Genesis 12:
10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. 11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. 12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister,so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”
Where is Abraham praying to his sister?
Here's KJV on verse 13:
Gen 12:13,
Say, I pray thee, thou [art] my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.
I admit I've not done much research on the word pray in the scriptures. I, like all of us, have my own idea, but I can't honestly say I know exactly what God means when he uses that word.
I did a quick Strong's Concordance search and saw that the word pray is used many times of one man praying to another. It just seems to be a way of asking for something. But, like I said, I'd have to do more research before saying definitively what it means to pray. I guess it's funny to say I don't really know th depth of the word "pray" since we use it so often. It's better to admit we don't know something instead of coming up with erroneous ideas. It is important that we don't read into the scriptures our own preconceived ideas.
Correct! Jesus as God cannot be tempted. Jesus as God could not be tempted, but Jesus as man certainly could be.
By saying that the man Jesus is also God you say that God is also a man.
Num 23:19(a),
God [is] not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do [it]? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
1Sam 15:29,
And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he [is] not a man, that he should repent.
That is the nature of dual. Dual does not mean mutually exclusive.
If you are a plumber you are not an electrician. If you are an electrician you are not a plumber. But when you are both…
I've covered dual natures before. Born again believers have a dual nature (flesh and spirit), Jesus has a dual nature (flesh and spirit). God does not have a dual nature. He is spirit, period.
John 4:24,
God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth.
Deut 6:4,
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God [is] one LORD:
While Jesus and all born again believers have a dual nature, there is no hint of a duality in God.
Peter, addressing Jesus said "Lord, you know all things. You know I love you." (John 21:17) Since Jesus knows all things he can hardly grow in wisdom.
Yet the same person who knows all things did exactly that...he grew in wisdom (Luke 2:15) and didn't know the time of the end (Mark 13:32).
Not everything Peter said was true. If he was correct in his assertion, then God was wrong to say Jesus grew in wisdom.
If Peter was right then Jesus also got it wrong in Matthew:
Matt 24:36,
But of that day and hour knoweth no [man], no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
As you pointed out, Jesus said the same thing in Mark 13:32.
If language means anything at all, the same person can't know everything and yet grow in wisdom. It's one or the other. It can't be both. I think that belief in the trinity requires that a person accept many contradictory concepts.
As a Unitarian, you downplay any verse where "Jesus knows all things" and you play up any verse where he "grows in wisdom".
As a Christian Scientist, you downplay any verse where he grows in wisdom, and you play up any verse where he "knows all things".
I'm not a Christian Scientist nor am I downplaying anything. The scriptures can not contradict themselves. If they seem to do that, then it is either in our understanding or translation. Do you downplay the the fact that Jesus grew in wisdom, that only his Father knew the time of restoration? You have to make them all fit somehow.
No, man died! Remember God
took the form of man. You have to be able to
reconcile rather than ignore certain verses and not interject preconceived notions into them:
Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross.… Philippians 2:6-8
You can’t get much more direct than that.
It says Jesus was in the form of God. It doesn't say he
was God. Jesus did have the spirit of God upon him. That's what happened when he was baptized by John.
The words "did not consider equality with God something to be grasped" do not mean Jesus thought he was God. Quite the opposite really. He didn't think that equality with God was something he ought not to go for, to grasp. Adam made the mistake of grasping equality with God and that went nowhere. Jesus was a bit smarter than that. Jesus thought of himself as a servant, not as God.
Read the next few verses and you will see that because he did that and obeyed even to the death of the cross, God exulted him. God needs to be exalted? That doesn't make sense.
While a popular "proof" of the trinity, this section in Philippians does not prove the trinity in any way, shape, or form.
Now let's look at the verses I quoted you for any evidence of a dual nature again:
and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. (John 10:28)
The "I" in this verse is
Jesus, not the Father. It is Jesus that gives eternal life, yet he cannot save himself on the cross and dies! Remember those guards and scribes taunting Jesus earlier?
John 17:1-3,
1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
2 As thou (God) hast given him (Jesus) power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Jesus was given that authority by God. It was not something he possessed on his own.
Verse three clearly says that there is only one True God and that that God sent Jesus Christ. God didn't come down Himself. I would think this verse should get the attention of all who would make that one true God into three gods on one. Study the Greek and Roman mystery religions. You will find most had their own trinity.
There is no mention of a trinity until many, many years after the death of Jesus. That is simply because Christianity was unique, like Israel, in believing in one God and one God only. But, little by little the pagans from the mystery religions brought their perverted concept of three gods in one into the Christian doctrine. Little by little the leaders of the now perverted church accepted the beliefs of these pagans in order to increase membership. I suppose it greatly enhanced the balance of their coffers, but that is just my supposition. I do know the love of money is the root of all evil. The worship of a pagan trinity is certainly considered an evil to God, so I'm just putting 2 and 2 together.
For the life of me, I don't understand how anybody could accept the authority of an organization that brutally killed untold number of simple folks who simply disagreed with their devilish doctrine. I was once Roman Catholic, 12 years in Catholic school, 1 hour of religion, 5 days a week. I know the verbiage, but I have long since abandoned it for the truth of God's wonderful matchless word.