God, the Bible and the Trinity

Christians define the trinity is a 'Triune God-Head, consisting of three persons'.

Below is written what I sent to a Pastor, but have yet to have a reply. I do plan to edit and add more to this article but that is all within time.

The Trinity

With the image of the clover as an example, we see the Trinity belief in God being made of three separate parts but all within the same clover leaf. Each leaf has its own mind, something which makes it distinct. These three parts, or persons, are considered each to be God. This analogy falls short in that each part is not fully the leaf but is rather a part of the leaf. Any example that you give is going to fall short in the same was because the Trinity belief itself is a self-defeating one.

The Father can be a leaf completely and the Son can also be a leaf completely but with this it requires two leaves, i.e. multiple gods.

Many Christians do not like to use logic for this, and say 'it is faith'. Of course we don't know everything about God as our minds cannot comprehend Him for He is different to whatever we think, as our minds are limited. My use of logic in this case is not to try to understand God completely but rather it's to show that the Trinity belief is contradictory. Don't forget the doctrine of the trinity was formulated at the Council of Nicaea and set as the belief. I will note that, some of the early Christians (such as Aruis and the Ebionites) rejected the Trinity, just as the Jews do. In fact the Trinity appears to have been 'superimposed' over the text of the Scripture by later Christians. The Trinity appears to be the work of Christians who were heavily influenced by Greek philosophy.

If you were to believe that you were both fat and thin at the same time, would you go on a diet? You would be in confusion. Similar is the belief in God, we must not define Him with contradictory beliefs/terminology.

I will first mention that in the Bible what we usually see is things like "And Jesus said to Matthew..." but not things like "And (I) Jesus said..." and this is because the Bible is a recording, a narration, like "So and so said that Jesus said", except the chain is much longer. The validity of parts of the Bible is debated amongst scholars. It's level validity is actually fairly weak in comparison with other historical recordings. So from this we understand that it can be prone to human error and bias.

I do not pick and choose as such but I remain silent on the authenticity of some verses.

Here are some quotes from the Bible which seem to go against the doctrine of the Trinity:

In Luke 6:12 it is narrated:

"One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God."

It is interesting that Jesus bowed down to God. What he did glorify God and worshiped Him with absolute humility, as a prayer is to be done with sincerity.

Another interesting account is narrated in Matthew 26:39:

"Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."

Apart from Jesus praying to God, he is also negates having Divine Will. Jesus even continues his praying a third time, saying the same.

In Mark 10:18 it is narrated:

“And Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.”

And in John 14:28:

"My Father (GOD) is greater than I"

Does this not show that Jesus is not an equal part with the Father?

And I will mention another verse which shows this lack of 'equal unity':

"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."

This is from Matthew 24:36 which shows that the Son lacks knowledge of the hour while the Father has knowledge of it. Showing that they are not equal and also that the Son has limited knowledge and does not know everything, while the attribute of God is that He is All-Knowing.

Of course there are many other verses like these too.

I will further continue by showing some verses which talk about God being One.

Deuteronomy 5:6

"I am the LORD thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me."

And in Deuteronomy 6:4,

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD" (or "The Lord is our God, the Lord alone (that is, the only one)"

Now to the New Testament, in Ephesians:

"One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all"

And I will conclude with the following, James 2:19:

"You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!"

In accordance with the above mentioned verses (and the first being the first of the ten commandments) as an interpretive basis, the narrated statements of Jesus would appear differently. I will also mention that the Bible contains figurative and exaggerating expressions in it. Like in Mark 16:17-18.

Such as in John 14:11,

"Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves."

This verse could be seen not in a literal sense but rather in a figurative sense. When you are in remembrance of God, you would say that God is in your heart, although you may not mean that God is actually inside of your heart. Like wise if someone were to say, "He only seems to have money on his mind", this doesn't imply that money is literally on his mind. This would mean that his speaking and his actions are in accordance to Gods laws, that he submits himself to God.

And if we look at John 10:30,

"I and the Father are one."

To say that this verse implies that the Son and the Father are equal could be taking it out of context. If we look back beginning at John 10:23 about Jesus talking to the Jews. In John 10:28-30, talking about his followers as his sheep's, he is reported to have stated:

"...Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father who gave them me, is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are One."

So these verses prove, instead of the Father and the Son being equal, that rather the Father and the Son are One in that no man can pluck the sheep out of either's hand. In fact if we take a look at the above mentioned verses it is said: "My Father who gave them me, is greater than all (which would include Jesus)", which would negate the claim of the Father and Son being equal.

Back to the statement "I am the Father are one", the Greek 'hen' is used for the word one. So what is meant becomes clear from his prayer concerning the apostles (in John 17:22): "That they may be one (hen), just as we are one (hen)", which means that they should be united in agreement with one another as Jesus is always united in agreement with God, as Jesus is reported to have said in John 8:29: "I (Jesus) always do the things that are pleasing to Him". Thus there is no implication that Jesus and God, or the twelve apostles are to be considered as of one essence.

This terminology can be found in other places too which would suggest that a literal understanding is incorrect.