Divinity of the Biblical Jesus Christ Peace be upon Him

Response to A & B) My opponent continues to appeal to logic and reason. He claims that logically speaking, "If God became a man on Earh then it must be 100% clear so that everyone may be saved" but does nothing to support this claim as logical. Many branches of Christianity (Particularly those following after John Calvin) does not intend man to be saved. The assumption that God wants everyone to be saved is another case of "begging the question" that my opponent rests his argument upon. Until he proves these logical assertions from a Biblical text, his argument cannot stand. Furthermore, my opponent claims that "Jesus does explicitly forbid calling any man on Earth God." My opponent is correct, so the only logical assumption if someone does call a man God and Jesus does not correct them, is that the person being called God is in fact God. We see this happen. In John 20:28, we read "Thomas answered [Jesus], 'My Lord and my God!'" We also see places where the disciples worship Jesus (Matthew 14:33, Gk=proskyneo). If Jesus was a prophet, as my opponent claims, would he not know better than to let the disciples call him God and worship him... if he was not in fact God? Furthermore, my opponent appeals to monotheism to claim that Jesus could not be God. This is resolved by the Doctrine of the Trinity. This doctrine is necessitated by the fact that Jesus claimed to be divine. I do not have space to go into a full defense of the Trinity, but I am providing a link to an essay I wrote concerning the Biblicity of this doctrine. http://knol.google.com... also, the book "God Crucified" by Richard Bauckham is an excellent resource to show that "plurality" within the unity of the Trinity does not contradict monotheism and the Shema in any way. http://www.amazon.com... Response to C) I am in the process of obtaining the scholar that my opponent requests. However, this is such a foundational aspect of Christian interpretation that no one explicitly states it. I have e-mails into leading scholars that I have interacted with asking for a statement. I will provide these as soon as possible. Regardless of this, Jesus did in fact claim divinity. In John 8:58 Jesus replies to a group of Jewish Leaders and says "Truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." There are three aspects to this which reveal the claim of divinity. The first is that he claims to have existed before Abraham, which would make him thousands of years old. The second is that he uses the divine name "I am." This is the proper name that God revealed to Moses, YHWH. YHWH is a Hebrew word that means "I am" and this is the very phrase that Jesus uses. The third aspect is the way the Jews reacted to this. Vs 59 indicates "they picked up stones to throw at him." If Jesus was simply claiming to be really old... why would they react as though he had committed blasphemy? The Jews reacted to him as though he was claiming to be God, because he was claiming to be God. Response to D & E) Perhaps the word "Limited" is problematic. It may be better to use the word "Abstained." Christ abstained from exercising his divine abilities. This does not mean that he did not have them (We see him exercise these authorities from time to time... he is able to know things before they happen, able to read peoples thoughts, exercises miraculous abilities like walking on water and multiplying food, etc). One of the primary characteristics that set humans apart from animals is the faculty of speech. However, if I choose not to speak I am no less human. Likewise, choosing not to exercise a divine ability does not make Jesus divine. Furthermore, simply acting humble does not necessarily preclude divinity. God can do whatever he wishes, if this includes acting humble... it simply means he is choosing to act humble. This is in line with Christ's preaching that the last shall be first and the first shall be last. My opponent has still not supported any of his points any further than he did in his initial arguments. He simply says "No it doesn't" and appeals to "logic" without building any logical arguments. I have dismantled the logic of his argument and shown how his points fall to the wayside. Furthermore, I have provided an affirmative argument including several passages that clearly claim Christ's divinity. If my opponent wishes to wait to later rounds to address them, that is his prerogative. Furthermore, I would like to provide the following additional texts that show him claiming divinity. John 10:9 - In this passage Jesus says that anyone who has seen him (Jesus) has seen God. How can someone say they have seen God by looking at Jesus if he was not God John 10:10, John 10:30 - In these passages Jesus says "I and the Father are one." This is the same phrasing that is used in the famous "Here o Israel, the LORD is one." How can "just a man" be one with God? John 14:11, John 10:38 - the Father is in me, and I in the Father. These passages show that Jesus believed in an interconnected nature that shows equality. He places himself and God in the same place grammatically. This is significant. John 10:33 - Jesus asks the Jews which of his Miracles they were stoning him for. They responded "It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God." It is interesting that if Jesus never claimed to be God, the Jews of the day were EXPLICITLY ready to stone him for a claim that he never made. In addition, if Jesus never claimed to be God... you would think he would respond by saying "But I don't claim to be God. John 17:5 - Jesus here asks the Father to glorify him with the glory he "had with [God] before the world began." How could Jesus be claimig that he had Glory before the world began if he was simply a man and good prophet? This agrees with John 1:1-18 in asserting that all things were created through Jesus and that Jesus was not a created being. Isaiah 9:6-7 - The Old Testament tells us that a man would be born that would be God. It writes "to us a child is born, to us a son is given." It later says this child "will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." This passage in the Old Testament clearly shows that the OT Prophet Isaiah believed in a coming Messiah that would be both man and God. I look forward to my opponent's response.