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... So my question was: If Jesus is God, then Who spoke from Heaven when Jesus of Nazareth was baptized?? Based on this, the Transfiguration, and Jesus' many references to His Father, I have said, "Jesus is not God."
Therefore I have been judged as if I do not believe in the Diety of Christ. The fact is, I believe what the Scriptures say of Him, not what others say. "...And the Word was God."
(Isaiah 53:1-5) "Who has believed our report? and to whom is the Arm of the LORD revealed? {2} For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: He has no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. {3} He is despised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. {4} Surely He has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. {5} But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed."
Jesus says of Himself: (Matthew 28:18-20) "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. {19} Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: {20} Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."
Jesus said all power in Heaven and earth had been given to Him. I would ask the Trinitarian and the Oneness: Given by Whom? The first thinks Jesus is equal with God, and you're damned if you don't believe it, too; and the latter is convinced there is no difference between God the Father and Jesus the Son of the Father.
Like I said, I believe exactly what the Bible says: (1 Timothy 2:3-6) "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; {4} Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. {5} For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus; {6} Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time."
Now the Seventh Day Adventist holds a different view entirely, and because of this they are labeled a cult. It doesn't matter much to the mainstreamers that they love the Lord Jesus, and simply wish to serve Him with their whole heart. They are a cult.
The same applies to the Jehovah's Witness. Mainstreamers assume they worship "another Jesus" as if another could take His place in their lives. But if they would stand back and watch, they would see that the Lord is, indeed, very active inside them, however cultic that they appear to be.
So, I have known the Lord since I was sixteen, when I knelt and prayed in a small town church in Texas, twenty something years ago. He has led me in a path of righteousness for His name's sake, though I chose the valley of the shadow of death. At this stage of my conversion, I am becoming much more aware of God's presence, not only in the world, but in the lives of everyday people. Jesus said, "I am the Life." God cares about all life. At the end of the Book of Jonah, He even mentions the cows!
With the explosion of the internet (gosh, did anybody look at the calender?) entire websites are dedicated, not to spreading the Gospel, but to bashing other saints. I got lost out there. And then, I got angry. Righteously indignant.
Who are they beating up on? A mom struggling with a sick child, a dad trying to come up with the rent money, a grandpa lamenting over his past, a child rejoicing in the Lord...
Why are we going around trying to put lights out, instead of letting His glorious Light shine in us??
The more I looked at this problem and tried to understand its roots, the more "Christians" I saw jumping on the bandwagon and bashing all the "cults." They don't believe "right," you see. We somehow have to convince them of the error of their way, instead of rejoicing with them in the Lord, or crying with them, as the case may be. We lose out on an opportunity to make a friend, or pray for someone else.
So convinced have we become that we know the whole Truth because we have a Bible verse to back up our view, that all others who believe differently are cast aside and labeled as cults. And the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses are no different in this respect. All of us think we have the Answer.
Only if we can contain Him. But I'm of the opinion that neither God nor His Christ can be contained. He will save because that is what He does. He will condemn to hell because that is what He does. And He will not ask me if it's ok to save this one or that one or these ones, no matter how they believe.
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