The Trinity - Biblical, From The Roman Catholic Church, Or Not True?

The Trinity - Biblical, From The Roman Catholic Church, Or Not True?  ~  I have been having an interesting online dialogue with a Friend whose church and theology denies the Trinity, claiming it originated from the Roman Catholic Church.  True or false?

Well, if we are going to believe the Bible as the Inspired, Inerrant, Literal, Written Word of God - then the non-Trinity, Roman Catholicism originated, teaching has to be false.  If anyone believes and teaches that the Bible is wrong, or in error when teaching about the Trinity - their teaching has to be false.

So which do YOU believe?  Does the Trinity, the Triune God ~ Father, Son, Holy Spirit really exist and are we, all believers, indwelled by the Holy Spirit - or is that also false?

Personally I will always go with what God teaches in His Bible.  Starting in Genesis, the Bible teaches the Trinity, that God the Father (1st Person) resides in the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2-4).

That God the Son, Jesus Christ (2nd Person) came to earth as the Incarnate God as our propitiation by which all who will believe are saved eternally, but who now resides in heaven in his immortal body and will come again to begin His 1000 year Millennial Kingdom on earth. 

And that God the Holy Spirit (3rd Person) is active in all the world today and is residing in every believer, to guide us, teach us, and convict us.

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MY NON-TRINITY FRIEND POSTED:  You picked up on the Trinity doctrine which is Roman Catholic, so even though your church may have broken away from Roman Catholicism, she's still your mama!  Call yourself what you will, but you've taken the poison of Trinitarianism to your bosom! 

You're Catholic any way you slice it.  Until you leave their doctrine, you're still their boy!  The Trinity is not a Christian teaching!  Jesus never taught it!  Rome still teaches it to this day!

AND I RESPOND:  My Friend, not sure how you, or whomever indoctrinated you into the Oneness fallacy, came to connect belief in the Trinity with Roman Catholicism - but you both are really off base by a mile.  For Constantine was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 - and it was through him that the Church of Rome, aka, Roman Catholic church, had its birth.

Am I catholic?  Yes, for catholic just means universal.  And the Christian faith is a universal faith for all who will believe and receive Christ as Lord and Savior (John 1:12).

So I am catholic, but I am not Roman Catholic.  Because of a lady very important to me when I was much younger, I did attend the Roman Catholic Church for years and I took Catechism lessons - primarily to help her raise her children Roman Catholic, which she had taken a vow to do. 

I wanted to know all about the Roman Catholic Church for their sake - but while I attended, I never joined nor became a Roman Catholic. 

On the other hand, I believe those years spent studying Roman Catholicism was beneficial - for now I can assure folks like you who are caught up in false teachings - that you are wrong about the Trinity originating in the Vatican.

The Trinity was taught by the apostles, the disciples, and the books which became our Bible, long before in the 1st century, even as far back as Genesis, in the beginning.  I have attached a graphic below showing Biblical proof of what I have written. 

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I pray that all my Christian brethren see that it is not just the atheists, agnostics, and non-believers who need to hear the Word of God.  When it comes to those non-believers - we have a built-in shield or a red-flag alert which goes up when dealing with their theology or lack of theology.

But when we are dealing with folks who wear a Christian hat, yet are from a church which is a cult church or a church which has strayed so far from the faith that it is hard to honestly call them Christian churches - those can be dangerous.

My personal feeling is that it is those who are in false churches such as the Oneness Pentecostal (not to be confused with the Trinitarian Pentecostals who are our brethren) and other groups which deny the Trinity and other Essential Christian Doctrines that comprise our faith - who really need our Gospel evangelism. 

For to the degree which those groups or churches deny the essential tenets of the Christian faith - to that extent they have left the Christian church founded by God Himself.  And they have become a greater danger to new believers as well as the almost believers we tend to target with our evangelism, than the atheists and agnostics.

Leaving the new believer or almost believer to the mercy of false theology churches - is rather like leaving your children alone at home, prey to any person or accident which could harm them - while you go out to evangelize the world.  First protect your children, those new believers and almost believers who can fall prey to false teachings and cult teachings - THEN, go out to save the world.

Years ago, a missionary couple, Steve and Leslie, who came home for a rest and rebuilding trip from the Philippines, spoke at our church.  And he gave a very true and astute perspective on the Great Commission.

Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8, "And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.  Go, therefore, and Make Disciples of all the nations, Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth.' "

I often shorten that to:  "Go, Make Disciples, Baptize Them, Teach Them .  .  .  in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the remotest part of the earth."

The new perspective which Steve gave us was that "our Jerusalem" starts with our immediate family - then it should spread out to our community, our city, our state, our country, and to all the world.  That is a teaching I concur with completely, especially for our children.

Let me leave you with this last thought.  Over the years as I have led Bible studies and Sunday School classes, I have developed three short videos which I have found useful.  The videos are designed so that you can stop them on individual frames for reading or for having discussions on the separate bullets.  I pray that you find them useful and informative.  The graphic below was created from pages taken from one of the videos.

Let's Talk About Doctrine
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_YT3RttutrgRQ3-QWCccDAeXpAV-p6bJ

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill Gray

Click on the image to enlarge: