Is Jesus God?

Why ask? Why answer?



If Jesus is truly God, then he can answer the most important question: WHY AM I HERE? If we believe he is God, we strengthen our belief and Christian practice by knowing WHY IT S

REASONABLE TO BELIEVE.


Moslems, The Da Vinci Code, Iglesia ni Kristo have led many not to believe: WHERE S THAT

IN THE BIBLE?

Did Jesus exist?

High caliber historians of Jesus time confirm his existence



A wise man (Flavius Josephus, (Flavius Josephus, Jewish Roman aristocrat, wrote in 93 AD) Founder of the name Christian; put to death by Pontius Pilate (Tacitus, 116 AD) Tacitus, To whom hymns were sung as to a god (Pliny the Younger, (Pliny Younger, Governor, 112 AD) this confirms early belief in his divinity!

EyeEye-witness accounts


Gospels and epistles



These are eye-witness accounts: very eyepowerful proofs Their style shows a living person, not a fairy tale Mark of authenticity: the person differs from their preconceived biases

New Testament Manuscripts

Archaeological evidence
Overwhelming
 

Troy - confirmed by one digging Bible 25,000 archaeological discoveries

SeeL http://www.allaboutarchaeology.org/evidence-for-jesus.htm http://www.allaboutarchaeology.org/evidence-for-

When we say Jesus is God , what do we mean?

  

Supreme Being: there is no

other God!

Creator and Conserver: if

Jesus forgets us, we vanish!

His name is I Am Who Am:

he was in the burning bush with Moses, and he alone IS!

Highest form of life: he is

Supreme Happiness

Is Jesus God?: Two ways of proving



Jesus DID things that only God can do



If your car can fly, it s a plane!

Jesus CLAIMED he was God



The classic proof: either he was telling the truth or not!

Jesus DID things that only God can do



He did miracles in his own name



  

He stopped storms! ( What kind of man is this? the apostles asked) He cured from a distance! He walked on water! He multiplied some bread and fish to feed more than 5000 people!

He raised four persons from the dead



Even Lazarus who was already decaying and stinking! Such a strong manifestation led to the decision to eliminate him.

Jesus DID things that only God can do



HE ROSE FROM THE DEAD. No other religious leader was said to have risen from the dead, and with proofs! if he did not rise, vain is our faith (St. Paul)


was executed by professional Roman soldiers who were trained to kill. He was in fact buried.

First premise: he really died on a Friday. He

guarded by Roman soldiers, was empty. Then, he appeared to many, who later gave their lives to proclaim it. Thus, it was not autoautosuggestion

Second premise: by Sunday, his tomb

Thus, he really rose from the dead by his own

power!

Historical analysis


The quantity and quality of Jesus miracles are mankind.



unique in the whole history of

Among religious leaders, if we exclude later legendary and apologetic accounts, we find that early accounts attribute miracles only to Jesus. Jesus.

Jesus CLAIMED to be God: claim of powers and rights

 

 

He forgave sins (Remember: only the offended party can forgive) He demanded absolute obedience and love (he who loves father and mother more than me is not worthy of me!) He said he had angels at his beck and call. He allowed himself to be worshipped and adored: those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, You are certainly God s Son!

Jesus CLAIMED God s properties



Omnipresence: Omnipresence: For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst. Omnipotent: Omnipotent: All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Gives eternal life: everyone who has left life: houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

Jesus directly CLAIMED to be God:

claims that made the Jews want to stone or execute him


Before Abraham was, I AM



Implies he is Eternal!

I and the Father are one. Are you the Christ, the son of the living God? I AM


For the Jews, the name of God is I AM WHO AM!

If somebody CLAIMS to be God, there are ONLY TWO ALTERNATIVES



 

Either (1) He is God or (2) He is a bad man --an imposter or --an a madman Either: Lord, liar or lunatic Either
 

(1) He is telling the truth or (2) He is lying

Examples of people who claimed they were God:

imposters and madmen


Father Divine
  

Died in 1965 The press made fun of him He coined words such as physicalating He wanted to appoint his horse as a senator At night he orders the sun to rise Extremely decadent and hedonistic

Caligula


 

Most of these claimants to divinity never had huge followings

Jesus cannot be an bad man



He cannot be an imposter:


 

he was not in for any personal gain (he did not want earthly power!) He railed against hypocrisy He died for his convictions

There was no trace of insanity in him

 

He healed people People saw him as a coherent wise man, thus had a large following

Staunch unbeliever s attempts at escape



Jesus never claimed that he was God



Very weak argument in the face of so much evidence

Jesus was a hindu mystic: everyone is divine.



But he was a Jew, not a Hindu! For Jews, there is only one God

Jesus CLAIMED he was God and DID things only God can do
Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. Otherwise believe because of the works themselves. Jn 14:9-11 14:9-

Conclusions of those who face the truth

 

My Lord, my God! (St. Thomas the Apostle) In the Beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (St. John, the Apostle) Christ who is God over all (St. Paul, Apostle of the Gentiles)

Jesus is God.
Early Christian writers  Didache Jesus is the God of David (around 100 AD)  St. Ignatius of Antioch (107 AD) calls Jesus God many times in his epistles.  Council of Nicaea (325 AD): Christ is homoousios (one in the (one being with the Father) Millions of martyrs and saints sacrificed their lives cheerfully to proclaim the divinity of Christ

He built a Church which now has one billion adherents



His promises have been fulfilled. He promised that he will be with his Church till the end of the world. He placed Peter (originally means Rock) as the foundation on which I will build my Church. Roman bishops have proofs that they are the successors of Peter tasked to feed my sheep.

God became man!!!

What if it is true? (C.S. Lewis)


Do not be afraid:

You created us for you, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.

 

Do whatever he tells you:

The only advice of Mary in the Bible

Know him and follow him.

He embodies the highest form of happiness: My yoke is easy and my burden light, and I will give rest to your souls !

Christology of Benedict XVI



God is Love. We are his image.

Greater love than this no man has, than he who lays down his life for his friends.

We cannot always give, we must also receive. In order for us to love

others, we have to receive God s love by contemplating Christ, from whom living waters flow.

Practical advice of Pope Benedict:

Allot time everyday to talk to Jesus as friend

Annex: Pauline texts



The glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ Tit 2:13 The Christ, who is God over all, blessed for ever Rom 9:5 In Christ the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily Col 2:9 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together Col 1:15-17 1:15-

Though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God as a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself Phil 2: 5511

St Ignatius (107 AD)

 

of Jesus Christ Our God (tou theou hemon)." (tou hemon) The Physician in One, of the Flesh and of the Spirit, begotten and not begotten, who was God in Flesh (en sarki genomenos theos) . . . Jesus theos) Christ Our Lord" For Our God Jesus Christ was borne in the womb by Mary For Our God Jesus Christ, abiding in the Father, is manifest even the more

Saint Justin Martyr ( A.D. 150) - Since the Word is the first-born of God, He is also firstGod DeuteroDeutero-Clement (A.D. 150) -- think of Jesus Christ as of God Himself, as of the Judge of the living and the dead St. Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 190) - true God without any controversy, the equal of the Lord of the whole universe, since He is the Son and the Word is in God

Is Jesus God?
By Raul Nidoy, Doctorate in Theology, Nidoy, University of Navarre First presented July 3, 2006 at Sangandaan Cultural Center. Revised: July 2011, University of Asia and the Pacific