KBCid wrote:To be Jewish is to strive to be like God.
RickD wrote:To "strive" to be like God is the antithesis of why Christ came.
Really Rick? how do you derive that? Look at the scriptures. We were made in the image of God for a reason. He is our father, whom are we supposed to be like?;
Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness
Mat 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
1Pe 2:21-22 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:
Lev 19:2 Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.
Php 3:17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.
2Th 3:9 Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us.
Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
2Pe 2:6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly
Joh 13:13 Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.
Joh 13:14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.
Joh 13:15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
Joh 13:16 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
1Jn 3:3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
1Jn 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
1Jn 3:5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
1Jn 3:6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
1Jn 3:7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
1Jn 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
1Jn 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
1Jn 5:18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.
2Co 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Eph 4:24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Eph 4:25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
Eph 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
------------
John 10:34-36 The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? [Psalms 82:1-7] If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?"
There are ample biblical passages to support the belief that men can become "gods" by overcoming the world through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.[Bible 6] There are also several biblical passages which state that men may become heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ and will inherit all things just as Christ inherits all things.[Bible 7]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divinization_(Christian)
-----------
To be like God or Christ is to reflect their same manners in all things. Not with an intent to displace God as satan would intend but rather to be truly a 'son of God'. We were made in his image. Adam and Eve both existed in the image of God until they erred and that error continued until Christ came to show us how to properly reflect the Father through the Son in ourselves. It is clearly and plainly written that Christ was our example. the question to you is an example of what?
Christ was our example of how a son is to be like his father;
Joh 14:8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
Joh 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
Christ was the proper son of God by reflecting his father in all that he did. He was the most proper reflection of holiness which God is and the proper reflection of love which God is.
My hero is God and his Christ and I seek to be like them in every important aspect that they consider holy and proper. I may yet be a sinner who has not attained to the holiness of my Father in heaven but I have faith that he will help me to become as he wishes me to be and attain the image that I was created to be by studying his word and the words of his only begotten Son in the hopes that one day I will become a joint heir with the Son just as it is written;
Gal 4:1 Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
Gal 4:2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
Gal 4:3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
Gal 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
Gal 4:5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Gal 4:6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Gal 4:7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
So again if we don't act like God who should we act like?