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Well, you drew my attention with this and I cannot let it just stand :

To: missyme John 20:17 ... He is making it as clear as he possibly can that he is one of US and not a god.

If he were "making it as clear as he possibly can" he would clearly say "I am not God." But He doesn't say that. He became one of us but he is also God, and always was before we were made, and always will be. He is not the Father... and He is not the Holy Spirit. And neither are They Him. Yet the Father is God and the Holy Spirit is God and Christ is God. They are different aspects of one God.

No mere man, no prophet can take upon himself the sins of all humanity and pay them in full.

"I do not pray for these only, but also for those who are to believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they may also be in Us, so that the world may believe Thou hast sent Me." -- John 17: 20-21

That 'Us' means something...

Jesus prayed to his Father, and told us to do likewise. He prayed to the Father even though he said the Father is in Him and He in the Father

Jesus also prayed to His Father: "the glory which thou hast given Me I have given to them, that they may be one even as We are one."

... and the 'We are one' means soomething. There is a reason for that 'We are one' talk. Jesus is not to be considered apart from God.

In reference to Christ, the bible says: "all things were made through Him." -- John 1:3 . But God is the Creator- so how can this be if Jesus is not God?

Christ has no beginning... he was with God always. "He was in the beginning with God," -- John 1:2. In other words, He was not 'created,' like a mere man or anything else in the universe is created. He was never separate from God. He is eternal. Nothing less than God is eternal.

He can be everywhere at once, with each of us at all times, even when we are not with each other. This is no mere and mortal man, no mere prophet, not just one of us, as we can ony be in one place at a time. "...I am with you always."--matthew 28:20

Jesus is eternal and changeless : "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." -- Hebrews 13:8

And here's this biggie refering to Jesus Christ: "for in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily." -- colossians 2:9

Jesus also told us how to pray- he said to pray to the FATHER.

"Our Father, who art in Heaven..." remember?

Why? Because Jesus was NOT God.

Was that a cock I heard crowing? Will it crow two more times, as in Peter's day, when he made his denials? The Bible says quite the opposite:

"For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulder, and his name will be called "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." -- Isaiah, 9:6

Why would the Son be named "Mighty God" is He wasn't?

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father." -- John 1: 1, 14

Jesus didn't cease to be the Word just because He took our form.

Why did Jesus say "Go therefor and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit?"

Are you saying these three things are not God? If so, why would he tell people to baptize all nations in the name of things other than God? He didn't- these are the one God.

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And as for those who've never read it concerning Reagan's view:

"...either [Jesus] was what he said he was or he was the world's greatest liar. It is impossible for me to believe a liar or charlatan could have had the effect on mankind that he has had for 2000 years. We could ask, would even the greatest of liars carry his lie through the crucifixion, when a simple confession would have saved him? ... Did he allow us the choice... to believe in his teaching but reject his statements about his own identity?" -- Ronald Reagan, on the divinity of Jesus, in a 1978 letter to a California pastor); see the book "Reagan: A Life in Letters." See also "Nancy reveals Reagan's letter to Brezhnev," by TIM CORNWELL DEPUTY FOREIGN EDITOR, The Scotsman, Scotland's national Newspaper Online, http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=1051042003 , for a partial quote of it

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That said, when Christians refer to God we refer to Christ as well; we refer to the Father and the Holy Spirit. So we're not letting Christ down when in secular proceedings we refer to God instead of naming all aspects of Him. it may not be witnessing for Christ in an open way but God will use that to his own ends. As for ours prayer we were told to not make a show of praying, or rub people's faces in it, but to go into our rooms and pray.

Once more, since it needs repeating: "for in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily." -- colossians 2:9