How Jesus became God

We are often taught by our church's that from the beginning followers of Jesus believed that he was God. However, that is not the case. In fact, for 300 years followers of Jesus fought over this subject. Sometimes literaly to the death. In fact Athanasius, known as the defender of the faith, defended it by having many of those who disagreed with his side killed. Doesn't sound very much like Jesus does it? Let's take a look at what the Bible says first. Then we can look at some historical evidence.

1) Does Jesus ever claim to be God? Often John 14:6 is given to us to say yes. "I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes tothe Father except through me." Jesus goes on to say that if you know Jesus you know the Father, and that the Father is in Jesus and that Jesus is in the Father. So they are equal right? John 14:28 adds, "the Father is Greater than I am" So did Jesus lie? How can he be the second part of the Trinity equal to the Father and the Father still greater that Jesus? A very difficult question to answer, especially if you are a Bible literalist.

Could it be in the first section that Jesus is saying that they (Jesus and the Father) are one in purpose? (no I am not a Morman) He asks in the Garden of Gethsemane that we could all be one. Does that mean that he is asking that we all be God or that we be of one purpose? He even states in John 17:3 that Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the ONLY TRUE God, AND Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (capitals mine)

2) Here are some other verses that tell of the relationship between the Father and Jesus. After reading them, can you truly say that Jesus is equal to the Father?
John 12:49 Jesus says that he takes commands from the Father
Luke 10:22 says that all things have been given to him by the Father
John 3:35 The Father has placed everything in the Sons hands
John 6:24 The Father sent Jesus
John 8:28 The Father taught Jesus
John 12:49 Jesus speaks for the father, not his own words
John 14:31 Jesus does exactly what the Father commands him to do
John 5:24"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life"
Over and over again, Jesus submits himself to the Father not as an equal, but as a servant doing his God's will.

Are you ready for some basic history? Here we go.
Jesus did not officially become God until the council of Nicea 325 A.D. under the rule of Constantine. Today, many believe that Constantine was a Christian. The following happened after he so called saw the sign of the cross in the sky that said "Conquer by this." meaning to conquer by Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Does that make sense? He saw the "sign" in 312 A.D.
1) Had his son Licinius executed 320
2) Had Crispus another son executed 326 by "cold poison"
3) Had his wife Fausta put to death in an "overheated bath". Some say at the request of his "Christian" mother Helena 326
4) He continued to keep the title "pontifex maximus",until his death. This is a title the emporers held as head of the Pagan priesthood.
5) After gaining victory in the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, a triumphal arch—the Arch of Constantine—was built to celebrate; the arch is decorated with images of Victoria and sacrifices to gods like Apollo, Diana, or Hercules, but contains no Christian symbolism.
6) In 321, Constantine instructed that Christians and non-Christians should be united in observing the "venerable day of the sun" which includes was part of the worship of the sun.

Council of Nicea was called by Constantine to deal with the question of whether Jesus was God as we now know or was he a man as many in the eastern part of the empire believed. A man named Arius was the leader of this movement.
The man in charge of running the meeting was the religious confidant of Constantine, Hosius of Cordova. At the end, Constantine said, whether with actual words or body language, that anyone who refused to sign the creed would be excommunicated from the church and exiled from the empire. In the end only 2 held firm to thier belief in Jesus being a man. And they paid for thier stance!

Even after the council was disbanded many of those who voted with Constantine wrote and taught the total opposite. They simply didn't want to stand up to the emporer. Of course who would want to be exiled? This included Eusibius, who would later write a glowing biography of Constantine and became the "Father" of church history. Some scholors believe that the many quotes about Jesus that appear in the works of "Josephus" were actually written by Eusibius. They can't say for sure, but those quotes don't show up in the works of Josephus until the time of Eusibius. I wonder what else was added to church history.

It would be almost another 100 years before the Holy Spirit became part of the God head. However the question remains, Is Jesus really God or did these men make him out to be God? Can we trust these men, especially with a man like Constantine overseeing everything and people like Eusibius writing it down?

Now I still believe the way to God is through Christ. Jesus may not be God, in my opinion, but he taught the way. I believe that Christ lives in and through me as Paul taught.

I hope you consider these words and don't just brush them off with the religious rhetoric that from my experience the church teaches.
God bless