The Belles of St. Trinitarians - A Comedy of Trinitarian Errors

For those who are wondering, in this article I am reminded of my correspondence with a Roman Catholic lady convert on her website, on the topic of the RC trinity - hence the title.

To be read in conjunction with my earlier article ‘Why the Roman Catholic Trinity and Oneness Doctrines are False’ and 'Jesus Never Said He Was God Almighty'.

The false RC Trinity doctrine states, quoting from the Catholic Encyclopaedia :

“…that in the unity of the Godhead there are Three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, these Three Persons being truly distinct one from another.
Thus, in the words of the Athanasian Creed: "the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and yet there are not three Gods but one God." In this Trinity of Persons the Son is begotten of the Father by an eternal generation, and the Holy Spirit proceeds by an eternal procession from the Father and the Son. Yet, notwithstanding this difference as to origin, the Persons are co-eternal and co-equal: all alike are uncreated and omnipotent. This, the Church teaches, is the revelation regarding God's nature which Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came upon earth to deliver to the world: and which she proposes to man as the foundation of her whole dogmatic system.”

Now, all this may sound good and lofty to one who is half asleep, but upon examination and in the light of the Bible, one will find it does not actually make any sense. It always makes me laugh how catholic apologists will claim a supposed ‘weakness of the non-trinitarian argument’ and yet if pressed to explain the contradictory nature of their own doctrine they inevitably rejoin with the solemn and resounding chorus of ‘it cannot be understood by man.’ Of course, Jesus teaches quite the opposite- he wants us to understand the nature of God and we are admonished to test everything according to scripture.

Let’s look at the RC Trinitarian ‘argument’. One minute they claim it can be gleaned from scripture, and once they claim they have done so, the next they say it cannot be understood.

And that’s it.  No matter how many so-called ‘scholars’ they produce, who will ‘cite’ Hebrew, Greek and Latin for weeks on end, no matter how many ‘theologians’ and ‘distinguished’ and ‘eminent’ people they put forward, no matter how many biblical references they claim support their view, they are all ultimately reduced to the same final conclusion – ‘it cannot be understood by man.’  Great! It’s a weak argument by anyone’s standards, and a total cop out. But will they admit it?

It is interesting to note that the RCC (and, for that matter, its daughters- i.e any church which believes in this false doctrine) holds this to be the foundation of ‘her whole dogmatic system.’ Well, having a faulty foundation to start with would certainly explain why the RCC has departed from the gospel of Jesus Christ and is rife with all forms of idolatry.

The Catholic Encyclopaedia goes on to say:

“In Scripture there is as yet no single term by which the Three Divine Persons are denoted together. The word trias (of which the Latin trinitas is a translation) is first found in Theophilus of Antioch about A.D. 180. He speaks of "the Trinity of God [the Father], His Word and His Wisdom (To Autolycus II.15). The term may, of course, have been in use before his time. Afterwards it appears in its Latin form of trinitas in Tertullian (On Pudicity 21)….”

Quite right. They are correct in saying that in scripture there is no single term by which the three divine persons are denoted together (what they mean by ‘as yet’, the Lord alone knows), because quite simply, the God of the Bible was never described or meant to be understood in the way they suggest. They even point out that the first usage of such a term appeared in the second century by, wait for it, ONE INDIVIDUAL!!, and then later, after a gap of some years, by another!! It should be said here that the use of the word by Theophilus and Tertullian showed their understanding to be different to that of the current definition. Indeed, the definition in its current form was formulated over several centuries.

 Theophilus and Tertullian came from a culture steeped in the Greek philosophers, and this is where, along with Babylonian influences, the definition originated. It was altered a little, made law and enforced, upon pain of death by the pagan emperor Constantine, and subsequently by the Roman pontiffs and papal system, who continued the mass murder of those who spoke against it. This is historical fact and can easily be verified by those inclined to further study.

So then, the first and second century early church up until Theophilus and Tertullian never used the term.

However, RC’s maintain that the first century church always believed in the theory behind the doctrine, although it was not formally established as church doctrine at the time.

 Is this true?

Let’s see what Tertullian himself had to say, taken from the New Advent.org website, a catholic website and translation, so catholics can’t argue it was made up. Tertullian in his later years joined the heretical Montanist movement.

Of the first believers in the early church, here’s what Tertullian had to say (Bold emphasis and capitalisation mine):

Against Praxeas Ch 3. Sundry Popular Fears and Prejudices. The Doctrine of the Trinity in Unity Rescued from These Misapprehensions

“ The simple, indeed, (I will not call them unwise and unlearned,) who always constitute THE MAJORITY OF BELIEVERS, are startled at the dispensation (of the Three in One), on the ground that their very rule of faith withdraws them from the world's plurality of gods to the one only true God

The numerical order and distribution of the Trinity they assume to be a division of the Unity

They are constantly throwing out against us that we are preachers of two gods and three gods, while they take to themselves pre-eminently the credit of being worshippers of the One God “

So there we have it- that absolute lie of the RCC is immediately dispelled- by their own champion! The fact is, the majority of the first and second century believers did not believe in even Tertullian’s version of a trinity, let alone the current RC version. Beginning to smell the coffee?

Let’s recap - the RCC Trinity doctrine states that: “the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and yet there are not three Gods but one God”, and that “…the Persons are co-eternal and co-equal”. 

So what they are saying is that the Father, Son and Holy Ghost together make up the One True God of the Jews and the Old and New Testament, and that each ‘person’ is co-equal and co-eternal.

Is this true?

I will let the Bible speak and you decide (Bold emphasis and capitalisation mine):

Romans 8:11 NJB

 If the spirit OF HIM who raised Jesus from the dead has made his home in you, then HE who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your own mortal bodies through his spirit living in you.

Romans 8:17 NJB

 The Spirit himself joins with our spirit to bear witness that we are children of God. And if we are children, then WE ARE HEIRS, HEIRS OF GOD and JOINT-HEIRS WITH CHRIST, provided that we share his suffering, so as to share his glory.

Romans 8:33 NJB

Who can bring any accusation against those that God has chosen? When God grants saving justice who can condemn? Are we not sure that it is Christ Jesus, who died- yes and more, who was RAISED FROM THE DEAD and IS AT GOD’S RIGHT HAND- and who is adding his PLEA for us?

Romans 8:38,39 KJV

 …³⁹ Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to come between us and the love of God, known to us in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Matthew 11:25-27 NJB
At that time Jesus exclaimed, 'I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to little children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do. Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Matthew 12:17 NJB
This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah:
Look! My SERVANT whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul delights.

John 13:16 NJB
'In all truth I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, no messenger is greater than the one who sent him.

....John 13:19-20 NJB
'He who shares my table takes advantage of me.
I tell you this now, before it happens, so when it does happen you may believe that I am he.
In all truth I tell you, whoever welcomes the one I send, welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me, welcomes the one who sent me. '

Ephesians 4:31-32KJV
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Ephesians 1:3
Praise be to the GOD AND FATHER of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

The Shema 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is One.'

Mark 12:28-34
'....you have truly stated that HE is One, and there is no one else besides HIM, and to love HIM with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbour as himself, is much more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices." When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God."

Mark 12:32-33 KJV:
And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the TRUTH: for there is ONE God; and there is none other than HE.
And to love HIM with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.

1 Corinthians 8:6 KJV

But to us there is but one God, THE FATHER, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

John 7:16-18KJV

Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is NOT MINE, but HIS that sent ME.
If any man will do HIS will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be OF God, OR whether I speak of MYSELF.
He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh HIS glory that sent him, then the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.

John 8:49-50 NJB
I am not possessed; but I honour my Father, and you deny me honour. I do not seek MY OWN glory; there is someone who does seek it and is the JUDGE of it.

John 8:54:55 NJB
If I were to seek my own glory my glory would be worth nothing; in fact, MY glory is CONFERRED by the Father, by the one of whom you say, 'He is our God,' although you do not know HIM. But I know HIM, and if I were to say, 'I do not know HIM, ' I should be a liar, as you yourselves are. But I do know HIM, and I keep HIS word.

John 12:44-45 NJB
Jesus declared publicly: Whoever believes in Me, believes NOT IN ME but in the ONE WHO SENT ME, and whoever sees me, sees the one who sent me.

John 7:16-18KJV

Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is NOT MINE, but HIS that sent ME.
If any man will do HIS will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be OF God, OR whether I speak of MYSELF.
He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh HIS glory that sent him, then the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.


John 12:47-50 NJB
If anyone hears my words and does not keep them faithfully, it is NOT I who shall judge such a person, since I have come not to judge the world, but to save the world: anyone who rejects me and refuses my words has his judge already:

John 12:47-50 NJB
: the word I have spoken will be his judge on the last day.
For I have not spoken of my OWN accord; but the Father who sent me COMMANDED me what to say and what to speak, and I know that HIS COMMANDS mean eternal life. AND THEREFORE what the Father has TOLD me is what I speak.

There are many more examples in my article ‘Why the Roman Catholic Trinity and Oneness Doctrines are False’ and more can be found throughout the Bible.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Q. So, is the one true God the Father, or is He the Father, Son and Holy Spirit combined?

A. 1 Corinthians 8:6 KJV

But to us there is but one God, THE FATHER, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

John 17:3KJV

³ And this is life eternal, that they might know THEE the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.