XPost: alt.religion.christian   
   From: usenet@christrose.news   
      
   You’re stacking verses together as if role and essence must always be   
   the same thing, but Scripture makes clear distinctions. Let’s walk   
   through the key points one by one, solely from the Bible.   
      
   1. *“God gave birth to Jesus” – not biblical.*   
      
   Scripture never says the Father “gave birth” to the Son. Instead, the   
   Son is *eternally begotten*. John 1:1–3 says, “In the beginning was the   
   Word … all things were made through him.” Nothing created could exist   
   “in the beginning with God.” He was already there, distinct yet fully   
   divine.   
      
   2. *John 14:28, “the Father is greater than I.”*   
      
   Jesus said this in the context of His incarnation. Philippians 2:6–7   
   explains: “Though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality   
   with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself.” His taking the   
   servant’s role does not deny His equality in essence—it demonstrates   
   humility.   
      
   3. *“Son of God” is not denial of deity.*   
      
   The Jews knew exactly what Jesus meant by this title. John 10:33–36   
   shows they accused Him of blasphemy *because He claimed equality with   
   God*. For them, “Son of God” was not a lesser category but equality with   
   God.   
      
   4. *John 17:21–22 – one in purpose only?*   
      
   You quoted this to argue “one” only means unity of purpose. But notice:   
   Jesus gives the disciples a derivative unity (“that they may be one”),   
   whereas His own unity with the Father is inherent and eternal. John   
   opens his Gospel with “the Word was God” (John 1:1), and ends with   
   Thomas’ confession, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).   
      
   5. *Colossians 2:9 – the fullness of deity dwells bodily.*   
      
   Paul doesn’t say “a portion of deity” or “a reflection of deity.” He   
   uses *pleroma*—the *whole fullness* of deity. That is not language of   
   inferiority.   
      
   6. *Exodus 33:20 and seeing God.*   
      
   You argued if Jesus is God, no one could see Him and live. But John 1:18   
   answers: “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten God, who is at the   
   Father’s side, he has made him known.” The Son makes the invisible God   
   visible. He is God revealed without contradiction.   
      
   7. *Hebrews 1:3–4, “having become.”*   
      
   Yes, verse 4 says He “became superior to angels,” but verse 3 already   
   declared He is “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint   
   of his nature.” The point is not that He lacked deity and then received   
   it, but that His exaltation after the cross publicly vindicated what He   
   always was.   
      
   8. *“The head of Christ is God” (1 Cor 11:3).*   
      
   This is role, not essence. Paul uses the husband–wife analogy. Man and   
   woman are equal in nature (“in Christ … no male and female,” Galatians   
   3:28) but distinct in role. If your interpretation were consistent, you   
   would also have to say women are inferior in essence to men—yet Paul   
   denies that.   
      
   9. *Your list of “nonsense contradictions.”*   
      
   They only appear contradictory because you collapse role into essence.   
   When Jesus prays to the Father, He is not “praying to Himself”—He is   
   speaking within the eternal relationship of Father and Son. Distinction   
   of persons within the Godhead explains every one of your examples.   
      
   10. *The Son’s God.*   
      
   You point to passages like John 20:17 (“I ascend to my Father and your   
   Father, to my God and your God”). In His incarnate role, Christ truly   
   worships and obeys the Father. That’s the wonder of the incarnation: the   
   eternal Son took on humanity without ceasing to be God.   
      
   So 1 Corinthians 11:3 and John 14:28 do not contradict Colossians 2:9 or   
   John 1:1. Instead, they show us the order within the Godhead, while   
   still affirming equality in nature. The Father is the head, the Son is   
   the exact imprint, and the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the   
   Son—all three, coeternal and coequal, one God.   
      
   (Philippians 2:6–7, ESV; John 1:1, 18; Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 1:3; John   
   20:28).   
      
   --   
   Have you heard the good news Christ died for our sins (†), and God   
   raised Him from the dead?   
      
   That Christ died for our sins shows we're sinners who deserve the death   
   penalty. That God raised Him from the dead shows Christ's death   
   satisfied God's righteous demands against our sin (Romans 3:25; 1 John   
   2:1-2). This means God can now remain just, while forgiving you of your   
   sins, and saving you from eternal damnation.   
      
   On the basis of Christ's death and resurrection for our sins, call on   
   the name of the Lord to save you: "For 'everyone who calls on the name   
   of the Lord will be saved'" (Romans 10:13, ESV).   
      
   https://christrose.news/salvation   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)