"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father..”
This in itself gives a serious distinction between god and jesus. god knows something that jesus doesn't. The fact that one knows while one doesn't completely breaks apart any argument that they are indeed one and the same being. Simply put, they can't be.
jesus can be
a god, but not god. He points this out frequently with statements such as "greater than I" and even with his begging at the time of his death.
The argument is of course that jesus is one third of god. He is still god - much like one of the three clover leaves is still technically a clover, but it does not work the minute one of those three knows something that the other does not. It shows beyond any credible argument that these beings have distinct differences and thus by definition are "different entities".
jesus can be smart, he can be powerful - but he is
not omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent or anything the theist world would attribute to god.
The only real argument that can be made is that jesus, (who is god), made himself into human form and that was god. In saying, once jesus was dead - god would be dead, if jesus doesn't know, god doesn't know etc. The very second
you (the theist/bible) makes a clear distinction between the "two", you cannot argue that they are one. Yes, christianity is a polytheistic religion. The actual god has been forgotten, the priest is being worshipped.
"Hebrews 5:4
No one takes this honour upon himself; he must be called by God, just as Aaron was. 5So Christ also did not take upon himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him,
"You are my Son;
today I have become your Father.” And he says in another place,
"You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.""
Let me rephrase that as it should appear:
"jesus took upon himself the honour of himself being a priest. He said to himself: "hey me, I'm a priest forever, so sayeth me".
None of this is apparent. The distinction between these "two" beings is evident and undeniable. These are not the same being by any understanding of the word "same". god has decided that jesus will be a priest forever -
not a god, a priest - an intermediary between man and god - kinda like the pope. Now, needless to add as I have mentioned it before - jesus is not unique in this job, it has been done by others including melchizedek who is a truly eternal being, (never born/never dies). In fact, mel has one over on jesus as mel features in both the OT and NT. jesus does not.
melchizedek is named by name in both books. jesus - who you would claim is god, doesn't even get that honour. There is absolutely no mention of him until he is born to a human, (something melchizedek never went through), and then goes on to mention him as the firstborn of all creation, (something melchizedek outranks him on because melchizedek has always been).
Don't get me wrong, I do accept and understand his importance - hell, nobody is my friend unless they accept and love my daughter. She is the world to me and if anyone has issue with her they have issue with me. But my daughter is not me regardless to that. She is the most important, but she is not me.
There are many more quotes I could go into but I feel that this simple undeniable distinction between 'god' and his son is enough to make the point.
Christianity is polytheistic - and the worship doesn't even go to the god, (that's not ultimately a bad thing, I'd rather you kiss my daughters feet than mine).
That's a start, we'll see how it progresses
Snake
