@BabySharkI have to applaud you. You have beautifully avoided addressing my points, whilst at the same time, you have quoted numerous biblical verses that are irrelevant to the discussion and also brought back points which I have already proven to be unconvincing.
Let's have a look at what you wrote:
There is ample evidence Scripturally and historically for the following:
1. Jesus did many miracles during His ministry on earth
Agreed, but does that prove in any way that Jesus is God? No - and I've proven to you from the Bible itself that others also performed miracles. Does that make them gods too?
2. Jesus was crucified and died.
Again, another vain argument as I showed you clearly from the Bible that Jesus said to the jews that he will be LIKE Jonah (i.e
ALIVE and not dead) for 3 days and 3 nights - you have expounded to great lengths on how this likeness was in comparison to the people of Nineveh but that's not what this verse is all about. Jesus only referred to the MIRACLE of Jonah, starting from when he was thrown overboard in a raging sea (where he ought to die and didn't), then was swallowed by the whale (and still didn't die when he ought to) and then again inside the belly of the whale where he prayed to God (where we would expect anyone to die out of the heat and suffocation and Jonah still didn't)... This was a miracle three times over and the man was still ALIVE!!! And Jesus tells you he is like Jonah for 3 days and 3 nights. I don't know if you understand English the same way I understand it. It doesn't get any simpler than this.
3. Jesus rose from the dead.
It's plastered all over the entire Bible. His disciples witnessed His death and resurrection.
I'm sorry to say this but you don't know your own Bible. None of Jesus's disciples were present to witness his "death and resurrection". And I will give you yet another proof that Jesus did not die that abominable death on the cross and hence did not rise from the dead:
You see, when Jesus goes back to that upper room (where he had that last supper) after his alleged crucifixion, he goes in and he wishes his disciples in the Hebrew language "Shalom Aleichem", which is the same as the Islamic greeting "Salam Alaikum" which means "Peace be unto you" [Luke 24:36].
Instead of his disciples embracing and kissing him (as was the Jewish tradition in those days), they were terrified. So why were they terrified? Luke says: "But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit." [Luke 24:37].
Why would they suppose Jesus was a spirit when he didn't look like a spirit? The answer is that the disciples of Jesus had heard from hearsay that the master was hanged on the cross; they had heard from hearsay that he had given up the ghost (i.e he had died); they had heard from hearsay that now he is dead and buried for three days. All their knowledge was from hearsay because they were not eye witnesses to the happening because Mark tell us that at the most critical junction in the life of Jesus, all his disciples forsook him and fled.
"Then
all his disciples deserted him and ran away." [Mark 14:50]
So, does ALL mean ALL to you? It sure does. On hearsay knowledge, if you heard about a man who's dead and buried for three days, you expect him to be stinking in his grave... and when you see such a person in front of you, naturally you'll be terrified. But Jesus wants to assure them that he's not what they're thinking, so he says:
"Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself:
handle me, and see; for
a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." [Luke 24:39]
It is an axiomatic truth that spirits have no flesh and bones, so why is Jesus going out of his way to prove to his disciples that he is NOT a spirit? That's because they are thinking that he is one. To assure them further that they were wrong in their thinking, Jesus tells them:
"And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?
And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb.
And
he took it, and did eat before them." [Luke 24:41-43]
Jesus ate in front of his disciples to prove to them that he is ALIVE and not "dead and resurrected". I honestly can't understand how you can read those verses in your own mother tongue and understand the exact opposite of what you're reading!
John 12:47-48
47 And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. 48 He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.
That passage in John 12 says that the word of Christ found in Scripture, when men reject it, will be the very words that judge them. So these words you are reading right now quoted from Scripture, the words of Jesus Christ, if you choose to reject them and Him, if you reject His love and grace and mercy with which He SAVED THE WORLD, these words that you rejected and refused to believe will be the words that judge you in the end, either when Jesus comes back to judge the world, or when you die and face judgement.
You claim to follow the words of Jesus Christ but in reality, you are only following Paul. Let's have a look at which of Jesus's or Paul's teachings you follow:
1. Adhering to the laws and commandmentsJesus tells you to keep the laws and the commandments [Matthew 5:17-20]
Paul says that the Law will not bring any justification but a man will only be justified by faith in Christ Jesus. [Galatians 2:16]
You follow Paul.2. How to attain salvationJesus links salvation to the keeping of the commandments. [Matthew 19:16-17]
According to Paul, just professing that Jesus is Lord and that he was raised from the dead will result in the person being saved [Romans 10:9]
You follow Paul.Paul initiated the whole doctrine of atonement based on the concept of 'original sin' (ROMANS 5:12, 1 CORINTHIANS 15:21-22). Such a concept which states that every human being is born stained with the sin of Adam and Eve, is against the Justice of God. Major Yeats Brown in his book
Life of a Bengal Dancer comments on this absurd concept:
"No heathen tribe has conceived so grotesque an idea, involving as it does the assumption, that man was born with a hereditary stain upon him; and that this stain (for which he is not personably responsible) was to be atoned for; and that the Creator of all things had to sacrifice his only begotten son to neutralize this mysterious curse."
3. Eating the flesh of the swineJesus never ate the pig as he followed the Law, which states: "The pig is also unclean; although it has a divided hoof, it does not chew the cud. You are not to eat their meat or touch their carcasses." [Deuteronomy 14:8].
Paul allows everything to be eaten, regardless of what the Law says. [Corinthians 10:25]
You follow Paul.4. CircumcisionJesus was circumcised on the 8th day. [Luke 2:21]. And Jesus says, "he is not of me who does not take up his cross and follow me" as I quoted before.
Paul says circumcision is nothing and non-circumcision is nothing. [Corinthians 7:19]
What is good for your "Lord" should be good for you, but the bulk of Christians would rather follow Paul in not circumcising.
You follow Paul.So, I'm confused. Which words of Jesus are YOU following? Can't you see, you're following Paul all the way.
We are so full of sin of every kind and are completely unable to save ourselves by our own efforts.
ONLY JESUS can save us.
It seems to me that you are reading the Bible with blinkers on and you want me and the rest of the world to read the Bible in the same way. But looking at the verses of the Bible in an objective way, you will find that everyone is responsible for his own deeds, good or bad, and everyone has an opportunity to repent to God Almighty (not Jesus) in order to be saved. Look into the book of Ezekiel Chapter 18 and you will find those verses, which are truly Islamic:
"The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. [Ezekiel 18:20]
But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die." [Ezekiel 18:21]
Our father Adam sinned by eating the forbidden fruit; we, his children, are not responsible for what he did. And whatever his children today are doing today, God will not question Adam for that and hold him accountable. Whatever good someone does, he will get his reward for it and whatever evil someone does, he will get his punishment for it.
So, how do you get salvation? The answer is in verse 21 - if the evildoer repents from his sins and do that which is good, he shall live (spiritually that is) forever.
Matthew 5:20
20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus has given us salvation and righteousness.
It is ONLY the righteousness of Jesus Christ who lived a holy and sinless life that is good enough to get into heaven with.
The righteousness of Jesus Christ is the righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees and scribes.
You are clearly quoting those verses out of context. Here is the context. Matthew Chapter 5 begins with Jesus addressing his disciples and teaching them. Jesus is telling them THEY can only enter heaven if THEIR righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, NOT BY BELIEVING IN HIS OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS!!! Otherwise, he would have said: "Unless you believe that MY righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees..."
Therefore, to sum up, you are a strict follower of Paul, who has never met Jesus in his lifetime, self-proclaimed himself the 13th disciple of Jesus, invented a whole new religion that wasn't preached or taught by Jesus, and initiated the whole doctrine of atonement based on the concept of 'original sin' based on which he made you believe that Jesus died for your sins and the Law is now nailed to the cross.
In contrast to that, Jesus told you to keep the laws and commandments if you want to enter Heaven; he told you to take up the cross and to follow him in order to attain salvation. If you insist on calling yourself a true Christian, my advice to you is to start following the teachings of Jesus, not those of Paul.
On a separate note, you have yet to respond (with proof from the Bible) to the points I have raised earlier:
1) Produce any verse where Jesus either says "I am God" or where he says "Worship me".
2) Produce any verse from the Bible where someone actually calls Jesus "Immanuel" during his lifetime in order to fulfill the prophecy in Matthew 1:23.
3) Who ruled the world for 3 days and 3 nights if Jesus died as a God (ignoring the fact that saying so is blasphemy)?
4) Produce any verse from the Bible where the word "trinity" is mentioned.