“There is a confident story told in a lot of lecture halls: the first Christians met a Jewish teacher, and only later—under the influence of Greek philosophy or by decree at a fourth-century council—did they inflate Him into God…. a tidy story. It’s also almost exactly backward.” - CPost
“Bart Ehrman argues that Jesus didn’t, himself, claim to be God, but this was a belief that arose subsequently after his death, among his followers.” - Gavin Ortlund
“it’s safe to say that they didn’t consider God’s name too sacred to use in transliteration. Finally, we can eliminate the idea that they did so out of fear of the Jews…. let’s explore some other possibilities.” - Text & Canon
“More than half of Americans (55%) believe Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God….reflects an early church heresy, which, appropriately enough for the season, Saint Nicholas confronted.” - Lifeway
“Saint Nicholas, a historical precursor figure for Santa Claus, is said to have attended the First Council of Nicea in A.D. 325… Additional legends assert Nicholas became so enraged by the comments of Arius, who taught Jesus was not equal to God the Father, he slapped Arius across the face.” - Lifeway
“A new study from Lifeway Research finds close to 3 in 4 Americans believe Jesus was born in Bethlehem more than 2,000 years ago. Even more say Jesus is the son of God the Father, but less than half believe Jesus existed prior to being born on that first Christmas.” - CToday
“The third New Testament example of applying an Old Testament YHWH citation to Jesus appears more than once … It appears at the very beginning of this proclamation, in Peter’s sermon at Pentecost.” - Olinger
“…lest there be any doubt about the reference, Isaiah later exclaims, “Mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts!” (Is 6.5). And John, the inspired Evangelist, says that it’s Jesus.” - Olinger
Reposted from a The Cripplegate.
Napoleon Bonaparte delusion is a real thing. When the diminutive Emperor of France was in the heyday of his popularity, people would dress like him and act like him, and some were even institutionalized for their delusion. But what would happen if the real Napoleon ended up in an institution with deluded people who were also claiming to be Napoleon. This is the plot of a novel by Simon Leys, called The Death of Napoleon.
“though the Bible and traditional teachings of the Christian Church hold that Jesus truly existed as both man and God, among the key findings of the biennial State of Theology survey from Ligonier Ministries conducted with LifeWay Research, is that 52% of American adults believe that Jesus was a great teacher and nothing more.” - C.Post
