Two good sledge hammers against Arian heresy
Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2005 5:12 pm
Witnessing against traditional Arian heresy as well as its Jehovah's witness counterpart.
Jesus's nature has been disputed since ancient times. The Trinity was voted into Orthodoxy at the Council of Nicene in 325 AD. Known as the "Arian controversy", the debate over Christ's divinity still rages on, although Arian support today is nothing compared to the cutthroat dogmatism and fanaticism that surrounded the Council of Nicene. Some accuse the Council of having "cheated" since Trinitarians won the vote with an overwhelming majority when the number of Arian bishops was supposedly higher (strangely enough no Arian ever coughs up a list of the bishops and their allegiance).
All this is simply background to the problem. Today. there are two heresies of the sort within Christianity:
1) "Old School" Arianism which makes Christ a created(somewhat) being separate from (and subordinate to) God but sharing His glory.
2) Jehovah's witnesses who make Christ a created being (the Archangel Michael) weaker than God.
1) Arian Heresy The differences between Arianism and Trinitarians are very subtle. Arians accept Jesus as "begotten before time", separate from God. The Son draws his power from the Father and there is nothing the Father can do that the Son cannot.
The problem with this is rather simple:
If Jesus is another God then Arianism becomes polytheistic! Few people would expect the Arians of all people to be polytheistic but it is the only logical conclusion one can draw. As Arians will willingly admit, Jesus can do anything God can. Arians deny the polytheism charge by saying "Jesus isn't God almighty" but it makes no difference. The "almighty" goddess Moira was in greek mythology yet nobody will suggest the greeks were monotheistic! The truth is, it does not matter if Jesus is weaker than the Father(He isn't) any more than it matters if Ares is weaker than Moira. Jesus serves pretty much the same role that God does: He forgives sins(Matthew 9:6), passes judgement on the living and the dead (2Ti 4:1;John 5:22), is the only way for salvation(John 14:6).
But if Jesus is a separate being from God, and Jesus is pretty much a God, what of "Thou shalt have no God but me"?
2) Jehovah's witnesses
The JW position is easy to demolish with one single verse:
Joh 1:3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (as far as I know the JWs did not temper with this line as they probably never realised how dangerous it is to their dogma)
Since JWs state Jesus was a created being, perhaps they would like to explain how can "all things that were made" made through Jesus if Jesus Himself was made! This leads to absurdities like "Jesus made Himself" and is unacceptable.
Of course, if you really want to have some fun, you can look at John 1:1 and say "Look, it says the Word WAS God"
When the JW whips out his version of the bible and claims "Naw, it can be translated as "The Word was A God", ask him to explain why he serves two gods.
Jesus's nature has been disputed since ancient times. The Trinity was voted into Orthodoxy at the Council of Nicene in 325 AD. Known as the "Arian controversy", the debate over Christ's divinity still rages on, although Arian support today is nothing compared to the cutthroat dogmatism and fanaticism that surrounded the Council of Nicene. Some accuse the Council of having "cheated" since Trinitarians won the vote with an overwhelming majority when the number of Arian bishops was supposedly higher (strangely enough no Arian ever coughs up a list of the bishops and their allegiance).
All this is simply background to the problem. Today. there are two heresies of the sort within Christianity:
1) "Old School" Arianism which makes Christ a created(somewhat) being separate from (and subordinate to) God but sharing His glory.
2) Jehovah's witnesses who make Christ a created being (the Archangel Michael) weaker than God.
1) Arian Heresy The differences between Arianism and Trinitarians are very subtle. Arians accept Jesus as "begotten before time", separate from God. The Son draws his power from the Father and there is nothing the Father can do that the Son cannot.
The problem with this is rather simple:
If Jesus is another God then Arianism becomes polytheistic! Few people would expect the Arians of all people to be polytheistic but it is the only logical conclusion one can draw. As Arians will willingly admit, Jesus can do anything God can. Arians deny the polytheism charge by saying "Jesus isn't God almighty" but it makes no difference. The "almighty" goddess Moira was in greek mythology yet nobody will suggest the greeks were monotheistic! The truth is, it does not matter if Jesus is weaker than the Father(He isn't) any more than it matters if Ares is weaker than Moira. Jesus serves pretty much the same role that God does: He forgives sins(Matthew 9:6), passes judgement on the living and the dead (2Ti 4:1;John 5:22), is the only way for salvation(John 14:6).
But if Jesus is a separate being from God, and Jesus is pretty much a God, what of "Thou shalt have no God but me"?
2) Jehovah's witnesses
The JW position is easy to demolish with one single verse:
Joh 1:3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (as far as I know the JWs did not temper with this line as they probably never realised how dangerous it is to their dogma)
Since JWs state Jesus was a created being, perhaps they would like to explain how can "all things that were made" made through Jesus if Jesus Himself was made! This leads to absurdities like "Jesus made Himself" and is unacceptable.
Of course, if you really want to have some fun, you can look at John 1:1 and say "Look, it says the Word WAS God"
When the JW whips out his version of the bible and claims "Naw, it can be translated as "The Word was A God", ask him to explain why he serves two gods.