What Does Jesus Mean When He Tells Mary Magdalene Not to Cling to Him Because He Has Not Yet Ascended?

i’m going to jump for arguments sake to c_Va’s camp

1. Exodus 20: Thou shalt have no other gods before me. and Psalm 82:1 God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.” and Psalm 93 “For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.” and Psalm 86:8 “”Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works.” and Psalm 136 “”O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever.”

those negate my argument about Judaism being monotheistic.

Putting on a historian’s hat - one could surmise that the Israelites start off as Canaanites (similar language, genetics) and move from polytheism to henotheism to monotheism.

That is a troubling point of view

I think this verse has to be looked at and it leaves no doubt that there is One God:

Isaiah 43:10 - Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

So, when we see God referencing other Gods, He's doing it either to be sarcastic, or simply as a sort of name, since that's what the people called them.

I use this same verse every time the Mormons come to my door. They teach that God was once a man like we are, and became a god over earth because he obeyed his god. Their doctrine doesn't stand against Isaiah 43:10, though.

In John 1 and again in Colossians 1, the apostles declare that Jesus was the creator. And in Genesis 1, we see that God was the the creator. Interesting the book of Genesis states that God said, "let US make God in our in=mage..." We also see that even though God made man, the Spirit of God is seen as hovering over the water. So, it seems like the creator, and the Spirit were in two places at the same time. This is true because the one God can exist in multiple beings/forms at the same time. Each one seems to have it's own purpose.

Colossians 1: 15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him.

17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and firstborn from among the dead, so that in all things He may have preeminence. 19 For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, 20 and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through the blood of His cross.

The story of Joseph is possibly the best type and shadow of Jesus Christ, and shows the way. He was GIVEN absolute power over Egypt by Pharaoh, who said to Joseph, “Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou.” Gen. 41:40. (Jesus Christ has a throne, and is “set down with my Father in his throne”. Rev. 3:21).

Judah, still unaware that the governor of Egypt was really his brother Joseph, said to him: “....thou art even as Pharaoh.” (Gen. 44:18)

Is Jesus Christ of the same substance as God the Father? Absolutely! He is “the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands” (Dan. 2:45). Note the description is a ‘stone’, not a third of a three peaked mountain. A stone is tiny when compared with a mountain. “...and the stone became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.” (Dan. 2:35). Joseph’s power was throughout the kingdom.

The Son is indeed the “...firstborn of every creature” (Col. 1:15). He is “...Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.” (Rev. 3:14).

“Who being in the form of God....” (God is a Spirit. John 4:24, therefore the Son was a Spirit without a body as well) “..thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” Given power and wisdom to create is a LOT of power. The Son of God had no earthly physical image until the conception. The Son temporarily gave up his vast knowledge and power to come to earth as a baby (Nebuchadnezzar lost his for seven years. Look at the fictional spaceship computer HAL in ‘2001 a space odessey’. It was deprogrammed in minutes.)

In John 14, Jesus went into detail explaining how his Father was in him, and he in the Father (and still is). It was after the resurrection, in that room, that Jesus appeared to the disciples, with Thomas present. It appears that Thomas suddenly realized that God the Father was indeed present in the body of Jesus Christ (and still is. God the Father is infinite). Thomas had his ‘Judah moment’, right there, imo.

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