Where Did The Trinity Teaching Come From?

19 posts / 0 new
Last post
Alter2Ego's picture
Where Did The Trinity Teaching Come From?

ALTER2EGO -to- EVERYONE:

The central doctrine within the majority of the 41,000 denominations within Christendom is the teaching that the God of the Judeo-Christian Bible is split up into three different persons (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost/Holy Spirit) and that these three persons are co-equal and co-eternal and are then combined into a "Godhead."

The Trinity has been the central doctrine of Christian churches for centuries. It might surprise some to learn that among pagan nations that did not worship the God of the Judeo-Christian Bible, there were trinity gods in existence centuries before Jesus Christ appeared on earth in the 1st Century AD, and there were pagan trinities in existence during the 1st Century while Jesus was on earth. Below are three such examples, followed by the questions for debate.

1. In the 2nd century B.C.E. (two centuries before Christ came to the earth), Egypt had a triad of gods consisting of (1) Horus, (2) Osiris, and (3) Isis.

2. In the 2nd century B.C.E. (two centuries before Christ came to the earth), Babylon had a triad of gods consisting of (1) Ishtar, (2) Sin, and (3) Shamash.

3. In the 1st century C.E., Palmyra, which was an ancient city in Syria, had a triune god which consisted of (1) moon god, (2) Lord of Heavens, and (3) sun god.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
1. Are there scriptures in the Bible to support the teaching of Trinity? If so, quote up to four (4) scriptural examples. Bold or colorize or italicize the words that you are focusing on within each of the quoted verses (don't bold/colorize/italicize the entire verse if you are not focusing on all of the words in the verse), and then explain why you have concluded that the bolded/colorized/italicized words are proof of trinity.

2. Why is it that trinity is found in pagan/false religions that never worshipped the God of the Judeo-Christian Bible? For instance, as noted by two of the above examples, there were pagan trinities at least 200 years before Jesus came to the earth as a human.

3. If the Trinity is a Bible teaching, why is it that Jesus and his apostles who followed him around never taught anyone about the Trinity?

4. How is it that the Trinity teaching did not become "Christian" teaching until the Christianized Romans (who later called themselves Roman Catholics) copied the philosophy from pagan/false religions--AFTER the resurrected Jesus Christ returned to heaven?

5. Are the words "Trinity" and "Godhead" in the Bible? If so, were those words part of the original writings?

________________
"That people may know that you, whose name is JEHOVAH, you alone are the Most High over all the earth." (Psalms 83:18)

Subscription Note: 

Choosing to subscribe to this topic will automatically register you for email notifications for comments and updates on this thread.

Email notifications will be sent out daily by default unless specified otherwise on your account which you can edit by going to your userpage here and clicking on the subscriptions tab.

CyberLN's picture
Hey, Ego, lots of clues in

Hey, Ego, lots of clues in your post that this was copied from or originally used for something else. I'm wondering if you are in school somewhere and this is an assignment you were given, then you post it and get this board to do your homework for you.

Spewer's picture
You may be onto something....

You may be onto something.... Just paste the first sentence of the OP into a search engine, and you will find that this exact post is spammed all over the internet - and the same applies to other topics by this poster. A2E may not even realize that this is an atheist site where the entire "issue" being raised is meaningless. I consider this spam in violation of Rule 2, but that's for Ellie or someone else to determine.

Alter2Ego's picture
SPEWER:

SPEWER:
You may be onto something.... Just paste the first sentence of the OP into a search engine, and you will find that this exact post is spammed all over the internet - and the same applies to other topics by this poster. A2E may not even realize that this is an atheist site where the entire "issue" being raised is meaningless. I consider this spam in violation of Rule 2, but that's for Ellie or someone else to determine.

ALTER2EGO:
I debate the same topics wherever I go. And that is "debate" as in: "I actively participate in my threads and respond directly to people."

SPAM is the posting of something with no intention of engaging others in the topic posted.

Of course I can well understand why you would want me gone, since you clearly are incapable of overcoming any of the arguments I have raised in any of my threads. I get that all the time when I show up at a website and post my usual thread. At least 3 or 4 people will make it their business to start urging the moderators to ban me because I debated the same topics at other websites.

________________
"That people may know that you, whose name is JEHOVAH, you alone are the Most High over all the earth." (Psalms 83:18)

Spewer's picture
"Of course I can well

"Of course I can well understand why you would want me gone, since you clearly are incapable of overcoming any of the arguments I have raised in any of my threads."

You exhibit a seeming lack of awareness of where you are. Whether the trinity is Biblical or not is a meaningless debate for atheists. It's sort of like going to a capitalism discussion board and trying to make a vigorous case that commodity fetishism is not real Marxist theory. They reject Marxism from the get-go, and whether that part is real or not wouldn't matter to them either way.

Your case is to call into question whether the trinity teaching is Biblical. Of course that is an important and relevant issue for people who believe the Bible. Atheists regard the trinity and Bible as mythology either way. In other words, whether you are 100% right or completely wrong about the origins of the trinity, it doesn't change anything for us. If it should matter to us, you haven't made a case for why it should.

I don't want you gone or banned. What I want is for you to consider your audience rather than taking the one-size-fits-all approach. On a site of atheists, it might make more sense for you to argue your case for your god's existence, as Ellie mentioned, or for why we should accept the Bible as an authority on anything, for example.

SammyShazaam's picture
... and who's definition of

... and who's definition of spam is that, exactly? Yours?

Ellie Harris's picture
Hi allter2ego. Before we go

Hi allter2ego. Before we go forward discussing minutiae of one religion, let's see some proof from you that your god even exist.

Ellie Harris's picture
"Of course I can well

"Of course I can well understand why you would want me gone, since you clearly are incapable of overcoming any of the arguments I have raised in any of my threads."- since many of us here have read multiple religious text more than once, we don't want you gone, we simply want to laugh at your "but you're not interpreting it right," arguments. Now if you want to pose some real evidence of gawwd's existence and that it is your gawwd of the bible, present it. Here's a a tip though, ad hominems don't prove anything.

CyberLN's picture
Ego, I don't see your posts

Ego, I don't see your posts as debate. You start a threat, order all sorts of participant rules, don't respond to all questions posed, use your own interpretations and definitions as fact / proof, ad nauseum.
So I ask you, what is your purpose here? Is it to learn? Is it to re/confirm your thoughts? Is it for entertainment? Is it, as your name suggests, ego driven? What do you get out of this?

CyberLN's picture
Argh, wish we still had the

Argh, wish we still had the ability to edit.... I typed threaT instead of threaD....

AU_Tyler_AU's picture
I'm confused on how this is

I'm confused on how this is from a Christian, when I read it I thought he was an atheist because he gives examples disproving the thought that the trinity is a Christian based thing. Regardless of his belief or lack thereof this information could be useful to atheists that like to debate Christians (like me), because it could be another thing that Christians are wrong about. If I missed something that hints this guy is a Christian then please tell me.

CyberLN's picture
Ego's profile says she is non

Ego's profile says she is non-atheist, and she always gives a nod to her jehovah.

AU_Tyler_AU's picture
ah okay, I didn't check her

ah okay, I didn't check her profile. This is also off topic but how is your husband doing CyberLN?

CyberLN's picture
Thanks for asking Tyler.

Thanks for asking Tyler. They are putting him on the heart transplant list. If he can't hold out until one becomes available, then they will have to put an LVAD in. Medical science seriously rocks!

SammyShazaam's picture
Only some sections of the

Only some sections of the church worship the Trinity as prominently as the Roman Catholics and their spin offs - before the year 1100 when they really began taking over Europe, there were other Christian powers that were just as strong and focused on other aspects of the christian theology. It's funny how people look at what is, and so many assume that that's all there ever was.

However, the Roman Catholic church needed to really lean on the idea of the trinity because they were taking over the territory of a pagan religion that had worshiped a Trinity. Is there much more to it than that?

Alter2Ego's picture
ALTER2EGO -to- SPEWER:

ALTER2EGO -to- SPEWER: (previous post)
"Of course I can well understand why you would want me gone, since you clearly are incapable of overcoming any of the arguments I have raised in any of my threads."

SPEWER:
You exhibit a seeming lack of awareness of where you are. Whether the trinity is Biblical or not is a meaningless debate for atheists. It's sort of like going to a capitalism discussion board and trying to make a vigorous case that commodity fetishism is not real Marxist theory. They reject Marxism from the get-go, and whether that part is real or not wouldn't matter to them either way.

ALTER2EGO -to- SPEWER:
Next you will be telling me that you do not realize there are Christians and other theists posting on this forum. The point being, my "Trinity" thread is directed towards people on this forum who consider themselves Trinitarians.

________________
"That people may know that you, whose name is JEHOVAH, you alone are the Most High over all the earth." (Psalms 83:18)

SammyShazaam's picture
Um, isn't there a Trinitarian

Um, isn't there a Trinitarian forum or something you could go to?

ex-christian_atheist's picture
I would urge you to try

I would urge you to try debatingchristianity.com if you want to talk to people interesting in debating theology. There are forums specifically addressing this issue and many like it. I can see trying to debate whether or not God exists here, but members of an atheist republic are not likely to be interested in debating the details of a theology they think to by mythical. And all the other Christians on this site want to do is convert atheists, so this is not the place to debate such things.

Lmale's picture
Yup i hardly see how it

Yup i hardly see how it matters if the 30000+ types of christianity cant agree on their faith because i dont believe in any of them.

Donating = Loving

Heart Icon

Bringing you atheist articles and building active godless communities takes hundreds of hours and resources each month. If you find any joy or stimulation at Atheist Republic, please consider becoming a Supporting Member with a recurring monthly donation of your choosing, between a cup of tea and a good dinner.

Or make a one-time donation in any amount.