القديس
اوغسطينوس يعترف انه يعبد نفس اله الوثنيين من اتباع ميثرا
There were
many additional points of similarity between Mithraism and Christianity. * St.
Augustine even declared that the priests of Mithraism worshiped the same God as
he did:
-
Followers of both religions celebrated a ritual meal involving bread. It was
called a missa in Latin or mass in English.
- Both the
Catholic church and Mithraism had a total of seven sacraments.
-
Epiphany, JAN-6, was originally the festival in which the followers of Mithra
celebrated the visit of the Magi to their newborn god-man. The Christian Church
took it over in the 9th century.
---------
*"Mithra,"
Barbara G. Walker, "The Woman's encyclopedia of myths and secrets,"
Harper & Row, (1996), Pages 663 to 665.
الترجمة
كما فهمتها:
هنالك
الكثير من التشابهات بين الميثراسية والمسيحية. القديس اغسطينوس نفسه اعلن ان قساوسة
المثراسية عبدوا نفس الأله الذي يعبده هو.
- اتباع الديانتين لهم نفس الأحتفالات والطقوس الدينية الخاصة بالطعام
ومنها الخبز. كان يسمى "ميسا" باللاتينية" او "ماس" بالأنجليزية".
- كل من الكنيسة الكاثوليكية والميثراسية لهم سبعة اسرار كنسية.
- كان عيد الغطاس، يناير 6، أصلا مهرجان يحتفل فيه أتباع ميثرا بزيارة
المجوس للأله الطفل المولود. تبنته الكنيسة المسيحية في القرن التاسع.
What Noted Trinitarian Scholars Have Said Concerning
The Doctrine of the Trinity
• Trinitarian Millard J. Erickson - (Research
Professor of Theology at S.W. Baptist Theological Seminary (Southern Baptist)
in his book on the Trinity, "God In Three Persons"):
"This doctrine in many ways presents strange
paradoxes...It was the very first doctrine dealt with systematically by the
church, yet is still one of the most misunderstood and disputed doctrines.
Further, it is not clearly or explicitly taught anywhere in Scripture , yet it
is widely regarded as a central doctrine, indispensable to the Christian
faith" (p. 11-12).
• Professor Shirley C. Guthrie, Jr. - (Trinitarian
scholar, in his best selling book, "Christian Doctrine"):
" The Bible does not teach the doctrine of the Trinity
. Neither the word "trinity" itself nor such language as
'one-in-three,' 'three-in-one,' one 'essence' (or "substance"), and
three 'persons' is biblical language. The language of the doctrine is the
language of the ancient church taken from classical Greek philosophy " (p.
76-77).
• Trinitarians Roger Olson and Christopher Hall - (In
their book, "The Trinity"):
"It is understandable that the importance placed
on this doctrine is perplexing to many lay Christians and students. Nowhere is
it clearly and unequivocally stated in Scripture. "The doctrine of the
Trinity developed gradually after the completion of the N.T. in the heat of
controversy. The full-blown doctrine of the Trinity was spelled out in the
fourth century at two great ecumenical councils: Nicea (325 A.D.) and
Constantinople (381 A.D.)" (p. 1-2) .
• Professor Charles C. Ryrie - (Respected Trinitarian
Evangelical Biblical scholar, in his well known work "Basic Theology"
):
"In the second half of the fourth century , three
theologians from the province of Cappadocia in eastern Asia Minor gave
definitive shape to the doctrine of the Trinity " (p. 65). "But many
doctrines are accepted by evangelicals as being clearly taught in the Scripture
for which there are no proof texts . The doctrine of the Trinity furnishes the
best example of this. It is fair to say that the Bible does not clearly teach
the doctrine of the Trinity . In fact, there is not even one proof text , if by
proof text we mean a verse or passage that 'clearly' states that there is one
God who exists in three persons" (p. 89). "The above illustrations
prove the fallacy of concluding that if something is not proof texted in the
Bible we cannot clearly teach the results... If that were so, I could never
teach the doctrine of the Trinity or the deity of Christ or the deity of the
Holy Spirit " (p. 90).
• Graham Greene - (Noted Catholic scholar):
"Our opponents sometime claim that no belief
should be held dogmatically which is not explicitly stated in Scripture...but
the Protestant churches have themselves accepted such dogmas as the Trinity ,
for which there is no such precise authority in the Gospels ."
• Professor Cyril C. Richardson - ("The Doctrine
of The Trinity: A clarification of what it attempts to express"):
"I cannot but think that the doctrine of the
Trinity, far from being established, is open to serious criticism , because of
both the modern understanding of the Scripture, and inherent confusions in its
expression. It is not a doctrine specifically to be found in the New Testament.
It is a creation of the fourth-century Church " (p. 17). " But Philo
(20 B.C. - 50 A.D.) introduces a second theme derived from Greek thinking ,
that God creates by his Word or Logos. From these observations it becomes clear
that there is an essential ambiguity in Philo's thought , an ambiguity which we
shall find running though trinitarian thinking " (p. 31-33). " The
idea that the Logos is begotten by God, is his 'first-born', his 'invisible
image' and so on, plays an important role in Philo , and whether directly from
him or not, comes into Christian thinking . The Word is for Philo the
intermediary between God and his action" (p. 34). Please note: Philo was a
Hellenistic (Greek) Jewish philosopher and writer who taught the "divine
Logos" doctrine. He mentions the Logos over 1400 times in his writings and
refers to it as "a second God" and calls it " the mediating
Logos ." He was born some twenty years before Jesus and was a famous writer
before Jesus began his ministry. Philo lived in Alexandria, Egypt and there is
no indication that he ever heard of Jesus . He got his idea of the "divine
Logos - second God" from Greek philosophy and mostly the Greek philosopher
Plato (428-348 B.C.). Professor Richardson says, "From our brief study of
the New Testament material it becomes apparent that the symbols Father, Son,
and Spirit do not constitute a genuine Trinity . In fact, there is no way to
overcome the paradox that we must think of God both as one and as a society .
There simply is no way in human thought to compose this paradox (p. 95). "
My conclusion then, about the doctrine of the Trinity is that is is an
artificial construct . It produces confusion rather than clarification; and
while the problems with which it deals are real ones, the solutions if offers
are not illuminating. It has posed for many Christians dark and mysterious
statements , which are ultimately meaningless , because it does not
sufficiently discriminate in its use of terms. Christian theology might be
aided by abandoning such a procedure and by making clear the inadequacy both of
the ambiguous terms and of the threeness into which its doctrines have been
traditionally forced . There is no necessary threeness in the Godhead "
(p. 148-149). Professor Richardson is writing as a dedicated Trinitarian but he
admits, "much of the defense of the Trinity as a 'revealed' doctrine, is
really an evasion of the objections that can be brought against it" (p.
16)
Trinity Is Not A Biblical Belief. =================
Trinity was forced into Christianity by Emperor
Constantine, who in 325 CE called for the first ecumenical council in church
history for the purpose of settling the disputes about the nature of God that
arose between various Christian sects.
1. Weeks after the council met, comprised of 318
bishops according to Athanasius as he stated in his letter Ad Afros, the
doctrine of the Trinity was forced upon Christians as the creed to be followed.
2. Horrific religious persecution followed the
decision made by Constantine, essentially a pagan Emperor, to impose an
invented creed never preached by Jesus (peace be upon him)
3. Even the most fanatical supporters of Trinity
cannot scientifically trace modern-day Trinity any farther back than the second
Christian century. Even then, it was an alien creed, never propagated by Jesus
(peace be upon him) or by any of his disciples. During that era, Trinity would
have competed with other alien theories popular among Christians about the
nature of Jesus Christ (peace be upon him).
4. True faith in Jesus (peace be upon him) diminished
ever since, until almost disappearing before Islam came.
Major western encyclopedias and dictionaries, written
in the Christian West, by mainly Western Christians, admit to these facts:
The New Encyclopedia Britannica: “Neither the word
Trinity nor the explicit doctrine appears in the New Testament, nor did Jesus
and his followers intend to contradict the Shema in the Old Testament: ‘Hear, O
Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord’ (Deuteronomy 6:4). …The doctrine
developed gradually over several centuries and through many controversies. …It
was not until the 4th century that the distinctness of the three and their
unity were brought together in a single orthodox doctrine of one essence and
three persons. …By the end of the 4th century … the doctrine of the Trinity
took substantially the form it has maintained ever since.”
The Encyclopedia Americana: “Christianity derived from
Judaism and Judaism was strictly Unitarian [believing that God is one person].
The road which led from Jerusalem to Nicea was scarcely a straight one. Fourth
century Trinitarianism did not reflect accurately early Christian teaching
regarding the nature of God; it was, on the contrary, a deviation from this
teaching.” 2
The Columbia Encyclopedia: “Trinity … the doctrine is
not explicitly taught in the New Testament.” 3
The New Catholic Encyclopedia: “The formula [one God
in three Persons] itself does not reflect the immediate consciousness of the
period of origins; it was the product of 3 centuries of doctrinal development …
The formulation ‘one God in three Persons’ was not solidly established,
certainly not fully assimilated into Christian life and its profession of
faith, prior to the end of the 4th century. But it is precisely this
formulation that has first claim to the title the Trinitarian dogma. Among the
Apostolic Fathers, there had been nothing even remotely approaching such a
mentality or perspective.” 4
Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics: “In the New
Testament we do not find the doctrine of the Trinity in anything like its
developed form, not even in the Pauline and Johannine theology.” 5
Encyclopedia International: “The doctrine of the
Trinity did not form part of the apostles’ preaching, as this is reported in
the New Testament.” 6
New Bible Dictionary: “The word Trinity is not found
in the Bible, and, though used by Tertullian in the last decade of the 2nd
Century, it did not find a place formally in the theology of the Church till
the 4th century.” 7
Dictionary of the Bible: “The Trinity of God is
defined by the Church as the belief that in God are three persons who subsist
in one nature. The belief as so defined was reached only in the 4th and 5th
centuries AD and hence is not explicitly and formally a biblical belief.” 8
New International Dictionary of New Testament
Theology: “The NT does not contain the developed doctrine of the Trinity …
primitive Christianity did not have an explicit doctrine of the Trinity such as
was subsequently elaborated in the creeds of the early church.” 9
The Oxford Companion to the Bible: “Because the
Trinity is such an important part of later Christian doctrine, it is striking
that the term does not appear in the New Testament. Likewise, the developed
concept of three coequal partners in the Godhead found in later creedal
formulations cannot be clearly detected within the confines of the canon… While
the New Testament writers say a great deal about God, Jesus and the Spirit of
each, no New testament writer expounds on the relationship among the three in
the detail that later Christian writers do.” 10 __________________________ 1
The New Encyclopedia Britannica (vol. XI, pg.928) (2003) 2 The Encyclopedia
Americana (vol. XXVII, pg.294L) (1956) 3 Legasse, P (Ed.) (2000). The Columbia
Encyclopedia (Pg.2885) 4 The New Catholic Encyclopedia (vol. XIV, pg.295 &
299) (1967) 5 Hastings, J. (1951). Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics (vol.
XII, pg.458) 6 Henderson, I (1969). Encyclopedia International (pg.226) 7
Douglas, J.D. (1962). The New Bible Dictionary (pg.1298) 8 McKenzie, J.L (1995)
Dictionary of the Bible (pg 899) 9 Brown, Colin (1932). New International
Dictionary of New Testament Theology (vol.2 pg 84) 10 Metzger, B.M &
Coogan, M.D. (1993). The Oxford Companion to the Bible (pg.782
"The Italian Protestant theologian. Johannes
Greber (1874) a former of Catholic priest in his book 'The Communication with
the Spirit World of God' in page 371 was written, "As you see, the
doctrine of a triune Godhead is not only contrary to common sense, but is
entirely unsupported by the Scriptures". So another priest who was deny
the trinity. A theologians, Edouard Schillebeeckx of the Netherlands in 1979
was writings some article that rejects the doctrine of the Trinity.
