by: Norberto Betita
I once have a conversation with a Christian
friend, a respectable lawyer, a man of intelligence and prominence, in a chat room on Face Book about my belief in a
personal living God. He apprised me that he discusses with believers using the
Bible as the sole authority to settle differences in understanding the personality of God. He believes in God as a Spirit Being. His purpose
according to him is to somehow try to come to the unity of the knowledge as
Paul states in Ephesians 4.
Expressly I told my friend that I don’t believe that the
Bible is the ultimate or sole authority to settle differences in our beliefs.
The translators of the Bible are not perfect. And the only perfect source of
knowing the truth is from God through the Holy Ghost, “...things of God knoweth
no man but the Spirit of God,“ (1 Cor. 2:11). “No man can say that Jesus is
lord, but by the Holy Ghost” (1 Cor. 12:3). “...by the power of the Holy Ghost ye
may know the truth of all things” (Moroni 10:5). But for purposes of discussion
I have to focus my references on Biblical accounts.
That I may be understood of my belief in a personal God I
explained to him that from the very beginning of life we were created with a
body of flesh and bones in the image and likeness of God. “God created man in
his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he
them” (Genesis 1:27). “... In the day
that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him...” (Genesis 5:1).
“... for in the image of God made he man” (Genesis 9:6). And many other
scriptures prove that we are indeed created and made in the express image and
likeness of God. So that if we are representations or pictures of God, if we
have a physical body of flesh and bones, God also had, and if God has a spirit,
we also have. If God is only a Spirit,
he should not have been seen by many people. In Genesis 32:30, “And Jacob
called the name of the place Peniel, for I have seen God face to face, and my
life is preserved.” Exodus 19;11, 17, “...the Lord will come down in the sight
of all people upon mount Sinai....And Moses brought forth the people out of the
camp to meet with God.” Exodus 24:9-11, “Then went up Moses and Aaron, Nadab
and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel....And upon the nobles of the
Children of Israel, he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and
drink.” Exodus 33:11, “And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man
speaketh unto his friend.” The preacher in Ecclesiastes even made this clear as
he preached about death, “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was:
and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). And there
are more from the Old Testament records. In the New Testament, most are
familiar with the account of Jesus’ resurrection, where it was recorded that He
appeared to many of His disciples with a body of flesh and bones.
The words as recorded in Luke 24:37 say, “But they were
terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a Spirit.” They
probably are kind of surprised, because a spirit could not have been seen by
their natural eyes. In the account recorded by John about the same event it
says, “The disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood
in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said,
he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad when
they saw the Lord.” (John 20:19-20.)
Though mortal, Jesus carried
with Him a Divine attribute of His Father in Heaven. He was born of a mortal woman conceived by
the Holy Ghost. Luke 1:35 records, “... The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and
the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also the holy things
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” He inherited His
mortal powers and weaknesses from His mortal mother, while He inherited His
infinite powers from Heavenly Father. He can do all that he wanted. His
disciples had witnessed several miracles performed by Him, and every time they
are always surprised, because they had been walking with Him as a mortal man,
and despite His teachings on the resurrection, they are still unbelieving that
He could have that power. He told them, “Therefore doth my Father love me,
because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from
me, but I lay it down myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to
take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father” (John 10:17-18). Here
Jesus explained of His death and eventual resurrection, a prophesied event,
which is part of His saving mission.
The disciples of Jesus knew the scripture that is why He had
to always remind them. But like most
mortals, they are unbelieving. The whole chapter of Luke 24 and those recorded
in Matthew, Mark and John as regards the resurrection proves once and for all
that Jesus Christ manifested Himself with a body of flesh and bones, to
convince the disciples that He is indeed the Christ. When he walks at Emmaus,
He went with two men and communed with them, “But their eyes were holden (restrained)
that they should not know Him” (Luke 24:16). This he did only that they could
not recognize him. He talked with them and even reminded them about the
scriptures as regards His resurrection, “beginning at Moses and all the
prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning
himself” (Luke 24:27). He could not have done this if He was a spirit. Mary
Magdalene wept because they could not find the body of Jesus. “Jesus saith unto
her, Mary. She turned herself, and said unto Him Rabboni; which is to say
Master” (John 20:16). Mary was able to immediately recognize and identify Him
because His personality was the same, except that he was already the resurrected
Lord. In Luke 24:36-40 it is recorded, “...Jesus himself stood in the midst of
them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and
affrighted and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why
are ye troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts. Behold my hands and
my feet that it is I myself: handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and
bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands
and his feet.” The truth as recorded was very direct, plain and clear to every
searching soul. And, the same or similar undeviating statements had been
recorded perfectly by four of His trusted Apostles. Jesus appeared to his
disciples again at the sea of Tiberias, still as a resurrected, glorified being
with a body of flesh and bones and even eat fish and honeycomb with them. (John
21.) The statement of Jesus to Thomas was also very simple and clear, “Jesus
saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: Blessed
are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:29).
The appearances of Jesus Christ to His disciples
were not of a mortal body, but a resurrected, purified, glorified body of flesh
and bones. He died, and after three days, He was resurrected. In Acts 26:23 we
read, “That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should
rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the
Gentiles.” He showed Himself that His disciples should see the “light” of the
truth of His prophesied and recorded resurrection. According to the Bible
Dictionary, “Resurrection consists in the uniting of a spirit body with a body
of flesh and bones, never again to be divided.”
We indeed need to search the
truth, read and ponder and pray about the scriptures for in them are the riches
of eternity. We are assured in John 8:32 “And ye shall know the truth, and the
truth shall make you free.”
I told my friend, these are only
a few proofs of the living personality of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Holy
Bible. More are even available through modern revelations. I bore witness that
the scriptures I have laid down are true.
As a Mormon, a member of The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, who believes in modern
revelations, I add some scriptural proofs. In 3 Nephi 11 of the Book of Mormon
Jesus showed himself to the Nephites and in verses 14-15 he invited the
multitude, “Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my
side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my
feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole
earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world. And it came to pass that
the multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side and did feel the
prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did do, going
forth one by one until they had all gone forth, and did see with their eyes and
did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear record, that
it was he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come.”
And perhaps the most captivating
and persuasive proof is the appearance of Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus
Christ in these last days to a boy prophet, Joseph Smith, Jr., in answer to his
prayer in the spring of 1820 in a grove of large trees, in the township of
Palmyra, New York, which eventually brought about the restoration of the true Church
of Christ and His Gospel. Then, the vision of the prophet Joseph Smith, Jr.,
and Sidney Rigdon recorded in Doctrine & Covenants 76; 22-24, “And now,
after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony,
last of all, which we give of him: That he lives! For we saw him, even on the
right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only
Begotten of the Father--.”
These recorded scriptures are
living proofs that indeed, Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ are
personal beings with bodies of flesh and bones. However, as I have cited, “...things
of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God,“ (1 Cor. 2:11). “No man can say
that Jesus is lord, but by the Holy Ghost” (1 Cor. 12:3). “...by the power of
the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things” (Moroni 10:5).
I told my good friend that this
is only a friendly discussion of our stand on matters of our individual beliefs
of the things of God. We each have our own valid reasons for believing so and
generally we stand on that basis. And that as Paul has stated, we will someday
come to the unity of faith.
My regular study of these
scriptures for years had indeed given light and understanding on my belief of a
personal living God. However, my personal testimony of the truth of the living reality
of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ did not solely come from serious and
diligent study, but by the power of the Holy Ghost bearing record of the truth.
It is a witness that comes not by the brilliance of the mind or the intelligent
understanding of recorded scriptures, but by a profound and penetrating feeling
written into the tablet of the heart. Accordingly, I bear witness of these
eternal truths, in the sacred name of the living Christ.
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