Do you believe Jesus Christ (The Word) is God?
John 1:1-3KJV
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Jesus Christ is
not God, for he himself said that "the Father is
greater than I am".(John 14:28) And John 1:1 does
not say that "the Word was God", for had you researched the Koine Greek, you would have known that Koine Greek does
not have an indefinite article such as "a", having only a definite article such as "the", so that the reader knows to place an "a" before a word when there is no definite article such as "the".
For example, at John 1:6, the
King James Bible reads: "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John." Here, the
King James Bible translators placed an indefinite article "a" because it was not made definite by the apostle John.
So, when a person says "the man", this clearly distinguishes him from another man, while saying "a man" could be any man, in which the apostle John identified as "John". Had he not identified who he was speaking about, then "a man" could have been any man.
Now, let's look closely at John 1:1, 2, whereby it says: "In the beginning was
the (definite article) Word (identifying one specific person), and
the (definite article) Word was with (
the, definite article in the Vatican 1209 Greek manuscript of the 4th century C.E.) God (identifying "the only true God", see John 17:3), and
the (definite article) Word was (
a, no definite article) god. The same was in the beginning with (
the, definite article in the Vatican 1209 Greek manuscript of the 4th century C.E.) God."(
King James Bible)
What is found here ? That before the three times "Word" is used, John places the definite article "the" to establish a specific person, who is Jesus Christ, while in only the first and third times does John place the definite article "the" that establishes he is speaking of "the God", the Creator, and "Sovereign Lord" (Gen 15:2), but leaving the second use of "god" indefinite, so that the proper reading is "a god", and not "God".
The
Emphatic Diaglott (based on the Vatican 1209 Greek manuscript of the 4th century C.E.), a Greek interlinear published in 1864 by Benjamin Wilson, reads of John 1:1, 2 in the interlinear as: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the God, and a god was the Word. This was in a beginning with the God."
That this is correct, there has been found an ancient Sahidic Coptic translation of John 1:1, 2, that precedes the
King James Bible by well over a thousand years, that has an indefinite article "a" like English and that reads: "In the beginning existed the Word and the Word existed with the God and a god was the Word."(SAHIDIC COPTIC TEXT; P. Chester Beatty-813; with interlinear translation, located in Dublin, Ireland at the Chester Beatty Library that was found near Saqqara, Egypt)
The Coptic language was spoken in Egypt in the centuries immediately following Jesus’ earthly ministry, and the Sahidic dialect was an early literary form of the language. Regarding the earliest Coptic translations of the Bible,
The Anchor Bible Dictionary says: “Since the [Septuagint] and the [Christian Greek Scriptures, commonly called the "New Testament"] were being translated into Coptic during the 3d century C.E., the Coptic version is based on [Greek manuscripts] which are significantly older than the vast majority of extant (or existing) witnesses.”
Also, if a person read the Bible carefully, without prejudice or bias, they could have read John 8:28, 29, whereby Jesus told the Jews: "I do
nothing of my own initiative; but just as the
Father taught me, I speak these things. And the One who sent me is with me; he did not abandon me to myself, because I always do the things
pleasing to him.”(
New World Translation)
And then at Revelation 3:14, Jesus says: "To the angel of the congregation in La·o·di·ceʹa write: These are the things that the Amen says (see 2 Cor 1:20), the faithful and true witness, the
beginning of the creation by God." So, Jesus was taught by Jehovah God, and in which no one teaches Jehovah anything (see Isa 40:13, 14) and that he had a "beginning", while Jehovah God did not.(see Ps 90:2)
And had you read John 17:3 carefully, whereby Jesus said in prayer to Jehovah God: "This means everlasting life, their coming to know you (not "me"), the only true God,
and (making a clear separation between "the only true God, Jehovah and himself) the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ", you could have seen for yourself that Jesus is
not God.
To be honest, very few who profess to be Christian does any serious research, but just follows what Proverbs 18:2, says: "A stupid person takes no pleasure in understanding (or not carefully examining the Bible, unwilling to do extensive research to verify what they read is accurate); He would rather disclose what is in his heart (or just give his personal opinion, or how he
feels about something)".
I could add more, but this should suffice for now.
