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Tuesday, February 17, 2009

The Religious Affiliation of Comic Book Character Clark Kent/Kal-El Superman

Introduction / Superman's religious affiliation

Superman is the archetypal costumed super-hero. He is clearly the most influential character in the comic book super-hero genre. The character was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster [often mis-spelled "Joe Schuster"], both of whom were Jewish. The character of Superman, however, has always been depicted as having been raised with a solidly Protestant upbringing by his adoptive Midwestern parents - Jonathan and Martha Kent. Of Clark's parents, Martha is the more devout churchgoer.

Clark Kent (Superman) talks with his Methodist minister

Clark Kent was raised as a Methodist. While growing up in Smallville, Kansas, Clark Kent attended Sunday church services at the local Methodist church with his mother, Martha Kent, every week until he was fourteen years old. These aspects of the character are not speculative, but are canonical - established by in-continuity published DC Comics. Action Comics #850 (August 2007), for example, identifies Methodism by name as the denomination that Clark Kent and his mother attended.

Jonathan also raised his adopted son with staunch Protestant values, but Jonathan has never been much of a churchgoer. Clark stopped attending church services when his super-hearing, X-ray vision and other super senses began developing. As Clark later told his wife, Lois Lane, he stopped attending services becaues he "knew too much about their lives -- their problems -- their lies... [he] was afraid" that he might lose his faith in people. So he decided to distance himself from such close-contact, frequent congregational worship and put his faith in "the best that humanity has to offer" (Action Comics #849, July 2007).

As shown in a number of published comics, including Superman: A Man For All Seasons, the adult Clark Kent continued to visit and consult with the minister at his family church, even after he had begun his career as Superman. This does not mean, however, that the adult Superman attends weekly church services (he does not). If asked if he is a Methodist, the adult Superman would not answer "no," but he would defer answering such a pointedly denominational question by suggesting that he respects people of all faiths and backgrounds and considers himself a servant of all humanity.

Superman's Moses-like origin and his Midwestern WASP-ish (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) persona are widely regarded as a symbol of Jewish assimilation. Children of immigrant Jews, Siegel and Shuster were not unlike many in their generation in their desire to fit in to the general goyim population. The creation of Superman and his alter ego Clark Kent was a manifestation of the desire by Siegel and Shuster to "pass" in mainstream population and also to assert control in a world that had often left them feeling powerless, such as when Siegel's father was murdered.

As is often the case with a character or franchise of extraordinary longevity, Superman has been reconceived multiple times ("retconned" in comic book parlance). Throughout all of his incarnations, Superman has maintained his rural Midwestern Protestant upbringing, although rarely have the words "Protestant" or "Christian" been explicitly attached to his background.

Superman is sometimes spoken of as being "Jewish." This may be an attempt to honor the fact that the writer and artist who created the character were Jewish. However, no textual support exists in any of the published comics, novels, films or TV series episodes to support the notion that the character of Superman is actually Jewish.

Superman's father says he prayed for his son, standing in front of Christian church with cross
Above: Influential Superman writer/artist John Byrne rather overtly invoked the character's strongly Protestant Christian background in this scene. Jonathan Kent, the father of Superboy, tells his son that he prayed for him during a recent crisis. The father and super-powered son are framed in front of a Christian church (note the cross on the tower or steeple in the background). Later on this same page, Superman mentions "the solid, moral foundation my foster parents gave" him.

Elliot S! Maggin, an observant Jew who is one of Superman's most popular and influential contemporary chroniclers, stated in a 1998 interview that Clark Kent and the entire family are Methodists. Although possibly not "canonical" at the time that Maggin gave this interview, this notion appeared already to have widespread support and subsequently grew in popularity. Many writers and fans believed this denominational affiliation best captures and explains the character as he has been portrayed over the years. For example, popular comic book writer Mark Millar (Superman Adventures; Superman: Red Son) has written that Superman is a Methodist. Curt Swan, one of the best-known and most influential Superman artists, was raised Presbyterian but also attended Methodist churches while growing up (see: http://theages.superman.ws/swan.php). With the publication of Action Comics #850 in June 2007, the Methodist denominational affiliation of the Kent family was explicitly and overtly established, if it had not already been so.

Superman with Curt Swan
Above: Superman with artist Curt Swan. From: "I Flew With Superman!", published in Superman Annual #9, DC Comics: New York City (1983), page 7; written by Curt Swan, Cary Bates and Elliot S! Maggin; art by Curt Swan.

Maggin also said that Superman adheres to "a Kryptonian-based belief system centered on monotheistic philosophy." There is widespread agreement that, based on the lack of any depiction of congregational membership or church activity in his comic stories, Superman has not been a regular churchgoer as an adult. Superman has, however, occasionally visited clergymen of various Christian denominations for purposes of counsel, guidance, or confession. As an adult, Superman has been depicted many times praying.

Action Comics #s 848-849 (June-July 2007, written by Fabian Nicieza) proivde a good overview of many of Superman's feelings about religion in contemporary comics. Not only does this two-part story explicitly point out that Superman attended weekly church services with his mother at a Protestant church in Smallville until the time he was fourteen years old, this story also reveals many other thoughts Superman has about religion. In battling "Redemption (a.k.a. Jarod Dale, a super-powered Protestant missionary), Superman thinks to himself (Action Comics #849, page 6):

I would really rather not turn this into me vs. God. I don't like those odds. This is about a good -- if misguided -- young man who needs to control his actions. . . even if those actions are guided by his beliefs . . . No. I have no problem with relgion. I have a problem with abusing one's power in the name of anything.

Later in this same story, Superman seeks advice from an old friend: Barbara Johnson, a devout Protestant woman who runs the Community Angels Outreach Center in Metropolis, and he prays that Jarod Dale and his family will make the right choice about what to do next (Action Comics #849, pages 10-11, 16). In talking with Barbara Johnson, Superman explains how his experiences has shaped some of his thinking about faith:

...religions have different tenets of belief... The things I've seen . . . The places I've been . . . It enables me -- forces me -- to put certain things into perspective... [things such as] the beliefs of one faith over another. Out there was a planet named Tamaran. They worshipped the goddess X'hal. There is a planet called Rann. They believe science answers all questions. I've fought against and alongside beings who call themselves "New Gods" as well as "old gods" of Greek myth . . . Ares and Zeus. The very gods who were worshipped for centuries by countless thousands . . .
Superman's reads from the Bible at a funeral
Above: Superman leads a prayer and reads from the Bible at the funeral of a friend: "Into thy hands we commend his spirit!"

(This funeral is for Larry Lance, who was the husband of Superman's JSA teammate Dinah Lance, a.k.a. "Black Canary." Larry was killed trying to protect his wife from an attack by the space-creature Aquarius.)
[Image source: comic book panel posted at http://www.superdickery.com/oneshot/7.html.]

From: Bruce Bachand, "Interview: Elliot S! Maggin", published in Fanzing (The Independent Online DC Comics Fan Magazine) Issue #9, August 1998 (http://www.fanzing.com/mag/fanzing09/iview.shtml; viewed 6 December 2005):

Elliot S! Maggin was the principal scriptwriter for DC Comics' Superman titles during the 1970's up until the mid-1980's. He has written two Superman novels (Last Son Of Krypton and Miracle Monday, both which are currently out of print) as well as numerous other stories, articles, interviews and projects. One of his most recent publications is the novel KINGDOM COME (which is available through Warner Books) which came out in February 1998. It is based on the very successful DC comic book mini-series KINGDOM COME by Mark Waid and Alex Ross. (It is well worth mentioning that Ross contributes a number of new painted illustrations to the Maggin novel!). Sales have been steady for the Maggin novelization. It is over one hundred thousand words full of action, characterization, and plot sculpting.

BRUCE BACHAND [interviewer]: Do you see Superman as a man who prays and/or worships God regularly? If so, what would the Man of Steel pray about from your perspective?

Elliot S! Maggin: I give all my characters religions. I think I always have. It's part of the backstory. It's part of the process of getting to know a character well enough to write about him or her. Jimmy Olson is Lutheran. Lois is Catholic. Perry is Baptist. Luthor is Jewish (though non-observant, thank heaven). Bruce and Batman are both Episcopalian and I said so in the text though it was edited out erroneously. Clark - like the Kents - is Methodist. Superman is something else, but I never did buy all that Kryptonian "Great Rao" nonsense. I do think Superman essentially adheres to a kind of interplanetary-oriented Kryptonian-based belief system centered on monotheistic philosophy, and I've got some ideas about it that I haven't yet articulated other than as backstory. I think Superman is too humble to ask for things in prayer, but I think he prays by rote, and constantly, the way some of us talk to ourselves in the shower.

From: Mark Millar, "Superman: Red Son", published 27 April 2003 in Sunday Times in Scotland (http://toothwatch.tripod.com/redson1.html; viewed 10 January 2006):

Mark Millar wrote a feature article about his upcoming three part prestige format Elseworlds mini series Superman: Red Son, published by DC Comics.

I started at the beginning and went straight for the jugular. Instead of Superman's rocket ship crash landing in the wheat fields of Kansas, Superman: Red Son details his landing on a Soviet collective farm somewhere in Ukraine. Instead of being raised by simple, Methodist farming folk, he is raised during the cold war with an appreciation for Karl Marx and a devotion to Comrade Stalin. Instead of making his big trip to the fictional New York of Metropolis, he makes his way to Moscow to become not only the darling of the 1950s communist elite, but also the country's primary defence initiative...

Writing such a story, which starts with a simple high concept in the 1950s and brings us up to date (where Superman narrates the whole thing shortly before his suicide), was always going to be a laugh. Playing around with reversals on this kind of scale was really my only original intention, but events in the real world were having a bigger influence on my plans. People say that all the best science fiction is really a commentary on how we live today, so this alternate history I was creating was becoming more and more about what America was becoming, particularly in light of a few hanging chads in a Florida polling booth. Here was a country that had become an empire. Like Superman's fictional Soviet Union, it was making pre-emptive strikes on infinite targets until the whole world bowed before the orthodoxy of its single religion and nobody was powerful enough to stand in its way. Just as Superman's existence causes Stalin to proclaim that there was only one real superpower now, events in the real world created a hyper-powered America, which, I fear, might only just be beginning to flex its muscles. The more I was writing, the more I realised this was a cautionary tale for America... Superman: Red Son had become an Orwellian fable of what happens when too much power ends up in one pair of hands and when huge power goes unchecked. In the series, we lament the cold war stalemate because the zealotry of an individual nation was always neutralised by the nuclear triggers of the enemy. But how do you stop a man who could take a Polaris missile on the chin? Similarly, how do you stop a man who declares a war on evil when he's backed up by more weapons than the rest of the world combined?

From: Joe Williams, "A Super Symbol", published 25 June 2006 in St. Louis Post-Dispatch (http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/stories.nsf/movies/story/8618BC11277299708625719600324FB8?OpenDocument; viewed 25 June 2006):

Like Elvis Presley, he's a pop-culture icon that can be stretched to fit different points of view. Because Superman was created by two Jews, and the character fought against the Nazis before the United States officially entered World War II, some academics have interpreted him as a modern Moses or a golem, a mythical creature that will rise up to save the Jewish people from annihilation.

Others counter that Superman is the very embodiment of Midwestern values and probably a Methodist.


Superman and Jesus Christ on the cross
Above: Although he comes from a Protestant background, Superman is apparently flexible in his Christianity. In the story arc "Superman: For Tomorrow," which appeared Superman issues 209 through 215, Superman spends considerable time visiting a Catholic priest for confessional and later returning to further counsel with the clergyman. The image on the left above, depicting Superman standing before a statue of Jesus Christ on the cross in a Catholic church, is from Superman issue #209, published by DC Comics: New York (2004), page 13. The issue was written by Brian Azzarello, with pencils by Jim Lee and inks by Scott Williams. The image on the right, depicting Superman with the priest he has come to confide in, is from page 28 of the same issue. From: Action Comics #591, DC Comics: New York City (August 1987), written and illustrated by John Byrne, page 20; reprinted in Superman: The Man of Steel, Vol. 4 trade paperback, DC Comics: New York City (2005), page 133.
Superman's religious affiliation was mentioned in Newsweek. (Steven Waldman and Michael Kress, "BeliefWatch: Good Fight", published in Newseek, cover-dated 19 June 2006, page 12):
Newseek article about religions of superheroes

From: Jake Tapper, "'How Gay is Superman?' Or Jewish. Or Christ-Like. The Battle to Claim Superman as an Icon", published 19 June 2006 on ABCNews.com website (http://sendtofriend.abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=2094503; viewed 20 June 2006):

...truth be told, Superman in the comics has always been vaguely Methodist, recently marrying Lois Lane in a church.

From: Julia Baird, "A Sunday sermon from Superman", published 22 June 2006 in The Sydney Morning Herald (http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/a-sunday-sermon-from-superman/2006/06/21/1150845241006.html; viewed 21 June 2006):

Some say [Superman] is Jewish, as he was created by two Jewish cartoonists and could be viewed as part of the golem myth...

The scholarly consensus, though, seems to be that he must be Methodist, largely because Clark Kent was brought up in the American Midwest...

Like Maggin, John Byrne is one of Superman's most popular and influential chroniclers. It was Byrne who was charged with the re-creating Superman from the ground up for post-Crisis continuity. Byrne's take on the character is an influential one. Byrne's description of Superman's religiosity is an attempt to distill how this aspect of the character has been portrayed over many decades, and not an attempt to inject anything new or different. From: "Religious Beliefs of Marvel Characters" forum discussion page, started 20 October 2004, on Comic-Forum.com website (http://www.comic-forum.com/marvel/Religious_beliefs_of_Marvel_characters_397905.html; viewed 10 January 2006):

John Byrne
14 May 2004 at 4:31 am

There are no specific editorial instructions, that I am aware of, dictating the religiosity of characters -- but I would assume the populations of the imaginary worlds are religious in the same numbers, the same faiths, as here. Superheroes would therefore be no different.

Raised in the Bible Belt, for instance, I always imagined Superman to have a fairly matter-of-fact attitude toward faith -- he believes in God, but he does not make a big deal about it. Wonder Woman obviously believes in her gods, since she has met them! (That is a central theme of my novel, Wonder Woman: Gods and Goddesses.)

From: Michael C. Lorah, "Doug TenNapel on Black Cherry" (interview), published 16 May 2007 on Newsarama (http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=112821; viewed 28 June 2007):

NRAMA: Faith and mentors seem to be big themes in much of your work, and it looks like Eddie has both in Father McHugh. [Editor: "Eddie" and "Father McHugh" are two of the central characters in Black Cherry] Why do find these themes continually inspiring?

DT [Doug TenNapel]: Ask any person about what they think about God and you will get an amazing story. It won't just be any old story either, it will likely cut straight to the core of who that person is. It's so bizarre to me that this most personal, dramatic, amazing story device is getting pressure to be removed by story-telling industries... including the supposedly progressive comics industry.

The fact that Superman was born and raised in Kansas by conservative farmers yet he never even talks about the Bible stinks to high hell to me. It's idiotic and it ends up making these characters less human instead of more. Superman has exactly dick to do with any "Smallville" I've ever been to. This is why I actually LOVED the Red Son Superman so much; they finally gave us a contrast of what would happen if Superman didn't carry Kansas in his worldview. More of this! Less of draining worldviews and philosophies out of comics! Especially worldviews that are considered "anti-comic" like certain conservative ones.

It is the pulp nature of comics that makes is such an incredibly powerful medium. I don't think you could get funding to make a Red Son Superman movie with a 250-million-dollar budget, but you could do a limited-run book series to explore a philosophy... no harm done.

It's why I laugh so hard at a vocal minority in comics that just freaks out if my characters bring up Jesus Christ. They don't freak out if a character says the word "____" or decides to be gay in a series, but if Spiderman ever converted to Christianity these critics would have a period. I thought we were farther along than that in the discussion and debate department of comics. I'm shocked at the level of groupthink within a medium that should be anything but a monolith of worldview. There should be a robust debate of worldviews within comics... it's why I so look forward to Frank Miller's Batman vs. Islamic terror. That kind of material should be the norm not the controversial rarity that it is.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

The Deity of Christ

A Biblical Study of the Divinity of Jesus Christ

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).


“It is by the name of Jesus Christ.... Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:10, 12).

Our very salvation is inseparably linked to faith in Jesus Christ. So it becomes an issue of great importance to determine biblically precisely who Jesus Christ is. Is Jesus God, Deity in the flesh? Or was He just a man?

My intent in this study is not specifically to address the historic doctrine of the Holy Trinity (to which I do fully subscribe). Rather, my purpose is to focus on Jesus Christ and to demonstrate from the Bible His full divinity — that is, to prove the deity of Christ, that He is fully God, coequal and coeternal with the God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. As the ancient creeds correctly state, Jesus is true God and true Man.

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John 5:17-18 Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

John 10:30-33 “I and the Father are one.” Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” “We are not stoning you for any of these,” replied the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”

Philippians 2:5-6 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.

Jesus did not hesitate to claim equality with God the Father. The Greek word for equal in John 5:18 is isos, as in an isosceles, or equal-sided, triangle. Jesus was and is “in very nature God,” and therefore was not blaspheming by claiming to be God. The disbelieving Jews had correctly heard Jesus to be making this claim to full deity, even though they rejected His claim.

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Isaiah 42:8 I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another...

Isaiah 48:11c I will not yield my glory to another.

John 17:5 [Jesus prayed] And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

In Isaiah, God says that He will not give away His glory to another. Yet Jesus, in John 17, is expecting to receive again the divine glory He shared with the Father before the world began. If Jesus were not deity, this would be a contradiction.

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Micah 5:2, King James Version But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

Vs. 2b, New American Standard Bible His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.

Jesus, whose earthly birth is prophesied here, is said to be “from of old, from everlasting,” or “from the days of eternity.” He is not a created being. Rather, He has existed from all eternity.

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Revelation 1:8, 17-18 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” ... [17] When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

Revelation 22:12-13, 16 “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.... [16] “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star."

Note the glorious titles of “the Alpha and the Omega,” “the Beginning and the End,” “the First and the Last,” “the Almighty,” “the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come.” Read all these titles of Deity, and note that every one in the context can be applied specifically to Jesus. This book is the revelation of Jesus the Divine Son!

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Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Matthew 1:23 “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.”

Isaiah gave us this glorious prophecy of Jesus’ virgin birth. Matthew amplifies the prophecy by identifying this promised Son as “Immanuel — which means ‘God with us.’ ” Jesus is “GOD with us”! “A son”, yes. But also “God”!

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Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Jesus, the prophesied son, “will be called...Mighty God.”

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John 20:27-28 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

The apostle Thomas correctly addressed Jesus as “My Lord and my God.”

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Psalms 45:6 Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom. 

Hebrews 1:8 But about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. 

“Your throne, O God” — The Old Testament Hebrew word used here is Elohim, used for “God” well over a thousand times in the Bible. This exact scripture from the Psalm is quoted in Hebrews and is applied to Jesus the Son. Jesus is God! Not just “a god,” as some would have us believe. The New Testament Greek word for “God” that is specifically applied to Jesus in Hebrews 1:8 is Theos, used for “God” over 1,300 times in the New Testament.

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John 1:1, 14 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.... [14] The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus is called “the Word”, the Logos, of God. As the Logos, He is the manifestation or expression of God to us, “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being” (Hebrews 1:3). He “came from the Father.” As the Logos, Jesus “the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

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Exodus 34:14 Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

Matthew 4:10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

Hebrews 1:6 And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.”

In Exodus God commands that He alone be worshiped. Jesus reiterated the commandment to worship God only. Yet God the Father’s command in Hebrews 1:6 that His angels worship the Son indicates that the Son too is God. If Jesus were not Deity, this would be idolatry.

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1 Timothy 3:16, King James Version And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”

“GOD was manifest in the flesh,” clearly in context referring to Jesus.

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Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Hebrews 3:4 For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.

Colossians 1:15-16 He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.

John 1:1-3, 10 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.... [10] He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.

The Bible speaks of both God the Father and Jesus being Creator of all. Jesus is divine, the Co-Creator!

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John 5:22-23 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

Jesus is to be given equal honor with the Father.

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Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

In His Great Commission baptismal command, Jesus said to baptize in the name (not “names”) of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is a strong implication of coequality among Father, Son and Holy Spirit in this verse.

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Psalms 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

Ezekiel 34:31 You my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are people, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign LORD.

John 10:14 I [Jesus] am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me.

Hebrews 13:20 ...our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep...

Often in the Old Testament God is referred to as the Shepherd of His flock, His people. Jesus said of Himself, “I am the good shepherd.”

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Acts 20:28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.

“...God...His own blood”! The blood of Jesus Christ, shed for our redemption, is called God’s own blood. The blood of Deity, nothing less!

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Isaiah 8:13-14a The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread, and he will be a sanctuary; but for both houses of Israel he [the Lord Almighty] will be a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.

1 Peter 2:4, 7-8a As you come to him [Jesus], the living Stone — rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him — ...[7] Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,” and, “A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.”

It is evident that the “stone that causes men to stumble and [the] rock that makes them fall” of Isaiah and Peter are one and the same. The wording in the Old and New Testaments is identical. Peter knows Him as Jesus Christ; Isaiah calls Him “The Lord Almighty”! The name “the Lord Almighty” is used in the Bible, then, to identify both Jesus the Son and God the Father.

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Exodus 3:13-14 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

John 8:58-59 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.

God identified Himself to Moses by the name “I AM”. Jesus identified Himself to the Jews as that very same “I AM”. The Jews knew exactly what He was claiming and sought to stone Him for such apparent blasphemy — that is, His (true!) claim to be the “I AM” who spoke to Moses.

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Isaiah 11:1-2 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him — the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.

Jeremiah 23:5-6 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness. 

Jesus Christ is the Lord’s Branch from the line of David. Jeremiah prophesied that the name of this Branch would be “The Lord our Righteousness” — in Hebrew, JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU. The divine name JEHOVAH (some translate it Yahweh) is applied to Jesus Christ.

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Isaiah 40:3 A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.

Mark 1:1-3 The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is written in Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way” — “a voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”

Isaiah speaks of a messenger preparing the way for “our God”. Mark shows that Isaiah’s prophecy spoke of John the Baptist’s preparing for the coming of JESUS! Truly He is “our God”. It is small wonder that Thomas, beholding the resurrected Son, could cry, “My Lord and my God!”

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Hebrews 3:3-4 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. 

In verse 3 Jesus is the builder. In verse 4 God is the builder of all.

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Isaiah 48:12-13, 17 “Listen to me, O Jacob, Israel, whom I have called: I am he; I am the first and I am the last. My own hand laid the foundations of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they all stand up together.... [17] This is what the LORD says — your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God....” 

Revelation 1:17-18 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

Jesus, the resurrected, ever-living Son of God, calls Himself “the First and the Last”, a title ascribed to “the Lord your God” in Isaiah.

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Titus 1:3-4 And at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior. To Titus, my true son in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. 

Note: “God our Savior” (vs. 3) and “Christ Jesus our Savior” (vs. 4). Jesus Christ is God; Jesus Christ is the Savior.

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A disclaimer seems to be in order here. I am not saying that Jesus Christ is the Father (He is not). I am asserting that Jesus is God AND that the Father is God. To pursue that line of thought any farther necessitates a study of the doctrine of the Trinity — a classic and valid truth of orthodox Christianity, but not the subject of this study. In this undertaking my mission is to affirm biblically the full deity of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Again, I am not saying that Jesus is the Father (He is not), but that Jesus is fully God (“true man and true God,” as the early Christians declared) and thereby coequal and coeternal with God the Father.

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Mark 2:5, 7 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” ... [7] “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 

Jesus possessed personally the authority to forgive sins, an authority that belongs uniquely to God.

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Isaiah 43:12b, 14-15 “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “that I am God.... [14] This is what the LORD says — your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “For your sake I will send to Babylon and bring down as fugitives all the Babylonians, in the ships in which they took pride. I am the LORD, your Holy One, Israel’s Creator, your King.”

Hosea 11:9b For I am God, and not man — the Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath.

Mark 1:24 “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are — the Holy One of God!”

Acts 3:14-15 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.

“The Holy One”, a title applied often to Jehovah (or Yahweh) God, is specifically applied in the New Testament to Jesus Christ.

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Deuteronomy 10:17 For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome...

1 Timothy 6:15 ...which God will bring about in his own time — God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Revelation 17:14 They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings — and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.” 

Jesus is called “Lord of lords” and “King of kings” — titles ascribed elsewhere in Scripture to God.

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Isaiah 45:22-23 Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked: Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear.

Philippians 2:10-11 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

In the act of bowing the knee to and confessing Jesus, we are worshiping God, for He has said, “Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear.”

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Deuteronomy 32:3-4 I will proclaim the name of the LORD. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. 

1 Corinthians 10:1, 4 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea ... [4] and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.

“Our God...the Rock”, of whom Moses wrote, is said by the apostle Paul to be Jesus. A related truth clearly reinforced by Paul’s statement is the preexistence of Christ prior to His earthly incarnation.

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John 5:21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.

Jesus the Son possesses the same life-giving power that God the Father has.

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Joel 2:32 And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the survivors whom the LORD calls

Acts 4:10-12 Then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.... [12] Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

Joel exhorts us to call upon the divine name — the Lord (Hebrew = Jehovah, or Yahweh) — for salvation. Peter quotes this exact verse (Acts 2:21) and tells us (Acts 4:12) that salvation is found in the name of Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul similarly urges that “every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:11).

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Luke 8:38-39 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.”

Jesus identified His ministry to the formerly demon-possessed man as “what God [had] done for [him]”.

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Hebrews 7:1, 3 This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him.... [3] Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest forever. 

Melchizedek, who appeared to Abraham in Genesis 14, is a “Christophany,” an appearance of a being representing Christ. The writer to the Hebrews in chapter seven makes this same association. And of this remarkable being who is “like the Son of God,” the author declares that He is “without beginning of days or end of life.” This is another powerful declaration of the eternal preexistence of Jesus Christ — a trait only applicable to a fully Divine Being. None short of Deity can claim eternal existence both past and future.

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1 John 5:20 We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true — even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

“...Jesus Christ. He is the true God.” As forthright a declaration of Jesus’ divinity as one could desire!

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Titus 2:13 ...while we wait for the blessed hope — the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The apostle Paul recognized Jesus as “our great God and Savior”!

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2 Peter 1:1 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:

The apostle Peter, too, an earthly companion and disciple of the Son of God, fully understood the identity of “our God and Savior Jesus Christ”.

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Romans 9:5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

“Christ, who IS GOD over all”!

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My sincere prayer is that the readers of this study will find great encouragement in your faith in the Son of God, as well as a fuller understanding of and appreciation for the identity of Jesus our Savior as Deity, coequal and coeternal with God the Father.

May your faith in Him sustain and bless you “...while we wait for the blessed hope — the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Churvivor Philippines




PANIBAGONG KALOKOHANG HANDOG SA INYO NG FRANZ VALMONTE PRODUCTIONS... SPOOF NG FINAL TRIBAL COUNCIL NG SURVIVOR PHILIPPINES. STARRING DEXTER HIDALGO (PAOLO BEDIONES), KRISTOFFER GONONG (JC) AND FRANZ VALMONTE (ROB). HOPE YOU WILL ENJOY THIS ONE.