|
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY IS NOT FOUND IN THE
BIBLE
The Illustrated Bible Dictionary records: "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."
The New Catholic Encyclopedia admits that the Trinity "is not.
. . directly and immediately the word of God."
The Encyclopedia of Religion And Ethics records: At first the Christian
Faith was not Trinitarian. . . It was not so in the apostolic and sub-apostolic
ages, as reflected in the New Testament and other early Christian writings."
L. L. Paine, professor of Ecclesiastical History acknowledged: "The
Old Testament is strictly monotheistic. God is a single personal being.
The idea that a trinity is to be found there . . . is utterly without
foundation."
The Encyclopedia of Religion admits: "Theologians today are in
agreement that the Hebrew Bible does not contain a doctrine of the Trinity."
The New Catholic Encyclopedia also admits: "The doctrine of the
Holy Trinity is not taught in the Old Testament."
Jesuit Edmund Fortman wrote in his book, The Triune God: ". . .
There is no evidence that any sacred writer even suspected the existence
of a Trinity within the Godhead. . . Even to see in the Old Testament
suggestions or foreshadowings or 'veiled signs' of the trinity of persons,
is to go beyond the words and intent of the sacred writers."
The Encyclopedia of Religion says: "Theologians agree that the
New Testament also does not contain an explicit doctrine of the Trinity."
The New Encyclopedia Britannica reports: "Neither the word Trinity
nor the explicit doctrine appears in the New Testament."
The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology confirms:
"The New Testament does not contain the developed doctrine of the
Trinity."
Jesuit Fortman similarly states: "The New Testament writers. .
. give us no formal or formulated doctrine of the Trinity, no explicit
teaching that in one God there are three co-equal divine persons. .
. Nowhere do we find any trinitarian doctrine of three distinct subjects
of divine life and activity in the same Godhead."
Yale University professor E. Washburn Hopkins affirms in the Origin
and Evolution of Religion: "To Jesus and Paul the doctrine of the
trinity was apparently unknown; . . .they say nothing about it."
Historian Arthur Weigall records in The Paganism in Our Christianity:
"Jesus Christ never mentioned such a phenomenon, and nowhere in
the New Testament does the word 'Trinity' appear. The idea was only
adopted by the Church three hundred years after the death of our Lord."
CHRISTIANS OF THE FIRST THREE CENTURIES HAD NO EXPLICIT TRINITARIAN
DOCTRINE
The New Catholic Encyclopedia notes: "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. . . Among the Apostolic Fathers, there had been nothing
even remotely approaching such a mentality or perspective."
The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology states: "Primitive
Christianity did not have an explicit doctrine of the Trinity such as
was subsequently elaborated in the creeds."
The Encyclopedia Americana plainly reports: "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 Ethnic Trinities by L. L. Paine, page 219, states that the development
of the trinity was an evolutionary process. "The Christian dogma
did not start from a polytheistic or pantheistic ground, but from Jewish
monotheism; but the development from one God to a trinity was just as
completely a historical evolution as any other."
THE TRINITY IDEA WAS INFUSED INTO CHRISTIANITY
THROUGH PAGAN GREEK PLATONIC THOUGHT
The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge plainly documents
the historical influence that Greek Philosophy had on the development
of the Trinity:
"The doctrine of the Logos and the Trinity received their shape
from Greek Fathers, who. . . were much influenced, directly or indirectly,
by the Platonic philosophy . . . That errors and corruptions crept into
the Church from this source can not be denied."
The book entitled, The Church of the Fist Three Centuries acknowledges:
"The doctrine of the Trinity was of gradual and comparatively late
formation: . . . it had its origin in a source entirely foreign from
that of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures; . . . it grew up, and was
ingrafted on Christianity, through the hands of the Platonizing Fathers."
The Platonizing Fathers were the Greek Philosophers that became Christian
but continued to follow the teachings of Plato. These Philosophers mixed
Christians Ideas with Pagan Greek Philosophy to formulate the concept
of a three person Godhead. The apostle Paul warned the Greek Colossian
city, "Beware lest any man cheat you through philosophy and vain
deceit. . .(Colossians 2:8)"
What kind of philosophy was Paul warning about? Since Paul was addressing
a Greek city, he must have been warning about the entrance of Greek
Philosophical Thought. The Platonic Fathers also known as Greek Apologists
were the first to introduce Pagan Trinitarian Thought into Christianity.
Church Historian Adolf Harnack states that the Church Fathers which
developed the Nicene Creed were Platonists who appealed to Plato in
support of the Trinity. Volume 4. Page 88: "Science concluded on
alliance with the Nicene Creed; that was a condition of the triumph
of orthodoxy. . . These men took their stand on the general theory of
the universe which was accepted by the science of the time; they were
Platonists, and they once more naively appealed to Plato in support
even of their doctrine of the Trinity."
Church Historian Jaroslav Pelikan states in his book - The Emergence
of the Catholic Tradition - that Greek Platonic elements were unmistakably
present in the Trinitarian definition of One God in "three persons."
"The doctrine of the Trinity. . .must be interpreted in a manner
that would be consistent with this a priori definition of the deity
of God (One essence, three persons). Neoplatonic elements were unmistakably
present in this definition. . ."
The New Catholic Encyclopedia vol. 10, page 335 admits: "From the
middle of the 4th century onward, however, Christian thought was strongly
influenced by Neo-platonic philosophy and mysticism."
Adolf Harnack states in Outlines of the History of Dogma, that church
doctrine became "firmly rooted in the soil of Hellenism [pagan
Greek thought]. Thereby it became a mystery to the great majority of
Christians."
Andrew Norton declares in the book "A Statement of Reasons"
that the Trinity originated not from the Bible, but from Platonic Philosophy:
"We can trace the history of this doctrine, and discover its source,
not in the Christian revelation, but in the Platonic philosophy . .
. The Trinity is not a doctrine of Christ and his Apostles, but a fiction
of the school of the later Platonists."
THE TRINITY IDEA WAS BORROWED FROM HEATHEN RELIGIONS
A Dictionary of Religious Knowledge records that many historians believe
that the Trinity "is a corruption borrowed from the heathen religions,
and ingrafted on the Christian faith."
Edward Gibbons's History of Christianity notes: "If Paganism was
conquered by Christianity, it is equally true that Christianity was
corrupted by Paganism. The pure Deism of the first Christians . . .
was changed, by the Church of Rome, into the incomprehensible dogma
of the trinity. Many of the pagan tenets, invented by the Egyptians
and idealized by Plato, were retained as being worthy of belief."
Historian Will Durant observed: "Christianity did not destroy paganism;
it adopted it. . . From Egypt came the ideas of a divine trinity."
Siegfried Morenz, in the book 'Egyptian Religion' notes: "The trinity
was a major preoccupation of Egyptian theologians . . . These gods are
combined and treated as a single being, addressed in the singular. In
this way the spiritual force of Egyptian religion shows a direct link
with Christian theology."
James Hastings wrote in the Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics: "In
Indian religion, e.g., we meet with the trinitarian group of Brahma,
Siva, and Visnu; and in Egyptian religion with the trinitarian group
of Osiris, Isis, and Horus. . . Nor is it only in historical religions
that we find God viewed as a Trinity. One recalls in particular the
Neo-Platonic views of the Supreme or Ultimate Reality. which is triadically
represented."
The French New Universal Dictionary reveals both Plato's Greek Philosophical
Influence upon Christianity and that of ancient pagan religions: "The
Platonic Trinity, itself merely a rearrangement of older trinities dating
back to earlier peoples, appears to be the rational philosophic trinity
attributes that gave birth to the three hypostases or divine persons
taught by the Christian Churches. . . Thus Greek philosophers conception
of the divine trinity . . . can be found in all the ancient pagan religions."
L. L. Paine records that the Trinity idea stems from Pagan Roots: ".
. . among the more highly civilized Chaldaeans, Babylonians, Assyrians,
and Egyptians, triads of gods were a common and notable feature of their
theogonies."
H. P. Blavatsky in Isis Unveiled (pages 45,46), reveals that the Trinity
Dogma originated from Babylon:
"We find it northeast of the Indus; and tracing it to Asia Minor
and Europe, recognize it among every people who had anything like an
established religion. It was taught in the oldest Chaldaean, Egyptian,
and Mithraitic schools. The Chaldaean Sun-god, Mithra, was called 'Triple,'
and the trinitarian idea of the Chaldaeans was a doctrine of the Akkadians,
who themselves belonged to a race which was the first to conceive a
metaphysical trinity. According to Rawlinson, the Chaldaeans are a tribe
of the Akkadians, who lived in Babylonia from the earliest of times."
GOD GIVES AMPLE WARNING TO BEWARE OF PAGAN IDEAS COMING FROM BABYLON
In Revelation 17:1-5, the Bible gives ample warning to beware of the
Apostasy which would emanate from Babylon:
". . . I will show you the judgment of the great whore that sits
upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication,
and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine
of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness:
and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of
blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed
in purple and scarlet color, and decked with fold and precious stones
and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and
filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written,
MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF
THE EARTH."
The Pagan idea of a Trinity of three personal gods clearly originated
in ancient Babylon. It was from ancient Babylon that all Pagan Religions
had their original source. When God dispersed the ancients at the tower
of Babel, they settled throughout the world with their concept of a
metaphysical trinity firmly entrenched. It was from this source that
Christianity has been infiltrated. Babylon is the Mother of all false
religion.
"And here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven
mountains, on which the woman sits." Revelation 17:9
It is no coincidence that the city of Rome has been known from ancient
times as "the city of seven hills." Ancient Roman coins plainly
record inscriptions referring to the Roman Capital as "THE CITY
OF SEVEN HILLS." What more convincing proof do we need? Since the
Vatican sits on the seven hills of the ancient city of Rome she must
be the whore spoken of in the Biblical Book of Revelation.
God plainly calls the Roman Catholic Church who sits on the seven hills
of Rome, "Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots."
Why would God call the Catholic Church "Babylon The Great, The
Mother Of Harlots? She is called "Babylon The Great," because
the historical evidence proves that the Roman Catholic Church has promulgated
ancient pagan teachings which had their original roots stemming from
ancient Babylon. She is called "The Mother Of Harlots because this
pseudo-Christian Religion has birthed many Protestant Daughters who
continue to practice the central teaching of their Mother. The central
teaching of the Harlot Church is clearly the false doctrine of the Trinity
and a false Christian Baptism into the Trinity rather than in the Biblical
way, "in the name of Jesus Christ."
The false bride is represented in the Bible as a whore because she has
been contaminated with ancient Pagan ideas emanating from the Devil.
Just as there is physical adultery so there can be spiritual adultery
when we enter into idolatry.
Satan has continued to use the Catholic Institution known in the Bible
as "the great whore" to deceive people into believing that
she is the true bride of Christ. Yet the true virgin bride of Jesus
Christ will not be contaminated with idolatrous teachings stemming from
ancient Babylon.
Beloved, the true bride of Jesus Christ will always know who her husband
really is; and she is not ashamed to take on His name in water baptism.
It is a false and treacherous bride that refuses to take to herself
the name of her true husband in water baptism. And it is a false and
treacherous bride that will join in ecumenical fellowship with any church
or organization promoting the false teaching of the Trinity and the
whores' corrupt form of Trinitarian baptism..
The Bible repeatedly declares that the true bride of Jesus Christ will
remain pure from the sin of committing spiritual adultery. The Hebrews
of the Old Covenant had repeatedly sinned against Jehovah God by going
after false gods. Jehovah repeatedly called His people to repent over
blending idolatrous ideas with scriptural knowledge. God always spoke
of the sins of idolatry as FORNICATION or ADULTERY against Him. Do we
really think that God will except the blending of pagan ideas with true
worship? Has God changed His warning, "I AM THE LORD, I CHANGE
NOT."
"And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her,
my people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive
not of her plagues." Revelation 18:4
|