Are We Gods or Not?
It seems to me that the Bible point blank teaches that men are Gods or becoming Gods.
First let me quote Jesus himself:
34 “Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, YE ARE GODS?
35 “If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
36 “Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?” John 10:34-36)
Jesus here was quoting from Psalms where God who “judgeth among the Gods” judged the men Gods to be falling short of their destiny. Let me quote:
“God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.” (Psalms 82:1)
“I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.” Psalms 82:6
“But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.” (Psalms 82:7)
It should be no surprise that men are Gods for God said it in the beginning:
“And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as ONE OF US, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:” Genesis 3:22
If the Bible is true then we are truly becoming as “One of” them.
I have never had anyone give me a biblical reason or even a logical reason why the above is not true.
I was asked what kind of gods are we becoming? There is only one kind. The God God. Jesus explained the process. Let me quote:
21 “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, [art] in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
22 “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
23 “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” John 17:21-23
One of the reasons Jesus was called a God was because he declared that he and God were one. But herein John he clearly tells us that he is not the only one to become one with God. The followers of Christ are to be “one in us…even as we are one.”
If you are one with God then you are God. If you are not one with God then you are not God. How can you argue out of that?
If God is everywhere then that which is you and occupies space is God.
A reader says I quoted out of context. Then why does he not quote enough text so he will be satisfied?
I quoted enough to make my point. What do you want me to do?
We do not know if the original authors of the scriptures used a small or large “G” when they were talking about the various descriptions of God. Actually, it does not matter. God is God whether it is capitalized or not. If the Great Creator calls men Gods then they must be Gods.
Perhaps god with a small “g” is the Presence in mortal flesh and God with a capital is a being living in a state of immortality.
The Gods in Psalms 82:6 are not false gods as a reader says because they are named so by the mouth of Jehovah and Jesus says “the scripture cannot be broken.” You would have to call them liars to call men of Psalms false Gods.
John 10:35 says: “If he (God) called them gods, unto whom the word of God came….”
Here Jesus clearly states that men are called gods and uses it as evidence that he can be called the Son of God.
The reader did not explain why God said in Genesis that man is to “become as one of us.”
I agree with him that scripture explains scripture, but I seem to be the one using this idea.
A reader quotes Jesus as saying:
“Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?”
“If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;”
Then he says:
“The correct answer to Jesus Christ’s question, ‘Is it not written in your law,’ is ‘No, it’s not in Torah.’ It’s written in Isaiah (Nevi’im), and Psalms (Ketuvim). It’s a condemnation of the rulers of Israel, warning them that they’ve judged with favoritism, and unjustly. It’s a stern warning to repent, and return to the righteousness of God.”
The basic argument here is that since Psalms is not in the Tora (the Law) then a quote from Psalms is not a quote from the law. Therefore, Jesus must have been using a play on words.
Jesus himself disagrees with you my friend. He calls the Psalms the law in another verse in John 15:26:
“But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their LAW, They hated me without a cause.”
Here Jesus directly quotes from Psalms 35:19 and repeated in 69:4.
This is not all. The scriptures call the Psalms the law in John 12:34: “We have heard out of the LAW that Christ abideth for ever….”
This scripture is a direct reference to Psalms 89, Verses 4, 29, & 36-37 where we have this truth affirmed several times.
Perhaps you, current Jews, and even scholars do not call the Psalms the law, but the scriptures refer to it as such three times.
This pretty much destroys your whole argument.
In addition to this, a careful reading of John 10:34-35 reveals that Jesus was indeed quoting from the Psalms. First it is an exact quote. Second, he stated that those who received the Word of God were called Gods “and the scripture cannot be broken.”
Why try and break the scripture and insist that Jesus did not mean what he said?
The statement “I said, Ye are gods,” is definitely from the Psalms and not found by that wording in the Tora. Even so, men are directly called gods there. Moses was called a god twice. See Exodus 4:16 & Exodus 7:1.
Those who judged Israel were also called gods. I’ll quote from a previous posting here:
Not only was Moses called a god, but the men appointed to judge the people were called gods also. Translators have tried to cover this up by mistranslating the word ELOHIYM: “Then his master shall bring him unto the judges….” (Exo 21:6) The word “judges” comes from ELOHIYM which should be rendered “gods.”
This mistranslation, as any good concordance will reveal, occurs three times in the next chapter: “If the thief be not found, then the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges (ELOHIYM — gods), to see whether he have put his hand unto his neighbor’s goods. For all manner of trespass, whether it be of ox for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing, which another challengeth to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges (gods); and the judges (gods) shall condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbor.” (Exodus 22:8-9)
ELOHIYM is translated correctly in the King James version in Verse 28: “Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of the people.”
The translation of the word “Elohiym” into the word “judges” or other wordings is a purely human conjecture. Only by rendering the translation as god or gods does it make sense.
The question should not be: “How can we prove that men were not called gods?” The question should be: “Since men are called gods throughout the scripture then what does it mean?”
I am one of the few that can answer this question honestly because I belong to no religion and can read the scriptures with no agenda.
“Be wary of the man who urges an action in which he himself incurs no risk.” — Joaquin Setanti
June 1, 2009
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