Is The Trinity True Or False - Is The Trinity Biblical
The Origin of the Trinity Doctrine
It was about a century after Tertullian when Arianism began causing so
many disputes that Constantine convened the first ecumenical Council
in Church history to settle them.
Arius was an elder in the Alexandrian Church in the early fourth century
that taught Christ truly is the begotten Son of God and why God is called
His Father to state the obvious. A real Father and Son in other words.
Opposing the teachings of Arius was Athanasius, a deacon also from Alexandria.
His view was an early form of Trinitarianism where the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
are said to be all the same one god but distinct from each other making it impossible
for them to be a real Father and Son.
His view was a further but deteriorating change to what Tertullian believed with
the Holy Spirit not yet claimed to be a literal being. That came later.
Mainstream history states Arius taught Christ was created, but the Church burnt
what Arius believed and some historians claim they altered records and falsely
rumoured that he taught Christ was created in order to discredit him.
The Catholic Church is known for creating false historical records to their interpretation
of events to hide the real truth at times. Consider the following for instance.
The view of Athanasius was highly influenced by Origen who was a Greek philosopher
and theologian who reinterpreted Christian doctrine through the philosophy of Neoplatonism.
His work was later condemned as unorthodox. Origen taught the doctrine of Purgatory,
transubstantiation, transmigration and reincarnation of the soul, the Holy Spirit was
a feminine force, Jesus was only a created being, there would be no physical resurrection,
the creation account in Genesis is a fictitious story and is known to have publicly castrated
himself based on Matthew 19.
Arius on the other hand was a pupil of Lucian of Antioch. Lucian was responsible
for the work that gave us what is known as the Textus Receptus which was completed
by Erasmus, and is what gave us the trusted New Testament of the KJV Bible.
These and other facts reveal that Athanasius was influenced by Greek philosophy
and that Arius probably taught Biblical truth despite mainstream history.
Some believe Constantine was the first Christian Roman Emperor but he was actually
a sun worshiper who was baptized on his deathbed. During his reign he had his eldest
son and his wife murdered. His belief at best was a blend of paganism and Christianity
for political purposes, and so he neither cared nor really understood this dispute but was
just eager to bring the controversy to a close and keep unity in his empire.
When the bishops gathered at Nicea on May 20, 325 AD to resolve the crisis, very few
shared Athanasius's view of Christ as most held a position midway between Athanasius
and Arius. The religious debates lasted two months before the Council rejected the minority
view of Arius, but having no alternative, Constantine approved the view of Athanasius,
which was also a minority view. And so the Church was left supporting a belief held by
only a minority of those attending.
The Encyclopedia Britannica states: “Constantine himself presided, actively guiding
the discussions, and personally proposed ... the crucial formula expressing the relation
of Christ to God in the creed issued by the council ... Overawed by the emperor, the bishops,
with two exceptions only, signed the creed, many of them much against their inclination.”
— (1971 edition, Vol. 6, “Constantine,” p. 386)
Horrific religious persecution followed the decision made by Constantine who was
essentially a pagan Emperor who imposed an invented creed never preached by Jesus.
Constantine exiled those who refused to accept the creed as well as the bishops who
signed the creed but refused to join in condemnation of Arius. He also ordered all copies
of the Thalia to be burned, which was the book in which Arius expressed his teachings.
But several years later Constantine became lenient toward those he condemned and exiled
at the council and allowed them to return. In AD 335, they brought accusations against
Athanasius and so now Constantine had Athanasius banished! This was not about Biblical truth.
As a pagan sun worshipper, Constantine also enforced the first Sunday law just four years
earlier and hence played a major role in bringing two pagan traditions into the Church.
It was four hundred years after the cross when they formulated this creed that never existed
before hand, and so the Apostles and the early Church could never have taught it either.
See Encyclopedia Britannica and historical quotes.
Many of the Bishops who formulated the doctrine of the trinity were steeped in Greek
and Platonic philosophy, which influenced their religious views. In fact the language they
used in defining the trinity is taken directly from Platonic and Greek philosophy.
The Platonic term trias, meaning three, was Latinized as trinitas, which gave us the English
word trinity which is neither biblical nor Christian. As Bible scholars John McClintock and
James Strong (wrote the famous Strong's Concordance) explain, “Towards the end of the
1st century, and during the 2nd, many learned men came over both from Judaism and paganism
to Christianity. These brought with them into the Christian schools of theology their Platonic
ideas and phraseology.” — (Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature,
1891, Vol. 10, “Trinity,” p. 553)
So the trinity was not derived from scripture but was conceived in philosophy.
Greek philosophers were greatly influenced by Plato (427-347 BC) who was considered
the greatest of all Greek philosophers. Plato was ingrained with Trinitarian thought
and knew that all the ancient religions had triad deities, and so he desired to come up
with a better definition to define God above all the deities of Greek mythology.