I texted to him:
Christ existed from the beginning. Jesus took on and owned his identity as Christ within his lifetime. But the ability to take on and identify with Christ is possible for all of us; it’s just that Jesus was born into this world capable of doing it totally and completely; he was and has been the true complete embodiment of Christ.
I added…
What Jesus does during his lifetime shows us how it is done. We won’t get it perfect but that doesn’t mean we should not try. Even He said “be perfect even as I am perfect.”
But after hours of texting back and forth with scriptural quotes and precision logic, I was met with,
There will be a final judgement, regardless of the New Covenant. We should fear God.
He was not backing down from that.
But what about love?
I know all about love…John 3:16.
Yes…God so loved the world…but what about loving God? What about loving other people…
…but he had already signed off.