Jesus Is The Son Of God

And I tell you, every one who acknowledges me before men, the Son of man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; but he who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. And every one who speaks a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

Luke 12:8-10

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth; And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.

So begins the Apostles’ Creed, one of the oldest Christian declarations of faith.

This is where my faith begins. These points are the “red lines” of my faith, points which are not open to debate or compromise. This is where I stand in my faith.

If you say that Jesus was a “good man”, you and I do not agree, and will not agree. Jesus was not a man. Jesus is the Son of God. Period. End of Sentence. End of Discussion.

If you do not acknowledge Jesus is the Son of God, you do not love Jesus.

If you do not acknowledge Jesus is the Son of God, you reject Jesus.

If you wrap that rejection in any sort of spiritual or religious guise, if you willfully depict Jesus as anything but the Son of God while pretending to Christian faith and devotion, you are flirting with blasphemy—the sin Jesus Himself warned was the one thing that could not be forgiven.

If you do this, I will tell you to your face you are doing this. If you do this I will tell you to your face you are wrong for doing this.

I will not apologize.

I will not feel guilty.

I will not back down.

Faith matters.

We must be clear about faith, about what we believe, because the modern world is awash with ideas that pretend to be accommodating of faith, but are in reality desecrations of faith. Scarcely a day goes by where we do not see some social media “influencer” making absurd claims about Jesus, about Christianity, about faith.

Recently, a media personality of some notoriety (who I shall not name because I will not give him any more platform than he already has), made the ludicrous suggestion that Muslims “love” Jesus because they “revere” Him as a prophet who will return to defeat the Antichrist. The person making the claim is purportedly a Christian, although that cannot be because his statement denies the Divinity of Jesus, which is a requirement for Christian faith.

There is no getting around that point. If we do not accept that Christ is the Son of God, who died on the Cross at Calvary, only to be raised from the dead three days later, if we do not accept both the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, then we cannot have been redeemed and we cannot claim to be forgiven. The Apostle Paul lays down that red line explicitly in 1 Corinthians 15.

If Jesus was merely a prophet, in the tradition of Isaiah and Jeremiah, then Jesus could only be a man. If Jesus was merely a prophet, in the tradition of Isaiah and Jeremiah, then Jesus could not be the Son of God.

To say Jesus was a prophet, even a great one, strips away His Divinity and denies that He is the Son of God.

That is not loving Jesus. That is rejecting Jesus. That is claiming Jesus is other than what and who He is.

Regardless of what the Quran says or does not say, regardless of what Muslims say or do not say, the notion that Muslims can “love” Jesus while denying that He is the Son of God is equal parts hogwash and horse hockey. That is a false idea. That is a false teaching. That is a blasphemous teaching.

I do not know why people make such claims, but I do know that such claims are false. I know that such claims cross that “red line” of faith.

Jesus is the only Begotten Son of God. He is not a man. He is not a prophet.

If you cannot truthfully say this, then you and I do not agree. If you cannot truthfully say this then you and I will never agree.

I will tell you that you are wrong. I will tell you that you are pursuing a false belief and heading down a false path. I will tell you that what you are doing is not going to end well for you.

I will not apologize.

I will not feel guilty.

I will not back down.

We are called to love our neighbor even as we love ourselves. We have always been called to this, just as we have always been called to love God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind.

We are therefore called to approach all people with charity, with compassion, and with mercy. We are never called to approach anyone in anger, or with a vengeful heart.

But we are also not called to compromise faith. There can be no compromising of faith, for if we are willing to compromise on what we say we believe then we do not truly believe. There can be no compromising of faith, for when we compromise on what we say we believe we present a false witness and a false testimony to the world.

When we compromise on what we say we believe, when we lie while pretending to righteousness, surely that is the essence of blasphemy. If we lie about our faith, if we lie about God, we are desecrating Truth. I believe that because I believe God is the font of all Truth. We cannot revere Truth, we cannot love God, while bearing to anyone false witness about God, or about what we believe about God.

There are points of spiritual practice and theology on which I believe men of faith and good conscience can genuinely disagree. Much of what separates and differentiates Christian denominations from one another in large measure comes down to such points. These are theological realms where there is room for debate, where people of genuine faith can genuinely agree to disagree without compromising their faith.

Not all points of spiritual practice or theology can be approached with such equanimity. Where differences in spiritual practice or theology cross the red lines of faith, no agreement is possible, not even the “agreement” to disagree. When a person’s words or actions cross the red lines of faith, the only possible response is opposition. Then we are called to tell that person they are wrong. Then we are called to oppose whatever ideas they are spreading, to counter their lies with our Truth.

We have no second option in this. If we are sincere in our faith we have no alternative but faith. If we are sincere in our faith we have no alternative but to bear true witness to our faith, true witness about God.

If we declare Jesus is the Son of God, we are called to oppose all who say Jesus is anything other than the Son of God. We are called to meet every such false statement with a firm and unyielding “No.”

I declare Jesus is the Son of God. I believe He died on the Cross at Calvary and was raised from the dead three days later. I believe in the Crucifixion and the Resurrection.

Jesus was not a man. Jesus is the Son of God.

Period.

End of Sentence.

End of Discussion.

My prayer on every day is that all people will hear the Truth about Jesus, and the Truth about God. My prayer on every day is that all people will embrace Jesus as their Lord and their Savior. My prayer on every day is that all people will joyfully embrace the Redemption and Forgiveness Jesus won for us all on that Cross at Calvary.

To those who, despite my prayer, say that Jesus is any other than the Son of God, I say simply that you are wrong. I say that you hold a false idea, and have embraced a false teaching. I say that you are being led down a path that will not end well for you. I urge you to get off that path, and I pray you find a path that leads you back to God.

But let there be no misunderstanding about faith, about Christian faith, about my faith. Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus died on the Cross at Calvary, and was raised from the dead three days later. Through His Crucifixion and Resurrection, all who will but believe are redeemed from death, forgiven of all our sins.

This is where I stand. This is what I believe.