Monotheism has been defined as the belief in the existence of only one god. A god that created the world, is all-powerful and intervenes in the world
Polytheism is the belief in or worship of more than one deity, a type of theism. Polytheism contrasts with monotheism, the belief in only one deity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (Latin: trinus "threefold") holds that God is one God, but three coeternal consubstantial persons or
Judaism is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jewish people
Paganism is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians. It was applied on populations of the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism
In monotheism and henotheism, God is conceived as the Supreme Being and principal object of faith. The concept of God as described by theologians
Yes
The pagan Triadic dieties were shown as a single-head with 3 faces, 3 mouths but only 4 mouths. Such images were preserved across the Roman Empire.
Does the Christian Trinity come from pagan Triadic dieties?
Yes. The core teachings of the Trinitarian Christian churches
today do not come from Jesus.
The three-in-one Gods are pagan concepts that existed long before
Jesus arrived. Later on, Christians adopted this concept and
instantly made Christian doctrine an appealing alternative to the
pagan God worshipping masses.
"It is not a biblical doctrine in the sense that any formulation of it can be found in the Bible."
(Illustrated Bible Dictionary)
Trinitarians have been looking for Bible texts and even twisting verses to find support for the Trinity teaching.
The concept of a dual human and divine nature in the person of Jesus is known as the Hypostatic Union, an essential component of modern Trinitarianism.
Yet it wasn’t until the Council of Chalcedon that we see the emergence of an official doctrine of the Trinity in a form that is recognisable with what Christian Trinitarians believe in today. This took place in the fifth century, over 400 years after Jesus!
The evangelical theologian and Professor Wayne A. Grudem sums this up as follows:
"A precise understanding of how full deity and full humanity" argues Grudem, "could be combined together in one person was formulated only gradually in the church and did not reach the final form until the Chalcedonian Definition in 451 AD
Source: [Grudem, Systematic Theology: Chapter 26 – The Person of Christ, 1994, p. 554.]
This verse mentions the Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Ghost) in the King James Version Bible (KJV). Bible critics agree the KJV verse is a forgery that was added into the Bible. More modern, accurate Bibles give different text:
And the Spirit is the witness, because the Spirit is the truth - (RSV Bible)
And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is the truth - (ASV Bible)
For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. (NIV Bible)
The Old Testament does not teach the Trinity, or even set forth the Messiah would be God. There is no evidence of anyone knowing about, or believing in, the Trinity in all the Jewish literature before Christ, including the Old Testament, the Jewish targums and commentaries, the Apocrypha or other apocryphal literature, or the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Orthodox Christian theologians define the doctrine of the Trinity is that the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, and together these 'three Persons' make one God; and these three are co-equal and co-eternal, the Son having been 'eternally begotten' of the Father, and Jesus being simultaneously 100% God and 100% man.
Today, many Christians think they are Trinitarians simply because they believe in the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit - but that is not the Trinity!
The distinguished Trinitarian scholar Bertrand de Margerie in his book The Christian Trinity in History (p.3) writes:
"…contemporary exegetes [Bible teachers] affirm unanimously that the Old Testament did not bring to the Jewish people a clear and distinct Revelation of the existence of a plurality of persons in God. In this they agree with the clear and frequent affirmation of Fathers such as Irenaeus, Hilary, and Gregory of Nazianzus: that the doctrine of the Trinity is revealed only in the New Testament."
So any person who lived before Jesus' ministry did not have to believe in the Trinity to be saved because the Trinity is not mentioned in the Old Testament.
Scholars freely admit that the Trinity is never presented as a complete doctrine in the New Testament, but rather is built from scattered Bible verses.
In the NT there is no explicit statement of the doctrine….
Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (p. 1112)
…it is not a Biblical doctrine in the sense that any formulation of it can be found in the Bible….
New Bible Dictionary (p.1221)
The New Testament does not present a systematic presentation of the Trinity. The scattered segments from various writers that appear throughout the New Testament reflect a seemingly accepted understanding that exists without a full-length discussion.
Holman Bible Dictionary (p.1372)
Theologians admit the New Testament does not define the Trinity. Furthermore, there is no clear teaching that salvation depends on the belief in the Trinity.
* Horus - In Egypt, in the Heb-Sed festival, the powers of Pharaoh
(Horus incarnate) were tested. If found weak, Horus was expected to
sacrifice himself by donating his blood to the soil
* Kronos - A man was sacrified annually at the Phoenician
feast of Kronos. Kronos had a son, Ieoud who he sacrificed. Ieoud
was known as 'the only begotten son of his Father'
* Tammuz - A popular Syrian saviour-God born of a virgin
was killed and rose again every spring. Wherever Tammuz was
worshipped a human victim in royal robes was killed and eaten, so
his body and blood might bring salvation to the community.
Emperor Constantine at the opening of the Council of Nicaea (325 AD) quoted Psalm 82:6 to remind the bishops that their high office should raise them above jealousy and party feeling.
The term 'God' was applied to people of power, authority and rule who were considered to have greater nearness to God than others - an appellation which implies that you are God's representatives on earth, and that your decision is, in an important sense, to be regarded as his.
In order to increase the number of Christian converts, Christian
missionaries deliberately adopted pre-existing pagan holy places,
shrines, special days and even pagan statues of God.
Pope Gregory I (540-604 CE), a famous Christian leader encouraged
accomodating pagan customs and beliefs. So if pagans worshipped a
Tree or Spirit abiding in it, rather than shun the pagan worship,
he urged priests to somehow link the worship to Jesus Christ, and
allow them to continue their Tree or pagan idol worship.
December 25th was the most important of Sun Festivals, the new
birth of the God, rising three days after 'dying' at the winter
solstice. Today, the celebration continues and its many features
can be witnessed. A few of these include:
* Excessive eating, drinking and merry was commin in Saturnalia
festival
* Father Christmas (Red Man) - who was originally Apollo, the
Sun-God or Thor God depicted as an elderly man, jovial or
friendly, of heavy build with a long white beard who drove a
chariot through the sky
* Fireplace - the fireplace in pagan homes was sacred to Thor
God which he would descend though the chimney
* Giving of gifts - a feature of Saturnalia festival
* Christmas card bearing the cheeky robin bird (with its chest
bearing the flame symbol)
* Snowman - who melts when the Sun comes out (is defeated by
the Sun)
* Fir-tree trinkets and decorations, symbolising life in the
'dead' parts of the world
* Holly - to deflect evil goblins in winter solstice
* Ivy - the female version of the 'male' holly
* Mistletoe - used by pagan druids in their worship
* Yule Log - sacred to the Thor God which is symbolised today
as a chocolate cake
The pagan Triadic dieties were shown as a single-head with 3 faces, 3 mouths but only 4 mouths. Such images were preserved across the Roman Empire.
Does the Christian Trinity come from pagan Triadic dieties?
Yes. The core teachings of the Trinitarian Christian churches
today do not come from Jesus.
The three-in-one Gods are pagan concepts that existed long before
Jesus arrived. Later on, Christians adopted this concept and
instantly made Christian doctrine an appealing alternative to the
pagan God worshipping masses.
It is highly likely the reason why the Church priests burned and destroyed the earlier records of pagan Gods was to hide the evidence for the real origins of their own Christian mythology.
The Jewish-Christians practised three daily prayers, male circumcision, ritual washing for purity, fasting, attention to clean/unclean foods, giving charity and pilgrimage to a central temple.
A placard where Jesus was accused of claiming to be 'King of the Jews' was nailed to his cross. Today this placard can be found at the Church of Santa Croce in Rome.
In many ways, Jesus was Jewish:
He did not preach a new religion
He taught people to do the Will of God; not a new God
He never went to Church
He fully observed the Jewish Law
His followers continued attending and meeting at the Temple
His followers observed the dietary regulations of the Torah and continued the practise of circumcision
Therefore, the early Jewish-Christians did not give up Judaism, nor did Jesus every ask them to do so.
Paul's popularity was in decline between 55-66 CE because missionaries from the Church of Jerusalem publicly rejected his innovation and claim to be an Apostle.
Yes. Jesus himself and his immediate followers observed all Jewish law, customs and practise.
Prior to becoming a Christian, Saul of Tarsus hated Christians. He made it his goal to capture, then bring Christians to public trial and execution.
Paul's salvation theory was considered blasphemy by faithful Jews. The Jews knew Pauls teachings ridiculed all previous revelations from God as expressed through the Torah.
The Jews after all, were the one race of people in the world who were taught God was One, without form or substance, and did not bear the likeness of anything in the universe.
Paul claimed God gave Jews the Torah so that they could be saved later on by believing in Jesus Christ. This was God's divine plan.
The Jewish Rabbis preached a person was saved so long as their intention was to remain within the covenant, and one truly repented and seek forgiveness for their sins.
Paul preached that every person was 'damned' until they was offered salvation. Mans problem was that he was 'in the flesh' in bondage to the Law, sold under Sin, enslaved by the fundamental spirits of the universe (ie. dead).
Paul preached the only cure was liberation from slavery and death by union with Christ, who had conquered death and sin.
It was Paul's dramatic conversion to Christianity that resulted in the seperation of Christianity from Judaism. Within months of his disappearing, Jesus' teachings were changed.
The Bible claims the Messiah will accomplish certain signs:
A. Build the Third Temple (Ezekiel 37:26-28).
B. Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6).
C. Usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred, oppression, suffering and disease. As it says: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall man learn war anymore." (Isaiah 2:4)
D. Spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel, which will unite humanity as one. As it says: "God will be King over all the world—on that day, God will be One and His Name will be One" (Zechariah 14:9).
The historical fact is that Jesus fulfilled none of these messianic prophecies.
Christians counter that Jesus will fulfill these in the Second Coming, but Jewish sources show that the Messiah will fulfill the prophecies outright, and no concept of a second coming exists.
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The Jews say "The Christians have nothing [true] to stand on," and the Christians say, "The Jews have nothing to stand on," although they [both] recite the Scripture. Thus the polytheists speak the same as their words. But Allah will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning that over which they used to differ.
[Quran 2:113]
Although, Paul was of the Jewish background, the Jewish-Christian followers of Jesus rejected Paul and wanted to kill him.
When the Quran refers to the previous Scriptures (Torah, Gospel etc.), this is understood to mean the original revelations sent to Moses and Jesus, and not the 'corrupted' versions we have today
A human empowered by God. Not a God-man, a person of the Godhead or part of a Triune God (Trinity)
From the lineage of Abraham (Gen. 22:18)
From the tribe of Judah (Gen. 49:10)
A descendant of David (2 Sam. 7:12)
A Lord under Yahweh, the God of Israel (Ps. 110:1)
From amongst their own people (Jer. 30:21)
First century Jews believed the Holy Spirit was another name for God, similar to Yahweh, Elohim or El Shaddai - not a separate Person in the Trinity!
There is no record of Jesus ever trying to correct the Jews and prove the Holy Spirit was a third Person in the Trinity.
The Jews and early Jewish-Christians who observed Mosaic Law constantly harassed Paul. They even followed him around and stirred the people against him. To the extent he was often beaten and threatened with death.
The Jews were mistaken. Jesus did not claim to be God, claim divinity or commit blasphemy. In the next verse (John 10:34), Jesus tells the Jews to read their own books, Psalm 82:6 where men in power, eminence, dignity, government, judges, magistrates, in high office posts are called Gods too. i.e. the term God does not literally mean GOD.
In the Torah, God forbids the cutting of the hair on the sides and the beard
For the Jews, the Septuagint would always be a translation of the Hebrew bible.
Judaism was views as an inward looking, demoralized by centuries of Roman occupation, declining economic fortunes and ongoing emigration.
This Quran verse is often quoted out of context. The preceeding Quran verses inform us there was a war treaty between the Muslims and pagan Arabs, which the pagans of Arabia broke.
Therefore this verse applies to a very specific historical event and applied only to those who broke the agreement.
Naturally, in war violence is expected. If country A declares war with country B because a peace treaty was violated, then both countries will expect their soldiers to kill or be killed.