Jesus = God’s Word

Yankovich's statement:   bmz:  Well, thanks for that explanantion.  But, then that means that Jesus did not exist before He was in Mary's womb - right?  What about the Bible vs. that says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."  Do you think that this is correct (probably not if you are Muslim), or was added to the manuscript, or is a corruption.  Or do you believe that the Apostle John really, really wrote that? And, if he did, was he wrong?

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My response: 

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Comment: But how could Jesus be with God in the beginning as this verse says if Jesus was created by God? And how could Jesus be "a god" and yet be with God during the creation, if God was speaking truthfully in Dt.32:39 when he said, "there are no gods with me"?

However, these statements were not made by Jesus Christ, nor were they attributed to him by the author of the Gospel according to John. Consequently, these verses do not constitute evidence for Jesus� divinity, especially considering the doubts held by Christian scholars about the Fourth Gospel. The Bible scholars who authored The Five Gospels said: �The two pictures painted by John and the synoptic gospels (i.e., the Gospels of Matthew, Mark & Luke) cannot both be historically accurate. Note:The Gospel of John differs so radically from the other three Gospels (the Synoptic Gospels) that its authenticity is in doubt...The words attributed to Jesus in the Fourth Gospel are the creation of the evangelist for the most part, and reflect the developed language of John�s Christian community.�(The Five Gospels, p. 10)

AbRah,

Looks like a nice early morning in the US. Only a difference of two minutes between the postings.

Salaam Alaikum

BMZ

Wa Alaikum Assalaam, AbRah

Thanks for your kind words. As I was explaining to our friend Yankovich, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.", this was written with the thought or the word in John, the writer's mind that he had to explain God and God Jesus to his people. The other three gospel writers did not write anything like that.

His being the last to be chosen gospel, he had to start with something forceful. Remember there were hundreds of learned men and priests from various areas who were trying to compromise on who Jesus really was and they were debating. I think John borrowed the idea from the start of Genesis and coined his own opening statement, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." 

What John says can also mean that God in the very beginning had thought of having another God and that thought "the Word" was in God's mind. the reason I say this is: NO Word or word or anything could have existed before God. So John might have preferred to use Word instead of Thought. Because if he had used the word Thought, it would not have impressed the Gentiles.

What do you think?

BMZ

Hey Abed,

I hope AbRah will try to do it legit!  AbRah is a novice.

Since you mentioned the Jesus Seminars, is this true of Thomas Jefferson?

"There is nothing new about this approach in New Testament scholarship. Thomas Jefferson, a great American patriot and president did the same thing in the late 1700s with almost identical results. He admired Jesus as a moral man, but like the Jesus Fellows, he assumed all supernatural and extraordinary elements in the Gospels were unreliable and could not be true. With scissors and paste, Jefferson cut out of the Gospels any and everything which contravened the laws of nature and his own reason.

When he had finished his project, only 82 columns of the four Gospels out of his King James Bible remained from an original 700. The other nine-tenths lay on the cutting room floor. Jefferson entitled his creation The Life and Morals of Jesus, and his book ended with the words, "There laid they Jesus . . . and rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher and departed."(2)"

Good to see you here, Mate.

BMZ