The Father is God. Jesus is God. The Holy Spirit is God also. In Acts 5:3-4, Peter confronted Ananias and said he lied to the Holy Spirit, which meant he lied not to men, but God.
The Bible ascribes to him the attributes of God. He is eternal according to Hebrews 9:14. He is able to create life. Matthew 1:18 says that Mary’s child was conceived by the Holy Spirit. He is omni-present according to Psalm 139:7. He was sent by God, as was Jesus, according to 1 Corinthians 2:12. He knows the thoughts of God according to 1 Corinthians 2:11.
The Holy Spirit is a distinct person with a distinct ministry. Jesus said he would ask the Father and he would send another Counselor to be with us forever, the Spirit of Truth (John 14:16). He picks up where Jesus left off in his support of and ministry to us. He knows all Jesus knows, for Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would teach us all things (John 14:26).
4 comments:
Shell, was Abraham a Jew? "I Am" is the name God gave Himself. With the name Yahweh, the Jews/Hebrews will leave out the vowel sounds as a means of reverance. I did actually hear about that from my baptist Hebrew professor, who doesn't teach just Hebrew but OT, and theology. We have held many counsels over this issue and it has been agreed that it is inferred by the text and is a necessary Doctrine within the Chrisitan faith.
The Jw's are completely wrong. You misunderstand. They have actually gone in and added things to the text to suit their doctrine. They deny that Jesus Christ is God. In John 1, "the Word is God" they say "the Word is a god." It is a type of god, but Jesus is not THE GOD in carnate. the mormons do similar to this, Jesus is the brother of satan, and all men have the ability within themselves to be gods. Or like the Muslims, Jesus was a prophet, not God.
We believe in One God, three persons. They are together, One. Lets say, w/out the other they would cease to be God. There are not separate god's, but One, and His name is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. It is good that you question what you believe and why, but even false prophets can appropriate a text and make it appear to be Biblical. They can tickle ears and give you what you want to hear. But within the Mormon and Jw cult's, there is not one person going to heaven. They are all lost and given to desrtructive false doctrine.
But I will say that John 1 in Greek reads that the Word was God, "kai theos ein ho logos" the Word was God. None of our oldest texts say anything in agreance with the Jw's text, "the word was a god." I make an appeal for faith b/c faith is a gift of the Spirit. it's not a cop-out answer. How are you supposed to believe in Jesus when you have not seen Him, or heard Him? How are you supposed to believe the bible in any part apart from faith?
But within the Bible we have three distinct persons professing to be the One God. This is yet another difference between us and every other religion.
Jw's also believe that only 144,000 will be in heaven. we know that there have been more than 144,000 jw's in the last 100 years that they have been a cult. they are wrong, they deny Christ, and they are going to hell because of it. that may be harsh, but it's true.
as for, "let us create man in our image," there has been much discussion about this too. What does it mean to be created in His image? God is eternal, are we eternal? no. But, we would say that we are everlasting. Our bodies will die, our spirit will go to either heaven or hell. When Christ returns He will bring judment of the living and the dead. All will be reuinited with their bodies...the Saints will recieve their perfected bodies (like Christ's), and will reign with Him. The wicked will be cast with the devil and his angels into Hades, as will Hell, and they will be punished eternally.
the Imago Dei, the image of God, God is good, so we are "good," "very good." Man possesses the ability to do good, even though he is a fallen corrupt being. Though, fallen sinful man apart from God, teh good he does is still sin, b/c of the motives behind the good deed. Usually being, pride. Thus, his good works condemning Him. The world does not love b/c they have not Christ. (1John, right?) or Rom.3.
more on John. 1:1 http://aomin.org/GERM_JWS.html
http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/topic/cultsheresy.html for more on Jw's, etc.
and, more on the trinity. http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/topic/trinity.html
I just looked at the Hebrew text in Gen. 1, the third word in the Hebrew text of Gen.1, is Elohim, translated God, not gods.
you may look at these for more on Elohim...http://www.bible.org/qa.asp?topic_id=96&qa_id=285 http://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=349
those sites will just give you info on the usage of the word Elohim and its frequency, as well as its etymology.
more on the trinity.
http://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=215
for more on the trinity...and you can even download a free version of the NET Bible which is a great translation.
I am exhausted...ugh...
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