I grew up in the Roman Catholic
faith and early in life I joined the convent to be a nun. I no longer
belong to the Catholic Church. I left the Catholic faith in my
mid-20s. As one who grew up in the Catholic faith, I adhered to its
teachings and especially the trinity dogma.
With
the use of social media such as Facebook, I ignored those who came
against the doctrine of the trinity. To me, they were heretics and to
be avoided. However, within the past few years, I began to defend the
doctrine. I used the same standard scriptures (that trinitarians
normally do) to try to prove the trinity teaching. I would just spout
off the verses I had learned and leave it at that.
When
I started using the social media Facebook, over time, I made some
friends and visited some in person. All was well, so I thought.
It was not until one friend on Facebook started posing against
the trinity that it began to spark my enthusiasm to defent the
teaching. In the meantime, I had watched a Youtube video where
someone was defending the trinity. In the remark section, I saw
where people were disagreeing and saying it was wrong. Of course,
as a agood trinitarian, I responded in my usual fashion. Little
did I know, the person whom I was conversing with was the friend who
was posing againt the trinity on Facebook! (He was under a
different name for the video).
There
was a post one day on Facebook where he asked for anyone to define
the word “Godhead” without going to a dictionary. I kept to
myself and read his posts and the responses he was getting with
amusement.
As
time passed, I noticed how people were treating him badly. They were
calling him unkind names and very arrogant towards him. They let him
know he was a heretic and on his way to hell. However, I understood
the reason for their anger, attitude, and remarks, because he would
ask those people common sense questions, which were mostly ignored,
in response to the scriptures they were quoting. I sat back silently,
which was probably a good thing for me because it gave me time to
reflect on what he was saying rather than being caught up in the
middle of all the opinions and name calling that were flying at him.
His common sense questions actually made me decide to examine what I
believed. Therefore, I began to question this doctrine and search the
scriptures. I knew I had to put my bias aside and approach the
scriptures with intellectual honesty.
By
the way, the term “Godhead” is taken from Col. 2:9 (as well as
from Acts 17:29 and Rom. 1:20):
For in him [Jesus] dwelleth all
the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
“Godhead”
means divinity, deity,
divine nature or essence.
It is not only applied to the one
true God of the Bible,
but also to heathen deities. However, never in the Bible is the word
used as a synonym for the trinity. This has nothing to do with the
trinitarian definition of Godhead
that tries to make Jesus God Almighty, one in three, three in one. If
one wants to make the argument that it does, then we are all God
because Paul prays that all believers, “may be filled with all
the fullness of God”
(Eph. 3:19). Peter goes on to say that we “may participate
in the divine nature”
(2 Pet 1:4), which is automatically assumed as the very essence
of God rather than His
moral character
(as the context reveals). This is not to mention that if the verse is
telling us Jesus is God, then pray tell, how can the fullness of God
dwell in him if God already has His own fullness? Moreover, if we
participate in the “divine nature” (the very essence of God) then
this would mean that we may become God.
That
particular passage in Col. 2:9 has to do with the risen
Christ in his glorified state and God now dwells in him bodily. One
day we will have all
the fullness of God
that Paul prays for the believers. This does not mean that we become
God.
If
I had to pick only one scripture passage that got me to change my
mind, it would be John 17:3. I have read this verse so many times
that the truth did not hit me because I was so steeped in the trinity
doctrine that I could not see it. On the night before the
crucifixion, when Jesus is praying to the Father, he says:
This is eternal life, that they
may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have
sent.
Jesus
called his Father the ONLY
TRUE GOD. This plainly
told me right there that Jesus is not God!
One
would think that this would make me upset to find out that I had to
concede or to admit that Jesus is not God. Just the opposite
happened. When I read Peter’s response to Jesus’ question in
Matt.16:16, “You are the Christ, the
Son of the living
God,” it actually brought me to tears. Not tears of sadness, but of
joy! The light got brighter and brighter as I read passages like:
Stop clinging to me, for I have
not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to
them, ‘I ascend to MY
FATHER and YOUR
FATHER, and MY
GOD and YOUR
GOD.’ (John 20:17)
He who overcomes, I will make him
a pillar in the temple of My
God, and he will not
go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My
God, and the name of
the city of My God,
the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My
God, and My new name.
(Rev. 3:12)
So
many times over the years I have read these verses but was blind to
them as long as I refused to listen.
I
wrote to my friend and told him I had renounced the trinity doctrine.
He was thrilled that I took the time to study and how I had reached
the point of understanding the truth. He even confessed that he had
given up on me. If there is anything to learn, do not give up, you
never know whom you might reach. You may not see the fruit of your
labors, but even if we can reach one person in our lifetime, it is
worth it! James tells us 5:19-20:
My friends, if any followers have
wandered away from the truth, you should try to lead them back. If
you turn sinners from the wrong way, you will save them from death,
and many of their sins will be forgiven.
Truth
Cannot Be Dismissed By Fear
Now,
the sad part was that I knew I would lose some of my trinitarian
friends over this. Nevertheless, I could not let the fear of losing
friends keep me in silence. I tried to share with them what I had
learned so far. I was blocked by some of my friends on Facebook and
some unfriended me. I was told I have been deceived, that I was not
really a Christian and on my way to hell. I started getting the same
treatment my friend had received. My close friends were no longer my
friends.
Why
is there such a reaction when renouncing the trinity? Because we are
taught the doctrine of the trinity is important, for there is no gift
of salvation without it. It is commonly taught that our salvation is
“bound up with the doctrine of the trinity.” All this does is
build up unnecessary fear in people of something that is based on a
myth. Imagine fearing something that is not actual, that affects our
thinking, our decision-making, and our actions! This is what the
trinity doctrine does, and some of its advocates try to bully others
into believing it. They try to instill unnecessary fear that prevents
a person from growing and learning the truth.
Now,
on the other hand, some may sincerely think they are trying to save
their friends from eternal damnation by trying to get them to turn
from their heretical
ways, which is loving
in their minds. I can appreciate that. What they do not realize is
that, for all those who are former trinitarians, we have come to
recognize the deception of this teaching and can never return to
embrace it again. We, as former trinitarians, were deceived and tried
to convince others to believe what we thought
was the truth just as
trinitarian believers do now. This doctrine is not truth nor is it so
crucial that our salvation depends upon believing it.
The Protestant world follows the
Roman Catholic Church where it concerns the trinity. The Catechism of
the Catholic Church states:
The mystery of the Most Holy
Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian faith and of
Christian life…It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in
the hierarchy of the truth s of faith. 4
These
same people, whether pastors, Sunday school teachers, or friends,
will admit the doctrine of the trinity is incomprehensible! To say
that our salvation is in danger
by rejecting this doctrine, or rejecting that it is the most
fundamental and essential teaching of our faith, and at the same time
say that is incomprehensible, is ludicrous.
The
majority of people rely on unbiblical creeds or the Catechism of the
Catholic Church for their truth instead of scripture. However, the
fear tactics do not work anymore when a person decides to read,
study, and stand on biblical truth. As Greg Deuble says in his book,
They Never Taught Me
This In Church, “Truth
has nothing to fear from an honest search under God’s light.”
I
happen to come upon a video the other day by Tovia Singer. I
understand he is a Rabbi. I was watching the video and he was telling
how the teaching that Jesus is God was a very late invention and is
not in the New Testament, nor in the Old for that matter. He pointed
out in the following scenario what will most likely happen in just
about any church one might attend:
For instance, if you tell your
pastor that you do not know if you believe in God, you will not be
thrown out of the church. The pastor will spend a great deal of time
with you, with a smile,
and explain why you should believe in God. BUT, if you tell the
pastor that you believe in God but you
do not believe in Jesus, or worse, you believe in Jesus but do not
believe the trinity, you will be thrown out.
I agree with him. If you visit
a church, you are greeted with many smiling faces and given a warm
welcome, but once they discover you are not ignorant of scriptures
and you begin to challenge their teachings, they are not so friendly
anymore. The smiles are replaced with contempt and you are now
regarded as unworthy or inferior.
When
I began to question doctrines I had learned most of my life, my
friends became my enemies. Some got very angry with me. Some even
accused me of trying to undermine the pastor’s teaching and
authority.
There
was one Baptist church where I began to question my pastor about
certain teachings of his that seem to conflict with scripture. His
answers did not make sense to me. I guess he had come to the point
where he had enough and sent me a letter telling me that he hopes I
find a good church. I was not even thinking of leaving! That was his
way of saying, “Get out!”
I
settled in another Baptist here in Florida and even became a Sunday
school teacher for the younger children. Again, at Sunday and
Wednesday services, I was hearing the same teachings all over again
and started questioning them. I had conversations with the pastor,
but it was only through emails did he seem to have the time to
communicate. I asked him questions about things he taught that
clearly contradicted the scriptures I was reading. At the time he was
teaching on Original Sin and said sin was in our DNA. As time went
on, he began to get frustrated with me and totally ignored my common
sense questions, and his emails took more of an angry tone. Then he
came to the point of ending our communication with the implication
that I should just trust him because he has the education and I am
just a homemaker.
I
know a story of a man I am acquainted with and will call him Jim. He
used to meet with his nondenominational pastor whom he liked very
much. The pastor was frustrated with Jim’s logic, and the pastor’s
final answer was, “Six thousand years of church history can’t be
wrong!” Umm, actually it can! However, the bible is not wrong.
I
have a friend, Priscilla, who started to attend a series of classes
at her church. She was recording her classes rather than taking notes
to compare what she believed and what was taught in the class. She
was no stranger to the trinitarian teaching. In fact, she wrote a
book titled, The
Tyranny of the Trinity: The Orthodox Coverup.
She tried to address the teacher when she noticed the contradictions
between what he was teaching and what scriptures actually say, and to
share her thoughts. She was ridiculed in front of the whole class and
was not allowed to finish her sentences. You can listen to the video
I made of what transpired in that class.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07M9SQK6qPM
My
friend was also no stranger to the “pastor’s office” because
there were people who felt she was combative
when trying to question this doctrine and asking sensible questions
that were met with resistance. In fact, at one session in the
pastor’s office, the pastor was of the impression that because she
took displeasure with the teachings of the trinitarian doctrine, and
challenged it in her classes, that it had to be an indication of a
deep emotional wound. At one point, he stated: “I
think there is something in you, that you feel victimized. There is
some anger in there that feels the need to push something and I am
not sure if it is the results of theology or if it is the results of
a deep wound in you from something else. And I see that in you, and I
am not sure what it is.”
So
if one disagrees with the trinity teaching and has biblical knowledge
enough to dispute what is false, it must mean a person has a
deep-seated issue of feeling victimized?
Imagine,
if you would, the scene in Matthew 23 where Jesus shows his annoyance
to the Scribes and Pharisees and says, “Woe
to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Woe to you, blind
guides!...You blind fools!...You blind men!... You serpents, you
brood of vipers!” Now
imagine if Jesus were living here on earth in our time. Would Jesus
be called to the pastor’s office? Can we envision Jesus being
counseled by the pastor that he possibly could have some anger
issues, that he is combative, that maybe there is possibly something
in him that makes him feel victimized? Maybe the pastor would tell
Jesus that he is setting himself up to be victimized. Alternatively,
perhaps Jesus feels the need to push something -- we cannot be sure
though-- but his problems may be the result of some deep wound or
something? Do you think if we could get Jesus to open up that we
could find something that would go deeper than theology?
Dear
reader, take note that if you turn away from the ungodly and
unbiblical teaching of the trinity, expect from the majority that you
would be considered mentally
unstable, and worse
yet, a heretic! All of a sudden people become psychologists
and use their
trickology to
try to convince you that you are suffering from some deep-seated
wound that manifests itself with the need to feel and play
the victim and
therefore must dig deeper into your psyche for answers. In other
words, they want you to believe that YOU have mental and emotional
problems. This is a clever tactical attempt on their part to get you
to doubt what you believe and bully you into silence, leaving you to
lick your so-called deep-seated wound that is causing your so-called
instability and behavioral problems.
The
road of scorn and ridicule should be expected for those who do not
embrace the trinity doctrine because one cannot get away with
lighting the fire to burn us heretics, as we are called, as they did
in ages past. Therefore, they must resort to verbal assaults,
humiliation, sly tactics to try to disqualify a person by using
strategies such as slander, slurs, accusing one of mental
instability, and whatever other lies they can make up. As my friend,
Priscilla Jervey has stated so well:
I find it deplorable that so many
Christians have absolutely no idea of the origin of the Trinity or
the purpose for its inception, and sadly, out of their ignorance on
this issue, they have taken liberties in judging both unjustly and
harshly their non-Trinitarian brethren. I and those of like-mind who
have been vilified, demonized, scorned, ostracize, refused communion
and referred to as heretics, cultists, unsaved, anti-Christ, and
non-Christian. Trinitarians have blindly placed their faith in a
“mystery” dogma sanctioned by creeds and edicts that were
implemented over the centuries through established councils beginning
in 325 A.D. The doctrine of the Trinity has been an ongoing
unresolved issue
for 1700 years, and has been adroitly swept under the carpet with as
much circumvention as possible while the clergy have chosen to turn a
deaf ear and blind eye to, what is an obvious absurdity, and not in
keeping with God’s word. Unfortunately, most Trinitarian Christians
are unaware of this fact.5
One
is not taught how to think but what to think. Control is the name of
the game. If they cannot control what you think and believe, then
they do not want you to come back. So do not be surprised if the door
hits you in the back on your way out.
I
know for sure if Jesus were to visit any of the churches today that
teach the trinity, he would be given the boot for rejecting the
teaching, because he was strictly a Jewish biblical monotheist. When
a person adheres to strict biblical monotheism (the belief that there
is only one God - Deut. 6:4; Mark 12:29), he will be asked to leave
the church or they will find ways to make you leave. You will be
accused of believing in "doctrines of demons,” and often times
accused of being a Jehovah’s Witness, or a member of a religious
cult.
The
doctrine of the trinity is not true and it is not a mystery. It is a
mass of confusion, a myth. The trinity teaching is nothing more than
polytheism. Polytheism is the belief in or worship of more than one
god. We could say that polytheism (trinity teaching) is THE test as
to who is a Christian in the trinitarian world, which certainly goes
against sound biblical teaching.
If
we really want to know what matters about salvation, listen to what
Jesus said:
And this is eternal life: to
know you, the only true God,
and the one whom you sent—Jesus the Messiah. (John 17:3)
What
is eternal life? Eternal life is to know the “only true God.”
“Only” means single, solitary, unique, one of a kind. It excludes
all others, including Jesus the Messiah. “True” means real, fact
or reality. The Father is
“the one who alone is truly God.” And we must believe Jesus, the
Messiah, whom God sent.
God
is not hard to get to know and understand. The LORD God tells us:
Rather, let the one who boasts,
boast in this: that he UNDERSTANDS
and KNOWS ME, for I am
the LORD who acts with gracious love, justice, and righteousness in
the land. I delight in these things," declares the LORD. (Jer.
9:24)
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