Friday, February 5, 2010

Debating The Doctrine of The Trinity Part 1



The doctrine of the Trinity is foundational to Christianity. Unfortunately this is one of the most understood teachings in the Bible. Many cults have sprung from a misunderstanding of what the Trinity is. Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons and Muslims all have a major misunderstanding of what the Doctrine of the Trinity is.

The Bible is clear that there is only one God, consider these verses;

Isaiah 43:10 You are aMy witnesses,” declares the Lord,

“And My servant whom I have chosen,

So that you may know and believe Me

And understand that I am He.

Before Me there was no God formed,

And there will be none after Me.


Isaiah 44:6 Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the first and I am the last,

And there is no God besides Me.


Isaiah 45:5 I am the Lord, and there is no other;

Besides Me there is no God.


There numerous verses that teaches Monotheism, the belief that there is one God. Unfortunately many Christians do not know how to defend the doctrine of the Trinity and will look for one or two verses which mention all three persons of the Godhead. However the doctrine of the Trinity is derived at through a systematic approach looking at numerous scriptures. We are told there is one God, but we also are told that Jesus is called God (John 5:18, John 28:20) We are told that the Holy Spirit is also called God ( Acts5:3-4, 1 Corinthians 2:11) and there is much more that can be said. I would suggest that as Christians we learn what the doctrine of the Trinity is, and how we can defend it against skeptics, and cultists!

8 comments:

  1. How is it that the Scriptures tell us that no man has seen God at any time (John 1:18) and yet men saw Jesus? I'm confused about this. How can I explain this to someone who doesn't believe that Jesus is God?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rick,

    Great question, I would recommend that you get a couple of books that will help you out with "Bible Difficulties". The first book I would recommend to you is called "The Big Of Bible Difficulties". The Second one is Dr. Gleason Archers book " Encyclopedia Of Bible Difficulties" and lastly Dr. Walt Kaisers book "Hard Sayings Of The Bible". Also on my blog I have a section on the right called "Bible Difficulties" which will take you to carm.org and there Matt Slick has hundreds of them for free for you to look at.

    OK with that being said let me answer your question.

    This is whats going on. Jesus has 2 natures, one human and one Divine. This in theology is called the Hypo-static union. Jesus was fully God, and Jesus was also fully man. So when one asks a question about Jesus, you really need to ask the question twice? Yes men saw Jesus in his humanity, but no one has seen nor can see God in his full essence. For One God is Immaterial which means he can not be composed of parts, thus if Jesus was fully divine in his man hood he would be composed of parts and be a material being. But we are told God is Spirit in John 4:24, and that a Spirit does not have flesh and bone, Luke 24:39.

    This would also take away from Gods other attributes such as omnipresence ( Every where at the same time).

    So the way this is answered is that Jesus in one person who has 2 natures, fully human and fully God, thus those who saw Jesus only saw his humanity, not his divinity. If you are still unclear let me know and I will see if I can expound on it. Consider the following

    JESUS' DIVINE NATURE:

    Uncaused

    Unchanging

    Knowledge is INFINITE

    Necessary Being

    All-Powerful

    Simple Being {Not composed of parts}

    INDEPENDENT


    JESUS' HUMAN NATURE:

    Caused

    Changing

    Knowledge IS finite

    Limited Power

    Composed Being

    Dependent

    ReplyDelete
  3. Greetings Devin Pellew

    On the subject of the Trinity,
    I recommend this video:
    The Human Jesus

    Take a couple of hours to watch it; and prayerfully it will aid you to reconsider "The Trinity"

    Yours In Messiah
    Adam Pastor

    ReplyDelete
  4. Adam

    Thank you for your post, I will checkout the video and test it against the scriptures because they are the standard. I would be more than willing to dialog with you on this open forum so everyone can see our debate and benefit from the discussion, let me know and we can get it set up

    Devin

    ReplyDelete
  5. Greetings Devin

    That's a most interesting proposition.
    Therefore, please watch the video first; that way, you will see my point of view & there will be no need for me to be repetitive.
    Then after you have watched the video, let's take it from there.

    Yours In Messiah
    Adam Pastor

    ReplyDelete
  6. Adam

    I watched about 30 min of the video and the arguments are the same that the Jehovah's Witnesses use, and the Mormons use, and the Muslims use to try and claim that Jesus Christ is not God. I do not have time to watch a 3 hour documentary on the same arguments I deal all the time with. I am in school, work full time and have a wife that needs my time and attention as well. The offer is open to debate me publicly on whether the Bible teaches the Doctrine of the Trinity or not. We could set up a night and go to pal-talk where we debate live over the mic, and set up a room in advance and have those who want to hear the debate come and listen, let me know what you think.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Drew

    Since you haven't got the time to persevere with the video, I will have to decline your offer.
    Adieu!

    Adam Pastor
    The Human Jesus

    ReplyDelete
  8. Adam

    No problem, if you ever change your mind let me know.

    ReplyDelete