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Topic subjectTrinity debate/discussion
Topic URLhttp://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=22&topic_id=693&mesg_id=693
693, Trinity debate/discussion
Posted by osoclasi, Thu May-20-04 02:50 PM
This is a discussion of whether or not the doctrine of the Trinity is Biblical or not. I am a trinitarian and will be defending the doctrine, (along with others I guess) Malachi (and others) will be going against the doctrine.

I will be using both Hebrew and Greek grammer, if there is something that is confusing, feel free to inbox me. And please if you are not interested do not slander the post with nonsense, please if you don't care, just chill out. Ok let's begin...

Introduction:
You've heard it all before. "The Trinity is pagan! It came from Vishnu, Brahma, and can't think of the other gods name, or it comes from Osirus, Isis, and Horus, or some other three ring god etc. Or my favorite, is that in 325 A.D. the catholic church along with Constantine (who was not a Theologian and could care less) got together and conspired to make God three persons. (Even though there are first and second century Church Fathers such as Melito of Sardis who believed in the Deity of Christ). And finally, the word Trinity is not found in the Bible (although the word Bible is not found in the Bible either, but that never stopped anyone.)

The problem is that many people do not fully understand what the trinity is saying, nor understand how to defend it. The trinity is not the same as those of other cultures, and hopefully, when I am finished explaining what it really means there will be no confusion.

So what is the definition of the trinity...

Within the one *Being* that is God, there exist eternally three co-equal and co-eternal *persons*, namely, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Notice that I astericks around the word Being and Person. This is where the many errors are made, especially when comparing the Trinity to other pagan gods.

Everything that exist has being, but not everything has person.

We are called human beings, because we have attributes that make us human. Example, hands, nose, eyes, hair etc.

Trees have the Being of trees, rocks have the being of rocks, dogs have the being of dogs. Example: Fur, tail etc. Here is a qoute from James White NT scholar...

It is necessary here to distinguish between the terms "being" and "person." It would be a contradiction, obviously, to say that there are three beings within one being, or three persons within one person. So what is the difference? We clearly recognize the difference between being and person every day. We recognize what something is, yet we also recognize individuals within a classification. For example, we speak of the "being" of man---human being. A rock has "being"---the being of a rock, as does a cat, a dog, etc. Yet, we also know that there are personal attributes as well. That is, we recognize both "what" and "who" when we talk about a person.

Therefore we say that there is one Being who is God.

Now that, that is clear, I said everything that exist has being, but not person. But what is person? I am a human being, we all are, but I am the only osoclasi on earth, my person makes me osoclasi, however, I am finite and exist only in one body, God however is infinite and can exist in three persons. Person's refer to personal distintions within the one being that is God.

Therefore Jesus is not the Father, but yet shares that being of the Father, the Father is not the Spirit, but yet shares the being of the Spirit. The Father sent the Son, the Son loves and prays to the Father, the Holy Spirit points nonbelievers to Christ yet shares the nature of Christ. This is different from pagan gods, because with Vishnu, Brahma etc, Vishnu turns into Brahma and vice versa, they are not different persons, but rather different modes of the same god. As far as Isis and Osirus, they are totally different gods (polytheism). These type of distinctions can be made with all of the gods accused of being trinities.


Futhermore, I will be using the words Being/Essenc/Entity interchangeablly.

Just for support that I got the definition of the trinity correct notice our church creeds even though they are not scripture (i will get into that later) they futher my definitions.

Athanasian Creed states...

4. Neither confounding the Person nor dividing the *substance*.
5. For there is one Person one Person the Father, another the Son, and another the Holy Spirit.
8. The Father uncreated: The Son uncreated: and such is the Holy Spirit.

Notice, the distinction between substance (being) and person. All of Christian church creeds define the trinity as such, and I can provide more if necessary.

But all of this would be no good without Biblical support. Where do we begin? Everyone agrees that the Father is God, but what about the Son? And the Holy Spirit?

For the Son, a verse that is very popular is John 1:1 it says.

John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.


Malachi will no doubt try to convince you that it should read an the Word was a god. But the Greek grammer does not demand such, but more on that later. Notice however, that the Word was *with* God, this illustrates that the Word was intimate with God, and then John turns around and says that the word was God.

Does this make sense? It does if we understand when the Word is called God, John is refering to the Being of the Word.

So the Word was with the person who is called the Father, and is the very nature or being of the Father, therefore he is fully in his being God. I will get into the Greek grammer later on.

Other passages that call Jesus God are Titus 2:13

Titus 2:13
looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,

For the Holy Spirit we have Acts 5:3-4, where lying to the Holy Spirit is equavalent to lying to God.

Acts 5:3
But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land?

Acts 5:4
"While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God."

I will get into more scripture and grammer later on, but we see that the Trinity is Biblical and not pagan. And don't worry I will answer all of those verses about the Father being greater than the Son, and called the one True God, and the Son praying or not knowing the day and hour etc when they are brought up.