"I have never understood why it is important to believe that Jesus is God or not."
The response from most f&w is along that same line...a resounding "what difference does it make?". My response is that it makes ALL the difference. The most basic things I try to help people understand is that -
1. We should feel the issue of KNOWING God to be of critical importance. We must know who He is.
2. We must understand that a denial of Christ's deity is a heresy. Why? The easiest way to understand that is turn the question around and ask "why is it important to believe he was just a man?". The answer is simple....the workers espouse a doctrine of salvation by works. They don't recognize that, and deny it vehemently, but the heart of that belief is that Jesus was just a man, and his perfect life is a result of his total willingness, implying that our salvation is the result of our willingness to live the same life of sacrifice. Of course, he was completely willing, but his perfect life was a result of his divine nature. Of course, we want want to live lives controlled by the Spirit to glorify God, but that's not to be confused with salvation, which we know is a gift of grace.
3. The crux of much confusion is a misunderstanding of the Trinity. Many knee-jerk responses to the issue of Jesus being God go along the lines of...well, who did Jesus pray to? Who raised him up? Why does it say he obeyed the Father? This seems to be the nearly universal response of f&w, including myself in the past. Indeed, the notion that heaven was empty when Jesus was on earth is heresy. The Trinity is clearly that God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are individual, seperate "people" with one essence that is "God". The easiest place to check all this out....the concordance of a Bible.
4. One last very simple and clear proof that Jesus was God.....he was omniscient and omnipresent.....how could that be possible were he not God? Oh....another is Heb 1.8-10. Here the Father calls the Son God and commands the angels to worhip him....this was after he was begotten on earth.
Granted, it seems very confusing compared to what we've been taught, but once you "get it", you see it everywhere and the Bible will open up like never before.
