JESUS CHRIST: GOD-MAN - Vital Christianity

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Although the Jehovah's Witnesses accept the doctrine of the virgin birth, they maintain
that Jesus was merely human until baptized at the age of 30. Then "God begot Jesus to be his
spiritual Son . . . instead of a human son. . . . By being thus anointed with the spirit Jesus became
the Messiah."16
When Jesus died, His human experience ended; it was annihilated. Then the spirit
creature, Michael, took up his existence in an even higher exaltation.
According to the Witnesses, before and after His earthly existence, Jesus was the highest
spiritual creature. During His life on earth, He was a perfect man, but He was never truly God:
"Nowhere does the Bible teach the equality of the son with the Father, but it
teaches the very opposite; it shows the Son to be in subjection and hence
inferior to the Father."17
Christian Science teaches that Jesus was a mere human being while Christ is Truth, a
spiritual or divine idea. Thus Jesus is not the Christ. Their explanation of Peter's great
affirmation,
"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" is:
‘The Messiah is what thou has declared—Christ, the spirit of God, of Truth,
Life, and Love, which heals mentally. . . It was now evident to Peter that
divine Life, Truth, and Love, and not a human personality, was the healer of
the sick and a rock, a firm foundation in the realm of harmony."18
Mary Baker Eddy, in her book, Science and Health repeatedly makes the point that "the
word Christ is not properly a synonym for Jesus." Rather
"Jesus is the name of the man who, more than all other men, has represented Christ,
the true idea of God, healing the sick and the sinning and destroying the power of
death. Jesus is the human man, and Christ is the divine idea; hence the duality of
Jesus the Christ."19
While Jesus was born at Bethlehem, Christ was eternal. Although Jesus suffered, Christ
"never suffered." Even though Jesus finally "disappeared," Christ "continues to exist in the
eternal order of divine Science."20
They are complimentary of Jesus:
"Jesus of Nazareth was the most scientific man that ever trod the globe. Jesus was
'the best Christian' on earth. As such, Jesus 'represented' Christ, 'the true idea of
God.' Jesus 'illustrates' the human blending with God that gives dominion over
all the earth. . . . 'Endowed with the Christ,' Jesus became the 'wayshower.'"21