Here’s a quick guide to including this blog and podcast in your social media life: Want to see links to new trinities posts on Facebook? Like the Trinities Community on Facebook. Or follow me. Better yet: join the Group for fans of the podcast. Or go ape and do all three! š Use Google+? If you add me to one of your “Circles” there,… Read More »keep up with trinities on social media
Just recently on Facebook, I’ve been quoted a famous text, verses which forĀ hundreds of years wereĀ a favorite trinitarian proof text, seemingly the “smoking gun” verse that was needed – 1 John 5:7-8.Ā Here’s how it reads in the King James Bible: For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. Ā And there are… Read More »On the corruption of 1 John 5:7-8, the “Comma Johanneum”
In thinking about the Trinity, 380 and 381 are perhaps the most important dates to remember.
Some reference sources will tell you that Christians have always believed in the Trinity. This claim is misleading at best. Rather than dating trinitarian theology to the start of Christianity, if we carefully examine the history of theology, we can see a relevant series of dates, as elements of belief in a triune god emerge. Yes, Christians have always believed in one God, but in… Read More »10 steps towards getting less confused about the Trinity ā #6 get a date – part 1
In recent posts here and here my co-blogger and friendĀ arch-nemesis Chad McIntosh has tried his hand at refuting my Divine Deception argument. I’ve already responded to numerous tries to get around it by my friend Bill Hasker here and here. But to his credit, Chad is thinking creatively and coming at it from some new angles. First, it’s important to be be clear about the… Read More »“Divine Deception” Defended
In the Bible, God is one of many divine beings, although unique among them.
Central to Daleās divine deception argument against Social Trinitarianism (ST) is the following analogy. Little orphan Annie is one day adopted by a man named Fred who claims to be her father. Fred lovingly raises Annie over the years, but for unknown reasons will not see her in person. But, at long last, Fred finally does meet her. Much to her surprise, however, Annie meets… Read More »Dale’s Divine Deception Dilemma
In āDivine Deception, Identity, and Social Trinitarianismā Dale argues that if Social Trinitarianism (ST) were true, the Father, Son, and Spirit would be guilty of a blameworthy act of deception. But because the Father, Son, and Spirit are ex hypothesi morally perfect, ST must be false. By offering a moral objection to ST, Daleās argument has the lovely virtue of sidestepping the tired tri-theist objections… Read More »Farewell to Tuggy’s Divine Deception Argument
āDo you believe in the leadership of Mike?ā āYes?ā I muttered unconvincingly. But I didnāt know what I believed. I was new in town, and had never lived in a place with such rabid, overactive basketball fans. The season hadnāt started yet, so Iād never seen the team play. But the fans were already working themselves up into a frenzy. Our team was the Wisconsin… Read More »10 steps towards getting less confused about the Trinity – #7 – the deity of Christ vs. the Trinity
In this recent book, Dr. Winfried Corduan re-opens the case for āoriginal monotheism,ā the view that the forms of human religion which are probably the oldest, are mostly monotheistic, which is what one would expect if the earliest human religions were all or mostly monotheistic.
Such as, “the question of whether there is one god or many (or none) as a version of the question of whether there is āone truth or many.ā Eh? The Maverick Philosopher shines the bright sunlight of clarity on this whole mucky swamp of confusion: The claim that truth is absolute, and cannot be relative to individuals or groups or historical epochs or races, or… Read More »the Maverick Philosopher on some fashionable confusions
Two common uses of “Trinity,” but one came first…
The Greek trias, translatable as “triad” or (I think misleadingly) “Trinity,” had been used a few decades before. But the first known use of the Latin trinitas is by Tertullian, and we assume that he coined this Latin term. Actually, we have to talk of earliest uses, because it appears in two works, Against Praxeas and On Modesty, which are probably late works, and we don’t really know… Read More »“trinitas” in Tertullian’s On Modesty (De Pudicitia)
Dr. Winfried Corduan is emeritus Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Taylor University, and has been a blogger since before it was cool. His scholarship is thorough, multi-disciplinary, insightful, and informed by his own travel and conversations. He’s well known among students of apologetics for his informed engagement with members of other religions.
Trinitarian theologies are a major barrier to Muslims accepting Christianity. In this episode we hear how Mr. Qureshi changed his view that the Trinity is a patently ridiculous doctrine.
While there have long been standard terms and sentences relating to the Trinity, there is not and has never been any clear consensus about how to understand those terms and sentences. There is agreement about what the sentences do or donāt imply (Tritheism? No. Monotheism? Yes. Ontological inequalities between the three? No.) But there is not an interpretation of the sentences themselves which is held… Read More »10 steps towards getting less confused about the Trinity – #9 – Formulas vs. Interpretations
Thanks to our friend Alvin Kimel for linking my post Jesus, God, and an inconsistent triad. Check out his post and the ensuing discussion here. Unfortunately, the fact that I’m a unitarian seems to distract him from the actual purpose of the post. He says, In this article he hopes to persuade us that the classical trinitarian doctrine is logically absurd. No. That is not… Read More »dialogue on God, Jesus, and identity with Alvin Kimel
What is sometimes called the “Nicene Creed” and recited in churches is actually from this later council.
The gripping story of Nabeel Qureshi’s journey from Islam to Christianity.
What is Godās most important commandment? When asked about this, Jesus replied, āāHear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; Ā you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.āā (Mark 12:29-30, NRSV) Notice the last two elements with which we are to love God: mind… Read More »10 steps towards getting less confused about the Trinity – #10 Donāt be afraid to think hard about God