John,
First, to clarify the point I was making. In an earlier post I had
written, "Is it reasonable to believe that he (Jesus) would offer
a_myth_as the 'sign' of his own death and resurrection?"; to which you
replied, "Short answer. Yes." It was on that basis that I suggested you
might as readily jettison other of the Lord's statements - in
particular, his reading of the Books of Moses, and his implied
acceptance of the Creation narrative, of the lineage of the Patriarchs,
and of the reality of the Mabbul.
Of course, you make the perfectly valid point that, as a man, he would
not necessarily have had first hand knowledge of what he had achieved as
Creator (which I had implied). This raises the more general question of
the true nature of the Lord's manhood. Regarding this important matter,
a highly-respected and gifted preacher, Dr D Martyn Lloyd-Jones has
written:
"... it is a mistake to think of our Lord as the Son of God with just a
human body. He had a human soul also. He had a human mind. He had human
reason. And it is essential that we should bear that in mind. He is not
our Saviour if that is not true. He cannot save men unless He truly
became man in a real sense. So you will find a statement like this about
Him in Luke 2:52: 'And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in
favour with God and man'. He could and He did increase in wisdom as well
as in stature. So the statement is that He took unto Him a true human
nature, and He took that human nature unto Himself from the Virgin Mary.
And the result is that we find in the four Gospels that He not only
grew, but that He experienced hunger; He experienced thirst; He
experienced grief. He said He didn't know certain things. He did not
know when the final end of the world was to come...As Son of Man he was
ignorant of that particular thing. He suffered pain, and He did
literally die." He later goes on to say: "(however) He is distinct from
man. Our spirit is not holy; His spirit is holy, because He is Son of
God."
Until his baptism by John (Mt.3:16) - which marked the beginning of his
ministry proper - we gather that he was little more than a person of
above average IQ, possessing wisdom and a sound knowledge of the
Scriptures (Lk.2:42-47). During his baptism he received the Spirit of
God; following his temptation in the wilderness, we read that 'angels
ministered to him'. That heavenly counsel was made freely available to
him thereafter is made clear in Mt.11:27 where he says, "All things are
delivered to me of my Father". Clearly, the information that was thus
imparted to him must have included details of his pre-incarnation
existence, for he says, "...before Abraham was, I am." (Jn.8:58)
So, while his Father in heaven may have withheld certain things - for
reasons best known to Himself - it is hardly likely that any Scriptural
errors would have remained unreported. Clearly, the Lord was provided
with all the information he needed to complete his earthly mission; and
that must have included a reliable testimony from Moses and the
Prophets.
Regards,
Vernon
John W Burgeson wrote:
>
> Vernan asked: "I presume you would also question the Lord's belief in the
> writings of Moses and the prophets (expressed by Father Abraham -
> Lk.16:31), on the basis that he - the Creator - was obviously unaware of
> the Theory of Evolution."
>
> Not sure of your point here. Maybe I'm brain-challenged this morning. Try
> again, being more specific on what you are asking.
>
> One question that might be pertinent is this: Was Jesus aware during his
> earthly life of the "true" history of the earth, or did he have the
> conventional understandings of other Jewish people of his day?
>
> Specifically, if I were to go back in time, meet Jesus, and ask him his
> outlook on relativity theory, or quantum mechanics, or the "old earth vs
> YEC, would he have any idea of what I was talking about?
>
> I suggest that he would not have. But I'd listen to arguments on the
> other side.
>
> John Burgeson (Burgy)
>
> http://www.burgy.50megs.com
> (science/theology, quantum mechanics, baseball, ethics,
> humor, cars, God's intervention into natural causation, etc.)
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Aug 19 2001 - 18:29:17 EDT