I have read your statement of beliefs. I find it hard to accept Jesus as God. I believe Jesus is the Messiah but not God. Do you believe that Jesus is also God?
The Bible's revelation of God is found throughout its pages. Some of the key points are:
In the Bible, the word "God" sometimes comprises more than one divine being. The Hebrew word Elohim, translated "God" more than 2,300 times in the Old Testament, is a plural word (in Hebrew the –im ending indicates plurality, just as in English adding s or es to a noun makes it plural).
Genesis 1:26, the account of man's creation, shows that more than one divine being was involved. It states: "Then God [Elohim, plural] said, 'Let Us [note the plural] make man in Our [plural] image, according to Our [again plural] likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.'"
So, from the very first book of the Bible, we have the revelation that more than one divine being constitutes the one God.
In the Gospel of John, we find several other revelations about the nature of God: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made" (John 1:1-3).
Here we see two divine beings—one designated "the Word" who "was with God" and also "was God" from the beginning. Further, "All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made." So this Being, the Word, was the Creator.
Continuing in verse 14: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." This verse and the next few verses identify "the Word," this Being who was with God and was God from the beginning and who made all things, as the One who was born as Jesus Christ. This also tells us that there is another divine being known as "the Father."
John continues in verse 18: "No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him."
This tells us again that there is a "Son" and a "Father" (as Jesus Christ repeatedly mentions throughout the four Gospels). But it also tells us that "no one has seen God at any time." Since the Gospels show that thousands of people had seen Jesus Christ in the flesh during His earthly ministry, the "God" whom no one had seen could only have been the One known as "the Father."
But if no one had ever seen the Father, who was the God who at times revealed Himself directly to various people in the Old Testament? Obviously it could only have been the One who later would be born as a human being, Jesus Christ. Thus the "God" of the Old Testament who created all things and interacted with human beings was Jesus Christ! (Compare 1 Corinthians 10:4.)
You might also want to read Hebrews 1:1-2, Colossians 1:16, John 1:10 and Ephesians 3:9, all of which clearly tell us that Jesus was the divine being through whom the universe was created.
Scripture tells us that God is a family. Jesus Himself makes this clear from His dozens of references to the Father and the Son. God's ultimate design is for us to be His children in that family (1 John 3:1-2; Romans 8:14-21; 2 Corinthians 6:18; Galatians 4:6-7; Revelation 21:7), of which Jesus is "the firstborn among many brethren" (Romans 8:29).
Space here is inadequate for a complete exploration of what the Bible has to say on this issue. Much more information is available in our free booklets Jesus Christ: The Real Story, Who Is God? and What Is Your Destiny?