death
Do you hold to the theory of macro-evolution?
Clearly, there is no way that I can convince you at this point that I haven’t misunderstood my mystical experiences. Anything I say will simply contribute to your perception that I continue to misunderstand them. Thus, we’re traveling in a circle.
However, misterskank, you really should remove Jesus from your list of avatars. As C. S. Lewis said, "A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg—or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.”
Mr. Lewis—whom you insult, by calling him arrogant—in your non-hateful way, of course—has the advantage of having been on both sides of this issue, an advantage which you do not share. He once was an atheist, who, through intelligent investigation, discovered that Jesus is, yes, believe it or not, God Himself.
As to which specific remark Jesus made that should force a decision of whether He is a lunatic, a liar or the Lord, there are several. Here are two. In the first, from John 8, Jesus is talking to the Jewish religious leaders.
“‘Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.’
So the Jews said to Him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?’
Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.’”
By saying He was “I am,” He was saying that He is the One who spoke to Moses from the burning bush, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—literally, the ‘yod hey vav hey,’” the Hebrew letters that we have transliterated into “Yahweh” or “Jehovah.”
This is another, from Luke 5.
“Seeing their faith, He said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven you.’
The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?”
But Jesus, aware of their reasonings, answered and said to them, ‘Why are you reasoning in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, “‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’” or to say, “‘Get up and walk’”? But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,’—He said to the paralytic—‘I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home.’ Immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God.”
Here, Jesus is claiming to be able to do what the Jews believed that only God can do—forgive someone’s sins—not sins this man had committed against Him, but sin in general.
Concerning your question as to whether God my Father has testicles or a penis, by attempting to strain out a gnat, you are swallowing a camel.
As for putting words into Jesus' mouth about forgiveness being the province of God, there is no need to so, since the Pharisees tell us what He meant--He was claiming to be God.
"The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, 'Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?'"
The guardian angel assertion bothers me, however, because although it's said (by people other than Jesus, and many years later) that angels were present at the birth of Jesus, Jesus in his parables speaks more generically of a "kingdom of God" and a "holy spirit," and calling himself the "Son of Man."
In my reading of the New Testament's Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, what Jesus does not do is speak of strictly metaphysical beings such as "angels." If my assumption is wrong, I'd like to see a biblical passage.
“See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven."
However, there are numerous times that Jesus referred to angels. In Matthew alone--13:39, 41 and 49; 16:27, 22:30, 24:31, 24:36, 25:31, 25:41, 26:53.
Have you read Don Piper's book, "Ninety Minutes In Heaven"? I just finished it and have been thinking about blogging about it...it changed my concept and desire for heaven forever.
