Prophet? Deity?

Yesterday i had a lengthy chat to the bloke who cuts my hair, a Muslim, about faith, church and Jesus.

I made the point that both our faiths say that Jesus of Nazareth was a prophet. If that is the case, then he cannot lie, nor speak mistruths about what the future will hold. If he did, he would be a false prophet and executed (Deuteronomy 13).

I brought this up because of two claims that Jesus made.

First, he said he was God. To our somewhat removed ears it may be harder to hear, but Jesus left no doubt to those around him. In fact, this claim, was a major reason that lead to his death.

Jesus used the personal title that God gave to himself (I AM in Exodus 3:14). He said he was the I AM (usually translated LORD) in John 8:58. This was an unmistakable claim to be God for those listening and they attempted to stone Jesus. A similar sequence of events unfolds two chapters later when Jesus says that he "and the Father are one." During his trial before the High Priest, Jesus is accused of blasphemy due to his response to being the "Christ, Son of God." (Matthew 26)

Jesus claims the titles that are attached to God to himself. He is the Good Shepherd (John 10) like God is depicted in Ezekiel 34 and Psalm 23.

Jesus does what only God was meant to do. This is most obvious from Mark 2 where Jesus forgives the sins of the man he subsequently heals. This claim to God-ness is recognised by those there in Mark 2:7. Jesus also feeds the masses, like God did for the fledgling Jewish nation and was the giver of life (John 5)

Jesus does what no good Jew would do, he accepted worship as God. Paul and Barnabas stop people doing the same to them (Acts 14), but Jesus does not halt the leper (Matthew 8), the ruler (Matthew 9), his disciples (Matthew 14), the Canaanite woman (Matthew 15), James & John's mother (Matthew 20) and Thomas, post resurrection (John 20).

Either Jesus was telling the truth or he wasn't. Either he was God in the flesh, or he was a nut case.

Second, Jesus said he would rise from the dead (Mark 8 & 9). Either he did, and that points towards a guy who you should put your faith in, or he didn't and is an untrustworthy loon.

If you accept that Jesus was a prophet of God, but hold the belief that Jesus didn't actually die on the cross (like my barber believed), I struggle to see how this is not unquestionably deceptive. No matter if another died in the place of Christ or he "revived" he cannot be a prophet.