The
Historical Background of the Trinity
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| By Jeff
Rath 8-98 |
The current mainstream
teaching in Christianity is that God is a coequal, coeternal,
one-substance trinity, and that Jesus Christ is God. This doctrine
is considered by many as the cornerstone of Christianity, but
where did this doctrine come from? The historical record is overwhelming
that the church of the first three centuries did not worship God
as a coequal, coeternal, consubstantial, one-substance three in
one mysterious godhead. The early church worshipped one God and
believed in a subordinate Son. The trinity originated with Babylon,
and was passed on to most of the world's religions. This polytheistic
(believing in more than one god) trinitarianism was intertwined
with Greek religion and philosophy and slowly worked its way into
Christian thought and creeds some 300 years after Christ. The
idea of "God the Son" is Babylonian paganism and mythology
that was grafted into Christianity. Worshipping "God the
Son" is idolatry, and idolatry is Biblically condemned; it
breaks the first great commandment of God of not having any gods
before him (Exodus 20:3). Then three centuries after Christ the
corrupt emperor Constantine forced the minority opinion of the
trinity upon the council of Nicea. The Christian church went downward
from there; in fact some of the creeds and councils actually contradict
each other. The council of Nicea 325 said that "Jesus Christ
is God," the council of Constantinople 381 said that "the
Holy Spirit is God," the council of Ephesus 431 said that
"human beings are totally depraved," the council of
Chalcedon 451 said that "Jesus Christ is both man and God."
If you follow the logic here then first you have Jesus Christ
as God, then you have man totally depraved, and then you have
Jesus Christ as man and God. If Jesus Christ is both man and God
does this mean that God is also totally depraved? Well maybe the
doctrine of the coequal, coeternal, one-substance, mysterious
three in one triune godhead is deprived of any historical foundation
tying it into the Christianity of the Bible and the Christianity
of the first three centuries. However the historical information
ties the trinity into various pagan origins.
And yet most Christian churches continue to teach and believe
the doctrine that God is a coequal, coeternal, one-substance,
mysterious three in one triune godhead, and that Jesus Christ
is God, and that the trinity is "the cornerstone of Christianity".
The Church of the First Three Centuries 1865 Alvan Lamson
" . . . The modern doctrine of the Trinity is not found
in any document or relic belonging to the Church of the first
three centuries. . . so far as any remains or any record of
them are preserved, coming down from early times, are, as regards
this doctrine an absolute blank. They testify, so far as they
testify at all, to the supremacy of the father, the only true
God; and to the inferior and derived nature of the Son. There
is nowhere among these remains a coequal trinity. . . but no
un-divided three, -- coequal, infinite, self-existent, and eternal.
This was a conception to which the age had not arrived. It was
of later origin."
During the first three centuries, Christians did not believe
that Jesus Christ was coequal, and coeternal with God, or that
he was God the Son, they believed that Jesus Christ was subordinate
to God, and that he had a beginning, that he was born. Those
that believed otherwise were the exception.
The Doctrine of the Trinity Christianity’s Self-Inflicted Wound
1994 Anthony F. Buzzard Charles F. Hunting
"Those Trinitarians who believe that the concept of a
Triune God was such an established fact that it was not considered
important enough to mention at the time the New Testament was
written should be challenged by the remarks of another writer,
Harold Brown:"
"It is a simple fact and an undeniable historical fact
that several major doctrines that now seem central to the Christian
Faith – such as the doctrine of the Trinity and the doctrine
of the nature of Christ – were not present in a full and self-defined
generally accepted form until the fourth and fifth centuries.
If they are essential today – as all of the orthodox creeds
and confessions assert – it must be because they are true. If
they are true, then they must always have been true; they cannot
have become true in the fourth and fifth century. But if they
are both true and essential, how can it be that the early church
took centuries to formulate them?"
A History of the Christian Church 2nd Ed. 1985 Williston Walker
"AD 200. . Noetus had been expelled from the Smyrnaean
church for teaching that Christ was the Father, and that the
Father himself was born, and suffered, and died."
Man’s Religions John B. Noss 1968
"The controversy first became heated when Apollinarius,
a bishop in Syria . . . asserted that Christ could not have
been perfect man united with complete God, for then there would
not have been one Son of God, but two sons, one by nature and
one by adoption, the first with a divine, the second with a
human will. Such a thing seemed inconceivable, religiously abhorrent."
"Nestorius . . . preached a sermon against calling the
virgin Mary ‘the mother of God’ declaring she did not bear a
deity, she bore a man,"
Numbers 23:19 states that God is not a man. God was not born,
and God certainly did not die, but when people deviate from
what the Bible teaches you can come up with the bizarre complexities
of trinitarian religious mysteries that contradict logic, common
sense and God’s Word.
New Bible Dictionary 1982
"The word trinity is not found in the Bible . . ."
". . . it did not find a place formally in the theology
of the church till the 4th century."
". . . it is not a biblical doctrine in the sense that
any formation of it can be found in the Bible, . . ."
"Scripture does not give us a formulated doctrine of the
trinity, . . ."
The HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism 1995
". . . scholars generally agree that there is no doctrine
of the trinity as such in either the Old Testament or the New
Testament."
If the trinity is the cornerstone of Christianity then how
did the church of the first three centuries get along so well
without it? If the trinity is the cornerstone of Christianity
then why is it not mentioned in the Bible? Also several of the
scriptures that are used by trinitiarians to back up their theology
have been altered after the first century to reflect trinitarian
theology.
The Philosophy of the Church Fathers 1976 Harry Austryn Wolfson
"Critical scholarship, on the whole, rejects the traditional
attribution of the tripartite baptismal formula [Father, Son,
Holy Spirit] to Jesus and regards it as of later origin. . .
Undoubtedly then the baptismal formula originally consisted
of one part [in the name of Jesus Christ] and it gradually developed
into its tripartite form. [Father, Son, Holy Spirit]
The Encyclopedia Americana 1956
"Christianity derived from Judaism and Judaism was strictly
Unitarian (believing in one God). The road which led from Jerusalem
to Nicea was scarcely a straight one. Fourth century trinitarianism
did not reflect accurately early Christian teaching regarding
the nature of God; it was, on the contrary, a deviation from
this teaching."
The trinity is a deviation from believing in one God; it is
a deviation from what the early church taught and it is a deviation
from the scripture.
The New Catholic Encyclopedia 1967
"The formulation 'one God in three persons' was not solidly
established, certainly not fully assimilated into Christian
life and its profession of faith, prior to the end of the 4th
century."
Encyclopedia of Early Christianity 1990 Everett Ferguson
"Primitive Christianity, like Judaism, was distinguished
from paganism by its unqualified monotheism."
Who is Jesus? Anthony Buzzard
"The Old Testament is a strictly monotheistic. God is
a single personal being. The idea that a trinity is to be found
there or even in any way shadowed forth, is an assumption that
has long held sway in theology, but is utterly without foundation."
The New Encyclopedia Britannica 1976
"Neither the word trinity, nor the explicit doctrine as
such, appears in the New Testament, nor did Jesus and his followers
intend to contradict the Shema in the Old Testament: 'Hear,
O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord' (Deut. 6:4). . . The
doctrine developed gradually over several centuries and through
many controversies. . . . By the end of the 4th century . .
. the doctrine of the trinity took substantially the form it
has maintained ever since."
The Shema consists of three sections of scripture Deuteronomy
6:4-9, 11:13-21, and Numbers 15:37-41. It is called the Shema
after the Hebrew word hear, the first word in Deut. 6:4. The
Shema was to be recited twice daily once upon arising and once
when going to bed. So the Old Testament Jews would start and
finish their day with 'Hear O Israel: The Lord our God is one
Lord.'
The Complete Word Study Old Testament 1994
"To the Jew, (Deut. 6:4-9) this is the most important
text in the Old Testament. Jesus himself called the injunction
in 6:5 'the first and great commandment' Matt.22:36-38. . .
Moses is teaching not only the priority of belief in one God,
but also a means to preserve that belief. As time went on, the
proper understanding of the Shema with its spiritual implications
was no longer grasped by the people. This absence of saving
knowledge became a factor in their spiritual downfall."
Whenever God's people forget that there is only one God and
they follow after other gods this will result in their downfall.
This can be seen time and time again in the Old Testament where
God's people forsook the Lord and then evil came upon them.
God does not send this evil, but He warns us to stay away from
the evil of worshipping more than one God.
Dictionary of The Bible 1995 John L. Mckenzie
"The trinity of God is defined by the church as the belief
that in God are three persons who subsist in one nature. The
belief as so defined was reached only in the 4th and 5th centuries
AD and hence is not explicitly and formally a biblical belief."
Why You Should Believe In The Trinity 1989 Robert M. Bowman
Jr.
"The New Testament does not contain a formalized explanation
of the trinity that uses such words as trinity, three persons,
one substance, and the like."
The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology
1976
"The Bible lacks the express declaration that the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit are of equal essence. [said Karl
Barth]"
Exploring The Christian Faith 1992
"nowhere in the Bible do we find the doctrine of the trinity
clearly formulated"
"People who are using the King James Version might be
inclined to point to I John 5:7 'For there are three that bear
record in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost' But
it is now generally recognized that this verse does not belong
to the original text of the letter; it is a later insertion."
"The theological formulation took place later, after the
days of the apostles."
"the doctrine of the trinity is not found in the Bible"
"The doctrine was to develop along mainly Greek lines"
Take note of the words "explicitly and formally",
"formalized explanation", "express declaration",
and "clearly formulated". These words are indicative
of the fact that all the clear verses on the subjects of God,
Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit do not even hint at a trinity.
There are only a few verses that seem to hint at a trinity,
and then only when they are twisted. The difficult or unclear
verse must always be interpreted in light of the clear verses.
If God is a coeternal, coequal, one substance, three-in-one
Godhead, trinity, if that is what God really is, then he would
have made himself known as such to the first century apostles;
they would have made the trinity part of their beliefs teachings
and writings. They would have used words like God the Son, coequal,
coeternal, one substance, or trinity, but the scripture is devoid
of all of these trinitarian words and phrases because the first
century apostles did not believe or teach, or write about God
being a trinity, or Jesus Christ being God. But the pagan and
Greek and Babylonian religions used those words.
Dictionary Of The Bible 1995 John L. Mckenzie
"The trinity of persons within the unity of nature is
defined in terms of 'person' and 'nature' which are Greek philosophical
terms; actually the terms do not appear in the Bible. The trinitarian
definitions arose as the result of long controversies in which
these terms and others such as 'essence' and 'substance' were
erroneously applied to God by some theologians."
The Rise of Christianity W.H.C. Frend 1985
"For him [Clement] the trinity consisted of a hierarchy
of three graded beings, and from that concept - derived from
Platonism - depended much of the remainder of his theological
teaching."
The Doctrine of the Trinity Christianity’s Self-Inflicted Wound
1994 Anthony F. Buzzard Charles F. Hunting
"Eberhard Griesebach, in an acedemic lecture on "Christianity
and humanism" delivered in 1938, observed that in its encounter
with Greek philosophy Christianity became theology. That was
the fall of Christianity. The Problem thus highlighted stems
from the fact that traditional orthodoxy, while it claims to
find its origins in scripture, in fact contains elements drawn
from a synthesis of Scripture and Neo-Platonism. The mingling
of Hebrew and Greek thinking set in motion first in the second
century by an influx of Hellenism through the Church Fathers,
whose theology was colored by the Platonists Plotinus and Porphyry.
The effects of the Greek influence are widely recognized by
theologians, though they go largely unnoticed by many believers."
". . . the Trinity is an unintelligible proposition of
platonic mysticisms that three are one and one is three"
[quote from Thomas Jefferson]
Encyclopedia of Early Christianity 1990 Everett Ferguson
"Plato introduced the term [substance] into the vocabulary
of philosophy,"
"At the center of Neoplatonic metaphysics is a hypostatic
[person or substance] theology. In general, Neoplatonists postulated
three or four hypostases, called One, Mind, Soul and Nature."
"The Trinitarian doctrines of Marius, Victorinus, and
Augustine are based on Pophyry’s interpretation of the unity
of substance between the three divine hypostases."
The Greek mythology and pagan religious beliefs were derived
from Babylon.
Nouveau Dictionnaire Universel 1870
"The Platonic trinity, itself merely a rearrangement of
older trinities dating back to earlier peoples, appears to be
the rational philosophic trinity of attributes that gave birth
to the three hypostases or divine persons taught by the Christian
churches . . . This Greek philosopher's (Plato, 4th century
BC) conception of the divine trinity . . . can be found in all
ancient (pagan) religions"
The Two Babylons 1916 Rev. Alexander Hislop
"Egypt and Greece derived their religion from Babylon"
Microsoft Encarta Funk & Wagnalls 1994
"Neoplatonism is a type of idealistic monism in which
the ultimate reality of the universe is held to be an infinite,
unknowable, perfect One. From this One emanates nous (pure intelligence),
whence in turn is derived the world soul, the creative activity
of which engenders the lesser souls of human beings. The world
soul is conceived as an image of the nous, even as the nous
is an image of the One; both the nous and the world soul, despite
their differentiation, are thus consubstantial [one substance]
with the One."
Microsoft Encarta Funk & Wagnalls 1994
"The theologians Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and St.
Augustine were early Christian exponents of a Platonic perspective.
Platonic ideas have had a crucial role in the development of
Christian theology"
The Rise of Christianity W.H.C. Frend 1985
"we find Christianity tending to absorb Greek philosophical
values, until by the end of the third century the line between
the beliefs of educated Christian and educated pagan in the
east would often be hard to draw."
The early Christians began mixing Greek and pagan and Babylonian
philosophical and religious trinitarian concepts with their
Christian doctrine which lead them to begin considering the
trinity, and after three centuries that thinking finally took
hold. Acts 17:22 says that the Greeks were too superstitious,
and I Corinthians 1:22 says that the Jews require a sign and
the Greeks seek after wisdom. The Greeks were too intellectual
in their approach to God’s Word. They became wise in their own
eyes and the truth of God’s Word became foolishness to them,
so they grafted their own superstitious philosophical wisdom
into God’s Word and changed the truth into a lie; they changed
Son of God to God the Son.
Catholic Encyclopedia 1991
"The term 'Trinity' does not appear in scripture"
"(The Doctrine of the Trinity) - hammered out over the
course of three centuries of doctrinal controversy against modalism
and subordinationism"
Why You Should Believe In The Trinity 1989 Robert M. Bowman
Jr.
"Roman Catholics . . often claim that the trinity is not
a biblical doctrine and was first revealed through the ministry
of the church centuries after the Bible was written. This is
in keeping with the Roman Catholic belief that Christian doctrine
may be based either on the Bible or on church tradition."
The Roman Catholic Church did not get the doctrine of the trinity
from the Bible, they hammered out their own theology of what
they wanted God to be over several hundred years, and mixed
Greek philosophy with Babylonian mystery religion, and their
own private interpretations of the Bible.
I Peter 1:20, 21 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the
scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy
came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
II Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a
workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the
word of truth.
People don't respect God’s Word, they are more interested in
inventing their own theology by the will of man instead of believing
the word of God, they are not interested in rightly dividing
God's word of truth. The trinity is private interpretation and
wrong dividing of God's word.
Jesus Christ is not God 1975 Victor Paul Wierwille
"Long before the founding of Christianity the idea of
a triune god or a god-in-three persons was a common belief in
ancient religions. Although many of these religions had many
minor deities, they distinctly acknowledged that there was one
supreme God who consisted of three persons or essences. The
Babylonians used an equilateral triangle to represent this three-in-one
god, now the symbol of the modern three-in-one believers."
"The Hindu trinity was made up of the gods Brahma, Vishnu
and Shiva. The Greek triad was composed of Zeus, Athena and
Apollo. These three were said by the pagans to 'agree in one.'
One of the largest pagan temples built by the Romans was constructed
at Ballbek (situated in present day Lebanon) to their trinity
of Jupiter, Mercury and Venus. In Babylon the planet Venus was
revered as special and was worshipped as a trinity consisting
of Venus, the moon and the sun. This triad became the Babylonian
holy trinity in the fourteenth century before Christ."
"Although other religions for thousands of years before
Christ was born worshipped a triune god, the trinity was not
a part of Christian dogma and formal documents of the first
three centuries after Christ."
"That there was no formal, established doctrine of the
trinity until the fourth century is a fully documented historical
fact."
"Clearly, historians of church dogma and systematic theologians
agree that the idea of a Christian trinity was not a part of
the first century church. The twelve apostles never subscribed
to it or received revelation about it. So how then did a trinitarian
doctrine come about? It gradually evolved and gained momentum
in late first, second and third centuries as pagans, who had
converted to Christianity, brought to Christianity some of their
pagan beliefs and practices."
Who is Jesus? Anthony Buzzard
". . . we shall find not a hint that Jesus believed himself
to be an uncreated being who had existed from eternity. Matthew
and Luke trace the origin of Jesus to a special act of creation
by God when the Messiah’s conception took place in the womb
of Mary. It was this miraculous event which marked the beginning—the
genesis, or origin of Jesus of Nazareth"
Arius and his followers believed that Jesus Christ was created,
that he was not in the beginning with God. They believed that
he had a beginning, whereas God has no beginning. This makes
Jesus Christ substantially different from God, which means he
cannot be of one-substance with God as the trinitarians believe.
Documents of the Christian Church 2nd Ed 1963 Henery Bettenson
(quotes from Arius and his followers)
"If, said he, the Father begat the Son, he that was begotten
had a beginning of existence; hence it is clear that there was
a [a time] when the son was not."
"The Son of God is from what is not and there was [a time]
when he was not; saying also that the Son of God, in virtue
of his free will, is capable of evil and good, and calling him
a creature and a work."
The Rise of Christianity 1985 W.H.C. Frend
"If the Father begat the son, there must be when he was
not. He could not therefore be coeternal with the Father."[said
by Arius]
Man's Religions 1968 John B. Noss
"Arius held that Christ, . . . was a created being; he
was made like other creatures out of nothing, . . . The Son,
he argued, had a beginning, while God was without beginning."
The Church in History 1964 B. K. Kuiper
"The heathen believe in many gods. Arius thought that
to believe that the Son is God as well as that the Father is
God would mean that there are two Gods, and that therefore the
Christians would be falling back into heathenism."
Arius believed that Jesus Christ was born, that he had a beginning,
he believed that Jesus Christ was the created Son, not the Creator,
and for taking the Word of God literally he was excommunicated
and anathematized. Starting with Nimrod in ancient Babylon until
today man has stubbornly rebelled against the doctrine of one
God.
Exodus 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Exodus 34:14a For thou shalt worship no other god:
The trinity is idolatry, it puts Jesus Christ as a god before
God.
Forgers of the Word 1983 Victor Paul Wierwille
"To say Jesus Christ is God the Son is idolatry. To say
Jesus is the Son of God is truth"
I Samuel 15:23 For Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and
stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:
The Lord God Almighty, the Creator, the Father of Jesus Christ
is one God not three, not three-in-one, not one-in-three, ONE!
and only ONE! God is not a three-headed multi-personality trinity.
The Bible clearly refers to Jesus Christ as the Son of God
50 times; it never refers to him as God the Son. The phrase,
Son of God, is in the genitive case; showing that Jesus Christ
originated from and belongs to God. In no way can the Son of
God be the same as God the Son, that violates grammar, language
and common sense. God the Son is not a biblical term, it does
not appear in the Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic texts. God the Son
is however a Babylonian term. The Babylonians made Nimrod a
god, and when he died they deified his son Tammuz as God the
Son. Making God a man and man a god was invented in Babylon.
This idolatry and false belief has been carried into pagan religions,
and it has worked its way into Christianity as the doctrine
of the trinity.
Ravaged By The New Age 1996 Texe Marrs
"Nimrod, the first of the great Babylonian rulers, was
also declared to be the first of the man-gods."
The Two Babylons 1916 Rev. Alexander Hislop
"He was worshipped in Babylon under the name of El-Bar,
or 'God the Son'."
It is clear that the trinity does not have a Biblical origin.
It can be traced back to ancient Babylon, pagan Greeks and Romans.
It was forced upon the Christian Church by the emperor Constantine.
It was adhered to by bishops who were afraid to speak against
it. Then when the Protestants broke away from the corrupt Roman
Church most of them still carried the pagan doctrine of the
trinity, because they had practiced error for so long that they
accepted the trinitarian doctrine.
Encyclopedia of Early Christianity 1990 Everett Ferguson
"Prior to the council of Nicea (325), there was no agreement
about the use of the word ousia in relation to god, perhaps
because in some of its ordinary senses it seemed inappropiate
for such use."
Encyclopedia Britannica 1968
"The Council of Nicaea met on May 20, 325. Constantine
himself presiding, actively guiding the discussion, and personally
proposed the crucial formula expressing the relation of Christ
to God in the creed issued by the council. 'of one substance
with the father.' Over-awed by the emperor, the bishops, with
two exceptions only, signed the creed, many of them against
their inclination. Constantine regarded the decision of Nicaea
as divinely inspired. As long as he lived no one dared openly
to challenge the creed of Nicaea."
The Origins of Pagan and Christian Beliefs Edward Carpenter
1920 1996
"And when at the Council of Nicea (325 AD) it [the early
church] endeavored to establish an official creed, the strife
and bitterness only increased."
"-the Nicean creed had nothing to propound except some
extremely futile speculations about the relation to each other
of the Father and the Son, and the relation of both to the Holy
Ghost,"
Man's Religions 1968 John B. Noss
"This creed, adopted under pressure from the emperor,
who wanted peace, did not immediately solve the doctrinal difficulties
or save the peace. The phrases (not made) and (of the same substance
with the Father) were bitterly denounced by many"
The Rise of Christianity 1985 W.H.C. Frend
"The Emperor exerted all his influence toward winning
unanimous acceptance and nearly succeeded. Only two bishops
stood out against it; but two other senior bishops refused to
sign the anathemas against Arius and were exiled."
Constantine was really only interested in unifying the empire
and gaining more power. He broke truces, started wars, and even
had relatives killed to further his power. Constantine was more
interested in unity than in getting the correct doctrine of
the trinity. In fact before he died Constantine switched sides
and took Arius’ position regarding the trinity instead of the
position that he forced through the council of Nicea. Without
Constantine's presiding, actively guiding, and actively controlling
the discussion there would not have been a 'coequal' 'coeternal'
'God the Son' Nicene creed. But what manner of man was this
person who pushed through this doctrine which was to become
the cornerstone of Christianity?
A History of Christianity Volume 1 1997 Kenneth Scott Latourette
"Constantine. . . although only a catechumen, [One who
is being instructed in a subject at an elementary level] presided
over its [the council of Nicea] opening session, and was active
in its deliberations. Whether Constantine appreciated the niceties
of the questions at issue is highly doubtful, for he was a layman,
a warrior and administrator, not a philosopher or an expert
theologian."
The Rise of Christianity 1985 W.H.C. Frend
"Like all great conquerors from Alexander to Napoleon
or even Hitler his [Constantine's] aim was unity and unification
on a worldwide scale."
A History of the Christian Church 2nd Ed. 1985 Williston Walker
"He [Constantine] accepted the pagan title of Pontifex
Maximus, and his coins still showed the emblems of the Sun-God."
Encyclopedia of Early Christianity 1990 Everett Ferguson
"The Council of Nicea (325) was called to settle the question
of Christ’s divinity. The emperor Constantine had learned the
political importance of religious unity and put his power and
influence behind the council."
"Pressure to conform was evident, a weight that grew heavy
for many participants."
Babylon Mystery Religion 1981 Ralph Woodrow
". . his [Constantine's] conversion is to be seriously
questioned. Even though he had much to do with the establishment
of certain doctrines and customs within the church, the facts
plainly show that he was not truly converted-not in the Biblical
sense of the word."
"Probably the most obvious indication that he was not
truly converted may be seen from the fact that after his conversion
he committed several murders-including the murder of his own
wife and son!"
"Yet in 326-very shortly after directing the Nicean Council-he
had his son put to death."
The Doctrine of the Trinity Christianity’s Self-Inflicted Wound
1994 Anthony F. Buzzard Charles F. Hunting
"It was Constantine who by official edict brought Christianity
to believe in the formal division of the Godhead into two –
God the Father and God the Son. It remained the task of a later
generation to bring Christianity to believe in the Triune God."
". . . years after winning this heaven-inspired triumph,
history divulges that the alleged follower of Jesus murdered
an already vanquished rival, killed his wife by having her boiled
alive in her own bath – and murdered an innocent son."
[speaking of Constantine]
A History of Christianity 1976 Paul Johnson
". . . appears to have been a sun-worshipper, one of a
number of the late pagan cults which had observances in common
with Christians. Worship of such gods was not a novel idea.
Every Greek or Roman expected that political success followed
from religious piety. Christianity was the religion of Constantine’s
father. Although Constantine claimed that he was the thirteenth
apostle, his was no sudden Damascus conversion. Indeed it is
highly doubtful that he ever truly abandoned sun-worship. After
his professed acceptance of Christianity, he built a triumphal
arch to the sun god and in Constantinople set up a statue of
the same sun god bearing his own features. He was finally deified
after his death by official edict in the Empire, as were many
Roman rulers."
". . . His private life became monstrous as he aged .
. . His abilities had always lain in management . . . [he was]
a master of . . . the smoothly-worded compromise."
It would be an understatement to say that Constantine was a
crooked politician; yet this is the man who is mainly responsible
for the Nicene Creed's doctrine of the coequal, coeternal, one
substance three in one God. One day he is setting the doctrine
for the Christian church another day he is murdering people;
it would seem that to anyone with any common sense that formulating
church doctrine should not be done by a non-repentant murderer.
How many of you would like to have a non-repentant murderer
setting your Christian doctrine? Yet if you believe the Nicene
Creed you have done just that.
Documents of the Christian Church 2nd Ed 1963 Henery Bettenson
"The decisions of Nicea were really the work of a minority,
and they were misunderstood and disliked by many"
Forgers of the Word 1983 Victor Paul Wierwille
"The truth of Jesus Christ the Son of God was deliberately
forged into the doctrine of God the Son. Seeds of Jesus Christ
as God were planted and sprouted during the lifetime of Paul,
continued growing during Timothy's lifetime and flourished shortly
thereafter, reaching full bloom for all future creeds by 325
AD"
"The doctrine that Jesus Christ the Son of God was God
the son was decreed by worldly and ecclesiastical powers. Men
were forced to accept it at the point of the sword or else,
Thus, the error of the trinity was propounded to the end that
ultimately people believed it to be the truth. Thus Christianity
became in essence like Babylonian heathenism, with only a veneer
of Christian names."
A History of Christianity Volume 1 1997 Kenneth Scott Latourette
"To enforce the decisions of the Council of Nicea, Constantine
commanded, with the death penalty for disobedience, the burning
of all books composed by Arius, banished Arius and his closest
supporters, and deposed from their sees Eusebius of Nicomedia
and another bishop who had been active in the support of Arius."
The Rise of Christianity 1985 W.H.C. Frend
"the controversial term, defining the son as Consubstantial
with [homoousios] the father was introduced by Constantine.
The term was objectionable to any Origenist bishop and had been
rejected by Dionysius of Alexandria when used by the Libyan
bishops, and the Council of Antioch"
"The great majority of the eastern bishops were placed
in a false position. they dared not challenge the emperor"
A History of the Christian Church 2nd Ed. 1985 Williston Walker
"The majority (of the bishops) were conservatives in the
sense that they represented . . . subordinationism of the eastern
tradition. The Emperor himself was present at the assembly and
dominated its proceedings."
"From the very beginning, however, people like Eusebius
of Caesarea had doubts about the (Nicene) creed, doubts focused
on the word 'homoousios'. (Greek for one substance) . . . The
term was non-Scriptural, it had a very doubtful theological
history."
"Eusebius of Nicomedia and all save two of the other bishops,
signed the creed-willing no doubt, to go along with what the
emperor wanted. Yet he and many others continued to suspect
its language."
Encyclopedia of Early Christianity 1990 Everett Ferguson
"When Constantine the Great called the Council at Nicea,
which met in 325, much if not all of his motivation was to keep
the empire intact by having one solid religious pliiar on which
it could stand. He desiginated funds for travel and lodging,
supplied the imperial palace at Nicea as the meeting place,
and himself participated in and oversaw the council. For him,
the issue at stake was as much the unity of his empire as theology."
"The emperor Constantine’s confidant Hosius of Cordova
had been won over by Alexander, and imperial pressure was applied
in favor of a settlement acceptable to Alexander (which meant
a settlement unacceptable to Arius’s supporters)."
The majority of the bishops at the council of Nicea believed
in what is called subordinationism, which is a belief that Jesus
Christ is subordinate to God the Father, not coequal, not coeternal,
and not God the Son. The teachings of Arius were condemned in
325, but the teachings of Arius did not die, by 359 Arianism
was widely accepted, that is until the minority trinitarian
bishops found another emperor that they could get to propose
their trinitarian creed at the Council of Constantinople in
381.
Man’s Religions John B. Noss 1968
"The doctrine of the trinity he [Michael Servetus] felt
to be a Catholic perversion and himself to be a good New Testament
Christian in combating it. . . According to his conception,
a trinity composed of three distinct persons in one God is a
rational impossibility;"
Saying that Jesus Christ is not God does not degrade Jesus
Christ it merely sets things in their proper order so we can
know God and worship Him in spirit and truth.
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way the truth and
the life: no man cometh to the Father, but by me.
John 14:13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will
I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
Satan the Devil strongly desires man to worship him instead
of the one true God, and when he can't achieve his primary goal
then his next desire is to get man to worship anything other
than the true God. Satan has been quite successful in tricking
good Christians into worshipping Jesus Christ as God instead
of worshipping the one true God, the Father of Jesus Christ.
Eph 5:14 Wherefore he saith Awake thou that sleepest, and arise
from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
We can no longer be lulled to sleep by the bizarre, complex,
confusing, ritualistic, mysterious Babylonian traditions of
trinitarian doctrines. We must come back to God’s Word and worship
the one true God; the Father of Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 8:4b there is none other God but one.
1 Corinthians 8:6 But to us there is but one God, the Father,
of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom are all things, and we by him.
The Doctrine of the Trinity Christianity’s Self-Inflicted Wound
1994 Anthony F. Buzzard Charles F. Hunting
"The God of Moses, Isaiah, Jesus, and the apostles was
one person, the Father. One cannot be made equal to two or three.
All that can be done with one is to fractionalize it. Divide
it into smaller segments and it is no longer one. Expand it,
and in spite of prodigious mental gymnastics on the part of
Trinitarians, it cannot be made into two or three and still
remain one."
". . . it is not uncommon for religious leaders to insist
that you must believe in the Trinity to be a Christian, or be
branded a cultist."
"One of the great marvels of Christian history has been
the ability of theologians to convince Christian people that
three persons are really one God."
A Statement of Reasons for Not Believing the Doctrine of the
Trinitarians Concerning the Nature of God and the Person of
Christ 1833 Andrews Norton
"When we look back through the long ages of the reign
of the Trinity . . . we shall perceive that few doctrines have
produced more unmixed evil."
The Bible does not give us a doctrine of a trinity. The trinitarian
terminology and concepts were introduced from Greek philosophy
by those who held the writings of Plato and Aristotle in equal
esteem to the Bible. The historical record shows that modern
Christian trinitarian beliefs were not formulated until about
300 years after the death of Jesus Christ, but in pagan religions
trinitarian beliefs date back to ancient Greece, Egypt, Babylon,
and others, thousands of years before Jesus Christ. The coequal,
coeternal, one substance, three in one trinity is not a Biblical
Christian doctrine; yet there are those who insist that it is
the cornerstone of Christianity.
In our day and time the doctrine of the trinity is a cornerstone
of idolatry.
Copyright 1998 Jeff Rath
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