I ran across this paper on Adam Pastor’s web site “Adoni Messiah“. And it has a connection back to kingdomready in that the author of the paper was a presenter at the 2005 & 2006 One God Conferences that our own Sean Finnegan also attended. Small world indeed. Speaking of which, Sean has the audio of the author presenting this very paper on the Christian Monotheism site at this link.
Mere Man?
By: Jonathan Sjørdal
July 21, 2002
Jesus Christ was the God of the Old Testament. He was the Creator, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He became a man and died for His creation to redeem it. To be the savior, he HAD to be God. If he had not been God, then His sacrifice would not have been sufficient to redeem mankind. If he was merely a man, then the fact that he led a perfect life would only be sufficient for him to save himself. In order to save mankind, he had to pre-exist his human existence as the Creator God.
Last month on both Saturday 6/13 and Sunday 6/14, I attended the 2009 One God Seminars put on by the ACD (Association for Christian Development). This was the first such conference I went to in person though I’ve read a lot about previous years conferences from this site (Sean has attended many), Anthony Buzzard’s Restoration Fellowship website & monthly newsletter (Focus on the Kingdom), and even the ACD Seminar organizer – Ken Westby’s website: http://www.godward.org/. I’ve always wanted to attend one, but for one reason or another never was never able to make the journey to the host location. However this year’s chosen location happened to be in my home turf of Dallas-Ft. Worth. And even more convenient was that the actual meeting location was a whole 15-20 minute drive from my house. What could be more perfect? I was very ecstatic about it and even more so when I learned that Sir Anthony Buzzard was going to be a presenter. I had always wanted to hear him speak in person and to have the chance to meet him and possibly have a discussion or two on our mutual biblical interests.
A while back (a year ago, in fact) there was a long debate on this site about the Trinity, starting with the posting of a debate between Brant Bosserman and Sean Finnegan at the One God Conference. The comments continued for a couple of months, and the thread was picked up again a few times since then, the most recent being February of this year. One of the better arguments brought up by the Trinitarians was that Jesus said in John 2:19, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” This is taken by Trinitarians to mean that Jesus raised himself from the dead.
Presented by Brant Bosserman and Sean Finnegan at the One God Conference, Seattle WA June 1st 2008, commentary by Sean Finnegan. Click here to listen the entire 2 hour debate or click on one of the parts below.
The debate was over whether God is a single individual (the Father of Jesus) or if he is a Trinity (three persons in one essence). The debate followed this format:
Introduction by Ken Westby and Tom Bosserman [10 min] listen or download
Sean’s Opening Statement [20 min] listen or download
Brant’s Opening Statement [20 min] listen or download
Sean’s Rebuttal [15 min] listen or download
Brant’s Rebuttal [15 min] listen or download
Sean Cross-Examine Brant [10 min] listen or download
Brant Cross-Examine Sean [10 min] listen or download
Presented by Sir Anthony Buzzard at the One God Conference, Seattle WA June 1st 2008, commentary by John Obelenus. Click here to listen.
Anthony opens up talking about singular pronouns, that echad really means one, and that elohim is not a collective noun - no Hebrew scholar says it is. He goes through some personal correspondence and scholarly works in which more and more Socinian Scriptural points are being conceded by self-professed Trinitarian important scholars. None of the approximately 11,000 occurrences of any of the words commonly used for God can be demonstrated to mean the triune God. And Trinitarian commentators are agreeing with this!
Presented by Ken Westby at the One God Conference, Seattle WA June 1st 2008, commentary by John Obelenus. Click here to listen.
Presented by John Obelenus at the One God Conference, Seattle WA June 1st 2008, commentary by Sean Finnegan. Click here to listen.
John seeks to deal with two major issues related to Jesus’ death for our sins: (1) the notion that God identifies with us through the incarnation and atonement (2) a flawed understanding of penal substitution.
Presented by Bob Woodburn at the One God Conference, Seattle WA June 1st 2008, commentary by John Obelenus. Click here to listen.
Bob begins by listing off the list of questions that have always surrounded the Trinity and incarnation, the cause for all the creedal statements and councils. He aims to find out how Jesus is God’s son, and God is Jesus’ father. We know that Jesus is human. And we know that Jesus has not sinned. How can that be since even Adam was instructed directly by God, created mature fell and sinned? He remarks that if the holy spirit is a third person - then “God the Father” is a misnomer, since the conception of Jesus occurred via the holy spirit. Rather this problems goes away when we understand that God is spirit and the holy spirit is God’s operational presence. “The holy spirit is just another way to talk about God, what God is, and what God does”.
Presented by Gary Fakhoury at the One God Conference, Seattle WA May 31st 2008, commentary by John Obelenus. Click here to listen to this talk.
Gary starts by providing the stalwart belief of Judaism to be the belief that YHWH was God. YHWH is a personal name, of a single Person who alone truly holds the title of God. He notes that all serious scholars and pastors agree this is the essential statement of the Old Testament and Judaism until Jesus. We know revelation to be progressive and new truths are given over time to us. However, is this single person of God changed by subsequent revelation in the new covenant?
Presented by Lindsey Killian and Dr. Laura Palik-Killian at the One God Conference, Seattle WA May 31st 2008, commentary by John Obelenus.