What's wrong with believing in God without believing that Jesus Christ is one and equal with God?

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Jesus made it clear that anyone who rejects Him, rejects God the Father:

Luke 9:48 …and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me

Luke 10:16 "The one who listens to you listens to Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me; and he who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me."

John 5:22,23 For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, 23 so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

John 15:23 "He who hates Me hates My Father also.

Jesus also said that the only way to have access to the Father is through Him:

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

The above verses do not allow the option of believing that Jesus was a good person, but not one and equal with God. If the above statements are false claims, then Jesus was either...

a. a liar who spoke false claims about His deity, authority, and relationship with God the Father or,

b. an insane person who made false statements that He thought were true.

Jesus' claims must be accepted or rejected; there is no other option. The statements are worded clearly enough to disallow the option of a middle ground or selective acceptance. Anyone who believes in God is therefore faced with two options:

a. Believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, one and equal with God in power and authority, and the sole means through which human beings can be accepted by God and have access to God the Father, or

b. Believe that Jesus Christ was either a liar or a lunatic.

Other books in the New Testament support Jesus' claims to be the only way to a right standing with God:

Acts 4:12 "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved."

1 Tim 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

1 John 2:23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.

1 John 5:11,12 And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.

In the book of John in the Bible, John emphasizes two points: 1. Jesus came to give us life, and 2. Jesus is one and equal with God. The second point validates the first, because only God can create life. Thus it is critical to believe that Jesus Christ is one and equal with God. Jesus said:

John 6:35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.

John 6:47 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.

John 6:53 So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.

 

Related topics:

Who is Jesus?

Why did Jesus come to earth?

How good does one have to be to go to heaven?

What is the Gospel?

What is salvation?

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