What Christians Mean when they Say Jesus is the Son of God
Christians believe that the Son of God has God's power and authority,
we can see this in many passages about Jesus like in the 'Calming of
the storm' (Mark 4:35-41). In this passage Jesus controls the wind and
sea, all signs of God's power, Jesus also performed many miracles that
show his power and His intentions, to help people get rid of sin and
to destroy Satan. He shows his authority in the healing of the
'Paralysed man' (Mark 2:1-12). 'When curing the paralysed man He says
to the man 'your sins are forgiven' (Mark 2:5) this was questioned by
the Scribes, they were thinking 'is this not blasphemy.'' So this
passage shows Jesus' authority from God to use on the earth.
'There are four other points that Christians also believe they believe
the Son of God will return to judge humans at the end of time and that
he is seated at the right hand of the father' (Mark a Gospel for
Today). That he suffered died and rose again (incarnation), they
believe that the Son of...
of children, rising up and teaching them. He says that salvation will come from the people
This paper is written to discuss the many different ideas that have been discussed over the first half of Theology 104. This class went over many topics which gave me a much better understanding of Christianity, Jesus, and the Bible. I will be addressing two topics of which I feel are very important to Christianity. First, I will be focusing on the question did Jesus claim to be God? This is one of the biggest challenges of the Bibles that come up quite often. Secondly, I will focus on character development.
...ctions and I do not think, if he were still alive, he would try and predict another date of Christ’s return.
Jesus’s Parable of the Prodigal Son, found in the book of Luke, Jesus extols the power of repentance and forgiveness, as the lost son is welcomed back by his father after he repents.
The book, The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions, by Marcus Borg and N.T. Wright is a conversation of sorts between, “The Leading Liberal and Conservative Jesus Scholars” as they “Present the Heart of the Historical Jesus Debate.” In the introduction, the scholars note that the inspiration and writing of the book grew out of friendship. The book is evidence of the public and private conversations between these scholars and friends, sharing in Christian faith and practice as they work through these complex issues in hopes of understanding each other better. Both, “…acknowledge Jesus of Nazareth as Lord, and [we] regard the no-holds-barred study of his actual history as a vital part of what we mean by that” (viii).
Though the narrator of Jesus’ Son is a drug addict and shows no remorse for his actions while displaying violent behavior throughout the book, I believe he is on his way to redemption for the occurrences in which he endured through pain and suffering towards others and himself.
Everyone has his own sentiment of when he thinks the world will end some said it would happen at the turn of the millennium but it didn’t, others have hypothesized random dates throughout history But none have come true as to date. Jesus teaches that many calamities will mark the Second Coming and the Apocalypse. Kevin Knight writes in an article for New Advent and in it he says, “They are meant to foreshadow not to tell the day or the time, and will include. 1) The General Preaching of the Christian Religion. 2) The Conversion of the Jews. 3) The Return of Enoch and Elijah. 4) A Great Apostasy or revolt against the Catholic Faith. 5) The Reign of Antichrist who will be a powerful adversary of Christ. He will seduce the nations by his wonders, and persecute the Church. 6) Extraordinary Perturbations of Nature. 7) The Universal Conflagration. 8) The Trumpets of Resurrection will awaken the dead to resurrection. 9) The sign of the Son of Man Appearing in Heaven or in a wonderful cross of light.”
(6) Man is to pursue peace, justice, and righteousness. Salvation is dependent upon the betterment of society through good deeds. Historically, Jews have seen the Messiah as God's anointed human representative (not a God - man) who would usher in a golden age of societal and spiritual redemption. Today, however, Reform Judaism teaches that the Messianic Age will appear when humankind collectively, by its acts, reaches a level of true enlightenment, peace, and justice.
When we return to our Creator, it’s okay because we lived our lives … we have fulfilled our lives.
After reading the chapter on Luke and knowing what I already know about Jesus and his
“Christ is the Son of God, ‘begotten, not created,’” (157). In the English language, words such as begotten are not commonly used. Lewis states that to become the Father is to beget, while creating something is just making something. To become the Father, you become the Father of something that is similar to you, your kind. When Christians say that Christ is the Son of God, they mean that God created something like him, of the same kind. Even though God is out father, and we are sons and daughters of God, Christ was of the same kind as him.
Unlike other views that believe the second coming will be in two phases, amillennialists feel it will occur in one stage; within the time between the first and second coming (459). They fuse the two resurrections spoken in Revelation 20:1-6 into one stage. In this one stage, a general resurrection will occur in which all believers and unbelievers will be gathered. They understand that Satan will be bound during the in-between time and at the second advent he will be released for a short time to cause havoc (458). Christ will return after the heavenly millennium reign and all believers and transformed believers will be taken up to the clouds to be with Him.
Before this semester I had never taken a moment to ask myself - Who is Jesus? It is something that I have never been given the option to question. Being brought up in a strong Christian background, where I went to mass every Sunday, and then following mass, went to bible school for two hours, ingrained a specific image of Jesus into my head. This image portrayed Jesus as a white man who preformed miracles for the poor and oppressed, and also sacrificed himself on the cross for all of humanity’s’ sins. However, after taking this course, I have been able to rethink Jesus in ways that I could have never imagined. It has become evident to me that there are many different ways to see Jesus. And with each of these contrasting views, there comes both biblical and rational evidence supporting each image along with criticism disputing each image.
characterization of the Son does not oppose this tradition; rather, it is simply different. By Milton’s portrayal, the Son has an acute craving for attention, a desire for gory revenge over Death, and an appetite for glory. Furthermore, while the Son, after accepting the task of becoming mortal and dying to save Adam’s descendants, receives plenty of specific praise from his father (“ ‘thou... hast been found by merit more than birthright Son of God’”(3.308-9)) and from the narrator (“[he] breathed immortal love to mortal men” (3.267-8)), he builds up the ramifications of his sacrifice even more in his own language. Such language from the Son comes across as not only grandiose, but even narcissistic at times. The Son of God’s speech betrays narcissism not only in its visual language (that is, the images depicted in the speech), but also in its emphasis on drawing the attention of the angels and future humans to himself.