05-26-2003, 08:15 PM
Jennifer and to others,
Here is one example why Jesus is God,
Suppose I break a man's window, and the man wants to be both just and merciful towards me. What can he do?
He could pretend there is no loss, but that would go against the truth, because a window has been broken. He could make me pay for it, which would be just, but not merciful - especially if it costs more money than I have. He could make someone else pay for it, but that would be neither just nor merciful towards the other person.
So there is only one appoach left for him, isn't there?
He must suffer the loss himself.
Now, let me apply the old case of the judge and the thief to God and man, (take into account that we have all sinned)
The Judge (God) convicted the thief to a very high fine - and then stood up, drew his wallet, and because of their friendship, the Judge (God) paid it all. Is the Judge just and merciful, YES, in fact, it was noble behaviour.
Since NO person other than God can truly pay for the sins commited by man, even if we tried, we wouldn't be able to do it.
We as humans are under human law and so a legal payment would mean that God must become man to legally pay for human sins, and he did.
(Think of God as a pool full of water, when he suffered the loss for us, still the pool was full because God is infinite, always full, the loss wasn't actually a loss, it was meant as a lesson to humanity, God can do anything, God became man so as to provide humanity with a personal God, a God who walked physically with humans, ate and drank with them, and just like a human died physically.)
That's God and that's why Jesus Is God.