Joshua On NPR On Bart Ehrman

http://www.npr.org/2014/04/07/300246095/if-jesus-never-called-himself-god-how-did-he-become-one?utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=npr&utm_campaign=nprnews&utm_content=04072014


http://www.npr.org/2014/04/07/300246095/if-jesus-never-called-himself-god-how-did-he-become-one?utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=npr&utm_campaign=nprnews&utm_content=04072014

If Jesus believed Himself to be God, He would not be God. For it is only in Jesus' rejection of political messianism and in all the trappings we normally associate with God's glory on Earth that He revealed God as She truly is. No one talks about Jesus being God until the second century. But Jesus is worshipped and honored as if He were God not long after His death (Philippians 2). The conviction that Jesus and God are one and the same is the result of reflection upon the fact that the early Christian attitude about Him only made sense if this were so. This was roughly Athanasius' argument against Arianism. Christians worshipped Jesus right from the beginning, but only God is worthy of worship.

The historical facts of how Jesus came to be THOUGHT OF as God are well-known and I don't understand why Ehrman's book on it is getting much attention except for the fact that he is a famous and well-regarded Biblical scholar who lost his faith. The interesting question is why Jesus was venerated and indeed worshipped by a group of Jews who should've eschewed such honor given to a human being in the first place. The Apostles never would've CALLED Jesus "God" but they were treating Him like He was God just the same. The historical question of how this happened, disregarding theological explanations (for such explanations are too easy to be HISTORICALLY interesting) is the historically interesting question.

The theological implications of a man rejecting political power, glory and esteem, and even attempts to identify Him as specially good and godly, actually inspiring worship and eventually leading to identification WITH God are, to me, the most interesting questions. Of course I'm biased since I think He was God. But my bias is out there. Truth to be told, if God is not what Jesus' possibly revelatory existence actually implies He is, then God is not worthy of worship nor in any way capable of commanding faith, in my book. (Literally, I wrote a book on it.)