The Bible Teaches Jesus is God

Con's argument mostly come down to rather the trinity is a logical concept, but this debate is not about rather the trinity is logical, rather, its about whether the Bible teaches the trinity. Con assumes that because this doctrine does not seem logical TO HIM, that therefore the Bible could not teach the trinity; but the Bible teaches many thing which don't seem logical to many people. It teaches people are dying today because thousands of years ago a man and a woman ate some fruit. This Adam and Eve story doesn't seem logical to many people, yet its Biblical. The Bible teaches that an innocent man had to die on a cross for us to be forgiven, and again this doesn't seem logical to many. Why can't we just repent and change our ways; why does someone have to die? Because Con cannot comprehend how God could be three and yet one, he concludes therefore that God cannot do this, but neither can he fathom or explain how God hears millions of prayers at the same time and understands them all. Does it therefore mean God cannot do this? How does God do it, Con? Jeremiah 23:23-24 and Psalms 139:7-10 speak of God as being both far and near at the same time, as being in heaven, hell, and the earth (the sea). So if God can be in more than one place at once, I see no reason why he can't be Father in heaven, Son on the earth, and Holy Spirit in the believers. I don't need to know how God does it to believe it, I just accept what God says on faith. Con rejects the trinity because it doesn't fit into his idea of what is rational, which is the same reason why atheists tend not to believe in God. They don't find theology to be rational. Scientists think a global flood would contradict all the scientific data they have, so they reject that it ever happened. http://search.tb.ask.com...; If Con's attitude is to reject anything that doesn't make sense TO HIM, he's committing the same logical blunder as the atheists. Namely, just because YOU can't think of a way for something to be true does not mean that GOD cannot accomplish it. I agree that Scripture cannot contain contradictions, but a contradiction is two things that cannot both be true at the same time claiming to be so. As I pointed out in the last round, ALL THINGS are possible with God. (Matt 19:26) So while it may be impossible for mere men to be three persons in one being, it isn't so for God. Con completely ignored most of the arguments I presented in round one for the deity of Christ, even though I answered ever single on of his. For this alone you should vote Pro, but I will go on to address his other questions: "1]-Why do you mean by saying that God is One, while you refer to three Gods?" I don't refer to three gods. God is one being, and that being has three minds, or centers of consciousness which we trinitarians call "persons," "conscious individuals." There is a difference between "being" and "person." "...the word "being" merely refers to the totality of what a thing is....God however is... also unique from human beings in that the totality of what God is contains three distinct persons as opposed to human beings who only have one person as part of their being."http://search.tb.ask.com...; "2]Is God One in Three or three in one?" God is three persons in one God. "3] How to make equation - 1+1+1=1,not 3?" One person (Father) + one person (Son) + one person (Holy Spirit) = one Trinity (which means three person who exist as parts of one Being, the triune God.) No logical fallacy here. But in either case human reason is not a measuring stick by which we can judge God, for God didn't give up reason for that reason; rather, rationality is to be used in submission to God's word, and this is what makes it work best. I use my reason within the confines of what God says, taking his word on faith, for "the just shall live by faith." (Rom 1;17) Not logic, faith! "However, if Jesus is God or part of God ,does not this contradict what the Bible reports that no one can see God ,nor hear His voice," No, it doesn't. Con looks for contradictions where none exists, and he finds them only because he doesn't understand the texts. First of all, God is a Spirit (John 4:24) and of course you can't see a spirit. This is what it means when it says no one has seen God, that God, in his divine nature, is invisible, so we can't see him as he truely is. This does not mean that God cannot take on human form so we can see him. Jacob said "I have seen God face to face." (Gen 32:30) Con must think Jacob was lying, but he wasn't. He saw a physical manifestation of God. "The LORD appeared unto him [Abraham] in the plains of Mamre." (Gen 18:1) How many men did Abraham see coming when the Lord appeared to him? Three. (Gen 18:2) Since Pro wants to argue that seeing God would contradict Exodus 33:20, what would he say to Exodus 24:9-11? "Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: And THEY SAW the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also THEY SAW God, and did eat and drink." If seeing God in the Old Testament doesn't create contradictions, then seeing him in the New Testament in the person of Jesus also doesn't create contradictions. The contradiction only exists in Con's mind. "How can we reconcile the dogma that jesus is God and the Biblical testimony that no one has ever seen God ,nor heard His voice ?" Con, you say that no one has heard God's voice, but didn't the entire nation of Israel hear God's voice when he spoke the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20? The Jewish nation testified in Scripture, "we have heard his voice." (Deu 5:24-25) "For who is there of all flesh, that hath HEARD THE VOICE OF THE LIVING GOD speaking out of the midst of the fire, AS WE HAVE, and lived?" (Deu 5:26) Obviously, in John 5:37 Jesus was talking about the Father; indeed, they did not hear the Father's voice. But the person's who the Israelites heard speaking in Exodus 20 wasn't the Father, it was the Son! In any case, Jesus was only talking to his unbelieving enemies in John 5:37; he wasn't saying that no human in history has ever heard the Father's voice. Con, please tell us whose voice Adam, Cain, and Abraham had heard...? "all other supposed gods or deities like jesus or holy spirit are neither gods nor manifestations of the true one God." So would Con care to explain Isaiah 9:6? Who is the child that is called Mighty God? Con goes on to attack the Granville Sharp rule, quoting people without citing with proper references the title and page number so we can check for ourselves. But Sharp's rule is beyond reproach: 2 Peter 1:1: tou theou hemon kai sotaros Iesou Christou 2 Peter 1:11: tou kuriou hemon kai sotaros Iesou Christou Notice the exact one-to-one correspondence between these passages! The only difference is the substitution of "kuriou" for "theou". No one questions the translation of "our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ" at 1:11; why question the translation of "our God and Savior, Jesus Christ" at 1:1? Consistency in translation demands that we not allow our personal prejudices to interfere with our rendering of God's word. Con also quotes the Illustrated Bible Dictionary out of context. Notice what he left out: "It must be remembered that the OT was written before the revelation of the doctrine of the Trinity was clearly given." ... "The word Trinity is not found in the Bible . . . It did not find a place formally in the theology of the church till the 4th century . . . Although Scripture does not give us a formulated doctrine of the Trinity, it contains all the elements out of which theology has constructed the doctrine." (The Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Hodder and Stoughton, 1980, Part 3, p. 1597) The authors are not saying the Bible doesn't teach the trinity. They are saying the Trinity is a revelation from God, all the elements of which are in the NT, even though not clearly spelled out as it was in the fourth century. http://search.tb.ask.com...; Con does likewise with the Encyclopaedia Britannica: http://search.tb.ask.com...; The 4th century C.E. Latin Vulgate and Vatican Manuscript also read "our God" at 2 Peter 1:1, and I'll give more on this next round; I'm out of space.