Was Jesus all-powerful and all-knowing?
Christians and Muslims agree that God is all-powerful and all-knowing. The Gospels show that Jesus was not all-powerful, for he had some limitations. Mark tells us in his gospel that Jesus was unable to do any powerful work in his hometown (ch.6, vv. 5-6). Mark also tells us that when Jesus tried to heal a certain blind man, the man was not healed after the first attempt, and Jesus had to try a second time (see Mark ch. 8, v.22-26). Therefore, although we have the utmost love and respect for Jesus, we need to understand that he is not the all-powerful God.
Mark's Gospel also reveals that Jesus had limitations in his knowledge. In Mark ch. 13, v. 32, Jesus declared that he himself does not know when the last day will occur, but the Father alone knows that (see also Matthew 24:36). Therefore he could not have been the all-knowing God. Some will say that Jesus knew when the last day will occur', but he chose not to tell. But that complicates matters further. Jesus could have said that he knows but he does not wish to tell. Instead, he said that he does not know. We must believe him. Jesus was a man of truth.
The Gospel of Luke also reveals that Jesus had limited knowledge. Luke says that Jesus increased in wisdom (ch. 2, v. 52). In Hebrews too (ch. 5, v. 8) we read that Jesus learned obedience. But God's knowledge is always perfect, -and God does not learn new things. He knows everything always. If Jesus learned something new, that proves that he did not know everything before that, and he was not God. Can he become God later? No! Because there is only one God, and He is God from everlasting to everlasting (see Psalms 90, v. 2).
Someone may say that Jesus was God but he took the form of a servant and therefore became limited. Well, that would mean that God changed. But God does not change. He said to Himself in Malachi ch. 3, v. 6. Jesus never was God, and never will be. In the Bible, Yahweh alone is God and Yahweh declares: "Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. 1, even 1, am Yahweh ... " (Isaiah ch. 43: vv. 10-11).
Some will say that Jesus had two natures, that he was both man and God at the same time. They will say that the limitations we pointed out are limitations in the human nature of Jesus, but his God nature is still unlimited. Notice that the Bible never confirms that Jesus had two natures. This is a desperate solution offered by those who do not wish to believe what the Bible plainly says. The plain teaching of the Bible, as we have shown, is that Jesus was not God.
This dual-nature solution complicates matters further still. Take for illustration the fig-tree episode in the Gospels (see Mark ch. 11, VV. 12-25). Mark tells us as follows: "Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs" (Mark 11: 12-14). Jesus then put a curse on the tree, so that no one could eat fruit from it again. The tree withered from the roots by next morning. Now, it is clear from this passage that Jesus had a lot of power to curse the tree and make it wither from its roots. It is also clear that Jesus was ignorant on two counts. Firstly, he did not know that the tree had no fruit until he came to it. Secondly, he did not know that it was not the right season to expect figs on trees.
Proponents of the dual-nature theory will have to admit that the power to curse was in Jesus' God nature. They will have to also admit that his ignorance was due to his human nature. They will have to then conclude that the God nature acted at the behest ofthe ignorance stemming from the human nature. But God does not act on ignorance. Surely He would know, as Mark knew, that it was not the season for figs, and that when fig season arrives that tree will provide fruit for God's creatures. Why would God curse a good tree which he created? Some would like to believe that the tree was barren and therefore deserved to be destroyed. But, if Mark was right, the reason the tree had no fruit is "because it was not the season for figs" (Mark 12, v. 13).
These Bible references clearly show that Jesus was not the all-powerful,all-knowing God . But there is more, much more. Please read the previous Takes, Is Jesus God? The Bible Says, "No!" Part 1 & 2.
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{Mark 6:5-6} If you read the preceding verses, you'll see that it's not that Jesus was *unable* to do any miracles there, it's just that the people in the synagogue would not *permit* hit do any miracles, since they were knuckleheaded fundies and you're not supposed to do any work on the Sabbath (even modern Jews have a strangely broad definition of "work;" I had a professor who knew a guy who wouldn't even get up to flip the light switch on a Saturday).
{Mark 8:22-26} I simply assumed that there were just two factors in the man's blindness; the first miracle was to get rid of his cataracts, and the second was to fix his nearsightedness (remember, glasses wouldn't be invented for quite some time).
{fig tree incident} This is something only known to linguistic scholars (even I only know it because I'm subbed to the youtube channel below), but what you're actually looking at is a translation issue. The word translated as"season" isn't the one when figs grow, but the time ("season") of the messiah. in other words, the fruitless tree was a sign that Jesus would be rejected yet again. (I would link you to the video in question, but it's only discussed in passing as it's not the primary subject matter of the video, thus I'm unable to find it).
And as for Jesus displaying non-omniscience, there are many different ideas about this; here are two of mine
1) God The Son does have the father's omniscience by default, just not while temporally incarnated (to help visualize this, imagine that The Son takes on an incarnate form on every life-bearing planet in the universe)
2) Jesus *did* have the father's omniscience, but it was restrained to his Pre-conscious mind (the pre-conscious is a concept of Freudian psychology. it lies between the conscious and unconscious minds, and consists of all your memories that you're not Consciously recalling at any one given moment. For example, think of that one embarrassing thing you did as a kid. you know, the one with that other person older than two and younger than 100. before I brought it up, your memory of this event was a part of your pre-conscious. but now that you're actively thinking about it, it's in your conscious. later today when you're thinking about something else, it'll be part of your pre-conscious again).
On a related note, let's talk about trinitarian theology in general. While I perfectly understand being confused by the concept of God being three and one at the same time (in fact I'd be suspicious if someone claimed *not* to be confused by it), I've noticed that you Muslims tend to forget about that "... and one" part a lot. I have an analogy that I like to use, but it will require me to introduce you to some other concepts first.
Whenever an atheist gives me their "miracles yada yada fiction yada yada science" spiel, I like to tell them that God is to us what Shakespeare is to hamlet and Romeo, and in several ways at that. One way is that God is no more subject to the rules and laws of one of their universes than a writer is subject to the rules and tropes of a book they have written. (feel free to use this argument yourself).
Continuing with this analogy, Jesus can be thought of as God *writing themself into the story*.
whoops. Just realize that I left in a reference to a video that I decided I didn't need to use. I'm talking about this channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCpllN9azBqdDQZUKTkG_SwA
You have to keep in mind that even though the Bible is inspired from God, it was still written by mortals, who will have their own shortcomings. Some people believe that EVERY word in the Bible comes directly from God. I'm not one of those people.
There isn't much mentioned, if anything, about Jesus's life from age 1 to about age 12. I don't know directly what was in Jesus's head during his lifetime, or if he had any limitations. I simply take it on faith that there is one God, and that God has three entities: God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. I don't know the exact dynamics of this relationship.
I had heard that Jesus once exorcized demons out of a man by lifting them out of the man, and placing them into some pigs (or maybe cattle), causing them to run off and die. I don't know why he would do it that way. You'd think he could just cast them out, and toss them into hell. I simply accept that he did what he did for some reason that's beyond me. Then again, the person telling this story originally, how accurate are they?
In the Lord's Prayer, there is the line "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." You are trying to tempt with your arguments. I take it on faith that Jesus is son of God.
Just because you were taught 2+2=5 doesn't mean you have to follow it forever.
do research and find out the right thing and follow that, I can help you.
forget about what you heard that has no evidence. you either follow the bible 100% which is impossible or you leave it and look for something that you can adhere to 100%.
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