Slightly off topic, I wonder if you could clear something up for me. If Jesus is God, how can his death possibly redeem humanity? It would seem that a human sacrifice would be necesary for that. Moreover, if God wants to redeem us, why go through the rigamarole of crucifixion? Why not just do it with a thought?
You have asked a couple of questions so I will separate them.
1) How can the death of a person of the Godhead redeem humanity?
Well, there is a short answer and a long answer, really. The short answer is this: Because we are fallen. because of this, we are unable to pick ourselves up and move on. The long answer really leads us into more questions, like... why did God even create man if He knew it would be such a heartache? Why give him free will? Why create an enemy that will tempt? Is there such a thing as tough love? Love with discipline? Unconditional love and acceptance? If God is all knowing, how can he let his people fail?
Now I know that the story of Adam and Eve in the garden seems trite, but let's assume we are talking on mulitple levels here, literal, metaphoric, allegory, poetic, mythological, and symbolic. Let's just go with story and see the philosophical questions that it leads us into.
Man was given choices, whether he would be satisfied with communion with God, ie , 'walking with God in the garden' or accepting the fruit of the serpent that would give him 'extreme' knowledge. That knowledge ended up being knowledge to destroy, to kill, and it unleashed untold evil upon the world, but if it could make you 'like a god', like Jehovah, it might be worth it. Maybe God is ripping you off, and there is more. So man decided to ally with the enemy against God. Hence, sin entered the world, and in a way, the world was then given over to the enemy, and as a result, we are under his rule. Because of this, man is now unable to have communion with God any longer. So, man is in a bad predicament that he can't fix. He has joined the other side. How does he get back? If we need reconciliation, how will it happen?
Isaiah 59
1 Behold, Yahweh's hand is not shortened, that it can't save; neither his ear heavy, that it can't hear:
but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.
The way of peace they don't know; and there is no justice in their goings: they have made them crooked paths; whoever goes therein does not know peace.
Therefore is justice far from us, neither does righteousness overtake us: we look for light, but, behold, darkness; for brightness, but we walk in obscurity.
...We grope for the wall like the blind; yes, we grope as those who have no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the twilight; among those who are lusty we are as dead men.
...We roar all like bears, and moan sore like doves: we look for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.
For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them:
...transgressing and denying Yahweh, and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
16...He saw that there was no man, and was appalled that there was no intercessor: therefore his own arm brought salvation to him; and his righteousness, it upheld him.
...He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; and he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a mantle.
... "A Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from disobedience in Jacob," says Yahweh.
..."As for me, this is my covenant with them," says Yahweh. "My Spirit who is on you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your seed, nor out of the mouth of your seed's seed," says Yahweh, "from henceforth and forever."
http://bibleresources.bible.com/pass...&versio n1=31
So, as you see in verse 16, God is appalled that there was no one on Earth that could intervene, so He did it himself. I have actually edited it quite a bit (where the.... is) so you can read the whole thing at the link. But pretty much, that is the answer. Man is incapable of doing what needs to be done, so God came Himself, in the person of Jesus Christ.
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2) Moreover, if God wants to redeem us, why go through the rigamarole of crucifixion? Why not just do it with a thought?
You know, that is a really good question, and I know the answer, but it is really difficult to explain. It is really complicated. It's like a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle that is a mess until you start putting all the pieces together, then they start to make a picture, little sections at a time.
Perhaps this will shed some light on why we think it possible that God had a Son. It is a prediction (prophecy) from the Old Testament:
Jeremiah 31:
31 Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they broke, although I was a husband to them, says Yahweh.
33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people:
34 and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know Yahweh; for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says Yahweh: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.
Man is incapable of doing what needs to be done, so God came Himself, in the person of Jesus Christ.
2)Why go through all the rigamarole?
You know, that is a really good question, and I know the answer, but it is really difficult to explain. The short answer? Because we were tricked once before, God wants to be sure that we know when it is Him. We don't listen so good!
These concepts are complicated. It's like a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle that is a mess until you start putting all the pieces together, then they start to make a picture, little sections at a time.
There appears to be a standard way that God deals with man. Who knows, maybe there are many worlds and he has the same rules everywhere.
What we do know is that He doesn't change the rules. One rule is that he chooses to speak to His people through prophets. And, he chooses to use predictions to show that it is God who is giving the words to that prophet. So in other words, he says "to prove that it is really Me, and not anyone else, I will give predictions and they will come true." Most of the Bible is predictions of things to happen in the future. Things like the Babylonian captivity, the coming of Jesus Christ, the next coming of Jesus Christ, most of Ezekiel, Isaiah, Daniel, Zechariah, are all prophecies. The coming to pass of these things is what proves it is really God telling people what to do and not a trick of our enemy.
Much of the Old Testament has 'shadows' 'archetypes' 'prototypes' of the answer to Adam's rebellion. The Passover ceremony has very strange rituals that the family must perform during the dinner. I have a video from Jews for Jesus that goes into detail about the Passover, showing all the 'breaking of the bread' and the sacrifice of the lamb and all kinds of other details that all point to the death of Christ on the cross. If you google it, I'm sure you can find the materials. It is fascinating.
All these things that happened, ie the Sabbath rest, the promised land, on and on, the Old Covenant - all point to the FINAL FIX. What would happen when the next ADAM came to fix what the first Adam screwed up? It is all there in the wierd Jewish law. And, not only that, but there is also many times when a prophet says that it is so, that these laws are shadows.
I think this is because at one time, man had been tricked by the enemy, saying "Did God say...?" "Well, he's trying to rip you off!" and "You will be as a God, having this important knowledge".
So we need to have a foolproof way of knowing that this is REALLY GOD TALKING, and we are not being tricked by our old terrible enemy.
For instance, we were given 300 prophecies so that we would recognize who this man was that was coming to do the big FINAL FIX. It would have been very difficult to ignore who He was. That is a lot of rigamorole, but we were tricked once, and maybe God is saying, 'never again'.
Like this:
This is what the LORD says—
your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb:
I am the LORD,
who has made all things,
who alone stretched out the heavens,
who spread out the earth by myself,
25 who foils the signs of false prophets
and makes fools of diviners,
who overthrows the learning of the wise
and turns it into nonsense,
26 who carries out the words of his servants
and fulfills the predictions of his messengers,
who says of Jerusalem, 'It shall be inhabited,'
of the towns of Judah, 'They shall be built,'
and of their ruins, 'I will restore them,'
"This is what the LORD says—
Israel's King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty:
I am the first and I am the last;
apart from me there is no God.
Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it.
Let him declare and lay out before me
what has happened since I established my ancient people,
and what is yet to come—
yes, let him foretell what will come.
Do not tremble, do not be afraid.
Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago?
You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me?
No, there is no other Rock; I know not one."
And maybe we also learn about who God is, what He is like, how we can please Him when we read and understand His ways.
I hope that answers your questions. I did that even after you called me a schizophrenic!
