Divinity Of Jesus
The second Christian dogma (Divinity of Jesus) is that of the Godhood of Jesus. The Athanasian Creed states:
“Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believes rightly in the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Christians believe that Jesus Christ is God from all eternity, the Second Person of the Divine Trinity; that nearly two thousand years ago he chose to appear in a human body and was born of the Virgin Mary.
This dogma also has no support of the words of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Gospels. The truth is that Jesus strongly disclaimed Godhood or divinity. Here are in his own words:
“Why callest thou me good? There is none good but One, that is, God. (Mark 10:18).
He spoke of God as
“My Father and your Father, and my God and your God.” (John, 20-17)
These words of Jesus reported in the Bible show that Jesus stood in the same relation to God as any other man. He was a creature of God.
The passion of Jesus Christ
In his agony on the Cross according to the Gospels, Jesus cried out:
“Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, “which is being interpreted, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mark: 15:34)
Can one imagine these words coming out of the mouth of God? Here we have the cry of a helpless man in agony addressing his Creator and Lord.
God is the object of our worship. We cannot imagine God praying to anyone. Yet about Jesus, it is written in the Gospels:
“And when he had sent the multitude away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray.”
“And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.” (Mark: 1: 35).
The fact is that Jesus never claimed to be God, but only a prophet and servant of God. He was a man to whom God had revealed his message for the guidance of other men. Here is an example in his words:
“Jesus said unto them, if ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard from God.” (John, 8:39-40)
The dogma of Incarnation was taken into Christianity, like many other Christian notions, from Paganism. In pre-Christian mythologies, we often read of the hero being regarded as a God. The Hindus of India even today worship their ancient heroes, Rama and Krishna, as incarnations of Vishnu, the second person of the Hindu Trinity. And likewise, we witness today in many nations that some heroes are being idealized and deified after their demise.