>> Slow down...you're starting to attribute things to me that I didn't say or didn't say in the context you claim. John 1 is used as a proof text but is an excellent example of a text that seemingly says something to support your beliefs while creating many contradictory verses in the Bible. <<
Translation: it doesn't fit your interpretation of other verses, so rather than re-evaluating your own interpretation, you're just going to nullify the Word of God.
>> The issue is that if you cannot grasp the meaning and messge of clear, unambiguous writing then you are unlikely to graps the meanings of other verses. <<
Sounds like you're the one having trouble. My understanding is the same as Christians throughout history.
>> Obviously God is superior to Jesus. That also makes Jesus inferior to God. There is no disrespct there <<
Balderdash! Jesus submits to his Father, not because He is inferior, but because He is providing an example to us: "He who is without sin became sin for our sake."
>>>> "It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known." <<<<
>> You simply made that up. As you must to support unBiblical teachings. <<
No, I did not. It is John 1:18b. In Greek: "monogenus theos on eis ton kolpos tou patros ekeinos exilisato." Translated word by word this reads, "onlybegotten god, the one [who] is in the lap of the father who has explained." (Word-Study Greek-English New Testament, Paul McReynolds, ed.) Or, slightly more translated, "It is the only begotten god, who is in the lap of the father, who revealed him."
NLT: "But his only Son, who is himself God, is near to the Father's heart; he has told us about him."
NIV: "No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known."
NASB: "No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained {Him.}"
>> LOL..what utter nonsense! Very simply, if God is God and Jesus is God then you have two Gods. <<
See, you refuse to accept the statement, "Jesus is God," not because it isn't biblical -- it is biblical -- but because you cannot accept that two persons can both be the same God. If you refuse to believe that, fine. But that is what the bible says. Does the bible sound like "utter nonsense" to you? Paul said it would.
If you will not accept his Word, Go ahead and reject Christ. He will call you back. Explore the other explanations of this word, atheism, nihilism, or other religions. But you are sitting on the fence, proclaiming yourself a believer, while you will not believe. The bible says, "if you turn and forsake him he will gently call your name." But it is the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit who cannot be forgiven.
[Note on John 1:18b. The KJV reads, "The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared [him]" This translation is based on the Vulgate, in the full verse, "Deum nemo vidit umquam unigenitus Filius qui est in sinu Patris ipse enarravit." Jerome resolved the awkwardness of having two seperate persons referred to as "God," by refering to God the Father as "the Father" and God the Son as "the Son," as done in the Nicene Creed. However, the word "theos," which occurs in the Greek, plainly means "god."]
Deum
Deum-----God
nemo-----noone
vidit---has seen
umquam----ever
unigenitus---onlybegotten
Filius----Son
qui-----who
est-----is
in---in
sinu----the bosom (literally, the curve)
Patris----[of the] Father
ipse-----himself
enarravit----has described.
IOW, "God, whom no-one has ever seen, the Son -- who is in the bosom of the Father -- himself has revealed."
King James dodged the awkwark translation of this by using the Son and the Father as names for God; note, however, that in the Latin (which also presumes that Son and Father, being capitalized, refer to God), "God" remains the subject of the sentence. This less clearly states that the Son is God to anyone who didn't accept that proposition in the first place. But keep in mind that it is merely a translation of the Greek, which inserted "theos" to make clear that the son is THE Son, namely, God.