Expert: Marco - 7/29/2007

Question
QUESTION: Hi, How are you....?

Jesus in the bible clearly states that he is not good as GOD.... jesus even prayed to himself so it's logical that he knew of a power above himself. If jesus was all powerful then howcome he was begotten and powerless as a baby?? Jesus always seemed to be submissive to ELOHIM who is ALLAH to muslims. Some even say that he was man and god at the same time...? Jesus is highly honored in islam but not seen as GOD because why would god pray to himself? Jesus prayed.

ANSWER: Hi,

Jesus never stated He is not good as God. This is a wrong interpretation of His words.
Jesus freely chose to leave His power and become a powerless baby.
God is one in three Persons.
The three Divine Persons are distinct in their reciprocal relationships, but they are One substance.
It is not possible to explain this concept, but such concept can be understood through an intuition, an enlightment.
When Jesus prayed the Father, He was not praying to Himself, because The Son and The Father are distinct as Persons, even if They are One as Substance.

Why did Jesus choose to become a man and have to suffer on the Cross?

I think this is the most impostant question!

I believe that each of us needed know that God was willing to accept such a terrible suffering for us, in order to really trust God. Every man needed that proof of love, and God, who knew this, has accepted to give him what man consciously or unconsciously asked to Him. Jesus had to suffer and die that way to convince us about God's goodness and God's love towards us. It is man's obstinate distrust against God that has forced God to give man that proof of love, the proof he needed to trust God. By His death on the cross, Jesus destroys our distrust and our doubts, and He gives us the strength to believe in Him and trust Him. This means that each of us is personally responsible of Jesus ' sufferings and death. This distrust, this lack of faith in God is just the essence of the original sin. Christ's Passion has reconciled us to God because it has uprooted from our heart, our distrust and doubts about God; it has satisfied our (conscious or unconscious) desire and need of a proof of love, so that it has given us the strength to trust God and feel loved by Him. I can summarize my thoughts as follows: Salvation implies a deep change of ourselves. God has the power to change us but He wants to do that with our consent. Man cannot really accept to be changed by God and he cannot be in comunion with God as long as even a shadow of doubt and distrust remains in his heart ( it must be stressed that such a distrust may exist even without the man is aware of it, at the unconscious level). God had to destroy every shadow of doubt and distrust in our heart and He has chosen to give us the greatest proof of love that may exist: Christ's Passion.

I hope this may help you.
If you should need some clarifications, please ask again.

Your brother in Christ,

Marco

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi,
    I understand what you are saying... But where, in the Bible, does it mention GOD being one-in-three?? In the bible---God says that he has never been seen and never can be seen. Jesus was seen... and also--WHERE DOES THE BIBLE STATE IT BEING CHRISTIANITY??? I also wonder why there are so-mny christian beleifs from this ONE BOOK. I believe  there is no such thing as christianity. Wouldn't you find the name "christianity" in the bible? I beleive that ELOHIM IS THE ONLY TRUE DEITY WORTHY OF WORSHIP. Jesus was PROPHET of elohim, or allah in arabic, with the same message as the other prophets. All scriptures teach SUBMISSION to one god. This is the meaning of ISlAM.
ANSWER: Hi,

there are many verses in the Bible stating the divine nature of Jesus.

Mark 2:5-12

Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?

There are many verses where Jesus forgives sins; but according to the Bible only God can forgive sins. It follows that Jesus is God.

 
 

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

This verse clearly states that God is at least two persons, Jesus and the Father.

John 8:58
 
"Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." The Jews therefore said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am." Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple.

Jesus existed before Abraham, therefore Jesus cannot be simply a prophet.

John 10:33
 
"I and the Father are one." The Jews took up stones again to stone Him.  

 
Philippians 2:9-11

"Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

The word "Christianity" is used to indicate those who believe in Christ as the Son of God.
The word "Christianity" simply derives from the word "Christ".
Also christians believe in One God, but God is one in three Persons.
I would suggest to reflect about this: Gos is perfect and complete in Himseld and He needs nobody else to be happy.
God is love, and love implies at least two persons.
Therefore God must be at least two Persons, loving each other perfectly.

Now I come to your question: why are there many christian beliefs?

There are many christian beliefs because many persons give wrong interpretations of the Bible.

Who has the authority to interpret correctly the Bible and to teach correctly Jesus' teachings?

Only a person who knows and understands what Jesus taught can teach what Jesus taught.
So, who are the persons who really know Jesus' teachings?
Many think they are teaching what Jesus taught, but they teach different doctrines, therefore it is evident that they are teaching only their opinions, because Jesus cannot contradicts Himself.

Jesus gave the commandment to teach the Gospel ONLY to His disciples and He NEVER gave this commandment to the crowds; this clearly proves that not all can teach the Gospel, but only those who have been taught and sent (directly or indirectly) by Jesus.

How did the Church's mission  pass to each generation?
The Bible explains this to us.

Acts 6:2 Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples to them, and said, It is not right that we should neglect the word of God to serve tables.
6:3 Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.
6:4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.
6:5 And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch.
6:6 These they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.

The apostolic mission is passed to other people directly from the apostoles.

Acts 14:19 And certain Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, who, having persuaded the people, stoned Paul, and dragged him out of the city, supposing he was dead.
14:20 Yet, as the disciples stood around him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.
14:21 And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had made disciples of many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch,
14:22 Strengthening the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying that through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom of God.
14:23 And when they had appointed elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they committed them to the Lord, in whom they believed.

Again it is Paul (who in his turn received the apostolic mission with the laying of hands, see Acts 9:15-19) who appoints the elders.

1 Timothy 4:14 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was conferred on you through the prophetic word with the imposition of hands of the presbyterate.
2 Timothy 1:6 For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.

Paul writes clearly that the presbyterate is received with the imposition of hands.

The prespityters in their turn, appointed other people:

2 Timothy 2:2 And what you heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will have the ability to teach others as well.

Christ founded His Church 2000 years ago; He ordered the apostoles to teach His Word, and they appointed other people, who in their turn appointed other people, etc.  so that the apostolic mission has lasted until our days.
This is the catholic Church, which receives its apostolic mission form Christ and teach the true teachings of Christ, as they were given to the apostoles.
There is an historical connection between the present catholic church and the church founded by Christ 2000 years ago, while there is no historical connection between the many protestant denominations and the church of Christ.
In fact Christ never appeared to Luther or Calvin, etc.; Christ never authorized Luther to found a new church and to teach his opinions as if they were inspired by the Holy Spirit.
All the apostoles did many powerful miracles which proved that they were really sent by Christ, but Luther did no miracle in order to prove that his interpretations were really inspired by the Holy Spirit.

The protestant churches teaches many sinful doctrines, for example that divorce and remarriage are permissible, that abortion is permissible (some denominations), etc.

Mt 16:18 And I say also to you, That you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
16:19 And I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

The Church is "the pillar and ground of the truth" (1Tm 3:15)

These two verses are sufficient to prove that the Church of Christ teaches infallibly the truth.
Christ founded His church 2000 years ago and He assured us that the gates of Hell  shall not prevail against His Church. The Bible assures us that the Church is the pillar and ground of the truth.
If the protestant churches were the church of Christ (which one among thousends of different denominations?), it would mean that Jesus lied when He said that the gates of Hell would have not prevail against His church and that the Bible is wrong when it says that the Church is the pillar of the truth.
In fact, before 1500 dC there were only the catholic church and the eastern orthodox church.
Since both the catholic church and the orthodox church teach  doctrines such as prayer for the dead, prayers to saints, etc. if protestants were right, this would imply that the church founded by Jesus 2000 years ago had been defeated by Satan for about 1500 years.
Christ spent more than three years with His disciples and taught them; How is it possible that Jesus' teachings were forgotten and replaced with sinful teachings for about 1500 years?
All the people who lived during those centuries would have been induced to sin by the church founded by Christ; it is absurd that a loving Father would have allowed this to happen, and this would have certainly meant that the gates of Hell had prevaled against the church of Christ, in contradiction with His own words.
Christ cannot contradict Himself; if Christ has taught through His Church certain doctrines for 1500 years, these doctrines cannot be considered sinful.

Besides, only to Peter Jesus gave the keys of the kingdom of heaven; this proves that Jesus gave Peter a special role in the Church ; this is sufficent to prove Peter’s supremacy. Consider that the very first act done by Jesus after founding His Church, is to give Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven ; there is then a fundamental relation between these keys and the Church. After Peter's death in Rome, who has received the keys of the kingdom of heaven? I think that the most logical answer is: Peter's successor in Rome, the Pope.
The special role of Peter still exist in the Church of Christ, and it is the role of Peter's successor, the Pope. This special role allow christians to identify with certainty the only true Church of Christ. There is in fact an historical continuity between Peter and the present Pope, the apostolic succession.

Protestants usually think that their interpretations are inspired by the Holy Spirit ; but they are divided in  thousends of different denominations and they have different interpretations.
Since the Holy Spirit cannot contradicts Himself, it is evident that their interpretations are only fallible human opinions.
In fact, when Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit, He was speaking directly to the apostoles only, and NOT to the crowds. John 16 :12-13"I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”
Jesus NEVER made this promise to the crowds, but ONLY to the Apostoles when they were TOGETHER WITH PETER. Therefore you cannot  generalize this promise to every christian; this verse can be applied ONLY to the bishops (the apostoles' successors) when they are together with the Pope (Peter's successor).
I believe that God loves us; it follows that God has not abandoned us to our fallible human interpretations and opinions.
Through the prophets, God prepared the Jews (even if only some of them) to receive Christ; Christ remained with His disciples for about three years and half and taught them all the necessary moral and spirital knowledges for our salvation, so that in their turn they could teach others, who in their turn could teach others, etc.
In this way the teachings of Christ has spread throughout the world and the centuries through His Church, the catholic Church.
A loving Father would never abandon His children to their human and fallible opinions.
A loving Father would certainly give His children a “guide” so that they could receive His holy and good teachings.
This “guide” is the Catholic Church, the Church founded by Christ 2000 years ago.


Usually protestants say that the catholic church has been corrupted :
If this were true, it would mean that Jesus was a lier, because He said that the gates of Hell would have not prevailed agaisnt His church.
The truth is that corrupted men have been present within the church since the very beginning (Judas was one of the apostoles), but the church was never corrupted because its teachings were always good.
Judas was sent by Jesus to teach the Gospel, to heal the sick, to cast demons (see Mt 10 :1-8)
The fact that there were men within the church who commited grave sins, does not mean that the church is corrupted.
Every man is responsible of his own sins, but the church is a divine institution and is above its human members and its doctrine is divine.
The fact that Judas was corrupted does not mean that church of Christ was corrupted.

Usually protestants believe in the Sola Scriptura principle, but there is  in this case no verse in the Bible which establishes this principle. This is then a striking contradiction of protestantism.
The Bible did not come down from the sky one day.
The biblical canon was established by a Concilium of catholic bishops three centuries after Christ, and so the christian communities lived for three centuries without the New Testament.
Jesus never wrote anything, which clearly proves that the christian faith cannot be founded on a book.
Jesus founded a Church , and NOT a book.
Jesus chose to found a living Church, a living and visible guide for all christians, to help them to understand the Truth.
Jesus is still the head of the Church and He still leads His Church.
Jesus still teaches and guides us through His living Church, the Catholic Church.
The Bible says that “The Church is the pillar and  bulwark of the truth” (1Timothy 3 :15).
Jesus gave the Church the authority of binding and loosing (Mt. 18 :17-18).
Jesus never wrote anything ; the New Testament has been produced by the Church, and the Church still produces writings to teach us the spirital and moral Truth.
The same Holy Spirit Who inspired the authors of the Bible, still leads the Magisterium of the Church in its apostolic mission.
The Cathechism contains the official teachings of the Church, and it is to be considered inspired by the Holy Spirit.
You can find the Cathechism on line at

www.christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/ccc.html

Some historical considerations.

Christianity spread very rapidly among many different peoples, languages, cultures and religions,
in spite of terrible persecutions against christians.
This fact is unique in the history.
In 64 dC (that is about thirty years after Jesus' death) the roman imperator Nero
ordered the first great persecution of christians because he saw in Christianity a menace for the roman empire.
Many other great persecutions of christians were ordered by the roman imperators until 311 dC.
All these persecutions are very well proved by non-christian sources.
In 112 dC, Plinium (a non-christian roman) in a letter to the imperator Traianus frm Bithinia wrote that “all temples have been abandoned and are desert, and the christians are the only responsible of this situation.”
In the same letter he wrote that he tortured some cristians.
I would add that the new christians were asked to leave their pagan and libertine behavior,
to observe very rigid moral and sexual behavior and to be ready to give their life for Christ;
if the apostoles never did miracles, nobody would have accepted this new religion.
In the christian religion, the promise of the eternal life is bound to very rigid moral requests.
In the first century, there were many religions who promised the life after death,
without such rigid requests; certainly the promise of eternal life is not sufficient to explain the success of the christian religion.

More recently, some supernatural facts occured at Fatima.
On the 13-10-1917 more than 70000 people saw the sun dance in the sky, change color, and then fall down and coming up to its normal place; these facts lasted for about ten minutes and were saw not only from the 70000 people at Fatima, but also from people living in the villages around Fatima.
Among those people there were also many atheist journalists from some anticlerical journals,
who were there in order to discredit the religious  “superstitions” of catholicism, since the child Lucia said that on that day God would have given a great sign for everybody.
In fact, since 1910, the portuguese government had started a very hard battle against the Catholic Church: many religious orders were expelled and their property confiscated, new legislation banned the teaching of religion in schools and universities and annulled many religious holidays. Persecution of Catholics in the early years of the republic attracted international attention and brought the new political system into conflict with foreign diplomats, humanitarian organizations, and journalists.

Those journalists have written very detailed accounts of the facts occurred at Fatima ,
which were reported on all newspapers in the world, including the New York Times.  
Among the journalists present at Fatima on October 17, there was  the (atheist) director Avelino de Almeida of the government (and very antireligious) newspaper "O Seculo”. The article, published with the title "Terrifying Event! How The Sun Danced In The Sky Of Fatima"  can be found on the site

www.ewtn.com/fatima/apparitions/October.htm

In his article, the journalist describes a crowd of biblical dimensions, spread in the fields of Fatima. At a certain point, this immense crowd begins to cry "Miracle! Miracle!" looking at the sun. The journalists describes then an amazed crowd, who cry and pray.
I have tried to anlalyse these data to see whether it was possible to find a plausible explanation, excluding a divine intervention, but  I have found none. The miracle of Fatima is the most extraordinary and well recorded miracle in all history. This miracle has occurred in the Catholic Church, since the three children were catholics (Lucia, the only one of the three children still alive is a catholic nun).
The fact that so many people saw these phenomena cannot be explained
without the hypotesis of a supernatural being, because neither science nor
logic would allow something like that to happen.
Besides these facts occured exactly in the day and the place indicated several monthes before by the child Lucia. Neither science nor logics can explain the capacity to foresee the future.

A brief and incomplete description of the supernatural facts occurred at Fatima can be found also in some contemporary encyclopedias, for example the Britannica (also available on internet at www.britannica.com)
gives at the voice Fatima :

village and sanctuary, Vila Nova de Ourém municipality, Santarém district, central Portugal; it is located on the tableland of Cova da Iria, 18 miles (29 km) southeast of Leiria. Fátima was named for a 12th-century Moorish princess and since 1917 has been one of the greatest Marian shrines in the world, visited by thousands of pilgrims annually. On May 13, 1917, and in each subsequent month until October of that year, three young peasant children, Lucia dos Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto, reportedly saw a lady who identified herself as the Lady of the Rosary. On October 13, a crowd (generally estimated at about 70,000) gathered at Fátima witnessed a “miraculous solar phenomenon” immediately after the lady had appeared to the children.


The fundamental role of miracles in the history of Christianity cannot be doubted.
The miracles done by Jesus proved that He was the Messiah, and the miracles done by the apostoles proved that they were really sent by Christ.

Miracles still happen within the catholic church.
In the following site the 66 official miracles occured at Lourdes are described.
The miracolous nature of these healings have been scientifically proved

http://www.catholic-forum.com/catholicteacher/lourdescontents.html


Other interesting sites

http://www.fatima.org/miracle1.html

http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/lanciano.html

http://www.sancta.org/eyes.html

I think that faith cannot come only from logic, because to have faith in God means to trust and love God.
I think however that logics and science prove the existence of our soul and the existence of  God and that there are many rational arguments strongly supporting the christian faith.
The explanation of these aguments is rather long and Allexperts allows only to give short answers. You can find such arguments  in the following site

http://xoomer.alice.it/fedeescienza/englishnf.html

where  I analyse the incongruencies of the materialistic conception of the mind, on the basis of our present scientific knowledges about brain and matter.
This analysis points out how the laws of physics  prove that the   brain cannot generate consciousness, which existence implies  the presence in man of a unbiological/unmaterial element. The problem of consciousness is then strictly connected to the one of the existence of the soul and, consequently, the existence of God.
In the first article entitled “Mind and brain...” you can find a general discussion of the mind and brain problem from a scientific point of view.
In the second article entitled “Scientific contraddictions in materialism”
you  can find an explanation of the fundamental inconsistencies of  the  typical arguments used by materialists, such as the concept of emergent, macroscopic or holist property, complexity, information, etc.
In the section called “FAQ: answers to  visitors' questions” you can find the answer to many typical questions, such as "Are there any scientifically proved miracles?", "Does the existence of the universe imply the existence of God?", "Can science explain God?", "Can science establish which is the true religion?", "Can science explain consciousness in the future?", and many others.

I hope this may help,

please ask again if you should need some clarifications,

Your brother in Christ,

Marco





---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hello,

  THE BIBLE CLEARLY STATES THAT THE PROPHET TO COME WILL CARRY A SWORD.... swords aren't even in use anymore. So the prophet,(without doubt),has already come. Muhammad carried a sword. The gospel also states that the coming prophet will be told to READ. Muhammed was commanded to read, three times... The romans didn't even use the latin cross to cruxify, they used the criss-cross. You can find this information through research.

Answer
Hi,

I have already quoted some verses clearly stating that Jesus is God, but you have ignored them.

I give two other verses:

Matthew 28:18

Then Jesus approached and said to them, "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age."

Here Jesus commands to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, who is the Trinity.


John 20:19
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you."  
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you."
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained."  
Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.  
So the other disciples said to him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."
Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you."  
Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe."  
Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God!"


In these verses we see Jesus sending the Holy Spirit (and only God can send the Holy Spirit). Besides, the apostole Thomas worship Jesus calling Him "God".

Clearer than that!

The fact that the bible speak about a prophet with a sword is irrilevant, because the Bible uses a symbolic language, and the sword means simply the strength of the words of the prophets, the strength of the truth.
The fact that romans didn't use the latin cross to cucify is totally irrilevant.

I have given you many things to reflect upon.
Please do not write again until you have read all what I have written to you.

Your brother in Christ,

Marco