B.W. wrote:
Let me describe in the briefest of terms how and why the doctrine of the Trinity came into beginning. The doctrine of the trinity came as a response to fight against heresy and false doctrine. It came as a response to safe guard the teachings of the bible handed down from the Christ to the Apostles and etc, to combat those bent on corrupting and destroying the Church from within the Church itself. It was designed in such manner that it could be easily memorized in order for any Christian to know and identify what the spirit of truth is verses the spirit of error.
An excellent proof that the Doctrine of the Trinity was not an established teaching of the early Christians is in a letter by one of the trinity's greatest exponents, Tertullian of Carthage. Even though his understanding of it was that the Son was subordinate to the Father, which is contrary to today's Doctrine of the Trinity, his writings were unfortunately, very influential in the development of this doctrine. He wrote about it profusely.
The fact that he believed the Son to be inferior to the Father can be easily seen in his letter
Against Praxeas. In it, he states:
Tertullian wrote:
Chap. IX. "Thus the Father is distinct from the Son, being greater than the Son."
Tertullian wrote:
Chap. VII. "And while I recognize the Son, I assert his distinction as second to the Father."
Again, ask yourself why was his view of the trinity different from today's view if it has always been taught by the church? The reason is because it was a developing idea.
Tertullian himself gives us the greatest proof of the fact that it was a developing idea in the same letter. He states:
Tertullian wrote:
Chap. III. vv. 1. "The majority of believers, are STARTLED at the Dispensation (of the Three in One)...They are constantly throwing out against us that we are preachers of two gods and three gods...While the Greeks actually REFUSE to understand the oikonomia, or Dispensation" (of the Three in One).
These are incredible statements! Tertullian is acknowledging that the majority of believers did not agree with the Doctrine of the Trinity. They accused him of being a polytheist. The Greeks (either Greek Christians or Christians that spoke Greek in different lands) refused altogether to believe him. These statements are probably the best proofs that the Doctrine of the Trinity was not taught by the Apostles.
If it had been taught by them, the majority of believers would have known about the Dispensation and would not have been startled by it, neither would they have accused him of worshipping two gods.
This doctrine was something new,
it was not the established belief of Christianity as you can see. It was starting to work itself out and trying to gain popularity, especially with Hellenized Christians. But it was not in the majority.
In fact, it was very much in the minority.
Jac3510 wrote:
I still can't believe anybody would vote "yes" to the question
Jac3510 you are in good company! Tertullian could not believe it either!
Let's continue…..
THE JUSTINIAN CODE
The Council of Nicaea is best remembered for its introduction of the first version of the Nicaean Creed, which was written in an attempt to resolve the
Arian controversy. However, it was also the source of another less known, but amazing development in the history of the Church! For the first three
centuries of its existence, the Church had endured regular outbreaks of fierce persecution for its faith. At Nicaea it gained a measure of political
influence, (and a seared conscience!) which allowed it to employ "legal" persecution as a measure to protect the "faith" -- such as it had become.
Down through the centuries countless thousands have been persecuted and martyred, for their refusal to pay dishonest lip service to the Creeds of
the Mainstream Church.
Despite vigorous attempts to eliminate them, Arian beliefs survived, mainly in the northern regions of the Empire, for several centuries afterwards.
They were still a force to be reckoned with, when the Emperor Justinian came to the throne in the sixth century AD.
It is not surprising therefore, that when Justinian commissioned a review of Roman Law, harsh measures against anti-trinitarianism came to be written
into the Civil Laws of the Empire.
In the interest of accuracy, it should be recognized that the Code of Justinian was NOT primarily written for this reason. Its major purpose was
a massive overhaul of the Roman Civil Law, which at that time it was in a very disorganized condition. It was so costly to reproduce the entire mass
of laws promulgated over previous centuries, that even public libraries did not contain complete collections.
Justinian appointed a Commission of 16 eminent lawyers to undertake the task of compiling, clarifying and simplifying. The results were published
in 533AD in 50 books. Over the following years, until his death in 565AD, Justinian issued a great number of new ordinances, some of which seriously
altered previous laws. All of this work is collectively known as the "Corpus Juris Civilus". (Source Encyclopedia Britannica 1999, CD-ROM Standard Version.)
Although enforcing Christianity as the State Religion was not the only concern, "heresy" did appear high on the list of "crimes" which incurred
severe penalties, and Church authorities were not slow to invoke them. These same attitudes were also adopted into the laws of other countries. In
England, the last public execution for anti-trinitarianism took place in Edinburgh, in 1697.
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"The Imperial law code from Justinian's time (A.D. 529) on, made rebaptism one of the two heresies penalized by death, the other being Anti-Trinitarianism." Quoted from -
http://www.anabaptists.org/history/mennoen1.html (From the Mennonite Encyclopedia)
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The following extracts are taken from
Book 1 of the Justinian Code. They reveal the hearts of men who thought Religious Conviction could be imposed by force! But, how very far they are from the heart of the Jesus revealed in the Gospels, whose teaching made obedience conditional on LOVE! (John
14:15) They can be found on-line at -
http://www.aloha.net/~mikesch/jus-code.htm
QUOTE_____________________________________________________________________
"We desire that all peoples subject to Our benign Empire shall live under the same religion that the Divine Peter, the Apostle, gave to the Romans,
and which the said religion declares was introduced by himself, and which it is well known that the Pontiff Damascus, and Peter, Bishop of
Alexandria, a man of apostolic sanctity, embraced; that is to say, in accordance with the rules of apostolic discipline and the evangelical
doctrine, we should believe that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit constitute a single Deity, endowed with equal majesty, and united in the
Holy Trinity."
"We order all those who follow this law to assume the name of Catholic Christians, and considering others as demented and insane, We order that
they shall bear the infamy of heresy; and when the Divine vengeance which they merit has been appeased, they shall afterwards be punished in
accordance with Our resentment, which we have acquired from the judgment of Heaven."
"Let no place be afforded to heretics for the conduct of their ceremonies, and let no occasion be offered for them to display the insanity of their
obstinate minds. Let all persons know that if any privilege has been fraudulently obtained by means of any rescript whatsoever, by persons of
this kind, it will not be valid. Let all bodies of heretics be prevented from holding unlawful assemblies, and let the name of the only and the
greatest God be celebrated everywhere, and let the observance of the Nicene Creed, recently transmitted to Our ancestors, and firmly established by the
testimony and practice of Divine Religion, always remain secure."
"Moreover, he who is an adherent of the Nicene Faith, and a true believer in the Catholic religion, should be understood to be one who believes that
Almighty God and Christ, the son of God, are one person, God of God, Light of Light; and let no one, by rejection, dishonor the Holy Spirit, whom we
expect, and have received from the Supreme Parent of all things, in whom the sentiment of a pure and undefiled faith flourishes, as well as the
belief in the undivided substance of a Holy Trinity, which true believers indicate by the Greek word amounsios. These things, indeed do not require
further proof, and should be respected."
"Let those who do not accept those doctrines cease to apply the name of true religion to their fraudulent belief; and let them be branded with
their open crimes, and, having been removed from the threshold of all churches, be utterly excluded from them, as We forbid all heretics to hold
unlawful assemblies within cities. If, however, any seditious outbreak should be attempted, We order them to be driven outside the walls of the
City, with relentless violence, and We direct that all Catholic Churches, throughout the entire world, shall be placed under the control of the
orthodox bishops who have embraced the Nicene Creed."
"Source: Corpus Juris Civilis (The Civil Law, the Code of Justinian), by S.P. Scott, A.M., published by the Central Trust Company, Cincinnati,
copyright 1932, Volume 12 [of 17], pages 9-12, 125."
END QUOTE_________________________________________________________________
The Doctrine of the Trinity was not an established teaching of the early Christians. It was a doctrine that developed and spread throughout Christianity between the 3rd and 4th centuries. There was much resistance to it from the majority of believers as Tertullian himself admits. But in the end, with the might of the Roman state to back up the state held Councils and the state imposed articles of faith, this new doctrine became the orthodox position of the church. Many thousands of people were killed by the state in the following centuries for their refusal to accept this doctrine as Biblical. Even as late as the 1700's, people were still being burned at the stake for their denial of this man-made doctrine (Servetus was burned at the stake by Calvin for this reason).
Does that sound like something that Jesus and his apostles would approve of? * Did Jesus ever say,
"believe what I say or I will have you killed?" Of course not! But this was the only way to enforce this most unbiblical and most illogical pagan belief. If this doctrine is not the great apostasy that Jesus warned us about, then I do not know what else it could be.
This is an unpalatable aspect of history which is largely unknown, or ignored, by the current generation of the Christians.
The Trinity has lasted as long as it has because of oppression. The church with the state to back it up obliterated anyone who had opposing views to any so-called Orthodox doctrines. They also destroyed any writings or books that opposed their views.
Three other reasons have helped to keep this unbiblical belief as a cornerstone in mainstream Christianity.
The first is the fact that most people until the middle of the 19th century could not read. There was no way for the average person to verify what his priest was telling him as fact. The second reason is the fact that Bibles until the 17th century were too expensive and too rare for the average person to own, again making it very difficult for the average person to see through the mistake. The third reason is that until it was changed in 1962 at the Second Vatican Council, it was considered a sin for Catholics to read the Bible. So by the time that the Protestant Reformation occurred which allowed people to finally be able to read the Bible, the Trinity had already had 1200 years to entrench itself.
That, coupled with the simple fact that Catholics today still account for 85% of Christians worldwide completes the picture of why it is still here today.
Someday it will be known for what it is, a pagan belief that worked its way into Christianity in the early years of the church when it was reaching out to pagans all over the world.
Search the Scriptures for the word of God.
Do not accept man's word of tradition. Remember what Jesus thinks of man's traditions:
Mark 7:7—
"You disregard God's commandment but cling to human tradition."