Free will is an illusion

[Dave Schwartz]

Originally Posted by boxcar

How do I turn the scriptures into a "barrage of drivel"? And why don't you show me -- why don't you teach me how to not do that? Show me how you use scripture.

Okay, this is me showing you.

I don't use scripture to TALK to people. I use words.

The goal is to convey that which would please God & be aligned with his teachings. All concepts taught must be supported by scripture.

The idea that one can simply quote scripture and people will just figure it out usually fails miserably. This is clearly evidenced by the results & responses that you get here when you pound people with scripture.

Think of it like this... If someone asks a sincere question, your answers are just one step ahead of "Here's the bible. Read it for yourself."

While you at least point them to the scripture location you feel they should read, your tone is one of fire-and-brimstone.

Effectively, you have made the entire God/Man (or woman) relationship appear to be about NOT SINNING. Nothing could be further from the truth.


But, most of all, I attempt to honor the character of God at all times.

More than anything, this is what you should do in order to move God's cause forward.

That's why I keep asking, "Where is the love?"


PS: Your idea that God expects perfection is just insane.

[Elkchester Road]

Originally Posted by Light

And you? You are right but I am wrong? You are doing to me what you think I am doing to you.

Believe what you want, but I am entitled to my opinion just as you are.

Ummm...no. I have never once debated you about anything...especially anything Religious. The reason I saw it is because it is in this thread instead of the Religion thread.

You call it your "opinion". I call it "you being full of shit". You frame every one of your "opinions" as if there is no conceivable way anybody could see something differently. That is your absolute right. Don't be mad because somebody else exercises their same right.

[boxcar]

Originally Posted by Dave Schwartz

Okay, this is me showing you.

I don't use scripture to TALK to people. I use words.

You mean words like the prophets, apostles and Jesus used to "TALK" to people.

The goal is to convey that which would please God & be aligned with his teachings. All concepts taught must be supported by scripture.

Huh? That's what I always do, yet you're not a happy camper! When discussing spiritual truth I constantly support my posts with scripture.

The idea that one can simply quote scripture and people will just figure it out usually fails miserably. This is clearly evidenced by the results & responses that you get here when you pound people with scripture.

Again, it's not my job to worry about "results and responses". My job is to be faithful and true to God's Word -- and let the chips fall where they may!. I only water or plant. I'm not the one who gives the increase! The increase is God's sovereign prerogative! Salvation is a supernatural act of God that requires that the Word and the Holy Spirit interact or intersect in a way within a soul that will compel the person to respond positively to what he or she is hearing or reading. The Dead must be raised to Life before they are [made] willing to respond positively. As Jesus once said, only his sheep [can] hear his voice (Jn 10:27). The goats cannot hear the Shepherd's voice.

Think of it like this... If someone asks a sincere question, your answers are just one step ahead of "Here's the bible. Read it for yourself."

Not a bad idea. I would heartily encourage everyone here to lay their hands on a bible and with humility and prayerfulness read it. God will eagerly listen to the petitions of those who approach him with a broken spirit and contrite heart (Ps 51:17).

While you at least point them to the scripture location you feel they should read, your tone is one of fire-and-brimstone.

Oh...I see. I should take a more "woke" approach? "Ladies and Gents, I feel Spirit-led today to reach out to you and enter into your pain and sorrow. I desire earnestly to share in your suffering and partake of your misery so that we can walk together in our pilgrimage to the City of God..." Let me take this approach under consideration, okay?

Effectively, you have made the entire God/Man (or woman) relationship appear to be about NOT SINNING. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Then enlighten me, please, and reveal to me what you think the warp 'n' woof of biblical Christianity is, if not joyful, loving, willing obedience to the King of kings and Lord of lords?

Also, please remind us why God decreed a three-fold curse upon our first parents and all their posterity, and why did He eject them from the Garden and forbid them access to the Tree of Life? Why is all creation under that curse, and groaning and longing to be free from it!? Did I miss something in Genesis 3?

And did I miss something really important about the Cross? Here all these years, I've been thinking that it was man's SINS (i.e. acts of disobedience) that sent Jesus to the Cross? Here I've been thinking all these years that Jesus bore the sins of his people in his body. Show me, please, how I've been wrong all these years.

But, most of all, I attempt to honor the character of God at all times.

Tell me, please, exactly how you go about doing that. What is your personal formula for honoring God?

More than anything, this is what you should do in order to move God's cause forward.

That's why I keep asking, "Where is the love?"[

And this is why I again ask you, what is the greatest commandment?

And secondly, what is the ultimate expression of that greatest commandment? Is it not by taking Jesus' words in Jn 14:15 to heart?

PS: Your idea that God expects perfection is just insane.

Really? Have you never read:

Matt 5:48
48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.?
NIV

And for your info, Jesus was alluding to any number of these OT passages when he spoke those words: Gen 17:1; Lev 11:44; Lev 19:2; 20:26; Deut 18:13, etc. And in the other places in the NT: 2Cor 7:1; 13:11; 1Pet 1:15-16. In other words, Jesus wasn't making something new up!

"Insane", huh?

I have a couple of other passages I want to share that will blow your socks off and probably cause Light's head to implode. But I have to run. See ya later, 'gator.

[Dave Schwartz]

Boxcar,

Further discussion between us - either public or private - will not likely change your viewpoint on anything.

As respectfully as I can say this, if you are ever interested in change rather than debate, reach out privately.


Dave

[boxcar]

Originally Posted by Dave Schwartz

Boxcar,

Further discussion between us - either public or private - will not likely change your viewpoint on anything.

And in our case, that's a good thing. It's never wrong to be stuck on Truth.

[quote[As respectfully as I can say this, if you are ever interested in change rather than debate, reach out privately.[/quote]

Any "change" would be a negative; for it would move me away from the Truth.

[Light]

Originally Posted by boxcar

Well, you did take the bait.

No I didn't. I called you on it because I was aware of what you were trying to do.

Originally Posted by boxcar

And yes, you do believe that about the scriptures. You have always held the scriptures in very low esteem. You don't recall all the disparaging things you have said about the bible in the past? Didn't you basically tell us that scriptures were written by evil men with religious agendas? That the scriptures can't be trusted? That the scriptures are loaded with errors?

That's not what you accused me of. You accused me of believing Jesus is a nincompoop. The only nincompoop is you. You can't even remember what you said.

Originally Posted by boxcar

And you have proved this time and time again because you believe virtually nothing that's in the bible. How many times have I asked you, "Why can't you ever believe your 'best friend'?"

Oh now he is my best friend? So which is it. Do I believe he is my best friend or a nincompoop?

Originally Posted by boxcar

You even insulted him once by saying that He was ignorant of the better ways of Eastern mysticism, and meditation and all that bunk -- and that's why he didn't teach that stuff in scripture. All that Far Eastern stuff was far too advanced for Jesus.

Nice spin. Were you born from the seeds of darkness? I didn't say Jesus was ignorant or things were too advanced for him. You placed those word in my mouth. You are the ignorant one and frankly not too advanced.

I said, Jesus's mission did not encompass teaching people about Eastern religions nor meditation.

It is you who puts down Eastern religions and meditation just because Jesus didn't mention them. Guess what, Jesus never mentioned cars or cell phones either. In that case you should stop driving your car and using your cell phone. Jesus never mentioned them. What idiocy.

Originally Posted by boxcar

You will criticize a Christian for using the bible to support his views or arguments, and insult him the way Dave insulted me, etc.

You don't follow the Bible nor scripture, period. You twist it to your hateful ways

The entire Bible pivots on one verse that you don't believe in and was changed by Evangelicals extremists in the 1970's to suit superficial people like you who haven't a clue to who they are but perform robotic repetition of scripture to fool themselves into believing they are holier than thou, have punched their ticket to Heaven, while condemning everyone to Hell and blaming it on the Bible to cover their hate.

That is not God's way. As Dave mentioned, God uses love,not hate. And as John 1 says He who does not know love does not know God for God is Love.

[boxcar]

Originally Posted by Light

No I didn't. I called you on it because I was aware of what you were trying to do.



That's not what you accused me of. You accused me of believing Jesus is a nincompoop. The only nincompoop is you. You can't even remember what you said.



Oh now he is my best friend? So which is it. Do I believe he is my best friend or a nincompoop?



Nice spin. Were you born from the seeds of darkness? I didn't say Jesus was ignorant or things were too advanced for him. You placed those word in my mouth. You are the ignorant one and frankly not too advanced.

I said, Jesus's mission did not encompass teaching people about Eastern religions nor meditation.

It is you who puts down Eastern religions and meditation just because Jesus didn't mention them. Guess what, Jesus never mentioned cars or cell phones either. In that case you should stop driving your car and using your cell phone. Jesus never mentioned them. What idiocy.



You don't follow the Bible nor scripture, period. You twist it to your hateful ways

The entire Bible pivots on one verse that you don't believe in and was changed by Evangelicals extremists in the 1970's to suit superficial people like you who haven't a clue to who they are but perform robotic repetition of scripture to fool themselves into believing they are holier than thou, have punched their ticket to Heaven, while condemning everyone to Hell and blaming it on the Bible to cover their hate.

That is not God's way. As Dave mentioned, God uses love,not hate. And as John 1 says He who does not know love does not know God for God is Love.

Of course, you believed Jesus was an ignorant nincompoop. You said he did have knowledge of those Eastern religions. So, by denying that, you denied his divinity. And you denied that he's the very Wisdom of God.

And yeah, you can believe that and also believe Jesus is your "best friend" all at once and simultaneously. After all, no one here ever accused of being a rational human being whoever had a coherent thought in his life. Cognitive Dissonance is the world in which you live. Look how you tried (in vain, I might add) to distort the simple teaching of Jn 16:27 and try to make it say something totally alien to what Jesus really said. Or how you constantly call Jesus your "best friend", yet don't believe 99.99% of what he says. But hey...that's okay. What's good for the goose is good for the gander, as well. Jesus doesn't believe you either because he's greater than any man's heart. He knows there is no light in a hypocrite like you.

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by boxcar

Of course, you believed Jesus was an ignorant nincompoop. You said he did have knowledge of those Eastern religions. So, by denying that, you denied his divinity. And you denied that he's the very Wisdom of God.

And yeah, you can believe that and also believe Jesus is your "best friend" all at once and simultaneously. After all, no one here ever accused of being a rational human being whoever had a coherent thought in his life. Cognitive Dissonance is the world in which you live. Look how you tried (in vain, I might add) to distort the simple teaching of Jn 16:27 and try to make it say something totally alien to what Jesus really said. Or how you constantly call Jesus your "best friend", yet don't believe 99.99% of what he says. But hey...that's okay. What's good for the goose is good for the gander, as well. Jesus doesn't believe you either because he's greater than any man's heart. He knows there is no light in a hypocrite like you.

You told me here once that you are trying to live a Christ-like existence. But Christ prayed for those who persecuted and crucified him...while you have nothing but contempt for those who dare to even disagree with you on a message board. Where do you see any similarity at all between Jesus and you?

[TJDave]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

You told me here once that you are trying to live a Christ-like existence. But Christ prayed for those who persecuted and crucified him...while you have nothing but contempt for those who dare to even disagree with you on a message board. Where do you see any similarity at all between Jesus and you?

If Christendom had more advocates like boxcar it would have gone the route of Odin centuries ago.

[boxcar]

I have learned over the years of visiting many churches that if I wanted to cut to the chase and get a quick theological read on a church, I could most often accomplish that by asking at least one of two questions to the senior pastor or an elder. My number one question is this:

Are all the people of this world God's children?

My second favorite question is closely related:

Does God love all the people in this world unconditionally?

The kind of answer(s) I would receive would more often than not accurately reveal a church's doctrinal stance on soteriology in short order; and therefore, how they preached the gospel.

If a pastor or elder answered in the affirmative to both questions, I knew that church wasn't a place where I would want to be. For it was highly likely that they, like Light for example, would be off-the-rails theologically. A total train wreck.

For starters, there is not one shred of biblical evidence that would support an affirmative answer to either of the above questions. Not one shred! In fact, the opposite is true! There is plenty of biblical support that would strongly support a negative answer to either question!

It might also surprise (or even shock) some, even the professing Christians on this forum, that there is not one recorded instance in scripture of any prophet, apostle or Christ himself calling sinners in either the Old or New Testaments to repentance and faith by telling them that God loves them. Not one! Yet, if one were to go to You Tube, for example, and search for "evangelical" gospel preaching, you would not be in any want of sermons wherein the preachers call sinners to faith and repentance by claiming precisely that very thing -- that God loves them! Since this is a cold, hard fact, it should be implicitly understood that when a preacher says such a thing, he means that God loves all sinners unconditionally. He loves everyone just as they are! But this is a lie from the pit of hell. It's a lie from the Father of Lies.

Yesterday, I wrote a post pertaining to Jn 16:27 -- the text that Light tried to twist and distort beyond all recognition. In that passage we learned of two reasons why Jesus' Father loved his disciples. Tonight, we'll briefly look at another very similar passage that also contains the words of Jesus and qualifies God's love:

John 14:21
21Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him."
ESV

In this passage both the love of the Father and the Son toward the disciples is contingent on the love the disciples have for their Messiah. Jesus could not have possibly stated this any clearer.

But now to the passage that will probably shock the socks off very many people -- even unbelievers. For not only is God's love conditioned upon his covenant people's love for Him, love for his Son and the keeping of the commandments, but the Father's love is also conditioned upon His Son's obedience! Well...since this is the case, why is it not eminently reasonable to believe that since all born again believers are Jesus' brothers that the Father's love for them would not also be conditioned on their love and obedience to Him, as well? So, here is the passage:

John 10:17
17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.
ESV

For this reason....because. Again, Jesus in this passage is explaining to the disciples why the Father loves him. In other words, what Jesus is saying is that because he is obedient to his Father's will, the Father loves him! I would encourage people to read Ps 40:7-8, which is a Messianic psalm as well as Jesus prayer to his Father in the Garden of Gethsemane, specifically Mk 14:36. (Both of these passages will shed more light on the text above.) Jesus came into this world to do his Father's will, including living a life of perfect obedience -- even all the way to the obedience unto death (Heb 5:8).

So, while many of us have heard it said that "God loves the sinner and hates the sin, this is not a biblical truth.. God cannot separate the two because sin resides in all human hearts. This is where sin lives. This is the home of sin. This is the place where sin is incubated and hatched and planned. Scripture teaches that all evil thoughts and desires originate in the hearts of sinners. Sin is not something that is just hanging in mid-air somewhere out there in the ether. Sin has a birth place!. And the human heart is that place. This is why there are numerous scriptures that also teach that God actually hates sinners! But this post is already too long, so this is something we can look at in more depth, perhaps, at another time.

Anyhow...sit back now and watch Light spin this post.

[boxcar]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

You told me here once that you are trying to live a Christ-like existence. But Christ prayed for those who persecuted and crucified him...while you have nothing but contempt for those who dare to even disagree with you on a message board. Where do you see any similarity at all between Jesus and you?

Well, at least I have never pronounced Jesus' Seven Woes upon anyone. So...there is that.

And I have never gone into any church, even once, with scourge or whips to drive out the defilers of God's Word, unlike Jesus who went into the temple twice to do that very thing. It appears I'm meek and mild by comparison.

And sharing God's truth does not equate to contempt. Light is a full-blown, self-righteous, dishonest hypocrite with zero interest in biblical truth, so I treat him accordingly. I would have a lot more respect for him if he just 'fessed straight out that Jesus is just another spiritual guru to him, and not anyone to get really excited about. I would respect that kind of honesty.

Do you have any really good friend that you never trust? That you never believe? Just askin'...

And what makes you think that I don't pray for people on this board?

[Light]

Originally Posted by boxcar

Of course, you believed Jesus was an ignorant nincompoop. You said he did have knowledge of those Eastern religions.

Jesus the God knows about Eastern religions and all.

But Jesus the man did not. Did Jesus the man read the Vedas or Upanishads, or the Diamond Sutra? Did he read the I Ching or the Tibetan book of the dead? These texts were not in his language and not translated till well after Jesus the man passed.

Jesus read Hebrew religious texts like the Torah in accordance with his heritage. I could ask you,why should Jesus have to read Hebrew religious texts since he is God's son? Is he a nincompoop here too? Doesn't he know everything already?

In your uneducated mind, you do you not realize that Jesus tempered his Divinity to be a man as much as a son of God could be while he was on Earth. An Omnipotent and omniscient man is not really a man.

In the Epistle to the Philippians (2.6), Paul makes this clear.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus
Who, being in very nature[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!


No need to accuse anyone of being a nincompoop until you understand what is being said. Only nincompoops do that.

[fast4522]

Originally Posted by boxcar

And in our case, that's a good thing. It's never wrong to be stuck on Truth.

[quote[As respectfully as I can say this, if you are ever interested in change rather than debate, reach out privately.

Any "change" would be a negative; for it would move me away from the Truth.[/QUOTE]

If you make yourself the lightning rod in the same type subject, what are you advancing? Just saying.

[dnlgfnk]

Originally Posted by boxcar

I have learned over the years of visiting many churches that if I wanted to cut to the chase and get a quick theological read on a church, I could most often accomplish that by asking at least one of two questions to the senior pastor or an elder. My number one question is this:

Are all the people of this world God's children?

My second favorite question is closely related:

Does God love all the people in this world unconditionally?

The kind of answer(s) I would receive would more often than not accurately reveal a church's doctrinal stance on soteriology in short order; and therefore, how they preached the gospel.

If a pastor or elder answered in the affirmative to both questions, I knew that church wasn't a place where I would want to be. For it was highly likely that they, like Light for example, would be off-the-rails theologically. A total train wreck.

For starters, there is not one shred of biblical evidence that would support an affirmative answer to either of the above questions. Not one shred! In fact, the opposite is true! There is plenty of biblical support that would strongly support a negative answer to either question!

It might also surprise (or even shock) some, even the professing Christians on this forum, that there is not one recorded instance in scripture of any prophet, apostle or Christ himself calling sinners in either the Old or New Testaments to repentance and faith by telling them that God loves them. Not one! Yet, if one were to go to You Tube, for example, and search for "evangelical" gospel preaching, you would not be in any want of sermons wherein the preachers call sinners to faith and repentance by claiming precisely that very thing -- that God loves them! Since this is a cold, hard fact, it should be implicitly understood that when a preacher says such a thing, he means that God loves all sinners unconditionally. He loves everyone just as they are! But this is a lie from the pit of hell. It's a lie from the Father of Lies.

Yesterday, I wrote a post pertaining to Jn 16:27 -- the text that Light tried to twist and distort beyond all recognition. In that passage we learned of two reasons why Jesus' Father loved his disciples. Tonight, we'll briefly look at another very similar passage that also contains the words of Jesus and qualifies God's love:

John 14:21
21Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him."
ESV

In this passage both the love of the Father and the Son toward the disciples is contingent on the love the disciples have for their Messiah. Jesus could not have possibly stated this any clearer.

But now to the passage that will probably shock the socks off very many people -- even unbelievers. For not only is God's love conditioned upon his covenant people's love for Him, love for his Son and the keeping of the commandments, but the Father's love is also conditioned upon His Son's obedience! Well...since this is the case, why is it not eminently reasonable to believe that since all born again believers are Jesus' brothers that the Father's love for them would not also be conditioned on their love and obedience to Him, as well? So, here is the passage:

John 10:17
17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.
ESV

For this reason....because. Again, Jesus in this passage is explaining to the disciples why the Father loves him. In other words, what Jesus is saying is that because he is obedient to his Father's will, the Father loves him! I would encourage people to read Ps 40:7-8, which is a Messianic psalm as well as Jesus prayer to his Father in the Garden of Gethsemane, specifically Mk 14:36. (Both of these passages will shed more light on the text above.) Jesus came into this world to do his Father's will, including living a life of perfect obedience -- even all the way to the obedience unto death (Heb 5:8).

So, while many of us have heard it said that "God loves the sinner and hates the sin, this is not a biblical truth.. God cannot separate the two because sin resides in all human hearts. This is where sin lives. This is the home of sin. This is the place where sin is incubated and hatched and planned. Scripture teaches that all evil thoughts and desires originate in the hearts of sinners. Sin is not something that is just hanging in mid-air somewhere out there in the ether. Sin has a birth place!. And the human heart is that place. This is why there are numerous scriptures that also teach that God actually hates sinners! But this post is already too long, so this is something we can look at in more depth, perhaps, at another time.

Anyhow...sit back now and watch Light spin this post.

"Are all the people of this world God's children?...For starters, there is not one shred of biblical evidence that would support an affirmative answer to either of the above questions. Not one shred!"

You're going to have to condition your foundational questions more carefully when you visit those churches. I understand you to mean man in a state of grace, but...Luke's genealogy traces Jesus to Adam, the "son of God" and by extension his sinful ancestors. That's the point of the genealogy (Lk 3:38) https://biblia.com/books/nasb95/Lk3.38
In Acts 17:28-29, Paul cites the Stoics Aratus and Cleanthes to the Athenians,, i.e., "For we are indeed his offspring". Acknowledging Paul's Christianizing of the Stoics' verse, he yet continues his inclusive dialogue to the Athenians as being in fraternal relationship to them, in order to reach them; "Being then God's offspring, 'we' ought not..." https://biblia.com/books/nasb95/Ac17.28

"Does God love all the people in this world unconditionally?...Not one shred"!

One aspect of divine love is willing the Good of the individual. Existence of the individual himself is an extension of Divine Goodness (Gen 1:31)... https://biblia.com/books/nasb95/Ge1.31 ...If God did not love what he created and even now maintain its existence, it would be obliterated. This is also why "Total Depravity" is a mistaken concept. For it to be true, man's nature would have to morph into another nature, as a totally corrupt nature wouldn't be "man".

"There is not one recorded instance in scripture of any prophet, apostle or Christ himself calling sinners in either the Old or New Testaments to repentance and faith by telling them that God loves them. Not one"!

Huh? That's the point of the entire gospel where the narrative is didactic (Rom 5:8...https://biblia.com/books/nasb95/Ro5.8 ... joined to Jn 3:16...https://biblia.com/books/nasb95/Jn3.16)

"The Father's love is also conditioned upon His Son's obedience"!

This is dreadful. In one act of eternal, omnipresent existence, God contemplates the idea of himself. Since the entirety of his divinity pours out into that thought, the thought is God, The Word (Jn 1:1...https://biblia.com/books/nasb95/Jn1.1)[since we think in words], the Son. The Father loves the Word/Son, pouring out the entirety of his divinity into that love, so that the Love is God (Holy Spirit).
The Father loves the Son because with the Holy Spirit, God is Love (1 Jn 4:8 https://biblia.com/books/nasb95/1Jn4.8).
In that same John ch. 10, "I and the Father are One" (v.30...https://biblia.com/books/nasb95/Jn10.30). The Son shares the same nature as the Father, i.e., divine nature. In his Incarnate human nature (Jn 1:14...https://biblia.com/books/nasb95/Jn1.14 ) Christ embraced obedience to the will of the Father, which was by nature his own divine will- the embracing of the Cross as an act of divine love that man be restored to his original vocation of an adopted son through grace , co-heir with Christ (Rom 8:17...https://biblia.com/books/nasb95/Ro8.17).

In no way does this advocate for universalism (versus the contingent aspect of God's will (Mt 7:21..https://biblia.com/books/nasb95/Mt7.21), but neither does it reject the antecedent aspect of God's will (1 Tim 2:4... https://biblia.com/books/nasb95/1Ti2.4).

[boxcar]

Originally Posted by Light

Jesus the God knows about Eastern religions and all.

But Jesus the man did not. Did Jesus the man read the Vedas or Upanishads, or the Diamond Sutra? Did he read the I Ching or the Tibetan book of the dead? These texts were not in his language and not translated till well after Jesus the man passed.

Jesus read Hebrew religious texts like the Torah in accordance with his heritage. I could ask you,why should Jesus have to read Hebrew religious texts since he is God's son? Is he a nincompoop here too? Doesn't he know everything already?

In your uneducated mind, you do you not realize that Jesus tempered his Divinity to be a man as much as a son of God could be while he was on Earth. An Omnipotent and omniscient man is not really a man.

In the Epistle to the Philippians (2.6), Paul makes this clear.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus
Who, being in very nature[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!


No need to accuse anyone of being a nincompoop until you understand what is being said. Only nincompoops do that.

In your ignorance of the scriptures, you don't understand that God the Father never "tempered" his attributes. And that God the Father always taught God the Son what to teach. Jesus only spoke and taught what he received from his Father. Therefore, if there was any true, saving spiritual value to the Eastern religions, such as meditation, prayer beads, chanting, prayer closets, whatever...God the Father would have had God the Son teach on this and include it in his gospel message.

P.S. Did I tell you that Jesus never taught anything on his own? I just want to make sure you got the memo. I'm double-checking because I have explained this previously to you, and evidently your mind couldn't process this simple truth.

P.P.S. By the way, if you want the proof text for what I just said, ask Dave. He'll provide the passage in a better manner than I ever could.