Question:

I was born & brought up in a Muslim family in Bangladesh. I had a God
fearing heart. From my childhood I tried to follow my rituals. In 1995 I
went to Delhi ( INDIA) for my graduation. There I came across with some
christian brothers who used to teach among campus students. I learnt the
Bible with them. And thus God revealed the truth to me. I accepted Jesus
in 1996. then I also strarted teaching Bible among stdudents. But though I
was believing in Jesus, I was never fully convinced by the ‘Trinity’
doctorine. I always felt uncomfortable with this doctorine. I talked with
scholars regarding this and I was taught all the logics supporting the
‘Trinity’ but my conscious couldn’t accept fully that ‘Jesus is God’. I
felt that everything is ok in christianity except this part. Later I came
to know about the group called ‘JehovasWwitness’. I learnt that they
believe in Jesus but do not consider him as God. Now I’m confused.

Answer:

You do not bore me at all. This is an extremely interesting and important
question. Let me simplify the question. What you need to ask yourself is
whether the Bible is inspired by God. I believe that the evidence for the
inspiration of the Bible is absolutely overwhelming. I trust the Bible.
It is God’s word. If I find something in the Bible which I am not
comfortable with, I realize that is my problem, not a problem of the
Bible. I do not agree with everything God says. If he asked my opinion,
everyone would go to heaven. God did not ask my opinion. I need to trust
God.

About the trinity, I would like you to realize that the word trinity is
not found in the Bible. There is some theological baggage in the Roman
Catholic doctrine of the trinity which I am not particularly comfortable
in accepting. However, the basic idea is biblical. The Bible presents
Jesus as being God. This may be hard to accept, but remember, we must ask
ourselves whether we accept the Bible as being from God or not!!! John
1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word
was God.” Later it says that the Word of God became flesh and lived for
a while among us. I believe that this is clear about the deity of
Christ. Let us confess that the statement “the Word was with God, the
Word was God” is illogical by human thinking. Bottom line, this statement
is either correct or it is not. One thing I can say for sure is that
Jesus claimed to be God. He said, “Before Abraham was born, I AM.” (John
8:58). The people picked up stones to stone Jesus for claiming to be
God. Jesus did not deny the charge!!! The same idea is presented in John
10:30-39. They accused Jesus of claiming to be God. Again, Jesus did not
deny the charge. He said that they should look at the miracles. Jesus
said he was the resurrection and the life (John 11), after which he raised
Lazarus from the dead. Muhammad certainly never made such claims or
performed such miracles. In John 20:28 Thomas said to Jesus, “My Lord
and my God.” Again, Jesus did not deny the truth of this statement.

Bottom line, Jesus is the Son of God and he is God. I cannot blame you if
this makes you uncomfortable. From a human perspective it seems
illogical. It also just so happens to be true. I challenge you to keep
thinking about this, but at the same time you must remember what you
already know to be true. Jesus raised form the dead on the third day. He
has all authority in heaven and on earth. He said he was God. The Bible
is inspired by God. Do not stop asking hard questions, but be prepared to
accept what Jesus said about himself.

John Oakes, PhD