This would be the ultimate form of deception, yet many suggest this very thing over and over. They suggest that Jesus was different in some way-- and only appeared to be a regular person. It's another way of accusing both Jesus and our Father of pretense. It suggests that God sent His son to be a pretender.
I always love it when a fellow believer adds another point to the argument, that I had not thought of before. Thanks much.
My question really is, why? Why come up with some other kind of Jesus, than the flesh and blood man that He was?
Yes, He was God the word made flesh, but why does that mean He can't be made real felsh and blood of man?
Is any thing too hard for the LORD?
For with God nothing shall be impossible.
Frankly, I think it has to do with a form of idolatry. The old gnostics pretended to have higher thoughts for God, so that they were too lowly for God to ever dwell with them in their own skin. I believe this is what Paul is speaking of with worshipping of angels and pretense of humility.
Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
To me, they make a show of really high thinkers and worshippers of an eternal God that can't be touched nor bothered with becoming an humble man in the flesh.
"Oh no, no, no. The real God and Christ cannot possibly condescend to our low estate. No. He must have PURE blood and IMMORTAL flesh..."
They carry this dogma everywhere they go. Yes, he was baptized for the forgiveness of sins (they say) --but he didn't need this baptism because he had never sinned. In other words, he was the perfect God, become the perfect man-- pretending to be like us, while being wholly (and holy) different from us. And he was just pretending while getting baptized and repenting for sins he never committed.
Well said. It captures all the bogus high talking lip service. When you think about it, they are actually degrading God down to their level, by making something too hard for God to do.
Also, we have to remember the justified sinning factor. The biggest source of some superman christ of inhuman flesh, is the 'sin nature' heresy. They want to at least partially blame their own bodies for what they do with it, but they're not willing to ascribe the same body to Jesus. That would show whether the body is 'sinful' or not, it has nothing to do with how we live.
Or they will say-- he had no earthly Father who seeded him. He was just like us, oh-- except he was nothing like us. We all had a father and a mother who physically brought us into existence, but not him.... he was unique, disputing direct scripture that states he was just like us in every way.
Exactly. I only recently realized what Heb 2:17 is plainly saying. The Bible says Jesus was made by the Spirit exactly the same us us,
in every way as any man on earth since Adam. (Though not from dust)
The thing is that God has written His word with every heresy in mind, and always has a couple verses to directly refute them and state the plain truth of the matter. With Heb 2:17 and some others, there should be no more argument, if we take God at His own words. And yet, we see these undeniable proofs being denied over and over again, by people who otherwise claim to believe the Bible is the true words of God. We come to find their belief is only partial, when God's words contradict their pet theories and doctrines.
I believe the reason is normally just simple pride. However, there are those that trust entirely upon their doctrine alone in order to believe they are saved and headed to heaven. Therefore, they cannot allow their doctrine to be 'harmed' in any way, which includes denying God's own words if necessary.
I reject it all. Jesus was real. He was not a pretender.
Amen and amen! I will remember this point. Another believer such as yourself helped rid me of the 'sin nature' tradition. Like you, he says Jesus cannot possibly be man's example, if He was not actually a physical man like us.
He could only be the example to follow by other superhuman Marvel heroes. In fact, one of their own just recently came out and agreed that such a Christ really the 'best' example for men to follow. It's
impracticable. And so, a more practical example is the doubleminded Christian of Romans 7m which is more
realistic.
That's what I call the Christian idolatry of an idealized Christ. They gush forever, as you say, about how He was so holy perfect and pure (which He is), and so not someone the rest of us little people could ever follow and walk with daily. They idolize and idealize the life of Jesus out of the ball park, so that we can't possibly run the bases with Him. (It reminds me of a golf commercial with Superman teeing off, hitting it a mile down the fairway, and zooming with his bag to the ball in 2 seconds flat. How can any mere mortal ever play golf with such a super inhuman guy?)
Thank you very much for the new point you made. The man Jesus Christ was not a superhero
only pretending to be a man. He was a man just as He and the Bible says. He even talks about how He ate and drank and went to the bathroom like the rest of us. I mean, what immortal-bodied super-christ goes to the bathroom??
Maybe Tiger Woods is one of Jesus fellow super-brothers with super-duper flesh and blood. Afterall, they once said he wasn't human either. (So, he just chose to play golf instead. ;) )