Chaim ben Yaakov:
1. Do you believe Jesus is God?


Yes.

Chaim ben Yaakov:
2. If you lived about 1980 years ago, would you have worshipped at Jesus' feet?


First of all, you should clarify what you mean by this word "worship". The original Greek word here is something like "proskuneo", and it really just means to show reverence or respect by some physical gesture. It doesn't necessarily include an acknowledgement of someone as a deity.

Having said that, my role model for this question is the woman in Luke 7:36. And yes, I can only pray that I would have also been willing to pour out all I possessed in worship of Him.

Chaim ben Yaakov:
If yes, how is this not idolatrous?


Because this was no ordinary man. This was the Son of God, and God requires that we worship through Him.

Chaim ben Yaakov:
3. How can it be said that a believer who has the "spirit" in them, knows God, when they really don't have a clue as to what they're worshipping...?


I'm not sure what you mean by "don't have a clue". To begin with, we have the same set of clues about our God as you do. You call it Tanakh. And then beyond that, we have a whole set of additional clues called the gospels. Between the two, I think we have all the clues we need.

Chaim ben Yaakov:
4. Related to that, didn't Jesus say to the Samaritan woman that Jews know what they worship...?


Yes. See above. And remember that at that time, the Scriptures, indeed God Himself, were solely the inheritance of physical Israel. No promises had been made by God to any other people.

Now I know this contradicts this contrived notion of some sort of "Noahide" covenant, but, well... it's contrived.

Chaim ben Yaakov:
Further, how can the object of our worship not be the most important aspect of our relationship and servitude towards God?


It's critically important. It's everything. We worship God through His Son, who was sent to redeem the world from sin. And we recognize that in the eternal scheme, we would be nothing without His redemption. As a result, we completely and joyfully abandon ourselves to him.

By the way, something we've discussed (and summarily disagreed about) before is scriptures like Ezekiel 45:17, where this form of worship and sacrifice is established by God Himself.

Chaim ben Yaakov:
5... So long as we believe a human died for our sins (whether divine or not, who cares) it makes no difference how we worship or view God, whether heretical, idolatrous, etc.


Hmmm... really excellent point, Chaim. When I read that, I real chill ran through me. Incredibly profound!

But in my defense, I think I've made it clear that I do believe the divinity of Jesus is essential to the message of the cross. I recently came across an article on the web by Jrgen Moltmann called "The Crucified God". I have not had the time to read it yet, but the title alone captivates me.

Chaim ben Yaakov:
If it was proven to you beyond a doubt that Jews never worshipped anything like a Trinity before Jesus' time...?


Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't think any further proof is required beyond the Bible. It seems pretty clear to me that they didn't. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that even the prophets had little clue about how what they were writing would ultimately be fulfilled. I mean, in Ezekiel 34:13, you have God saying that He Himself will be Israel's shepherd, but then in verse 23, He says that David will be their shepherd. Now I know you think I'm misunderstanding verse 13, but the point is - I'm pretty sure you're right about the fact that their worship of God was different before Jesus.

But it's not because God changed. It's just because He hadn't yet revealed Himself in this way yet, just like He didn't reveal Himself to Noah as much as He did to Moses. Hebrews chapter 1 explains this very well.

Chaim ben Yaakov:
I know this is a lot to answer. Please do what you can and take your time. Thanks.


Chaim, it is I who should be truly thanking you. This is an incredible discussion. Your fearless pursuit of truth is remarkable. I've said this before, and I'll say it again - I really like you. I think under different circumstances we'd hit it off very well. Who knows... maybe someday. :)

Anyway, in the meantime...

Peace :)