From: ECL4JN2@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU (Jack Newsbaum)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc
Subject: Re: Jesus denied he was God
Date: 13 Aug 92 02:30:30 GMT

In article <65544@hydra.gatech.EDU>, on 10 Aug 92 19:32:41 GMT,
rpitts@emperor.gatech.edu (Richard Pitts) writes:

>
>In article <19920810111553ECL4JN2@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU> ECL4JN2@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU (Jack Newsbaum) writes:
>|In article <adams.713452645@spssig>, on 10 Aug 92 13:17:25 GMT,
>|adams@spss.com (Steve Adams) writes:
>|
>|>
>|>ECL4JN2@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU (Jack Newsbaum) writes:
>|>
>|>
>|>>"As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him
>|>>and asked him. 'Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?'
>|>>Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good?' No one is good but God
>|>>alone.'" (Mark 10:17-18)
>
>|>>I'm not quite sure how this got past the censors of the early Church,
>|>>but it seems rather clear from this passage that Jesus did not regard
>|>>himself as God, and actually rebuked an admirer for using language which
>|>>might suggest that.
>
>|>No, it would seem to me that Jesus was asking the person to consider who he
>|>was adressing.  In other words, the person had called Him 'good teacher'
>|>and Jesus said noone by God is good.  He asked WHY the man called Him good.
>|>To me, that is asking a reason of the man for the statement.
>
If that's what Jesus wanted to know and the question really was not, as
I suggest, rhetorical, the answer was obvious. The person had no idea
that the adjective 'good' should only apply to God. Jesus clearly was
seeking information of this sort; he was mildly rebuking the person.

>|I have two objections to your interpretation. First, if Jesus were God,
>|he would have known the answer to the question as to why? Heck, I'm not
>|a god, and I can figure out that the man addressed him as "Good Teacher"
>|as a sign of respect. Why should this have been so difficult for Jesus
>|to figure out?
>
>No one said 'Jesus didn't know the answer.'  The gospels are riddled with
>instances with statements such as 'knowing there heart Jesus said...'
>or 'knowing they questions Jesus said ...'.   Is isn't the questioning
>of 'why' a good method of communication for getting the questioner to
>think about what he asked? :-)  Much less, Jesus in Mark 9:5, 10:51, and
>11:21, was called Rabbi and did not rebuke.  In Matthew 23, Jesus says
>to his hears that they have only one Father and one Teacher and that they
>should not be called by those names.  (John 1:38 says Rabbi means Teacher.)
>
All the more reason for asserting that Jesus is not seeking information
as to why the man called him good, but is telling him that he should
not be addressing Jesus, a mere mortal, as good.

>|Secondly, if the man could have somehow figured out that Jesus was God
>|in disguise, why didn't Jesus praise the fellow for his insight? After
>|all, Peter supposedly got the keys of the kingdom for merely intuiting
>|that Jesus was the Messiah.
>
>Peter was recognized as understanding, when he said 'Thou art the Christ,
>the Son of the Living God'.  Jesus said, however, that flesh and blood
>(mankind) did not reveal this to him, but that is was revealed by His
>Father in Heaven.  Jesus had just asked his disciples who do people
>say that he is and then who do you (the disciples) say he is.  Again,
>there would be ample reason to ask the question of 'why' and so get the
>listeners to reason with themselves as to who Jesus really was and is.
>
But this clearly indicates that the man who addressed Jesus hadn't the
slightest inkling that Jesus was God. If he had, and if Jesus really
believed that he was God, Jesus should have admired the man for his
wisdom in knowing this and not rebuked him.

>|>Steve 
>|>--
>|> The opinions expressed above are those of the author and not SPSS, Inc.
>|>                        -------------------
>|>     adams@spss.com                           Phone: (312) 329-3522
>|>     Steve Adams                              Fax:   (312) 329-3558
>|>
>|    ====Jack====
>
>Sincerely,
>Richard Pitts
>--
>rpitts@cerl.gatech.edu       |
>Atlanta, GA                --|--
>                        -|-  |  -|-
>                         |   |   |
>
    ====Jack====
Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc