Jesus Said... (belief, pray, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ)
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We are to love one another as God loves us. We love others because God first loved us. We can only know what true "love" of self or of others is, is only by understanding God's love of us. Our holy God loved us enough to be come sin for us, in our stead.
1 John 4
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is [a]born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 By this the love of God was manifested [b]in us, that God has sent His [c]only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has [d]for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear [e]involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. 19 We love, because He first loved us. 20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.
I have often wondered how Trinitarians can ignore the implications of the following verse which they often quote to prove there is only one God...
ISA 43:10 "Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me."
In that verse YAHWEH (The LORD) said that he was the first "formed" God and that there would be no God formed after Him. The word formed is from the Hebrew "yatsar" 3335. It is the same word used by Isaiah to describe the creation of the earth. (Isa 45:18)
Think about it for a minute, if there was no God formed "before" Jesus, then He is the first formed God. And if there was to be no God formed after Him, Jesus was the last God formed. Jesus is the first and the last.
The YAHWEH of the Old Testament declares Himself to be the only formed (created) God of Israel. ("the only begotten Son" John 1:14, 3:16) If we understand that, we can understand the meaning of the following verse:
ISA 44:6 "Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
The term "first and last" (44:6) makes perfect sense if applied to the first and last God formed. (43:10) In the book of Revelation Jesus is called the first and the last (Rev 1:17) The question is "first and last what?" According to His own testimony, He was the only God formed. He was
formed by His God, the Eternal Father in heaven, whom no man has ever seen. Being the offspring of God, He is of like substance with the Father, therefore Jesus is Deity as The Father is Deity. But He is not the Father.
But what about the verses that say there is only "one true God"?
There aren't any. However, there are three verses which use the phrase true God". In each case that phrase refers to The Father:
"...that they might know thee the only true God, [THE FATHER] AND JESUS CHRIST, whom thou hast sent. [THE SON] (John 17:3)
"...to serve the living and true God; [THE FATHER] AND TO WAIT FOR HIS SON from heaven." [THE SON] (1 Thess 1:9)
"...And we know that the SON OF GOD is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know *him* that is true [THE FATHER] IN *HIS* SON JESUS CHRIST. [THE SON] This is the true God, and eternal life." (1 John 5:20)
In each case, "the true God" refers to the Father who is specifically contrasted with the Son. If anything these verses serve to distinguish between the Father and the Son rather than prove they are one God.
Well friends, there are my reasons for not accepting the syllogism upon which the doctrine of the Trinity is based. You may choose to accept the "Trinity" but I hope you will take a closer look at the premises upon which it is based.
Major Premise: There is only one God.
The Scriptures do not say this.
Minor Premise:
The Father, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost are called God.
The Holy Ghost is not specifically called God.
In John 1:1 The Father is called "The" God while Jesus is referred to simply as God.
Conclusion: The Father, Jesus and the Holy Ghost are one God.
FALSE! If either the minor premise or the major premise is false, the conclusion must be false.
The fact remains that neither Jesus nor the apostles ever taught that The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one God, each co-equal and co-eternal. That alone disqualifies belief in the doctrine of the Trinity as a standard by which we should judge our brothers and sisters in Christ.
The Bible does refer to the The Holy Spirit as God.
3Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God.” (Acts 5:3-4)
We are to love one another as God loves us. We love others because God first loved us. We can only know what true "love" of self or of others is, is only by understanding God's love of us. Our holy God loved us enough to be come sin for us, in our stead.
1 John 4
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is [a]born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 By this the love of God was manifested [b]in us, that God has sent His [c]only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has [d]for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear [e]involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. 19 We love, because He first loved us. 20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.
- Of course we should love one another. As God loves us.
But it doesn't say we are to love one another as we love God. -
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