THE GODHEAD: TRINITY, BI-UNITY OR ONENESS   * ADDENDUM *   THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY   The doctrine of the TRINITY (3-in-1 God) is recognized and described by its most fervent teachers as a "mystery beyond explanation or conception". In actual fact, it is nothing else but CONFUSION! In his book "The Two Babylons", Alexander Hislop traces most of the practices and teachings of the Roman cult to paganism and proves the Papal Worship, in its origin, to be the worship of Nimrod and his wife. See Genesis 10:8-12. In comparing Roman Catholicism (we might as well include Protestantism as it is hardly removed from Catholicism) with ancient Babylonian paganism, Hislop uses "Trinity in Unity" as his very first subject. Quoting from the various authoritative sources, it appears that the idea of a Trinity is an ancient one: "In the unity of that One Only God of the Babylonians, there were three persons and...they employed...the equilateral triangle, just as it is well known the Romish Church does today." (Pg.16) "The Papacy has...in the monastery of the so-called Trinitarians of Madrid, an image of the Triune God, with three heads on one body." (Pg.17)  Similar three-headed gods are found in India's ancient supreme divinity and Japan's Buddha (Pg.17-18). "The recognition of a Trinity was universal in all the ancient nations of the world." (Pg.18) One recurring theme featured in the Old Testament is the Divine abhorrence of those pagan gods or idols. The God of Israel had never likened Himself unto any of the pagan abominations! The following are the teachings on the TRINITY by two well-known Trinitarian teachers: "What we mean by Divine Trinity is that there are three separate and distinct persons in the Godhead, each one having His own personal spirit body, personal soul, and personal spirit in the same sense each human being, angel or any other being has his own body, soul, and spirit. We mean by body, whether a spirit body or a flesh body, the house for the indwelling of the personal soul and spirit. The soul is that which feels and the spirit is that which knows." (Finis J. Dake, Dake's Annotated Reference Bible) Keith L. Brooks says, "If the doctrine of the Trinity is not accepted, then Christ is not divine and the character of His redemptive work is reduced to nothing. If there is a Trinity...and worship is not accorded to Jesus and the Holy Spirit, then proper adoration is being withheld from two-thirds of the Godhead." (Quoted from 'Our Daily Bread', July 8, 1971) These are words of men who are wise in their own conceit. They are only making fools of themselves by revealing their ignorance and stupidity. Is the Lord Jesus Christ only one-third of the Godhead? 1 Timothy 3:16 and Colossians 2:9 clearly state that God was manifest in flesh, and that the Lord Jesus Christ was the FULLNESS of the Godhead bodily. Simply, it means ONE GOD in ONE PERSON, Jesus Christ. Trinitarians have turned butchers when they cut God into three equal parts to make Three Gods out of the Almighty One. Nowhere in the Bible is there any allusion to God as a Trinity or a Triune God. Yet, the Trinitarians can quote as many as 80 "strong Scripture texts" to 'imply' the existence of the Trinity. This TRINITY doctrine was promulgated some time after the death of the last Apostle in the 2nd Century. There were many great theologians who had tried to figure out the Godhead. Among them were men like Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Clemens and others. Let's see how Justin got it right and then got into error and confusion. "He (Justin) has great difficulty in expressing this point of view. He had, it is true, the precedents of Philo, and even of St.John; for in St.John the Logos or Reason or Word is the power by which God made the world, and also the light that illuminates every man who comes into the world, if that is the correct translation; but Justin attempted to define the matter most precisely. The divine Reason is a second God. He is 'a second God in number, but not in mind'; that is to say, 'he is a second God and he is not a second God'." (Dictionary of Christian Biography) Now, see if you can understand this: "Some said that there was but one substance in the Godhead, others three. Some allowed, some rejected the terms...according as they were guided by the prevailing heresy of the day and their own judgement concerning the mode of meeting it... Some declare that God is numerically three; others numerically one; while to others it might appear more philosophical to exclude the idea of number altogether in the discussion of that mysterious Nature which is beyond comparison, whether viewed as One or Three, and neither falls under nor forms any conceivable species." (The Arian of the 4th Century) For many centuries, the doctrine of the TRINITY has been the 'central doctrine' of most Protestant, Evangelical and Catholic churches. Yet the doctrine is not a part of the "faith which was once delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3). The Catholic Encyclopedia states: "This (the Trinity), the Church teaches, is the revelation regarding God's nature which Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came upon the earth to deliver to the world: and which she (the Catholic church) proposes to man as the foundation of the whole dogmatic system." Hence we can see that it was the Roman Catholic Church which propagated the TRINITY as a foundational doctrine of her whole dogmatic system. And it was in the last 25 years of the 4th Century that "the definitive Trinitarian dogma 'One God in Three Persons' became THOROUGHLY ASSIMILATED INTO CHRISTIAN LIFE AND THOUGHT." ("Holy Trinity" -- New Cath. Ency.) Here is what the record reveals about the belief of the TRINITY: "We cannot doubt the existence among the orthodox Fathers of different opinions on this mysterious subject until its final definition by the Church." (Dictionary of Doctrines & History Theology) And truly, the doctrine of the Godhead had its final definition -- the birth of a Three-in-One God -- in the year 325 A.D., about 300 years after the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ! It was Pagan Rome which led the propagation of this doctrine! It was a pagan doctrine started by a pagan church! You can find this "Trinity" in the Nicene Creed established by the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. The so-called Apostles' Creed (100-150 A.D.) which was not written by any of the Apostles, does not even define the Godhead as a Trinity. "It is not, as already seen, directly and immediately the word of God." (New Cath. Ency.)  Truly, it can never be found in the Word of God! Since then, this dogma has become thoroughly assimilated into the Christian life and thought, and most Christians today find it hard to discard this wrong doctrine of the Godhead. They have been indoctrinated by the church system to believe and accept it as a MYSTERY. It is indeed a mystery, being a creation of the church system. "A fruitful cause of error in ancient and also modern times is owning to an attempt to explain or illustrate this doctrine, forgetting that it is a MYSTERY to be received on faith, which CANNOT, from its own nature, be rendered intelligible to man's intellect." ("Trinity" - Dict. of Doct. & Hist. Theo.) Can a true Christian believe, by faith, in something that doesn't exist at all? The TRINITY has always been a mystery, which is filled with much controversy, and is difficult for any one to comprehend. All scholarly attempts at understanding it have caused only more misunderstanding! All theological attempts at clarifying it have resulted in more confusion. Why? Simply because it's a man-made fiction! All Bible scholars admit that there is no reference to the TRINITY in the Bible; it is only 'implied', as they say. Their attempt to interpret plain Scriptures by obscure Scriptures has been an age-old foolish practice. Why don't they adopt a more intelligent and sensible approach to the problem?  That is, to use the plain Scriptures to analyze and understand obscure Scriptures! O, how desperately Bible Believers are in need of the guidance of the Holy Spirit to help them to distinguish between the Divine Truth of God and the wordy and fictitious doctrines of carnal men!   Foreword         Charts