Monday, August 2, 2010

Comment Response

I received the comment below from reader "Brother Gee" in response to my blog post entitled "Follow On". I felt I needed to respond to it in more depth than the comment box would probably allow room for, so I decided to address it in a separate blog post. Brother Gee's words are in italics. Mine are in plain print. If you would like to read Brother Gee's comment without my response, click on the hyperlink above and go to the comments section. For the record, I welcome any and all respectful comments, but any false doctrine contained in such comments will be addressed and refuted Scripturally.


Hello! Nice post. A short comment, if i may?
Jesus (the personality) incarnated in order to live a life that would set an indelible example for future generations.

Hello, and thank you for your kind words. Although I understand the distinction you’re making between “Jesus” and “the Christ” (below), Jesus was far more than just a personality. Jesus was 100% human and 100% God simultaneously. He was not incarnated in order to set an example. The example He set was a by-product of who He was. The reason Jesus took on flesh was so that He could pay the penalty for our sin, thus satisfying God’s wrath, which justly abides upon each of us.

The Life would be designed in such a way as to illustrate a Plan for Salvation that any human could follow to Liberation.


Jesus’ life did not “illustrate” a plan for salvation. Jesus’ perfect, sinless life, His atoning death, and his bodily resurrection were the plan for salvation. Not a plan, the only plan.

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.’” John 14:6

Jesus did not say, “I am the illustration of a way,” He said, “I am the way.”

Acts 4:12, speaking of Jesus, says, “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved."

“No one comes…but through Me,” “salvation in no one else”. Not only is Jesus Himself the way, but Jesus is the only way.

I’m not sure precisely what you mean by “liberation”, but the only true liberation is found by placing your faith in Jesus Christ and turning from your life of sin (which is what I mean when I use the word “salvation”). There is no liberation in any other area of life (or the afterlife) if a person is not first liberated from the captivity to sin.

However, it is important for us to understand that Jesus was simply the earthly vehicle for The Christ,

If you mean that “Jesus” was His humanity and “the Christ” was His divine nature, the two were inextricably interwoven. Although it’s difficult for us to wrap our finite human minds around the concept, it is important for us to understand the truth: Jesus Christ was, most emphatically, totally human and totally God at the same time, all the time that He was on Earth, from His conception to His ascension. His humanity was vital to His being able to die for our sin. Had He been only God, he would not have been able to die, because God is eternal and can’t die.

In addition, had he not been human, we would not have had a high priest who can “sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.” Hebrews 4:15

an eternal cosmic force most often referred to as "The Second Aspect" of God (ie., "The Son").

“Eternal”, yes. “Cosmic force”, no. Jesus is not a cosmic force, He is a person. He is the second person in the triune Godhead, co-equal with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. He is a Being, not a force.

After the Baptism, Jesus (the earthly personality) no longer exists. It steps aside and allows The Christ to take over the earthly vehicle. From that point on, it is The Christ who teaches, heals, etc.

Nowhere does the Bible teach this. Nowhere. Not one place in Scripture. In fact Scripture clearly refutes this idea:

“for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11

When announcing His birth, the angels didn’t tell the shepherds that Jesus would one day become the Christ, they said He is the Christ.

“And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.” Luke 2:26

Even though Jesus was an eight day old infant, it was clear to Simeon that He was the Christ.

This important fact has not been clearly brought forward in the churches,

That’s because it’s not fact, it’s heresy.

and so men have been led to believe and follow the memory of a personality (Jesus) instead of understanding that the man lived his life up until the age of 30 in preparation to receive and accept a Cosmic Principle.

So, basically, what you’re saying is that as far as anything of salvific import goes, Jesus’ life didn’t matter until he was baptized and began His public ministry? If that’s the case, why didn’t God just cause Jesus to miraculously materialize on Earth at the age of 30? Why did God make a special point of causing Jesus to be conceived by the Holy Spirit, born as a human baby, and live through childhood, youth, and young adulthood? What was the point of all of that if it didn’t matter to salvation?

Because Jesus’ life, all of Jesus’ life—His personality, His deity, the fact that He was able to live an entire life without sin—are integral to our salvation. It was more than just preparation for His ministry (which included teaching, prayer, healing and other miracles, and culminated with His death, burial, and resurrection, and, later, His ascension-- not accepting and receiving a “cosmic principle”). God has a perfect and right reason for everything He does, and if He deemed it necessary to our salvation for Jesus to live a life from conception to age 30, then it was necessary and right.

This, in order to show all of future Mankind that we could do the same - achieve Transfiguration and Liberation from this plane of existence.

The only way humans can be liberated from this plane of physical existence is by dying. Then they go on to another plane of existence for eternity. Those who (before dying) have turned from their sin and placed their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation spend eternity with Him in Heaven. Those who have not spend eternity separated from Him in Hell.

No one can achieve liberation from his sinful spiritual state. We can’t do it in our own strength or by being a good enough person or doing enough good things. That’s why Jesus has to reach down and save us from it.

With this Key, The New Testament can be penetrated beyond a superficial level, and those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, will reach a new level of Understanding.

The only way anyone can penetrate, understand, and have eyes to see and ears to hear the New Testament (or the Old Testament) is through the power of the Holy Spirit. And the only way to be empowered by the Holy Spirit is to be filled with Him. And the only way to be filled with Him is to turn from our sin and place our faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. There is no other “key” to understanding the Scriptures:

“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.” I Corinthians 2:12-14


I want to close by saying that our great country, at least for now, grants us the right to believe whatever we want about God. God, however does not grant us the right to believe whatever we want about Him and still be assured of salvation. If your faith is in any Jesus that is not the Jesus of the Bible, you have placed your faith in an idol that you have fashioned with your mind. And, as I Corinthians 6:9 and Ephesians 5:5 tell us, idolaters will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Galatians 1:8-9 says: “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!

As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!”

Brother Gee, I beg you, turn from this false doctrine you believe, turn from your sin, and place your faith in the Jesus Christ of the Bible. Salvation is found only in His name through believing precisely what the Bible says about Him.

3 comments:

Jason said...

Very well done. :)

BrotherGee said...

Thank you for taking the time to categorically respond to my recent comment. In the interest of maintaining a spirit of friendship and togetherness, i will refrain from responding, as to do so might result in this discourse degenerating to the level of argument.

This much i will put forth:

There are a couple of things that you misconstrued in my comment. For example, i never said that Jesus' life "did not matter". However, the fault is mine, for not being completely clear in my statements, as i was endeavoring to be brief.

Secondly, after the death of Jesus the Christ, His inner teachings, the 'meat for the strong' were entrusted to His apostles and passed on to certain ones who came after. The early Church spent much time and spilled much blood endeavoring to eradicate these true teachings from the face of the earth. "Heresy" is the flag they waved as they swung the sword. What was left is the eviscerated shell teachings that billions follow as doctrine today - the 'milk for the babes'.

Matthew 7:7 states that one should seek until one finds. It does not state that one should follow blindly and without question. The Bible has been edited and re-edited countless times. I respectfully ask all to consider what exactly was it that was being edited out, and why?

There is no desire on my part to convert or convince anyone of anything. Each Soul's journey is their own. All choices made, or not made, are ultimately our personal responsibility. Please accept my apologies for appearing on your blog out-of-the-blue with concepts that are so obviously and diametrically opposed to what you have been taught to believe.

Please also accept my thanks for your being gracious enough to respond to my comment. I wish you well upon your Journey.

Sincere Regards,

~~ g

Shannon said...

"opposed to what you have been TAUGHT to believe"??? Do people get the Bible off of the shelf and read it? Doesn't it teach the same to all of us? I read the whole discussion, but that one little phrase was a HUGE red flag for me.