You know what I despise about the trinitarians?
Their arrogance…
Oh my gosh, they are so pompous.
They think God is on their side…
They think history is on their side…
And they think scholarship is on their side.
To that last point, if you ever felt like you were standing on weak ground from a scholarly perspective…
Are sick and tired of being on the receiving end of condescending criticism from pompous pastors, preachers or professors because of your beliefs…
Or were kicked out of your congregation (I myself have been thrown outta multiple groups and congregations) and told you were going straight to hell because you hold to the idea that “Here O’ Israel, the Lord our God, God is ONE”…
Well homies, you’re gonna LOOOOOOVE today’s post.
Because I’m gonna give ya more than enough ammunition to help you defend yourselves against a trinitarian who thinks he or she is God’s gift to the world when it comes to promoting this doctrine of the demons.
I’ve got quotes with specific references from revered organizations such as the Encyclopedia Britannica, Oxford University, Columbia University, Yale Divinity School and so many more.
And if you’re a trinitarian…
BE WARNED!
After reading these quotes, you may never recover from the smug confidence you currently hold that the God of the Hebrew Bible is some freak show being who exists in 3 persons.
So let’s get the show started!
Let ‘er rip Charlie!
“The doctrine of the Trinity as such is not revealed in the OT” – The Encyclopedia of Catholicism – (p.1270)
– “Theologians today are in agreement that the Hebrew Bible does not contain a doctrine of the Trinity… It would go beyond the intention and spirit of the Old Testament to correlate (its statements) with later Trinitarian doctrine.” – The Encyclopedia of Religion – (Vol.15, p54)
– “The Old Testament… tells us nothing… by implication of a Triune God. There is no evidence that any writer even suspected the existence of a Trinity within the Godhead. Even to see… suggestions or foreshadowings or ‘veiled signs’ of the Trinity is to go beyond the words and intent of the writers.” – The Triune God – (Catholic Trinitarian) Edmund Fortman
– “Attempts to trace the origins (of the Trinity)… to the OT literature cannot be supported by historical-critical scholarship; these attempts must be understood as retrospective interpretations of… Scripture in the light of later theological development.” – Harpers Bible Dictionary (pp.198-9)
Further, some of these retrospective interpretations may have been less than genuine in their intent:
– “It is exegesis [“analysis and interpretation”] of a mischievous…sort, that would discover the Trinity doctrine in the OT.” – The Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics – James Hastings, (Vol 12, page 458)
AND THERE AIN’T NO FREAKIN’ TRINITY IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
– “As far as the New Testament is concerned, one does not find in it an actual doctrine of the Trinity.” – A Short History of Christian Doctrine– Bernard Lohse
– “Theologians agree that the New Testament also does not contain an explicit doctrine of the Trinity.” – The Encyclopedia of Religion – Lindsay Jones
– “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”– Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics – James Hastings
– “The formulation ‘one God in three Persons’ was not solidly established 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 Catholic Encyclopedia
– “Jesus Christ never mentioned such a phenomenon…the idea was only adopted by the Church three hundred years after his death.” – The Paganism in Our Christianity – Arthur Weigall
– – – “The Doctrine of the Trinity… was formulated in the post-biblical period.” – Harper’s Bible Dictionary, 1985
– – – “The belief (in a Trinity-God) was reached only in the 4th and 5th centuries AD and hence is not explicitly and formally a biblical belief.” – Dictionary of The Bible, 1995, (trinitarian) J.Mckenzie, p.899
– “To Jesus the doctrine of the Trinity was apparently unknown”. – Origin and Evolution of Religion – E. Washburn Hopkins
– – -“The Doctrine of the Trinity is not a Biblical doctrine… it is the product of theological reflection”. – The Christian Doctrine of God, Trinitarian. E.Brunner, 1949, P.236
– – – “Trinity… is not a biblical doctrine” – New Bible Dictionary, J.Douglas, F.Bruce, 1982, p.1298
– – – “Scholars generally agree that there is no Doctrine of the Trinity as such in either the Old Testament or the New Testament” – The Harper Collins Encyclopedia of Catholicism, 1995, p.564
– – – “The Bible has no statements or speculations concerning a trinitary deity.” – Encyclopedia Britannica, volume 12, p.383, 1979
– – – “Three coequal partners in the Godhead… cannot be clearly detected within the confines of the [Bible] canon… It is important to avoid reading the Trinity into places where it does not appear.” – Oxford Companion To the Bible, B.Metzger, M.Coogan, P.782-3
– – – “In the New Testament there is no direct suggestion of a Doctrine of the Trinity.” – An Encyclopedia of Religion, V.Ferm (ed.), 1945, .p.344
– “ No passage of scripture discusses the…threeness of God.” – The N.I.V. Disciples Study Bible, p.173, note for Mt.3:16
– – – “The Bible does not state that there is one God who exists in three persons” – Basic Theology, Prof. C.Ryrie, p.89
– “The Bible does not teach the Doctrine of the Trinity” – Christian Doctrine, Prof. S.Guthrie, Columbia Theol. Seminary, 1994, p.92
– – – “The Doctrine of the Trinity… had its origin in a source entirely foreign from that of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures“. – The Church Of The First Three Centuries, Alvan Lamson D.D., p.34
– – -“The Doctrine of the Trinity… can not be justified on the basis of Scripture…. indeed it is hard to imagine Jesus speaking in such terms” – An Outline of Biblical Theology, Prof. M.Burrows, Yale Divinity Schl, p.81
– – – “The doctrine of God as existing in three persons and one substance is not demonstrable by…scriptural proofs.” – Hastings Dictionary Of The Bible, 1898
– – – “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 Illustrated Bible Dictionary, 1980, Pt.3, p.1597
May God bless you for your inspired, scholarly teachings.
Thank you for your kind comment William.
It’s refreshing to get warm responses when I blog about this topic…
As opposed to all of the middle finger accusations that I’m a heretic etcetera…
Be blessed.
I have to wonder if Churches who are obsessed with the trinity drive people away. Right now about 40% of Christians say Trinity is BUGUS!
Good point Jim.
I have some personal experience with this.
I think the reason Churches who are obsessed with the Trinity drive people away is that they are so dogmatic and uncompromising when it comes to this doctrine.
They connect belief in this doctrine to salvation itself…and tell you if you don’t affirm “Jesus is God”, you’re going to hell or something despite the fact you won’t find any teaching anywhere in the Bible, whether “Old” or New Testament that you have to believe the Messiah is literally God in human flesh to be saved.
Actually, I don’t have a problem with those who believe in the Trinity, and believe Yeshua is God. I still believe they’re saved. But I believe they’re saved despite their false belief.
Not everyone agrees, however. Some folks who correctly affirm that Yeshua is NOT God but is God’s Son and chosen mediator see Trinitarians as idolators.
I simply see them as immature believers who mistakenly interpret who Yeshua is. I don’t necessarily believe God is going to send them to hell for their incorrect theology. I mean the vast majority of them have been brainwashed by the Trinitarian churches they attend including unfortunately a lot of messianic congregations (a lot of them are nothing more than Christian churches with Jewish window dressing).
The issue I have with them is they won’t extend the same freedom of thought and belief to my unitarian theology despite my belief being not only in perfect alignment with what Scripture says but also just making sense logically.
The devil is really working overtime to use this Trinitarian belief to drive a wedge between believers in Messiah everywhere.
For more intelligent discussions on this topic, I’d like to recommend Bill Schlegel’s YouTube channel.
Here’s an interesting video of his where he answers the controversial question “Are Trinitarians saved?”
I leave you with this.
When Yeshua was asked what the most important commandment was, he answered “Hear O’ Israel, the Lord Our God, The Lord Is One”.
He was NOT referring to himself when he quoted the Shema.
Be blessed!