|
Examining A Publication of the "Should You Believe in the Trinity"
Is Jesus Christ The Almighty God? In 1989, Jehovah's Witnesses received a publication designed to destroy the Christian belief in the Trinity, the belief that the One, True, Almighty God of the Bible has revealed Himself in three Persons, The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. We were anxious to check out this publication with it's many quotes supposedly in support of the Watchtower position. This was made extremely difficult since the Watchtower deliberately left off page numbers, authors, publishers, and edition years etc. However, we have waded through every book quoted that we could find, and so we present our examination of this publication and its web of deceit concerning Almighty God and His true identity. The False Claims And Deceitful Quotations Contained in: "Should You Believe in the Trinity?" Page 4: The Encyclopedia Americana is quoted to attempt to convey the impression that "confusion is widespread" regarding the Trinity. Note also that the Watchtower ridicules the concept that fully knowing the nature of God could be 'beyond the grasp of human reason. "
THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER and the quotations put into their proper context. Now let's finish the quote. It really doesn't end with a period but with a comma, and goes on to say, "It is held that although the doctrine is beyond the grasp of human reason, it is, like many of the formulations of physical science, not contrary to reason, and may be apprehended (though it may not be comprehended) by the human mind." So, although we may not completely comprehend the infinite God with our finite minds, we do need to accept His revelation of His nature to us through the pages of the Bible, that is, by Divine revelation. There is no confusion. PAGE 4: Should You Believe in the Trinity? This publication quotes "A Dictionary of Religious Knowledge", supposedly making Trinitarians appear confused. Of course, the Society left out the author of the quote, the page number, the date, the publisher, etc. so the quote could not be easily traced. Although many diligently searched, this publication could not be found in major libraries etc. so we were doubly grateful when the Watchtower provided a photocopy to one of our readers, after an appeal through our Newsletter. Other wise we probably never would have found this obscure, out-of-print publication from 1875! Here is the Watchtower statement from page 4 of "Should You Believe in the Trinity" lifted out of this dictionary.
Aha, Lifted out of context yet again. Just prior to this quote, the article said, "If is certain. however, that from the apostolic times they paid worship to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, addressed to them their prayers, and included them in their doxologies." The article goes on to say, "The Bible represents God to us as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost it represents them as equally entitled to our highest reverence, affection, and allegiance." Once again, the Trinity was believed by the apostolic fathers and is believed by true Christians down to this day. Shame on the Watchtower Society for trying to mislead its readers by quoting an obscure publication from 1875, out of print and unavailable. Dishonest and misleading! Why? The False Claims And Deceitful Quotations: PAGE 4: Should You Believe in the Trinity? As usual, the Watchtower 'goes for the throat" of the Catholics and lifts fragments of quotes which appear to support their doctrine and discredit the Catholics, from whom they draw the majority of their followers.
THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER and the quotations put into their proper context. Again, no page number, but we found it on page 304. The article started on page 295 and strongly supports the Trinity, giving its history. This Catholic article exposed the Arian heresy for the lie that it is, and from which the J.W.'s draw their doctrine on Jesus Christ, namely that he's merely an extra god and the Archangel Michael. Space permits us only one brief quote from the lengthy article, • Tertullian's grasp of the sense in which God is one and the sense in which God is three was impressively clear and systematic... " "thus came into being the doctrine of relative properties to explain in some measure the non contradictory plurality of Persons in the one unique Godhead" (p.297). The struggle the Catholic Church had with the Trinity was to put the concept of the three Persons in the Godhead into easily-understood language for its students. Nothing derogatory to the Trinity itself was even hinted at. PAGE 4: Should You Believe in the Trinity? Trying to find a quote calling the Trinity "confusing" and failing, the Watchtower takes a legitimate quote but lifts it out of its context and introduces it with their own slanted words, making the quote appear to agree with them. The example below is repeated over and over in this publication.
The actual sentence quoted is correct. Another way to word it might be: "It is obvious that a doctrine (or belief) so mysterious requires a Divine revelation." If we read on in the same article we find under "Proof of Doctrine from Scripture", The phrase "in the name" (Greek inserted here) affirms the Godhead of the Persons and their unity of nature. " "It is incredible that the phrase "in the name' should be here employed were not all the Persons mentioned equally Divine. Moreover the use of the singular, "name"', and not foe plural, shows that these Three Persons are that One Omnipotent God in whom the Apostles believed." "Besides these passages there are many others in the Gospels which refer to one or other of the Three Persons in particular, and clearly express the separate personality and Divinity of each." The False Claims And Deceitful Quotations: PAGE 4: "SHOULD YOU BELIEVE IN THE TRINlTY?" The quote below is an example of the use of "............", by the Watchtower, to omit those phrases which make the quote complete and understandable, and at the same time mislead the reader into thinking that the person quoted agrees with the Watchtower. This quote continues on right after the ones shown above, without so much as a paragraph separating it, and as usual, this quote is not finished,
THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER and the quotations put into their proper context. Let's just clear this one up by finishing the quote. "Its import is as follows. (1) The one God exists in three "Persons" (Subsistence) which are the one divine Nature (the one divine essence, of divine substance) and therefore are equally eternal and almighty." The article by Rahner and Vorgrimler states the doctrine of the Trinity, and does not speak of it as error as the Watchtower publication would like to imply. A good encyclopedia or dictionary should state the facts as they are, and not voice an opinion. We also must be careful not to reject something just because we don't understand our infinite God with our finite minds. We must accept the revelation of God's nature as the Bible presents it, and not necessarily as our logical minds would like to conveniently classify the eternal God so we can "know it all." PAGE 5: Should You Believe in the Trinity? Jehovah's Witnesses love to point out the word, "Trinity" is not found in the Bible, and we agree, it is not.
We would also point out to the Jehovah's Witnesses that the word "Theocracy" is not found in the Bible, but is constantly found in their publications and in their speech. "But" they protest" it is merely good word describing the Bible concept of government by God." To which we reply, "Exactly " And the word "Trinity" is a good word describing the Bible concept of the Only True God manifesting Himself in three Persons, and therefore the three are the One, True Almighty God. It is certainly permissible to use words not in the Bible to describe Bible concepts. PAGE 5 - Should You Believe in the Trinity? The Watchtower constantly mocks Christianity for their statement which calls the triune God concept a "mystery" Here is a typical attack.
Again, the Watchtower chooses fragments of scriptures and ignores parts of the Bible that correct them. From their own, "Kingdom Interlinear Translation" we photocopy Colossians 2:2 Note the word 'mystery" in connection with God's nature.
The False Claims And Deceitful Quotations Contained in: PAGE 6: Should You Believe in the Trinity? The Watchtower carefully picks among all ideas in reference books, rejecting the ones they don't agree with, even radical ones, to find some small phrase that does agree with them. An example:
THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER and the quotations put into their proper context. The very liberal and controversial, "Encyclopedia of Religion" in this same article suggested, "The fatherhood of God should be rethought in light of the critique of feminist theologies." The Watchtower sure didn't like that one! How about this one? "Trinitarian doctrine cannot be christomonistic, excluding persons of other faiths from salvation, nor can it surrender its conviction that God is fully present in Christ." J,W.'s hated that one! So why choose among them for one radical one that did agree? PAGE 6. Should You Believe in the Trinity? Continuing right on in the above paragraph, the Watchtower again stops abruptly to suit their own purposes.
Again, let's just finish the quote to get at the truth: "In the NT the oldest evidence is in the Pauline epistles, especially 2 Cor. 13: 13, and l Cor. 12: 4-6. In the Gospels, evidence of the Trinity is found explicitly only in the baptismal formula of Mt. 28, 19. The article continues, In many places of the OT however expressions are used in which some of the Fathers of the Church saw references or foreshadowings of the Trinity" The False Claims And Deceitful Quotations Contained In: PAGE 6: Should You Believe in the Trinity? This paragraph continues with disjointed quotes from Jesuit Edmond Fortman, making it appear that he supports the Watchtower view, when he does not.
THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER and the quotations put into their proper context. The sentence quoted actually ends after the word "persons' (note the.......) The very next sentence in the introduction of Fortman's book reads: "The doctrine of the Triune God he's had an amazing history, Convinced that this doctrine is a Christian doctrine that did and could originate only from divine revelation, I start the study from the authentic record of divine revelation that is found in the sacred writings of the Old and New Testaments :". Now I ask you, does this sound like someone who is attempting to show that the Trinity is not a correct Christian doctrine as the Watchtower implies? The Jehovah's Witnesses are the modern day Arians, or heretics of this century. They need to be corrected as was Arius, in 325. Jesuit Edmund Fortman does a credible job of describing these events in the article the J.W.'s quoted above, so we quote a scholar of their choice to correct their false doctrine that Jesus Christ is a lesser, inferior god to Jehovah, and the Archangel Michael to boot ! The Watchtower also attempts to show the pagan nature of the Trinity by showing pictures of pagan trinities. They have it backwards! For every truth of God, Satan has a counterfeit, For the true Triune God, Satan has counterfeited false triune pagan deities. This merely proves that there is a genuine article if there is a pagan copy. The entire Watchtower theology is a counterfeit of true Christianity. Counterfeit salvation, counterfeit Jesus Christ, a counterfeit organization replacing the true body of Christ etc. Not to mention this counterfeit booklet we are discussing! It is as false as its quotes! Several pages later, sixteen in fact, we find the remainder of this quote joined by four dots to the original--talk about sneaky! "Thus two currents of thought and belief began to stand out. One read the Biblical witness to God as affirming that Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three who are equally God and somehow one God. The other read the Biblical witness differently and concluded that Christ although divine to some extent, was not equal to the Father in divinity but somehow an "inferior god"... (therefore) ..." the Council of Nicea in 325, the first ecumenical council rejected Arius' doctrine that the Son is not true God but is a creature, and declared solemnly. "We believe.. that Jesus Christ is the Son of God born of the Father. i.e. of the substance of the Father, true God from true God begotten not created, co-substantial with the Father; through him all things were made". The False Claims And Deceitful Quotations Contained in: PAGE 6: Should You Believe in the Trinity? Here is a quote the JW's use as a "conclusion:
THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER and the quotations put into their proper context. Aha! Another period where there is actually a comma in the original. The article here goes on at some length to support the Trinity, and actually concludes with these words: 'Thus, the New Testament established the basis for the doctrine of the Trinity". PAGE 6: Here is another snappy quote:
However, the article continues (p.39), "In other passages of the New Testament the predicate "God" is without a doubt applied to Christ. With these affirmations, which for Jewish monotheism were utterly offensive, Christians expressed their faith that it was not merely some heavenly being which encountered them in Jesus Christ, but God himself and that because of this, his coming, especially his cross and resurrection, had meaning for entire world." PAGES 6 & 7 : Should You Believe in the Trinity?
Now let's read the whole quote: "The transition from the Trinity of experience to the Trinity of dogma is describable in other terms as the transition from the economic or dispensational Trinity (Greek words inserted) to the essential, immanent, orontological Trinity (more Greek words). At first the Christian faith was not Trinitarian in the strictly on theological reference." While this full quote is difficult for one not a scholar, the true intent of the author is shown to be at odds with the Watchtower's partial quote. False Claims And Deceitful Quotations Contained in: PAGE 7: Should You Believe in the Trinity? Look! Dots again. What could they be hiding this time?
THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER and the quotations put into their proper context. Often, Watchtower dots hide words like "but," "however," "therefore," and a completely different point follows. Here is what the dots are hiding. Let's finish the sentence, "But it is precisely this formulation that has first claim to the title the Trinitarian dogma". Now proceed to the balance of the Watchtower quote which actually ends not with a period but a semi-colon and continue reading. "among the 2nd- century Apologists, little more than a focusing of the problem as that of plurality within the unique Godhead." No denial of the Trinity here! WHAT ARE WE TO CONCLUDE REGARDING THE "SHOULD YOU BELIEVE IN THE TRINITY" BOOKLET? We can only conclude that if you read the entire quotes from the articles used by the Watchtower Society, and ignore their very slanted opinions and scholastic dishonesty, you too, will come to believe in the Trinity as did the apostles, early church fathers and early Christian Church. If you are beginning to wonder if Jesus Christ really is Almighty God manifest in the flesh, why don't you write to us for our booklets, "Is the Trinity True?" and "Could Jesus be "a god?". These booklets will refer you to scriptures only so you can make your own decision straight from God's word. You will be referred to scriptures the Watchtower prefers to ignore, but they are in the Bible. How important is it that you have the right Jesus Christ? Jesus Himself said it best, "Unless you believe that I AM you will die in your sins."(John 8:24). Acts 20:28 says that God purchased the church with His own blood. Won't you check these things out? Your eternal life will depend on it. If you have the right Jesus Christ, you are right for all eternity. If you have the wrong Jesus Christ, you are wrong for all eternity.
|
||
