re: “When I speak of Jesus Christ, I believe it comes from my time as a child when I was raised as a catholic. I realize that sometimes I speak of Jesus and God as if they are the same, but I know they are not. It is a mistake on my part.”
Actually, Chris37, you are not mistaken as far as historical, orthodox Christian belief goes. Christian theology teaches that there is One God, expressed in three Persons - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All three are fully God - yet One.
In other words, historical Christian doctrine teaches that Jesus was God in the flesh - God incarnated. See John 1:1-16. Also, notice the things Jesus did - He had power over creation, He healed the sick, He raised the dead (i.e. Lazarus), He forgave sins (only God could do that according to the Bible), and accepted worship from His disciples (only God was to be worshipped according to the Scriptures).
He also claimed to be one and the same as His Father (God) - see John 10:22-39. He used a title for Himself that was only to be used by God (John 8:34-59) - notice verse 58 and 59. The Apostles used titles only given to God and applied them also to Jesus (”I Am”, “The First and the Last”, the “Alpha and Omega” are some of them).
The Trinity is one of the most misunderstood doctrines of the New Testament and so, you are not alone in being uncertain about just who Jesus was (and is).
Anyway, if you are interested, there are many passages in the Old and New Testaments that demonstrate that Jesus was not only Messiah, but also God Himself in human form (as God the Son). If you would like me to share some of those, I’d be glad to.
That is very interesting, and I did not know it. I’d often wondered why, in my mind, I referred to God and Jesus as separate, but also as the same at times.
I am very interested in reading those passages. I do not have a smuch knowledge on this as I would like, and I really appreciate your post, Nevadan :)