(November 28, 2008 at 11:15 pm)EvidenceVsFaith Wrote: Yes Jesus is supposed to be only God's son so he is not God.
But on the other hand I have also heard that Jesus is the same God, just incarnated in human form.
Do you think that is incorrect? I've heard of the whole thing that the trinity is part of one whole God. And that Jesus IS 'the father' God.
Incarnated in human form. Is that not what you think? Do you think Jesus was just a man? Or that he was the son of God yet not an incarnation? Not God himself?
There is no real reason, other than religious nonsense, to teach or believe in the trinity. I don't believe in the Platonic trinity in any form. Jesus was just a man, but before that he had an heavenly existence as Michael. The Arch angel. Arch, by the way means one above the others (angels) and is always used in singular form. Jesus wan't Jehovah.
The New Encyclopædia Britannica: "Neither the word Trinity, nor the explicit doctrine as such, appears in the New Testament, nor did Jesus and his followers intend to contradict the Shema in the Old Testament: 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord' (Deut. 6:4). . . . The doctrine developed gradually over several centuries and through many controversies. . . . By the end of the 4th century . . . the doctrine of the Trinity took substantially the form it has maintained ever since." - (1976), Micropædia, Vol. X, p. 126.
The New Catholic Encyclopedia: "The formulation 'one God in three Persons' was not solidly established, certainly not fully assimilated into Christian life and its profession of faith, prior to the end of the 4th century. But it is precisely this formulation that has first claim to the title the Trinitarian dogma. Among the Apostolic Fathers, there had been nothing even remotely approaching such a mentality or perspective." - (1967), Vol. XIV, p. 299.
The Encyclopedia Americana: "Christianity derived from Judaism and Judaism was strictly Unitarian. The road which led from Jerusalem to Nicea was scarcely a straight one. Fourth century Trinitarianism did not reflect accurately early Christian teaching regarding the nature of God; it was, on the contrary, a deviation from this teaching." - (1956), Vol. XXVII, p. 294L.
The Nouveau Dictionnaire Universel: "The Platonic trinity, itself merely a rearrangement of older trinities dating back to earlier peoples, appears to be the rational philosophic trinity of attributes that gave birth to the three hypostases or divine persons taught by the Christian churches. . . . This Greek philosopher’s [Plato, fourth century B.C.E.] conception of the divine trinity . . . can be found in all the ancient [pagan] religions." (Paris, 1865-1870), edited by M. Lachâtre, Vol. 2, p. 1467.
John L. McKenzie, S.J.'s Dictionary of the Bible: "The trinity of persons within the unity of nature is defined in terms of 'person' and 'nature' which are G[ree]k philosophical terms; actually the terms do not appear in the Bible. The trinitarian definitions arose as the result of long controversies in which these terms and others such as 'essence' and 'substance' were erroneously applied to God by some theologians." - (New York, 1965), p. 899.
