(June 26, 2013 at 8:30 am)ShadowWolf1986 Wrote:(June 26, 2013 at 8:07 am)Ben Davis Wrote: Also, if you don't believe in the Trinity (i.e. you don't believe that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are God), what exactly is it that you believe about Jesus and the Holy Spirit? Is there some sort of polytheism at work?
The Trinity is a man-made doctrine that can be traced back to Tertullian almost two centuries after the New Testament was written. The "Catholics" (they weren't called that at the time) canonized this doctrine at the Council of Nicaea.
I will summarize what we believe about Jesus and the Holy Spirit without quoting Scriptures, but I can show you the specific ones if you would like to know where we get this from. The Jews were commanded to say, repeat often, and teach their children the "Shema," which stated that the Lord God is one Lord. Throughout the Bible the Lord has indicated that He is alone, and there is no one beside Him. In the New Testament God created a body for Himself, and inhabited it fully. That body was called by His revealed name (His name was kept secret from man up until that point), which was Jesus. The man Jesus followed the will of God of His own volition, and sacrificed Himself for the sins of all mankind. In doing so He received the title of Lord, and was even granted the power to sit on the throne of God itself. Throughout the entire Bible there is no indication of three Gods, or three separate entities within God, there is simply God and the body He inhabits, which we call Jesus. The Holy Spirit is simply another title for God. He is Holy and He is a Spirit, therefore He is called the Holy Spirit.
Does that make sense?
Just a quick note. Shema means "hear" in hebrew. It is called the shema as it is the only prayer that starts this was. It was also quoted by Jesus when asked - which is the most important commandment?
"Hear Oh Israel, the lord our God, the lord is one, you should love the lord your god...."
Now one might ask why Jesus chose that particular Jewish prayer as the most important one. Important or otherwise it is the most exclusive one. It is the only prayer that not only identifies the object - God, but the subject - The Children of Israel.
In other words Jesus has been asked which is the most important prayer and he has chosen the only one that is specific for the Jews, and only for them.
As he follows it up with "And the second most important commandment is to love your neighbour as yourself," that must therefore again only apply to Jews.
How Christians miss this is astonishing to me.