Is Jesus divine?

Deception is one of the traits of many animals. Many snakes for instance use their body colouring to blend in with the background to deceive their prey. So do many animals. Man copies them by camouflage during hunting or war. We certainly learned deception from the animal kingdom. This applies in our dealings with man.

 

You present no connection to our contiguous history of mankind. You can't leap over tens or hundreds of thousands of years and say there is a connection. The only thing tying it together is you and people like you attempting to make a connection that doesn't exist, and seeing what you want to see. My computer is made from the earth. The earth is billions of years old. But my computer is brand new.

In genesis, it doesn't say that God created the earth from nothing. It says the earth already existed, and that it was void and without form. And so God went about making something of it. Whose to say it wasn't previously a planet that had run its course with life forms that had all perished. Or that God didn't repurpose and resurface it with new life, including Adam and Eve who were made from the earth. In that scenario, you are attempting to tie the known generations of man together with pieces in the earth to which we have no connection beyond the common denominator of earthly substance and perhaps godly design. Wearing your Fathers shoes doesn't mean that you've walked in his footsteps.

 

How so?

 

Joseph Smith wasn't Jesus Christ. But he was persecuted his entire life since his first visitation by God. He and his Brother left the safety of his people and turned themselves in to authorities, unarmed, to face charges. They were promised protection by the Governor because of anti Mormon hostilities. So the Governor sent a militia to protect them. The militia was anti Mormon. Two other members of the LDS Church joined the Smiths for moral support. At some point, someone smuggled a pistol into the jail and gave it to Smith. Around 150-200 armed men stormed the jail to kill the Smiths, while the militia stood by doing nothing. Joseph fired the pistol after his Brother had been shot in the face and killed. Joseph killed no one. But he was killed too. Nobody was ever prosecuted for their murders.

 

Somehow I knew you would come up with a simple technique such as that. It does not compare in the slightest as to the intent humans have for deceiving others. Besides, snakes did not make that "choice" to be camouflaged. To a degree they were created that way and their advancement came through "natural selection". Men do practice deception in "camouflaging "their deceptive nature as something good and to be accepted. What is right is wrong and what is wrong is right. We see it every day. Men can be girls and girls can be men. Some lawyers can be snakes I understand, but they exist merely to confuse and distort simple laws that were already presented to us through Moses. We didn't learn that through snakes! Christ showed us a better way to live and not through laws!

 

That is right....Joseph Smith wasn't Jesus Christ. Though you submit God presented His new and revised Word through him, God did not extend Smith the protection He did Jesus. Smith fired a pistol in a vain attempt to kill. Now you believe according to the "new revised Gospel" that Joseph Smith can now become a god, a created being equal to Jesus Christ. Perhaps you should read other accounts of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young........there is another side to your story.

 

And we can trace the materials of which your computer is made of back through different stages of time.
And who's to say all the other emphasised quote is true. A Book.
You simply accept the science that you use and maybe keeps people alive and ignore the rest. My friend is kept alive by a machine that breathes air into his lungs and blood vessels. Science produced this machine. Science has brought us to this day - for good and bad - not some unknown god who allows even his own followers to suffer and die by the actions of the earth he created.

 

Brigham Young was divorced ten times according to this article. He had at least 16 wives as well as a great many more. How does one "love his wife as Christ loves His Church" with so many women dividing his time? This was the model for Mormonism. They deny the UNIQUE Deity of Christ and the topic of this thread.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Brigham_Young's_wives

 

A camouflage animal uses different ways to hide their identity or appearance from other animals. They can change their colour, change their shape, or disguise themselves by pretending to be something else.

 

The mysteries of God. Snakes have learned effective hunting techniques for survival. Has nothing to do with deception developed for the sake of making one believe he is better than others.

 

Science is practised in schools for the very purpose of proving what we know and exploring what we don't know. In simple terms we know a man is dead when his brain and heart stop. What we don't know for sure is why he died. Did he die of natural causes, some unknown illness or genetics passed on from his parents. Science will tell us that.

 

Ancient prophets who had no science, were told by decree from God, that in the end the earth and heaven would pass away. They went one further than that, by saying there would be a new heaven and a new earth. Modern science has concluded that the earth and galaxy is headed for a collision with another galaxy. Therefore, science is in agreement with the God of the prophets who declared these things thousand of years ago. Science isn't a substitute for God. It is a gift from God. Like great men who fit the times, God gives us those gifted in intellect and science. He gave you your Churchill, and us our founding Fathers. In fact he gave us all our lives, without which there'd be no science or anything at all.

 

Science also has determined there is a loss of body weight immediately after expiration. Sure, the body is dead.There is a soul that leaves the body.....but that is all immaterial.

I would like to make an animal/human observation. Animals do not worship or recognize there is a God. They are completely indifferent. Humans, whether they deny Him or not, Know there is an intelligent designer greater than themselves. In their case, because of their freedom of choice and their fallen human nature, they desire to BE that God. That is the explanation for the deception we see produced by humanity. It is not for survival. It is "spiritual". It exceeds time, space and matter. It is to the desire to "be as God" as displayed in Genesis. It is the desire to "Lord over all of creation."

 

Protection? Jesus was afflicted his whole life. In the end he was mocked, ridiculed, spat on, humiliated, betrayed, falsely accused, beaten, tortured, crucified and then stabbed with a spear to make sure he was dead. He was born to that end. Joseph Smith was not. He was to restore the true Church for the carrying out of Gods work in the last days. And he accomplished that. I think most traditional Christians live under the illusion that Jesus Christs life, death, and resurrection, was the end of his Fathers work. It isn't. Even Jesus said that there will be some who come after him who will do more than him. And the book of Revelation suggests Gods work continuing on throughout the times of tribulations. He saw an Angel with the everlasting gospel, followed by another proclaiming the falling of Babylon, the return of Elijah, and so on.

As for accusations against Joseph Smith and Brigham Young by apostates and anti LDS types. I'm not into gossip. My testimony from Gods spirit is enough to know that he lives and the Church is his. Yeah that sounds like a pat hand. What can I say but that I don't gamble with my soul.

 

Jesus laid down His life. So did the Apostles. So did the martyrs in Foxes Book. Joseph Smith wounded three people trying to defend himself. Joseph Smith had a printing press destroyed because it was not pro- polygamy. Joseph Smith tried to declare martial law because his religion was not embraced. I do in no way condone his murder, but I would attribute it to "reaping and sowing".

Why did Jesus declare "It is finished" and the veil in the Tempe was torn in two? He fulfilled the law and Joseph Smith came and built a Temple, installed new Priests and New Laws.

Matt. 14:12 "I tell you the truth,, ANYONE who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father." Jesus referred to anyone who has faith in Him. Not faith in the teachings of Joseph Smith. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to guide Believers in Truth. I will point to Billy Graham. That man spoke to greater audiences and touched more people at a single moment than Jesus did. Not because he was comparable to Jesus, but Jesus enabled him through his great faith. That is a real stretch to think anyone in Mormonism accomplished that through faith in Jesus.

You may very well be gambling with your soul. You need to put all things aside and read the Bible asking God to show you why it is there.

 

Humans, whether they deny Him or not, Know there is an intelligent designer greater than themselves.
Absolute rubbish. Millions of atheists prove youer statement incorrect.

 

Ancient prophets? In your book? And the fact that two galaxies collide does not mean the end of either. Spaces between planets etc are so vast that the two can intermingle with little disturbance. It's already happening with other galaxies. Science certainly isn't a substitute for a NON EXISTENT GOD. It stands alone.

 

According to this that has been debunked.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/21_grams_experiment

 

It might have been.....makes no difference to me. Science is debunked all the time.

 

Exactly....how have they proved that? Great is your faith!!!

 

How can you prove the existence of a nonexistent being? You can't even prove god exists!
Your faith is in what the Bible says. Without that Christianity would not exist. The Jewish preacher would still be a figure in Jewish history.

 

Am I to understand that if science doesn't say it, you don't know what to believe? An Apostle named Thomas was that way.

 

Long before written books of the NT were available both Jews and gentiles believed in the resurrected Christ. The Christian movement began with the spoken word and it was confirmed by signs and miracles which were sufficient to greatly increase the number of converts to the new religion. Even with the printing of the Bible, most people of the Christian faith were illiterate. They relied on the oral proclamation of God's words. Thus, obviously, Christianity would/did exist in vast numbers before a single word of God was written down.

 

Can you prove time, space and matter evolved into being?
Can you prove that it all evolved into order?
How does a single living cell (which in itself is a miracle) evolve into a part of human anatomy as complex as a single eyeball?
You can't prove any of this! You take it all on faith!
Yes, the Bible does exist. With all it's opposition it survived in spite of those that denied it and wanted it destroyed.
Jesus is not an ancient figure in Jewish history. He still lives in the realm of all who embrace Him and His mission.

I have provided you with 6 lines to think about. You can't resolve any of them. I contend there is a Supreme Creator that can. Your faith contends it all just happened. I contend there was a plan from the beginning. Sure, I don't understand it fully, but that is why we have faith. When I meditate on the complexity of things, my inner man communicates with the One responsible for it all. We were designed that way and given choice. I have choice to refuse to listen. Choice is the very essence of Love. Jesus showed us how He came to earth, exercised choice, and showed us we too have that ability. It is all about relationship. We can accept or deny. We can become part of the "eternal plan" which entails relationship, or we can live to ourselves which is a solitary existence.
Jackson Brown wrote a song "For a Dancer". It impacted me before I believed. It questioned and ponders our existence. One of the lines that really made an impression on me was this....."in the end there is one dance you'll do alone".
It doesn't have to be that way I have found. I don't know if Jackson found out but I was part of that "uncertainty" for a time. Now I am not!