Comments on: Whatever happened to Jesus?

By: Eduard A. Erdtsieck

Eduard A. Erdtsieck — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:31:28 +0000

In the New Testament, When the Herodians or the temple priests argued with Jesus of Nazareth, in order to make Him proof, that He is the Son of God or the Messiah. Jesus always referred to Himself as the Son of Man. He was always careful not to threaten them with His special status. For them it was blaspheme to claim to be a son of God.

Jesus had not yet been glorified by Father in heaven and He had not yet been accused before the High Priest Caiaphas or Pontiue Pilate and the Roman tribunal.

Personally, when I speak of Jesus, I like to place His name in context. Jesus or Jesus of Nazareth or the Messiah before His crucifixion. After his glorification and atonement I refer to Him as Son of God or the Only Begotten in the flesh.

In my prayers I always refer to Him as Jesus Christ. I believe the title “Christ” has been over used and has lost intensity. Furthermore with 5 billion of the 6 billion people on earth, today, of a non-christian denominational persuation; the title “Christ” carries a sense of pride.

I think it would do well, if we followed Jesus example by not emphasizing our favorite status in His Plan for our salvation. Just as He did with His opposition.

By: Alex J.

Alex J. — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 15:01:06 +0000

To Gordon:

Actually, within the doctrines of the Church, the title of Jesus as our Elder Brother holds great importance. The way by which we develop a close, personal relationship with God the Father is by realizing that He is our literal Father, and that we were born of Him.

Logic can only dictate that the means by which we develop a personal relationship with Christ should come by acknowledging that He is not only the Creator of worlds and galaxies, but we are of direct relation to Him as sons and daughters of God.

That is not to say that we should downplay in any way the reverence and respect we should show to both Jesus Christ and the Father, but the moment we forget our heritage is the moment the Church is no longer true. Just something to think about.

By: queuno

queuno — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 01:11:04 +0000

The Maxwell stat makes me wonder if, as we get closer to our Savior, we begin to feel comfortable calling him by name…

By: Doug Z

Doug Z — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 15:41:36 +0000

A quick correction for Quincy (25). The J is not at all foreign to German. The word “ja”, which means yes is quite common in German as are many other uses of the letter/sound.
On a vaguely related note and in reference to David H (8), the pronouns thee and thine are not intended to show respect or distance us from Deity, quite the contrary. But I agree it does feel like it. In the original English the pronoun “thou” was the familiar, like “you” is used now. A commoner did not address a king as “thou”, he used “you”. Only family members and close friends said thou. We have regressed from that to today’s English. In German, when praying, the familiar pronoun “du” is used instead of the formal and respectful “Sie”. “Sie” is even capitalized where “du” is not. You will find the same in other languages where there are formal and informal pronouns.
Now, how much does that relate to the discussion topic. I have no idea, it just got me to thinking.
I agree that the overuse of Jesus sounds evangelical, but we use it more with our children.
Have a nice day.

By: Gordon

Gordon — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:55:43 +0000

RE: Mark D. (post 39)

If you really want to get down to doctrine, Christ becomes our spiritual father through adoption. (Not a brother)

In fact, without the adoption relationship of the atonement, We are orphaned of our HEAVENLY father.

Becoming a BROTHER of Christ doesn’t do it..

Mosiah 5:7 “And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters. ”

We must be born of him.

Now as to your reference in Hebrews.. This is similar to John 15:15, where Jesus calls his apostles friends. They certainly are..
He might have even called them “Buddies”, and that too, would be true..

BUT! First and foremost, Christ is God, Christ is our Redeemer, He gives and breathes live into the world. Literally the light and life.

He is SO SO much more that and “Elder Brother”
When will we stop referring to him with such a low title.

By: Michael A.

Michael A. — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:25:20 +0000

——————————————————————
35.Bored in Vernal
12/10/2009 at 3:18 pm I’m surprised no one’s mentioned this:

D&C 107:3-4 Before his day it was called the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God. But out of respect or reverence to the name of the Supreme Being, to avoid the too frequent repetition of his name, they, the church, in ancient days, called that priesthood after Melchizedek, or the Melchizedek Priesthood.

Historical precedent?
——————————————————————–

The name of the Supreme Being (YHWH – Yahweh) – Yah as in the Psalms) appears over 6,800 times in just the “Old” Testament alone.

By: Michael A.

Michael A. — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:09:16 +0000

Christ comes from Greek meaning “Annointed”. So which annointing did He receive? He received the annointing of Yahshua (Hebrew for Yah’s Salvation as the Father is incomplete without His children). Yahshua attoned our sins in order for the Father (Yah, Yahweh) to have His creation redeemed. Jesus is more of a gentile nickname as Yahshua went from Greek to Latin to English. The letter J didn’t come on the scene until the mid 1400′s. Yahshua’s name in English is Joshua. While this was a common name amongst Israel (Joshua son of Nun who lead Israel into the Promised land) only one name (character) could receive the Moshiach (Hebrew for annointing) to be Yah’s salvation. So, while many are called Yahshua especially in 1st Century, only one could be Yahshua Ha’Moshiach (Joshua the Messiah).

Interestingly, Barabbas is the last name of the man released to go free while Yahshuah Ha’Moshiach was impaled. Barabbas’s first name was also Yahshua. Barabbas means Son of the Father. Shalom.

By: ji

ji — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:51:49 +0000

for Mark D. (39 and 40), it seems to me that Gordon (38) makes a good point and that the Hebrew citations really don’t answer Gordon’s concern. By our scriptures, and the Book of Mormon and D&C especially, we are reminded that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God.

By: Garrett

Garrett — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:12:56 +0000

Jesus was a common name at the time, and Jesus is still a very common name in many countries today… I don’t see why we SHOULD use Jesus without his title. In the world as it is today, it’s better to make everything you say unmistakably clear…

By: bfwebster

bfwebster — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 02:16:34 +0000

It seems as though I've seen this same discussion two or three times before in the Bloggernacle. I remain unconvinced that there's much to it, since the issue when raised tends to be based on one person's perceptions and not any particular statistically meaningful analysis. I also remain unconcerned, even if the "shift" is real. Once you get outside of the four Gospels and Acts, you'll find in the NT that "Jesus" only occasionally appears by itself; the vast majority of instances instead are "Jesus Christ" or "Christ Jesus". (There is also a large set of instances of "Christ" without "Jesus" nearby.) So I'm not sure what your concern is. ..bruce..