Why are you (still) a Christian?

[GrandizerII]

Paul took Jesus to be a divine figure, albeit literally begotten. But even in Paul's writings, I'm not seeing any connection to Michael. You say Jesus = Michael with such confidence, as if it's obviously very true. Where are you getting this confidence from?

Why would you not respond to the post I made in response to your original doubt about the Michael subject? Seems odd to me.

I did respond to that one. Go back a page or two.

Anyway, what exactly does it mean that Paul took Jesus to be a divine figure. Elsewhere I referred to Isaiah 9:6; Psalm 8:5; 82:1, 6; John 10:34-35. So, a divine figure a god. Godlike, sons of god, etc. Correct?

A god or god-like being. Something of that sort. No need to consult verses from other books.

Why am I confident?

To be very clear, the question is why are you confident that Michael is Jesus. Let's see your following points.

1. Jesus existed in heaven before he came to earth. Proverbs 8:22; John 1:1,3, 14; 3:13; 8:23, 58; 17:5; Colossians 1:15-17; 1 John 2:13; Revelation 3:14 all speak of Jesus’ existence before the world began, in fact before anything was created Jesus was created. Before Heaven, the heavens, the Earth, and of course, man. He is the firstborn of creation, the beginning of creation, he came from somewhere other than this world, he descended from heaven. There can be no doubt that he had a pre-human existence in heaven before he came to Earth as the man Jesus Christ.

Ok, I'm guessing you're setting up all the required premises first before you get to Jesus = Michael. All good and dandy so far, except OT verses like Proverbs 8 don't talk about Jesus at all. Proverbs 8, in fact, is a poetic passage about God's wisdom, something that is abstract. So put that aside, and just focus on the NT verses.

2. Jesus’ position in heaven before he came to the earth must have been an important one, considering he was the first of Jehovah’s creation and all things were created through him and for him. (Proverbs 8:22; John 1:3) That means not only the heavens and earth as we know them but the angels and heaven as well. Jesus is referred to as the "word of God," this means he is the spokesperson. (John 1:1) As the spokesperson for Jehovah God we can assume that when an angel performed some important task on earth, like guiding and protecting the early Israelites from Egypt or taking the physical form of men in performing an important task, it was likely Michael as he existed before he came to earth as Jesus.

Please don't just assert it was Michael or likely Michael. Show the passages that support that specific detail please.

3. The term archangel means chief of the angels. Arch means chief or principal. The term is only applied to one angel in the Bible. Michael. It is always used in the singular. There is only one archangel. The term archangel itself only appears twice throughout Scripture. At 1 Thessalonians 4:16 Paul writes of Jesus as having the voice of the archangel, and Jude 9 indicates Michael disputed with Satan over the body of Moses. So there is a connection with Jesus as well as an indication that Michael was connected in some way with the people of the exodus of Egypt.

Paul didn't say anything about Michael in that verse, and Jude 1:9 sounds like fanfiction and wasn't written by Paul anyway. So you can't just reason based on the detail you've provided that Michael is the archangel that Paul is speaking of. Nor does Paul equate Jesus to the archangel in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, if you pay close attention to the wording.

4. Other than Jehovah God himself only two people in the Bible are said to be in charge of or over the angels. They are Michael and Jesus Christ. The name Michael appears only five times throughout Scripture. At Daniel 10:13, 21; 12:1; Jude 9 and Revelation 12:7.

Have you ever wondered why Revelation did not just say straight out that Michael is Jesus? Seems to me like Michael is meant to be a separate entity from Jesus. And anyway, just because various verses in some of the books of the Bible mention Michael as this significant warrior angel doesn't mean that therefore Jesus is Michael.