Yet, we have seen that God commands us to prove Him!
If you were to pursue such an explanation further, demanding
biblical support for the teaching, you would fi nd that the trinitarian
doctrine focuses only on a few scriptural passages, and even then taking them completely out of context and contorting them to say something that reasonable minds recognize that they clearly do not say.
Because of vanity, theologians and scholars often fancy them- selves as having particularly deep minds. In the name of supporting the “trinitarian mystery,” there has developed an almost fascination with them to “sign on” to this mystery with their own statements that basically declare their ignorance. The process has seemingly taken on a life of its own and created a wealth of nonsense that could be quoted in this book. Consider the following: “No one can possibly understand the ‘three in one.’ When pointedly questioned concerning the belief in a Triune or three-in-one God, the answer is in effect— WHO KNOWS? It is something we must accept in faith. The mind of man cannot fully understand the mystery of the Trinity. He who would try to understand the mystery fully will lose his mind. But he who would deny the Trinity will lose his soul” (Harold Lindsell and Charles J. Woodbridge, A Handbook of Christian Truth, pp. 51-52).
Consider the implications of the last two quotes. The second one adds an even more powerful dimension to—actually an indictment of—those who would try to sort out the convoluted confusion of the trinity instead of merely docilely accepting it. The writer advises that, rather than studying to understand the full truth of the matter, one should simply take the word of learned authorities. (Yet, the “learned authorities” admit they have no idea.) The above statements should be cause for concern in the minds of those who simply accept the trinity doctrine at face value. Again, God states, “PROVE Me now
herewith” (Mal. 3:10).
The apostle John wrote, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but
try the spirits WHETHERTHEYAREOF GOD; because many false proph-
ets are gone out into the world” (I John 4:1). The trinity is entirely related to the spirit realm. Surely, this would be the very fi rst spirit that the diligent seeker of truth would “try.”
The apostle Paul also stated, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12). Consider further: Christians are promised salvation in God’s presence forever. Are they never to un- derstand in this life the God with whom they are to spend eternity? hood of its opening statement, there is little or no “reality” found
anywhere in the statement. In no way does the triune godhead repre- sent the human family. (A later chapter will properly explain how the human family relates to the true Godhead.)
Further, the above quote demonstrates the use of lofty all-en- compassing terms and expressions. This appeals to vanity—remem- ber, those who reject God “profess themselves to be wise.” Those who hear such statements do not wish to be thought of as “little thinkers.” Wanting to “get it,” they accept assertions such as the “ul- timate truth about reality,” when, in fact, a phrase like this means absolutely nothing!
As we have seen several times, a methodical analysis of these statements shows that they generate many more questions than they supply clear answers. Never permit such statements to mislead you. See them for what they are. Sometimes they are so convoluted one can wonder if they are almost meant to be confusing, meant to be illogical. In the end, most simply give up and accept them, allowing either vanity or fear of seeming unintelligent to drive their thinking.
God commands us to understand who He is. His own words are “PROVE Me now herewith” (Mal. 3:10). We are also told this in the
New Testament. Another translation of I Thessalonians 5:21 is ren- dered this way: “But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good” (NASB). Again, “everything” would include cor- rectly identifying the true God from every impostor!
Blurred, Convoluted and Hidden
No matter where or how long one looks, the trinity “doctrine” is
never explained in plain English. Instead of clear explanations, con-
cepts such as “monoarchianism,” “subordinationism” or “tritheism” are presented. Each of these is as convoluted and confusing as it sounds. Therefore, we will not waste time attempting to delve into them.
Because the trinity mystery cannot be explained, theologians at-
tempt to explain it by simply declaring with a certain pride that it
cannot be understood! Notice: “That is to say, it embodies a truth which has never been discovered, and is indiscoverable, by natural reason. With all his searching, man has not been able to fi nd out for himself the deepest things of God” (“Purely a Revealed Doctrine,”
three-in-one god being. Two Christs means four beings in the god- head. Of course, all of this is ridiculous and we are only including it as part of a rhetorical discussion! But it must be understood that you have one of two problems with the trinity: (1) It requires two Christs, or (2) one-third of a single being had to fi nd a way to die.
Do not let trinitarians tell you that you must accept this mystery on faith. What has been called a mystery is simply ludicrous, and something that reasonable minds would ultimately reject on merit! Are you better understanding why trinitarians state that to under- stand this teaching would cause one to “lose his mind”?
But let’s go further. To where did Jesus Christ ascend if He was already part of the trinity (John 3:13)—if He had remained in heaven all along? Did the one Christ ascend and merge into the other Christ?
There is also another problem.
How could Jesus Christ be our mediator (I Tim. 2:5) if He is one part of a single being, meaning all parts would have the same thoughts and feelings! If Christ was a third of the trinity, one part of God’s mind would be mediating to the other two-thirds of the same mind.
And going further: The Bible also states that Christ sits at the Father’s right hand (Matt. 22:44). How does one-third of one being sit at the right hand of another third of that same being? How won- derful it is that such impossibilities may always be swept from the table under the mantra, “Remember, it is a mystery.”
Grave Problems
While the logic above is ridiculous to the point of almost being hu- morous, there is something much more sinister hidden within the overall problem of the trinity. If the only Jesus Christ that there is did not actually die, but remained alive as part of the trinity—THENMAN- KINDHASNOSAVIOR!
Paul wrote, “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). Christ had to literally DIE for this penalty to be satisfi ed.
If men have no Savior, we are all “yet in our sins [still under the death penalty]” (I Cor. 15:17). All then have no hope of a future res- urrection. If that were the case, as Paul stated, “we are of all men most miserable” (vs. 19). In verse 32, Paul shows that if this life is all that we have to look forward to, we might as well “eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die” with no hope.
Also, in II Timothy 1:7, he wrote, “For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” If the Holy Spirit yields the quality of sound-mindedness in a Christian, then insanity—to “lose his mind”—could not possibly result from understanding who and what God is and the role of the Holy Spirit.
Finally, the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia states what should now be obvious to the reader: “As the doctrine of the Trinity is indiscoverable by reason, so it is incapable of proof from reason” (under the subject “No Rational Proof of It”). Utterly amaz- ing! Basically, this pro-trinity source states that you cannot apply ei- ther reason or proof to the subject of God’s nature.
When fully understood, quotes such as the last two destroy the very credibility of the doctrine. In the end, recognize that the very proponents of the trinity ultimately become the best proof against it—and offer one of the best reasons to reject it outright!
More Logic Problems
As we continue to examine various quotes, some underlying logic problems surface. For instance, assume for a moment that the trinity is true. This presents a grave dilemma. How does the Father send the Son if they are the same being?—“…I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which has sent me” (John 5:30). Is this passage intended to be poetic? If the Father did not literally send Christ, meaning that Jesus actually remained inextricably bound as one Be- ing with the Father and Holy Spirit, the verse loses its meaning. Would God expect us to “see through” what He has offered as mere poetic analogy?
Also, we could ask: How could Christ do the will of His Father if they were the same Being? Would He not be doing his own will? Considering an earlier statement, how would two-thirds of the sup- posed godhead (the Father and the Holy Spirit) defer to a pseudo-hu- man Christ while He was on earth for 33½ years?
Further, if the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are a single Being (a single entity) how did—how could—one-third of one being die? Some have suggested, and this is really the only conclusion that the trinity permits, that there are two Christs. One has been called the “glorifi ed psychic Christ,” what could be called a kind of divine carcass sent to earth for the purpose of dying on the stake—and the other the “infi nite eternal Christ” who remained locked in the godhead as part of the
there be no division among God’s people—“brethren”—but we saw that Paul declared that there is “simplicity” in God’s Way. There is
nothing simple about the trinity or the “Christ” within it.
The Church where the living Jesus Christ is truly the Head (Eph. 1:22-23; Col. 1:18) is a Church that is unifi ed on all matters of doc- trine. His Church is to speak the same thing all the time on all points. Does a “believe whatever you want” smorgasbord—and this is the picture seen throughout the churches of traditional Christianity—fi t with the complete unity described in I Corinthians 1:10?
By now you have seen that there is nothing simple about the trin- ity. In fact, we have seen that it is one of the most complex ideas promulgated by modern Christianity, and we will eventually see that it is entirely lacking in any biblical support.
No Scriptural Support
Even the Catholic church recognizes that any who study the trinity should do so with “qualifi ers” in mind. Notice the candor with which the New Catholic Encyclopedia talks about this teaching: “…one should not speak of Trinitarianism in the New Testament without serious qualifi cation…when one does speak of an unqualifi ed Trini- tarianism, one has moved from the period of Christian origins to, say,
the last quadrant of the 4th century. It was only then that what might
be called the defi nitive Trinitarian dogma ‘one God in three Persons’ became thoroughly assimilated into Christian life and thought. Here- in lies the diffi culty. On the one hand, it was the dogmatic formula ‘one God in three Persons’ that would henceforth for more than 15 centuries structure and guide the Trinitarian essence of the Christian message…On the other hand, the formula itself does not refl ect the immediate consciousness of the period of origins; it was the product
of three centuries of doctrinal development.”
This is an astonishing admission!
In other words, the idea of “three beings in one God” did not originate with the New Testament Church. Neither Christ nor the original twelve apostles taught it. Nor did Paul. The New Catholic
Encyclopedia readily admits this, and as much as declares openly
that the idea was derived from outside the boundary of Scripture! As we have seen, the trinity doctrine slowly formed in the minds of professing Christians—actually professing Christian philoso-
phers—for about three hundred years. As the centuries passed, com-
Toying with who and what God is becomes a very dangerous exercise—one much more fraught with problems than most seem to recognize!
It is human nature to make what is simple complex. Of course, God understood this tendency when He recorded and arranged His inspired Word. We have seen that He instructed mankind that the Bible is written, “Here a little, there a little, line upon line, precept upon precept” (Isa. 28:10).
The Corinthians had fallen into the pattern of taking what is simple and unnecessarily confusing it. Notice what Paul wrote: “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (II Cor. 11:3).
If God instructs His people to prove what they believe, they would never be permitted to—and He would never expect them to have to—guess at doctrines so central to Christianity. Whether and how you and I have a Savior is very, very central to Christianity! Therefore, God must supply His servants with clear answers on all matters crucial to salvation and this certainly includes what He is!
The reader should strive to remember Paul’s admonition. The doctrines of God should be simple to understand when all of the ba- sic scriptures on a matter are placed together. Always remember that there is to be simplicity in Christ—and the “Christ” we have just discussed is far from that.
Should God’s Nature be Complex?
We have seen that the confusion created by this doctrine is wide- spread—even among trinitarians. There is broad disagreement about details of God’s nature. Let’s ask again: Should there be this much confusion about something so fundamental?
Paul also clarifi ed matters pertaining to division and disagree- ment within the true Church of God: “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same
thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that you be per- fectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (I
Cor. 1:10).
Why would God inspire Paul to make the above statements if widespread confusion and division is to be tolerated among His fol- lowers? Think this through very carefully. Notice that not only should
Y
ou have learned that almost none of the scholarly explanations of the trinity come from the Bible, but are rather derived from philosophers and theologians. We also learned that even a certain element of politics within the Roman Empire played a role in what we know today as the trinity and what most consider the true God of the Bible.As touched upon in the INTRODUCTION, there could be no more im-
portant doctrine than the nature of God, and correctly identifying the God of the Bible. To understand and worship the WRONGGOD is tanta-
mount to building one’s entire religion by starting with a wrong prem- ise—building on a wrong foundation—thus ending in uselessness!
The author of the Bible—the all-powerful Creator—would sure- ly leave an explanation in His Word of who and what He is. The Bi- ble offers explanations of every doctrine mentioned within its pages. Notice Psalm 12:6: “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver
tried in a furnace of earth, purifi ed seven times.” This would cer- tainly apply to what He has written about Himself, and what He re- cords would also have to be suffi ciently thorough for His followers to know exactly WHO they were following. They would also be
equipped to know what gods they should not follow!
Through the pages of His Word, God teaches: the true gospel, the awesome potential of man, why the world is in a state of chaos, how world peace will come, what prophecy reveals lies ahead for plex arguments and theories developed. Various confusing assertions
were stated, leaving many so unsure that we have seen they chose to blindly accept them. It was not until the fourth century that the trin- ity became the offi cial doctrine of the great universal church—and it remains the foundation of professing Christianity today!
Are we to assume that Christ did not reveal to the apostles, whom He knew personally and worked with directly for three and a half years during His ministry, that He was part of a trinity? Did He ex- pect that all those who would later come to believe “all things what- soever I have commanded you [the apostles]” (Matt. 28:19-20) would have to wait at least three centuries for a group of philosophers to explain to them the nature of the God they were to serve?
Ridiculous!
A Convenient “God”
There is another reason the trinity god appeals to so many. At its basis, it teaches that Christ and the Holy Spirit work in our stead— rather than Christ working in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. When fully understood, this teaching relieves “Christians” of the need to do anything—other than just “accept Jesus.” How often have you heard this expression?
Trinitarian proponents ignore passages such as Philippians 2:13: “For it is God which works in you both TOWILL and TODO of His good
pleasure.” But before we can look at the details of God’s Master Plan for you, near the book’s end, we must open God’s Word and look for the trinity.
We have seen that many theologians admit that the Bible does not condone the trinity and that “it was the product of three centuries of doctrinal development.” However, many attempt to contort and twist certain scriptures into supposed proofs for this doctrine. In the next chapter, we will look at various so-called “proof texts” and dis- sect them. Careful and thorough examination of these “proofs” is essential. No matter the protestations of those who have invented “biblical support” for an idea that was actually born entirely in hu-
man minds, the Bible has never supported this doctrine. But we need