Do modern Christians believe that Jesus is God?

Answer 1

All three religions believe in one God (monotheistic).

Christians, in general, follow the Holy Bible --especially the teachings of Jesus Christ-- but not all Christians worship God in the same way. Christians obey many of the teachings or commandments of the Old Testament in addition to the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament. Christians believe that Jesus is the Messiah.

Roman Catholics, the largest of all the Christian denominations see God as a Holy Trinity, that is to say God is singular, but can manifest himself in three ways -- as the Father, the son (Jesus Christ) --who came to earth to absolve the sins of humankind, and the Holy Spirit. The Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus is believed to have conceived Jesus without sexual relations and remained a Virgin even though she gave birth to Jesus in what is called the Immaculate Conception. Other Christians don't share the same canonical viewpoint as Catholics, hence there are hundreds of different Christian sects.

Jews have the Tanach (Jewish Bible). It is made up of the Torah (5 books of Moshe [Moses]) Nevi'im (Prophets), and K'tuvim (Writings). The Christian Old Testament is based on the Tanach but it was altered to support the teachings of Christianity. The word 'messiah' is the Anglicized 'moshiach', however, the Christian concept of messiah does not exist in Judaism and Jesus plays no role in Judaism. From the Jewish perspective, Unitarian Christians and Muslims are monotheistic and worship the same G-d as Jews do.

Muslims follow the holy Qu'ran. Mary is mentioned more times in the Qur'an than in the Christian New Testament. Muhammad is the founder of the religion of Islam, a holy prophet and messenger of Allah (as Muslims refer to God). Jesus and the Virgin Mary are mentioned in the Qur'an.

Answer 2

It's not the case of modern Christians believing that Jesus is God as if it is some new idea. Jesus himself claimed to be God, in what he said, his miracles and in what he did. The earliest Christians realised that Jesus was God in human form starting with Peter's acclamation before the resurrection: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" meaning that Jesus was the chosen one promised as God incarnate to save humanity, and Thomas's acclamation on seeing the risen Christ "My Lord and my God!". Since the disciples' time, the whole theology of Christianity has been centred on the divinity of Jesus Christ - throughout history. Christians therefore believe in a Trinitarian God as described in scripture on numerous occasions - one God in three 'persons', God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

There are some, however, who deny this kingpin of the Christian faith and yet still call themselves, somehow, 'Christians'. These include the Mormons (who regard Jesus as a creation of God much in the same way as Lucifer) and Jehovah's Witnesses who have a confused idea of atonement and salvation and who regard Jesus as some sort of 'demigod' contrary to scripture.

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Adding just a bit to the great explanation already given.

A "Christian" is one who acknowledges that Jesus is God. Look at the book of Romans, chapter 10, verse 9:

That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

There are additional verses in scripture that describe salvation, this is but one of them. The belief in Christ's divinity, as already written above, is central to the Christian faith. Much is made of how this verse uses the term "Lord," with some saying it means "your Lord" as a way of acknowledging one's commitment to following Christ, and others saying it refers to Jesus' divinity. Examining the Greek will show the word is meant to entail acknowledging that Jesus is God. Of course, such an admission also, automatically includes taking a subordinate role in following Christ. One cannot make an admission of Christ's divinity but also think they remain in charge of their lives. As is written above from the lips of Thomas "my Lord and my God," this is the essence of declaring Christ as Lord.

Bottom Line - Christ is God (Lord). Whether one believe's it or not. The Christian has the great opportunity to declare this truth now and, as such, be in possession of eternal life; while the rest of humanity will make the same declaration at a future date (the final judgment) when it is sadly too late - see Philippians 2:9-11:

"(9)For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, (10)so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on the earth and under the earth, (11)and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the father."

Answer 3

Of the many facts that we know about Jesus, the most basic being He was incapable of lying. Scripture tells us that when He was nailed to the cross He was without spot, or without sin. So, when Jesus said something we know it was the truth. Jesus claimed to be God, lacking the ablity to lie, He had to be telling the truth.