Jesus Claimed to be God

My opponent claims the Bible has gone through many different changes but the link he cites does not say exactly what he says it does. It does acknowledge some typographical errors that do not take away from what is actually being said and are typically easy to catch based on the context. My opponent failed to address my first reference which is probably one of the strongest cases; the word Jesus uses, I am. Also if Jesus is no more than a man how could he be before Abraham? That’s the part you can’t really get around. This also relates to the several times in Revelation where Jesus refers to himself as the Alpha and Omega. (Rev. 1:8, 21:16, 22:13) My opponent asks why Jesus refers to the Father rather than himself. Simply because the father is the first in the order of precedence in the Trinity but more on that a bit later. [1] If the Jews misunderstood then surely Jesus would have corrected them and if he did the Gospels would include it. My opponent suggests that Jesus is referring to himself merely as a prophet in John 8:24, however since when does this sort of thing apply to a prophet? All other prophets have said to trust in God rather than themselves. “by the prophets who came before him, so he is reminding them that he is that prophet whom you have been told about. ” This is actually true as this is exactly what John the Baptist did but John who himself was a prophet referred to Jesus as being greater than himself. Why would John be so apprehensive about baptizing him and considering himself unworthy t do so? IN fact this brings up another good point, at the Baptism of Jesus by John God says Jesus is his son. He is very specific that it is his son even though other people are referred to as sons of God Jesus is referred to as the exclusive son. My opponent’s reply to “I and the Father are one” is a fairly common one. Yes of course they are somehow connected to see how you must look at the context. In reply to his comments about Thomas, there is no reason to assume that he didn’t rebuke him. If he did the burden of proof is on my opponent to prove he did, otherwise we must go with what the text says which leads to the conclusion that Jesus is God. The next one my opponent says this doesn’t say he is the son. Actually if you read through the text it does. Jesus calls him "My Father". Then he says no one knows the Father except the son and vice versa. SO if you put it all together Jesus calls himself the Son of God. If Jesus was god, why didn’t he just say so ? ?? He wanted to prove it, as you can see from the reaction of the Jews to just go and say it without proof they accuse him of blasphemy which they do anyway. What stopped him from claiming directly that he was god? ? Nothing stopped him and as I have shown his intention was clear to his audience. Why would he make it hard to understand that ? ? Part of this could be the weakness of the English translation, the Jews seemed to understand his meaning. would'nt it be easier to translate that single sentence" I am god"? ? That’s essentially what the phrase “before Abraham was I am” means knowing the meaning of the phrase I Am to the Jews. He then attempts to disprove he was God using the following verses. "'"Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. "" Mark 10:17-18 This question was a test. He was trying to show if the man was sincere as the next part where he asked him to give up everything as the rest of the test. "My Father is greater than I" (John 14:28) I mentioned earlier about the Father being Greater, this in in order, but not in Godliness. "My father is greater than all. " (John 10:29) Everything else considered this should be obvious. What can be greater than God the Father? The hour cometh and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship him. " (John 4:23) I don’t see how this disproves anything. Worshiping the Father in no way says Jesus is not God in fact remember Jesus also said “No one comes to the Father except through me”-John 14:6 "that they might know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. " (John 17:3) This is another example of context with the verses around it and while it is not as clear he re he is referring to himself as God it is not precluded. he continued all night in prayer to God. " (Luke 6:12) Here God is assumed to be the father. While Jesus was God, in his human form there were certain limits, such as not being omnipresent, he limited his power while on Earth. "he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father" (Matthew 26:39) This just reinforces the relationship between Father and Son. During the days of Jesus" life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. " (Hebrews 5:7) This is pretty much the same as what I said about Luke 6:12. Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. (Acts 2:22) These miracles were accredited to him to show that he was the messiah. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. " (Acts 3:13) Jesus was sent to Earth to be a servant yet a King, a concept that actually makes a lot of sense, the leader should actually be the servant. This is also a reference to the suffering servant of Isaiah 52. your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. " (Acts 4:27)"of Your holy servant Jesus. " (Acts 4:30) Both of these also relate to what was said about Acts 3:13 Also, who do the Jews anoint? Kings and Jesus says “My Kingdom is not of this world” I can of mine own self do nothing. " (John 5:30) Jesus had a unique relationship to the Father and so he relied on the father, however far from being proof of him not being God it shows how directly he was connected to the father. He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. " (Mark 6:5) This is obviously not saying he is incapable of doing miracles since we have seen him do them elsewhere. The lack of belief of the people there did not allow them to truly want to be healed as you can see from the surrounding verses. the temple of my God the name of my God the city of my God comes down out of heaven from my God. " (Rev. 3:12) Jesus here refers to his name, which wouldn’t be special if it weren’t for the fact it’s Holy. But we do see him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus. " (Hebrews 2:9) This is referring to his humility as a human. Notice how it says ‘for a little while” so he was not permanently lower than the Angels. My opponent made a good effort and taken out of context many of these verses would appear to suggest Jesus is not God, but that is why reading them in context is important. I thank him for his efforts and look forward to the next round. This is as much as I have room for anyway. [1] . http://www.answering-islam.org... [ all other references] . https://www.biblegateway.com...