trinity & jesus divinity

7/30/2019 Trinity & Jesus Divinity

1/11


2/11

[Jesus said:] Indeed God is my Lord and your Lord, soworship Him. That is the straight path. (The Holy Quran, 3:51)

They have certainly disbelieved who say, "God is thethird of three. [i.e. referring to the concept of the trinity]"

And there is no god except one God. And if they do notdesist from what they are saying, there will surely afflictthe disbelievers among them a painful punishment. So willthey not repent to God and seek His forgiveness? And Godis Forgiving and Merciful. The Messiah, son of Mary, wasnot but a messenger; [other] messengers have passed onbefore him. And his mother was a supporter of truth. Theyboth used to eat food. Look how We make clear to themthe signs; then look how they are deluded. (The Holy Quran,5:73-75)

TESTIMONIES OF THE HISTORIANS, BIBLICAL SCHOLARS ANDENCYCLOPEDIAS THAT THE DESCIPLES OF JESUS DID NOTWORSHIP HIM:

"These Disciples [of Jesus] did not regard their faith in Jesus as

constituting a new religion apart from Judaism, and they continuedto live as zealous orthodox Jews. Although they exalted Jesus as theMessiah, they regarded him as human; for Judaism was strictlymonotheistic and the Messiah 3 was not held to be divine."

- Man, Myth & Magic: The Illustrated

Encyclopedia of Mythology, Religion and the

Unknown, Ed. Richard Cavendish, Vol. 8, p.

2151, (1983).

"The earliest followers of Jesus were not even called Christians . . .They were called Nazarenes. They believed that Jesus was theChrist in the Jewish sense of that term . . . They did not believethat Jesus was a divine being . . ."

- Hyam Maccoby, a Domus

Exhibitioner in Classics at Balliol College,

3The word CHRIST is derived from the Greek word CHRISTOS which is a translation of the Hebrew

word MESSIAH, meaning ANOINTED BY OIL. This title means THE BLESSED ONE and does NOT

hold any meaning ofDIVINITY. This word was common among the Hebrews and was styled to any

PROPHET, PRIEST and KING who was anointed by oil, like Aaron and his sons (The Bible, Exodus30:30), Saul (The Bible, 1 Samuel 126:9), David (The Bible, 1 Chronicles 14:8), Solomon (The Bible, 1kings

1:39) and even the pagan Persian king, Cyrus (The Bible, Isaiah 45:1).

2


3/11

Oxford, "Revolution in Judea: Jesus and the

Jewish Resistance."

"They [the disciples] did not regard his [e.g. Jesus] death as a

divine, tragic, or saving event. And they did not imagine that he hadbeen raised from the dead to rule over a transformed world.Instead, they thought of him as a teacher whose teachings made itpossible to live with verve in troubled times. Thus they did notgather to worship in his name, honor him as a god, or cultivate hismemory through hymns, prayers, and rituals."

- The biblical ScholarBurton L. Mack, "The

Lost Gospel"

"Unitarianism as a theological movement began much earlier in

History; indeed it antedated Trinitarianism by many decades.Christianity derived from Judaism and Judaism was strictly Unitarian.The road which led from Jerusalem to Nicea was scarcely a straightone. Fourth century Trinitarianism did not reflect accurately earlyChristian teaching regarding the nature of God; it was, on thecontrary, a deviation from this teaching."

- Encyclopedia Americana, (1959) Vol. 27,

p. 294

TESTIMONIES OF THE HISTORIANS, BIBLICAL SCHOLARS ANDENCYCLOPEDIAS THAT JESUS DID NOT TEACH THE DOCTRINEOF THE TRINITY:

To Jesus and Paul the doctrine of the trinity was apparentlyunknown; . . . they say nothing about it.

- Yale University ProfessorE. Washburn Hopkins, "Origin and

Evolution of Religion."

"What is most embarrassing for the church is the difficulty ofproving any of these statements of dogma from the new Testamentdocuments. You simply cannot find the doctrine of the Trinity setout anywhere in the Bible."

Tom Harpur (a Christian Scholar), "For

Christ's Sake."

"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

3


4/11

any way shadowed forth, is an assumption that has long held swayin theology, but is utterly without foundation."

- Anthony Buzzard, "Who is Jesus?"

. . . scholars generally agree that there is no doctrine of the trinityas such in either the Old Testament or the New Testament.

- The Harper Collins Encyclopedia of

Catholicism (1995)

They [the great majority of regular churchgoers] profess to believein one God, but in reality they worship three.

- Tom Harpur (a Christian Scholar), "For

Christ's Sake."

"Jesus Christ never mentioned such a phenomenon [i.e the Trinity],and nowhere in the New Testament does the word 'Trinity' appear.The idea was only adopted by the Church three hundred years afterthe death of our Lord."

- Arthur Weigall (a Christian Historian), "The Paganism

in Our Christianity."

TESTIMONIES OF THE HISTORIANS, BIBLICAL SCHOLARS ANDENCYCLOPEDIAS THAT THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY WASINVENTED MORE THAN THREE HUNDRED YEARS AFTER

JESUS:

It [the Trinity] did not find a place formally in the theology of thechurch till the 4th century.

- The Illustrated Bible Dictionary

"In Christian doctrine, the unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit asthree persons in one Godhead Neither the word Trinity nor theexplicit doctrine appears in the New Testament, The Council ofNicaea in 325 stated the crucial formula for that doctrine in itsconfession that the Son is 'of the same substance [homoousios] asthe Father,' even though it said very little about the Holy Spirit.Over the next half century, Athanasius defended and refined theNicene formula, and, by the end of the 4th century, under theleadership of Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory ofNazianzus (the Cappadocian Fathers), the doctrine of the Trinitytook substantially the form it has maintained ever since."

- Encyclopaedia Britannica

4


5/11

". . . It is difficult in the second half of the 20th century to offer aclear, objective and straightforward account of the revelation,doctrinal evolution, and theological elaboration of the Mystery of thetrinity. Trinitarian discussion, Roman Catholic as well as other,present a somewhat unsteady silhouette. Two things have

happened. There is the recognition on the part of exegetes andBiblical theologians, including a constantly growing number ofRoman Catholics, that one should not speak of Trinitarianism in theNew Testament without serious qualification. There is also theclosely parallel recognition on the part of historians of dogma andsystematic theologians that when one does speak of an unqualifiedTrinitarianism, one has moved from the period of Christian originsto, say, the last quadrant of the 4th century. It was only then thatwhat might be called the definitive Trinitarian dogma 'One God inthree Persons' became thoroughly assimilated into Christian life andthought ... it was the product of 3 centuries of doctrinaldevelopment."

- The New Catholic Encyclopedia,

Volume XIV, p. 295

"The trinity of God is defined by the church as the belief that in Godare three persons who subsist in one nature. The belief as sodefined was reached only in the 4th and 5th centuries AD andhence is not explicitly and formally a biblical belief. The trinity ofpersons within the unity of nature is defined in terms of "person"

and "nature: which are G[ree]k philosophical terms; actually theterms do not appear in the Bible. The Trinitarian definitions arose asthe result of long controversies in which these terms and otherssuch as "essence" and "substance" were erroneously applied to Godby some theologians."

- Dictionary of the Bible

by John L. McKenzie, S.J. p. 899

TESTIMONIES OF THE HISTORIANS, BIBLICAL SCHOLARS AND

ENCYCLOPEDIAS THAT THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY WASTAKEN FROM THE EARLY PAGAN NATIONS (LIKE HINDUS,GREEKS AND EGYPTIANS):

"Incarnation denotes the embodiment of a deity in human form. Theidea occurs frequently in mythology. In ancient times, certainpeople, especially kings and priests, were often believed to bedivinities. In Hinduism, Vishnu is believed to have taken nineincarnations, or Avatars. For Christians, the incarnation is a centraldogma referring to the belief that the eternal son of God, thesecond person of the Trinity, became man in the person of Jesus

Christ. The incarnation was defined as a doctrine only after longstruggles by early church councils. The Council of Nicea (325)

5


6/11

defined the deity of Christ against Arianism; the Council ofConstantinople (381) defined the full humanity of the incarnateChrist against Apollinarianism; the Council of Ephesus (431) definedthe unity of Christ's person against Nestorianism; and the Council ofChalcedon (451) defined the two natures of Christ, divine and

human, against Eutyches."- Groliers Encyclopedia

[In Hinduism,] All the gods and goddesses, each of which hasnumerous aspects, are regarded as different forms of the oneSupreme Being.

- Columbia Encyclopedia

"In the so-called Hindu Trinity (the Trimurti or three-form of God,consisting Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) Brahma is associated withcreation, Vishnu with sustaining, and Shiva destruction, just as inChristianity, the Father came to be associated with creation, theSon with redemption, and the Holy Spirit with sanctification."

- The encyclopedia of Man, Myth & Magic

All that converting the Hindoos to Christianity does for them," saysRobert Cheyne, "is to change the object of their worship fromKrishna to Christ." Of Krishna's gospel, the "Bhagavad-Gita,"Appletons Cyclopedia says, "Its correspondence with the NewTestament is indeed striking." The parallels between Krishna andChrist to be found in the Hindoo scriptures and the ChristianGospels are too numerous and too exact to be accidental. Thelegends of the one were borrowed from the other. It is admitted byChristian scholars that Krishna lived many centuries before Christ.To admit the priority of the Krishna legends is to deny, to thisextent, the originality of the Gospels. To break the force of thelogical conclusion to be drawn from this some argue that whileKrishna himself antedated Christ, the legends concerning him are oflater origin and borrowed from the Evangelists. Regarding this

contention Judge Waite, in his History of the Christian Religion, says:"Here then, we have the older religion and the older god. This, inthe absence of any evidence on the other side, ought to settle thequestion. To assume without evidence that the older religion hasbeen interpolated from the later, and that the legends of the olderhero have been made to conform to the history of a later character,is worse than illogical -- it is absurd."

- John E. Remsberg, "The Christ"

"The works of Plato were extensively studied by the Church Fathers,one of whom joyfully recognizes in the great teacher, the

6


7/11

schoolmaster who, in the fullness of time, was destined to educatethe heathen for Christ, as Moses did the Jews. The celebratedpassage: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was withGod, and the Word was God" is a fragment of some Pagan treatiseon the Platonic philosophy, evidently written by Irenaeus. It is

quoted by Amelius, a Pagan philosopher as strictly applicable to theLogos, or Mercury, the Word, apparently as an honorable testimonyborne to the Pagan deity by a barbarian . . . We see then that thetitle "Word" or "Logos," being applied to Jesus, is another piece ofPagan amalgamation with Christianity. It did not receive itsauthorized Christian form until the middle of the second centuryafter Christ. The ancient pagan Romans worshipped a Trinity. Anoracle is said to have declared that there was 'First God, then theWord, and with them the Spirit'. Here we see the distinctlyenumerated, God, the Logos, and the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost, inancient Rome, where the most celebrated temple of this capital -that of Jupiter Capitolinus - was dedicated to three deities, whichthree deities were honored with joint worship."

- T. W. Toane, "Bible Myths and their

parallels in other religions"

"The long list of [old Egyptian] gods . . . was again further increasedin two ways. The priests sometimes made a new god by uniting twoor three or four into one, and at other times by dividing one into twoor three, or more. . . . we have a hieroglyphical inscription in theBritish Museum as early as the reign of Sevechus of the eighthcentury before the Christian Era, showing that the doctrine of Trinityin Unity already formed part of their religion, and stating that ineach of the two groups last mentioned the three gods only madeone person (Egypt. Inscript. Pl. 36, 4, 5). The sculptured figures onthe lid of the sarcophagus of Rameses III., now at Cambridge, showsus the king not only as one of a group of three gods, but also as aTrinity in Unity in his own person."

- Samuel Sharpe, "Egyptian Mythology and

Egyptian Christianiy"

"In fact, trinity was a common philosophy to all civilized pagansbefore Christianity. Thus Christianity has nothing to do with thistheology except it inherited it. It seems that the first nation thatinvented the philosophy of the trinity is the Sumerians who lived inIraq some 6000 years ago. The Sumerian trinity was Anu, Enlil andEnki. Various nations inherited the trinity from them. Those nationsshared the same main idea of the trinity but with different deities.This concept spread all around the world. In Babylonia (the trinity

was Anu, Ea, and Bel, who were combined in one God called Bel-Merodach.), in Egypt (Osiris -the Father-, Isis -the Mother- and

7


8/11

Horus -the Son-), in China (Vajrapani, Manjusri, and Avalokitesvara),in Scandinavia and Germany (Odin, Thor and Frey), the Celts(Gobniu, Luchta and Credne), the ancient Mexicans (Ho,Huizilopochtli and Tlaloc), in ancient Indonesia, in Hawai, in ancientArmenia, in Latvia, in Lithuania, in ancient Russia, in Ethiopia, in

ancient Greece, in ancient Peru, in ancient Palestine, in Siberia andmany others.The Christian philosophy of the trinity originated from the Greeks.The Greek pagan philosopher Plato set forth the doctrine of thetrinity in his Plaedon, written four hundred years BCE. His works arestrikingly similar with the Christian doctrine. Plato's terms for thetrinity were: Agathon (the supreme God or Father), Logos (theGreek translation for "the Word") and Psyche (which the GreekLexicon defines as "soul, spirit or ghost")."

- H. A. Abraham

"The title "Son of God" was so common in nearly all religiouscountries as to excite but little awe or attention . . . The "AsiaticResearch" says, "The Tamulese adored a divine Son of God," andThor of the Scandinavians was denominated "the first-born Son ofGod;" and so was Chrishna of India, and other demigods . . . Itrequires, therefore, a wide stretch of faith to believe that JesusChrist was in any peculiar sense "the Son of God," because sodenominated, or "the only begotten Son of God," when so manyothers are reported in history bearing that title.[Was Jesus the Lord of lords and King of kings?] The Hindu God,

Chrishna, more than two thousand years before Jesus, wasprayerfully worshiped as "God the Most High." His disciple Amarcaonce addressed him thus: "Thou art the Lord of all things, the Godof the universe, the emblem of mercy, the bestower of salvation. Bepropitious O most High God," etc. Here he is addressed both as Lordand God. He is also styled "God of Gods".Adonis of Syria was addressed as "God Supreme", and Osiris ofEgypt as "the Lord of Life." In Phrygia, it was "Lord Atys [Attis]", asChristians say, "Lord Jesus Christ." Narayan of Bermuda was styledthe " Holy Living God" . . .The title Savior is found in the legends of every Pagan religionscountry. So also God, Redeemer, and Mediator. When a Mogul orThibetan is asked, who is Chrishna? says the Christian missionaryHuc, "the reply is, instantly, 'the Savior of men.'" Buddha wasknown as "the Savior, Creator and Wisdom of God," and Mithra ofPersians as both Mediator and Savior, also as "the Redeemer," andChrishna as "the Divine Redeemer," also "the Redeemer of theWorld" . . ."

- Kersy Graves

"The worship of suffering gods was to be found on all sides, and thebelief in the torture of the victims in the rites of human sacrifice for

8


9/11

the redemption from sin was very general. The gods Osiris [theEgyptian god], Attis [the god of Asia Minor], Adonis [the Syrian god],Dionysos [the Greek god], Herakles, Prometheus [the Roman gods],and others, had all suffered for mankind. "

-Arthur Weigall, "The Paganism in Our

Christianity"

It is true because it is absurd, I believe it because it is impossible.

Tertullian (Early prominent Christian scholar

at the end of second-cent. CE)

9


10/11

TESTIMONIES OF THE HISTORIANS, CHRISTIANTHEOLOGIANS, PHILOSOPHERS AND SCRIPTURES THAT GODIS NOT A HUMAN BEING AND WORSHIPPING THE MAN JESUSIS NO MORE THAN A PAGAN TEACHING:

"Every person who possessed a striking superiority of mind, eitherfor talent or goodness, was supposed anciently to have a portion ofthe divine mind or essence incorporated or incarnated in him."

- Sir Higgins, a British historian who

traveled around the world

Another very common notion, and rife in the heathen world, and agreat source of their idolatry, was their deification of great men fitto be worshiped as Gods.

- Archbishop Tillotson

"That God should, in some extraordinary manner, visit and dwellwith man is an idea, which, as we read the writings of the ancientheathen, meets us in a thousand different forms."

- Bishop Horne

"There was incarnate Gods in all [pagan] religions."

- Sir Higgins, a British historian who

traveled around the world

Men create gods after their own image, not only with regard totheir form but with regard to their mode of life.

- The Greek philosopher Aristotle

"Human beings think of the gods as having been born, wearingclothes, speaking, and having bodies like their own. Ethiopians saythe gods are black with snub noses. Thracians say they have blueeyes and red hair. If cows and horses had hands they would drawpictures of the gods looking like cows and horses."

- The Greek philosopher Xenophanes

Wherefore thou art great, O Lord God: for there is none like thee, neither is thereany God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

(The Holy Bible, 2 Samuel 7:22)

God is not a man, that he should lie, Neither the son of man, that he should repent.(The Holy Bible, Numbers 23:19)

There is nothing like unto Him, and He is Hearing, the

Seeing. (The Holy Quran, 42:11)

10


11/11

Say, 'He is God, [who is] One. God, the Eternal Refuge. Heneither begets nor is born. Nor is there to Him anyequivalent.' (The Holy Quran 112:1-4)

11

trinity & jesus divinity

Documents