ChristMasIsALie.com

THE CHRISTMAS LIE: It's Bigger Than You Think

B I B L E    S T U D Y

 

TITLE:                 THE "DOCTRINE OF GOD" TAUGHT BY "CHRIST" AND HIS "APOSTLES"

 

OVERVIEW:

The "Christmas-Church" teaches if you do not "believe in the Trinity", you will "not be saved".  Amazingly, neither Christ, or any of his own Apostles "believed in the Trinity". The doctrine was not taught in history until hundreds of years later. And, it is completely "absent" in the New Testament. (Well sort of, it is "prophesied") Unfortunately though, the truth might be exactly "opposite" of what most people have been deceptively told.
 
The doctrine of the trinity is not found in the Bible, and it is logical that such is the case, because the documents contained in the Bible were written by Jews, who believed in the Jewish doctrine of God, ie.e, "one God". It was called "the Shema" and Christ identified it as "the greatest commandment". (Which means greater than "the trinity", developed centuries later)
 

"THE SHEMA" COMMANDED BY CHRIST

Mar 12:29  And Jesus answered him,The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
Mar 12:31  And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
Mar 12:32  And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
Mar 12:34  And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.
 

THE "TRINITY" PROPHESIED BY JOHN

Rev_16:13  And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
 

THE "TRINITY" PROPHECY "FULFILLED"

EDICT OF THESSALONICA

EMPERORS GRATIAN, VALENTINIAN AND THEODOSIUS AUGUSTI. EDICT TO THE PEOPLE OF CONSTANTINOPLE.
It is our desire that *all the various nations which are subject to our Clemency* and Moderation, should continue to *profess that religion which was delivered to the Romans* by the divine Apostle Peter, as it has been preserved by faithful tradition, and which is *now professed by the Pontiff* Damasus and by Peter, Bishop of Alexandria, a man of apostolic holiness. According to the apostolic teaching and the doctrine of the Gospel, let us believe in the one deity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, in equal majesty and in a holy Trinity. We authorize the followers of this law to assume the title of Catholic Christians; but as for the others, since, in our judgment they are foolish madmen, we decree that they shall be branded with the ignominious name of heretics, and shall not presume to give to their conventicles the name of churches*. They will suffer in the first place the chastisement of the divine condemnation and in the second the punishment of our authority which in accordance with the will of Heaven we shall decide to inflict. GIVEN IN THESSALONICA ON THE THIRD DAY FROM THE CALENDS OF MARCH, DURING THE FIFTH CONSULATE OF GRATIAN AUGUSTUS AND FIRST OF THEODOSIUS AUGUSTUS[3]
— Codex Theodosianus, xvi.1.2
 

THE "APOSTOLIC WARNING" TO THE THESSALONIANS

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. (See: "Ex Cathedra")
2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
 

HISTORICAL "ORIGIN" OF "TRINITY" FULFILLED JOHN'S PROPHECY

"three unclean spirits like frogs"
Revelation 16:13

And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
 
"The Ogdoad consisted of four pairs of male/female consorts, each pair sharing the masculine/feminine versions of the same name: Nun & Naunet, Amun & Amunet, Kek & Keket, and Heh & Hehtet. The pairing of these gods and goddesses suggesting a fertile, sexual relationship between them, a symbolism that was reflected in their embodied forms where the four men were often depicted with frog heads, while their consorts bore snake heads: “The amphibian and snake forms of the Ogdoad were thought of as mating in and fertilizing the Primeval Waters. An image of the waters alive with glutinous frog spawn may be what the Egyptians had in mind”."

– (Geraldine Pinch. Egyptian Mythology) https://mythcrafts.com/2017/09/11/the-egyptian-ogdoad-the-world-before-creation,
 
The Gospel Of The Egyptians
(Origin of the Trinity Doctrine)

Three powers came forth from him; they are the Father, the Mother, (and) the Son, from the living silence, what came forth from the incorruptible Father. These came forth from the silence of the unknown Father. And from that place, Domedon Doxomedon came forth, the aeon of the aeons and the light of each one of their powers. And thus the Son came forth fourth; the Mother fifth; the Father sixth. He was [...] but unheralded; it is he who is unmarked among all the powers, the glories, and the incorruptions.  From that place, the three powers came forth, the three ogdoads that the Father brings forth in silence with his providence, from his bosom, i.e., the Father, the Mother, (and) the Son. The <first> ogdoad, because of which the thrice-male child came forth, which is the thought, and the word, and the incorruption, and the eternal life, the will, the mind, and the foreknowledge, the androgynous Father.  The second ogdoad-power, the Mother, the virginal Barbelon, epititioch[...]ai, memeneaimen[...], who presides over the heaven, karb [...], the uninterpretable power, the ineffable Mother.
 
She originated from herself [...]; she came forth; she agreed with the Father of the silent silence. The third ogdoad-power, the Son of the silent silence, and the crown of the silent silence, and the glory of the Father, and the virtue of the Mother, he brings forth from the bosom the seven powers of the great light of the seven voices. And the word is their completion.  These are the three powers, the three ogdoads that the Father, through his providence, brought forth from his bosom. He brought them forth at that place.

- http://gnosis.org/naghamm/goseqypt.html
 

MAINSTREAM HISTORIANS AND SCHOLARS AGREE

 
"The word Trinity is not found in the Bible . . . It did not find a place formally in the theology of the church till the 4th century."

- The Illustrated Bible Dictionary
 

 
"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."

- The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Micropædia, Vol. X, p. 126. (1976)



"In Scripture there is as yet no single term by which the Three Divine Persons are denoted together. The word [tri'as] (of which the Latin trinitas is a translation) is first found in Theophilus of Antioch about A. D. 180 . . . Shortly afterwards it appears in its Latin form of trinitas in Tertullian." However, this is no proof in itself that Tertullian taught the Trinity. The Catholic work Trinitas - A Theological Encyclopedia of the Holy Trinity, for example, notes that some of Tertullian's words were later used by others to describe the Trinity. But then it states: "But hasty conclusions cannot be drawn from usage, for he does not apply the words to Trinitarian theology."

- The Catholic Encyclopedia



 
"Neither the word Trinity nor the explicit doctrine appears in the New Testament." 

- The New Encyclopedia Britannica


 
"To Jesus and Paul the doctrine of the trinity was apparently unknown; . . . they say nothing about it."

- Yale University Professor E. Washburn Hopkins, Origin and Evolution of Religion.
 


"As early as the 8th century, the Theologian St. John of Damascus frankly admitted what every modern critical scholar of the NT now realizes: that neither the Doctrine of the Trinity nor that of the 2 natures of Jesus Christ is explicitly set out in scripture. In fact, if you take the record as it is and avoid reading back into it the dogmatic definitions of a later age, you cannot find what is traditionally regarded as orthodox Christianity in the Bible at all."

- Tom Harpur, For Christ's Sake.
 


"Jesus Christ never mentioned such a phenomenon, and nowhere in the New Testament does the word 'Trinity' appear. The idea was only adopted by the Church three hundred years after the death of our Lord."

- Historian Arthur Weigall, The Paganism in Our Christianity


 
"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."

- The New Catholic Encyclopedia ,(1967), Vol. XIV, p. 299.
 


"Christianity derived from Judaism and Judaism was strictly Unitarian [believing that God is one person]. The road which led from Jerusalem to Nicaea 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."

- The Encyclopedia Americana, (1956), Vol. XXVII, p. 294L.
 


"Christianity did not destroy paganism; it adopted it. . . . From Egypt came the ideas of a divine trinity." And in the book Egyptian Religion, Siegfried Morenz notes: "The trinity was a major preoccupation of Egyptian theologians . . . Three gods are combined and treated as a single being, addressed in the singular. In this way the spiritual force of Egyptian religion shows a direct link with Christian theology."

– Historian Will Durant
 

OBJECTIONS RAISED BY "TRINITARIANS"

 

CLAIM: "Christ" was "worshiped", therefore that PROVES "The Trinity"

RESPONSE: (1) So was Daniel, (2) English word "worship" used very loosely, (even of wives and kings)

Dan_2:46  Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him.

WAS "DANIEL" PART OF "THE TRINITY"?
Luk_16:24  And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. (Prayed to Abraham)

WAS "ABRAHAM" PART OF "THE TRINITY"?
Exo 7:1  And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.

WAS "MOSES" PART OF "THE TRINITY"?
1. The same people who wrote those things, also had no other doctrine concerning God, other than the Shema.

2. At no time did anyone ever propose to add "Daniel" or "Abraham" to the "Godhead", and abandon the Shema (for a multiplicity definition of God), because of those texts.
 

CLAIM: Any reference to "Christ's Divinity" PROVES "The Trinity"

RESPONSE: Same people who wrote those texts, also rejected Rome's "Trinity Doctrine" (1) Known from history (2) Stated Textually (Mark12:29, Rev.16:13)

"The word Trinity is not found in the Bible . . . It did not find a place formally in the theology of the church till the 4th century."

- The Illustrated Bible Dictionary
 

CLAIM: "Elohim" refers to "The Trinity"

RESPONSE: (1) If taken as "plural" then it would refer to "many (i.e., without number)" implying POLYTHEISM, not "Trinitarianism".(2) "EL" is singular, "Ohim" also meant "powerful", and did not always mean "plural". (3) If meant as read today, that is what would have been taught historically (which we know wasn't), including by Christ.

"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."

- The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Micropædia, Vol. X, p. 126. (1976)

 

CLAIM: YHVH means ELOHIM (Which means "Trinity")

RESPONSE: "EL" was the "Generic" (Canaanite) name for God, YHVH was the sacred covenant name, not to be uttered. They were not equivalent terms, though both referred to "God".

 

CLAIM: Christ "Forgiving sins" proves the "Trinity"

RESPONSE: Temple Priests, and even Apostles, told to do the same.

Joh_20:23  Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
 

CLAIM: (Citing Luke 7:36-50) Pharisees claimed he was "Blaspheming" by "Claiming to BE GOD"

RESPONSE: "Blaspheming" does not even appear in this text. Pharisees in this text only "question" (and use the word "Also"). Indicating they did not question the issue of "forgiving sins", but that he was doing it ALSO

 

CLAIM: People that "reject the Trinity" are not "Saved"

RESPONSE: The "opposite" of that claim, is taught by Christ

Matthew 7:22:23 "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity

̓Iniquity = aνομία
anomia
an-om-ee'-ah
From G459; illegality, that is, violation of law (Torah)

That is the reference to The Shema, not the "Trinity". (You're getting it precisely backwards again)

 
 

CLAIM: 1 John 5:7 "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one." Proves "The Trinity"

RESPONSE: That is an interpolation. It is not in the original Greek text. Inserted by Rome, precisely because, there is no reference to the "Trinity" (except in the negative: Rev.16:13), in the New Testament.

A.T.ROBERTSON - 1 JO.5:7

At this point the Latin Vulgate gives the words in the Textus Receptus, found in no Greek MS. save two late cursives (162 in the Vatican Library of the fifteenth century, 34 of the sixteenth century in Trinity College, Dublin). Jerome did not have it. Cyprian applies the language of the Trinity and Priscillian has it. Erasmus did not have it in his first edition, but rashly offered to insert it if a single Greek MS. had it and 34 was produced with the insertion, as if made to order. Some Latin scribe caught up Cyprian’s exegesis and wrote it on the margin of his text, and so it got into the Vulgate and finally into the Textus Receptus by the stupidity of Erasmus.
 

CLAIM: "Christ" said he was "One with the Father", this PROVES the "Trinity"

RESPONSE: "Oneness" does not mean "The Same Thing As"

Christ was "one" with the Father. And Adam was "one" with his wife.

Mar 10:6  But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.
Mar 10:7  For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;
Mar 10:8  And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.

"Oneness" does not mean "Adam" WAS "Eve".
They were "One", but not "the Same".
Christ was "divine" and "one" with God (because of that oneness).
 

CLAIM: "Christ" prayed to "Be Glorified", that PROVES the "Trinity"

John 17:5  And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was

RESPONSE: The same kind of promise is made to general "believers"

1Pe_5:6  Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

DOES "EXALTATION" MAKE US PART OF "THE TRINITY"?
 

CLAIM: "Christ's" pre-existence PROVES the "Trinity"

RESPONSE: "Pre-existence" texts were written by "Apostles" who at no point "abandoned the Shema"

"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."

- The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Micropædia, Vol. X, p. 126. (1976

RESPONSE: "Christ's pre-existence" was not in "bodily form"

Heb 10:5  Therefore, coming into the world, He says, “Slaughtering and meal offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me.

RESPONSE: "Pre-existence" extends (in some form) to all "believers"

Eph 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
 

CLAIM: Thomas said "My Lord and my God" when he saw the ressurected Christ. This PROVES the "Trinity".

RESPONSE: Textual "bridge" between "Lord" (master) and "God" (theos) is a "conjunction" and it's interpretation to indicate the "Trinity", is "assumptive" only.

(1) The "dual occurrence" does not necessitate from the language, Thomas was "inventing" a "new doctrine of God" to "replace the Shema". He was voicing an "Exclamation". My "master" and My God! Interpreters arbitrarily "equate" the two expressions as a "singular" expression, but that is a stretch. There is nothing implicit in the language itself, that requires that "equation". It is "assumptive" interpretation only. If you remove the "assumption", there is nothing left but a "dual exclamation".

(2) It could be equally argued that the "dual reference" proves precisely the opposite. Thomas was making note of "two entities", and the conjunction "and" is used to separate them, as such.

(3) At no point does "oneness with God" invalidate the "divinity" of Christ. (Even if you took the dual reference as singular only) It still would not require "belief in the trinity". (As clearly it did not historically for centuries)

(3) Common expression could occur in modern speech today, in virtually the same way, and carry no "theological" implications, whatsoever.  per example, "My boss, ... oh My God!" (Is the language declaring "The Boss" TO BE GOD?) Is "Bobby, therefore part of the Trinity"?

(4) The "Disciples", despite being "Disciples" of Christ, were not beyond the use of  "common speech". Peter was even recorded "Cursing" and "swearing". (Exclamatory language is a very poor source for "theology")  It is usually "expressive" and "idiomatic", meaning it is not to be taken in it's literal wording.

Mar 14:70  And he denied it again. And a little after, they that stood by said again to Peter, Surely thou art one of them: for thou art a Galilaean, and thy speech agreeth thereto.
Mar 14:71  But he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this man of whom ye speak.
 

CHRIST MADE A DISTINCTION BETWEEN HIMSELF AND "GOD"

Christ made the distinction between himself and "God" in his own explanations.

Mat_19:17  And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. (Notice the quantity "one" cited)

Mar_10:18  And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God



He admitted there were things he did not know and that only "God" knew

Mat_24:36  But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only



But that through "unbroken unity" (he was "one" with God)

Joh_5:30  I can of mine own self do nothing as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

(If he were "God" he could have done "his own will", because it would have been "the will of God"... but he did not)


PAGANS DEIFIED EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE

 

The Romans deified everyone

Act_14:12  And they called Barnabas Jupiter and Paul Mercurius because he was the chief speaker.




As did the Babylonians...

Dan_2:46  Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him.



As did the Egyptians, deify Moses...

Exo 7:1  And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.




(In most cases, when people "Deified" God's servants, prophets and messiah, it was over-compensation due to their own sin)
...not a sign of "orthodoxy", "holiness" or a "revelation".

God made Moses "a god" to the Egyptians (because of their "sin"),
not because it was the "correct doctrine of God"
 

NOTICE HOW THE "APOSTLE PAUL" DESCRIBES "THE ROMANS"
(and their "Doctrine of God")

Rom 1:20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Rom 1:21  Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Rom 1:22  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
Rom 1:23  And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man
 

If you "have accepted" the Christ of the New Testament,

then you will "accept" his definition of God as well.

Mar 12:29  And Jesus answered him,The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
Mar 12:31  And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
Mar 12:32  And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
Mar 12:34  And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.