Was Jesus God?

It is so fun to see Evenbob attempting Scriptural exegesis. Bob can you give us your take on the "Suffering Servant" in Isaiah while you are at it. Precious bro, just precious.

Quote: Nareed

It is really weird.

I think you have to look at a crucifix in hindsight. Knowing that this act is God freeing us from eternal punishment due to sin and knowing that this evil act of torture and death did not have the last word, but rather was defeated in the Resurrection is the reason why a crucifix is so powerful. Demons sure seem to hate it in every exorcism. I think this is because in some ways it is making a mockery of Satan and evil. Here they did their worst and they thought they had won. Now the very image of their supposed victory is the ultimate sign of their defeat. In this sense you might want to look at it like the use of the "N-word". It seems weird doesn't it that many African Americans use that word with each other, often as a sign of endearment. This is taking a hateful thing and changing the meaning.

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Why idolize suffering and sacrifice?

Suffering is not to be idolized but sacrifice is the purest form of love. In fact there can be no true love without a willingness to sacrifice for the beloved. Love that is only based on what I can get out of this relationship is selfishness and leads to things very far away from what we would call love. I know we have talked about this before but just think about any good story, movie, or book you have ever read and notice the central element of sacrifice and how powerful it is when people put the needs of their loved friend, family, spouse, community, or cause above themselves.

Quote: FrGamble

It is so fun to see Evenbob attempting Scriptural exegesis.

It's even more fun when the rabbi scholars
do it and find no evidence that Jesus is
not the messiah. But I'm sure you scoff at
them too. Their religion, their language,
scripture written by their ancestors, but
what the heck do they know.

Quote: Evenbob

It's even more fun when the rabbi scholars
do it and find no evidence that Jesus is
not the messiah.

I'm sure this is typo, but it is true.

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But I'm sure you scoff at
them too. Their religion, their language,
scripture written by their ancestors, but
what the heck do they know.

I certainly do not scoff at them. They know well that the NT was written by Jews who often knew well the Scriptures and made sure at many points to emphasize, or they might say make up, moments of Jesus' life that fulfill the prophecies of old. They would not be so foolish as you to say that there are no prophecies that point to Jesus as the Messiah, they would take a very different approach because, as you pointed out, they actually know the OT very well.

Quote: FrGamble

I'm sure this is typo, but it is true.
.

It was a typo, Jews do not believe
in any way that Jesus was the messiah.
One of my oldest friends is Jewish
and he thinks it's funny. His dad was
a Jew born in 1900 and he openly
mocked Christians whenever he could.
Of course he had a good reason, his
parents were from Europe and his
ancestors had been ruined and persecuted
by the Church of Jesus, there was no love
lost there.

Quote: FrGamble

I think you have to look at a crucifix in hindsight. Knowing that this act is God freeing us from eternal punishment due to sin and knowing that this evil act of torture and death did not have the last word, but rather was defeated in the Resurrection is the reason why a crucifix is so powerful.

That makes no sense. It would make sense to have a symbol for the alleged resurrection (you can have symbols for things that didn't happen, after all). Christian practice would be more akin to choosing the Swastika instead of the Star of David as a symbol for the state of Israel.

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Demons sure seem to hate it in every exorcism.

I hear unicorns and leprechauns react badly to it, too. But vampires find it indifferent (see Anne Rice).

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Suffering is not to be idolized but sacrifice is the purest form of love.

Is that why you sacrifice all those whom you claim to "love"?

Quote: Nareed

That makes no sense.

It makes perfect sense. In the days when
wearing a crucifix became fashionable,
nobody could read. A fish monger had
a big wooden fish outside his shop. A
shoemaker had a shoe. The barber had
a striped poll. A Catholic had the crucifix
to identify him as a member of the Church.
A constant grisly reminder of an antiquated
form of capital punishment.

Nareed, that comparison makes no sense. What did the Nazis or the symbol of a swastika ever do to help the Jewish people? Instead the analogy would be more apt if Hitler instead of killing over 3 million Jews, Hitler crucified this one man Jesus and let everyone else go. I reckon we would see a lot of images of Christ on the cross in many synagogues.

You mean like how the romans crucified one man Jesus and let everyone else go?

Quote: Dalex64

You mean like how the romans crucified one man Jesus and let everyone else go?

I mentioned this many times. The cross symbolizes
the capital punishment used on over 100K people.
Yet ask most Xtions and they know nothing about that.
Do it, ask them. Most think Jesus and 2 thieves were it.