The concept of Trinity has no legs to stand on

· Christianity, Islam
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  • Zia Shah MD Affiliation: The Muslim Times Website: http://themuslimtime… He is a physician practicing in Upstate New York. He is the Chief Editor of Muslim Times and also of the monthly, Alislam eGazette, with a subscription of more than 40,000. He is also Chair of Religion and Science for the Muslim Sunrise, the oldest Muslim publication in North America. He has authored more than 400 articles on Islam, Christianity and Religion & Science. Follow in Twitter: @ZiahShah1

Mufti Muhammad Sadiq, the first Muslim missionary to USA in 1920s, in his early days in USA, to initiate his missionary work, went into a store and bought three pencils and chose to pay for the price of only one pencil. When the shop keeper protested and asked for further payment, Sadiq retorted, you do believe in one in three and three in one. Don’t you? After a little quibbling the stage was set to start talking about Islam and Christianity!

The testimony of One God is every where in our universe and Trinity is no where to be seen. The universe and all life forms on our planet earth speak of One Creator and not three. If god the son and the Holy Ghost did not create any thing then they are not equal to God the Father, and hence not equal partners in ‘Trinity.’

I invite all our Christian brethren to also ponder over other religions that existed before Trinity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Confucianism or the aborigines of America and Australia.

Arius aught to have been declared a saint rather than a heretic! The term ‘Arianism’ is used to refer to other nontrinitarian theological systems of the 4th century. Arianism is the theological teaching of Arius (CE 250–336), a Church priest, who was first ruled a heretic at the First Council of Nicea of 325, later exonerated in 335 at the First Synod of Tyre, and then pronounced a heretic again after his death at the First Council of Constantinople of 381. The Emperor Constantine was baptized by an Arian Bishop. The Roman Emperors Constantius II (337-361) and Valens (364-378) were Arians or Semi-Arians.

If a Christian gives up Trinity, he or she still has the choice to become a Unitarian Christian, a Muslim or a Jew, before opting to be an agnostic or an atheist.

Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Messiah of this age writes:

“The God of Islam is the same God who is visible in the mirror of the law of nature and is discernible in the book of nature. Islam has not presented a new God but has presented the same God Who is presented by the light of man’s heart, by the conscience of man, and by heaven and earth.” (Tableegh-e-Risalat, Vol. VI, p. 15).

To read further details go to the website Islam For Jesus.

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  1. Zia H. Shah

    Clovis I and Arianism
    Clovis was converted to Catholicism, as opposed to the Arian Christianity common among the Goths who ruled most of Gaul at the time, at the instigation of his wife, Clotilde, a Burgundian Gothic princess who was a Catholic in spite of the Arianism which surrounded her at court.

    From Wikipedia about Clovis I

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  2. Zia H. Shah

    Non-Trinitarian Christian sects!
    Some Christians reject mainstream trinitarian theology; such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormonism, the Unitarians, Christadelphians, Church of God General Conference, Socinian; and some elements of Anabaptism do not teach the doctrine of the Trinity at all. In addition Oneness Pentecostals reject the creedal formulation of the Trinity, that there are three distinct and eternal persons in one being, instead believing that there is one God, a singular spirit who manifests himself in many different ways, including as the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotheism

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  3. Zia H. Shah

    Michael Servetus killed for arguing against Trinity
    According to Encyclopedia Britannica:

    Spanish physician and theologian whose unorthodox teachings led to his condemnation as a heretic by both Protestants and Roman Catholics and to his execution by Calvinists from Geneva.

    While living in Toulouse, France, Servetus studied law and delved into the problem of the Trinity. In February 1530 he accompanied his patron, the Franciscan Juan de Quintana, to the coronation of Emperor Charles V at Bologna. Distressed by papal ostentation and by the emperor’s deference to the worldly pope, he left his patron and visited Lyon, Geneva, and Basel. At Basel and Strasbourg he met with Reformation leaders John Oecolampadius, Martin Bucer, and Kaspar Schwenckfeld. Servetus published his new ideas on the Trinity in De Trinitatis erroribus libri vii (1531), attacking the orthodox teaching and attempting to form a view of his own, asserting that the Word is eternal, a mode of God’s self-expression, whereas the Spirit is God’s motion or power within the hearts of men. The Son is the union of the eternal Word with the man Jesus. Although both Catholics and Protestants may have had difficulty following Servetus’ involved speculations, what he proposed was clearly odious to them. He therefore published a revised formulation, Dialogorum de Trinitate libri ii (1532).

    “Michael Servetus.” Encyclopædia Britannica. 2010. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 29 Aug. 2010 .

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  4. Zia H. Shah

    Testimony from the Jehovah Witness site against Trinity
    I quote what the site has to say about Old Testament and Trinity:

    WHILE the word “Trinity” is not found in the Bible, is at least the idea of the Trinity taught clearly in it? For instance, what do the Hebrew Scriptures (“Old Testament”) reveal?

    The Encyclopedia of Religion admits: “Theologians today are in agreement that the Hebrew Bible does not contain a doctrine of the Trinity.” And the New Catholic Encyclopedia also says: “The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is not taught in the O[ld] T[estament].”

    Similarly, in his book The Triune God, Jesuit Edmund Fortman admits: “The Old Testament . . . tells us nothing explicitly or by necessary implication of a Triune God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. . . . There is no evidence that any sacred writer even suspected the existence of a [Trinity] within the Godhead. . . . Even to see in [the "Old Testament"] suggestions or foreshadowings or ‘veiled signs’ of the trinity of persons, is to go beyond the words and intent of the sacred writers.”—Italics ours.

    An examination of the Hebrew Scriptures themselves will bear out these comments. Thus, there is no clear teaching of a Trinity in the first 39 books of the Bible that make up the true canon of the inspired Hebrew Scriptures.

    Now I quote what the site has to say about New Testament and Trinity:

    WELL, then, do the Christian Greek Scriptures (“New Testament”) speak clearly of a Trinity?

    The Encyclopedia of Religion says: “Theologians agree that the New Testament also does not contain an explicit doctrine of the Trinity.”

    Jesuit Fortman states: “The New Testament writers . . . give us no formal or formulated doctrine of the Trinity, no explicit teaching that in one God there are three co-equal divine persons. . . . Nowhere do we find any trinitarian doctrine of three distinct subjects of divine life and activity in the same Godhead.”

    The New Encyclopædia Britannica observes: “Neither the word Trinity nor the explicit doctrine appears in the New Testament.”

    Bernhard Lohse says in A Short History of Christian Doctrine: “As far as the New Testament is concerned, one does not find in it an actual doctrine of the Trinity.”

    The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology similarly states: “The N[ew] T[estament] does not contain the developed doctrine of the Trinity. ‘The Bible lacks the express declaration that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are of equal essence’ [said Protestant theologian Karl Barth].”

    Yale University professor E. Washburn Hopkins affirmed: “To Jesus and Paul the doctrine of the trinity was apparently unknown; . . . they say nothing about it.”—Origin and Evolution of Religion.

    Historian Arthur Weigall notes: “Jesus Christ never mentioned such a phenomenon, and nowhere in the New Testament does the word ‘Trinity’ appear. The idea was only adopted by the Church three hundred years after the death of our Lord.”—The Paganism in Our Christianity.

    Thus, neither the 39 books of the Hebrew Scriptures nor the canon of 27 inspired books of the Christian Greek Scriptures provide any clear teaching of the Trinity.

    http://www.watchtower.org/e/ti/article_03.htm

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  5. Zia H. Shah

    Trinity or a Tetrad!
    The old story is that Jesus has two parts, those are welded together some how in a fashion never known in human history before or since and those two parts are married to two additional parts that are not different from the first part yet are different. These four parts are called Trinity and not a Tetrad!

    This triad or tetrad is a Unity and should be called one and not three or four? This is the old story and in this age of information it is logical to examine this and share new information.

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  6. Zia H. Shah

    John 14: The Father is greater than me
    The chapter 14 of the gospel of John not only speaks against Trinity but also promises of the Holy Prophet Muhammad. Here is the entire chapter from New International Version. First read with your Chrisitan trinitarian lenses, then with the Islamic possibility that Jesus was a noble and beloved prophet of God and then read a third time following Sir Francis Bacon’s advice, “Read not to contradict … but to weigh and consider.” Here you go:

    Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”

    Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
    Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

    Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

    Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

    If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”

    Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”

    Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

    All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

    You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.

    Come now; let us leave.

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  7. Zia H. Shah

    President Thomas Jefferson’s views
    A letter to theologian James Smith — December 8, 1822 — elaborates Jefferson’s views on the subject.

    “Sir, — I have to thank you for your pamphlets on the subject of Unitarianism, and to express my gratification with your efforts for the revival of primitive Christianity in your quarter.

    No historical fact is better established, than that the doctrine of one God, pure and uncompounded, was that of the early ages of Christianity; and was among the efficacious doctrines which gave it triumph over the polytheism of the ancients, sickened with the absurdities of their own theology. Nor was the unity of the Supreme Being ousted from the Christian creed by the force of reason, but by the sword of civil government, wielded at the will of the fanatic Athanasius. The hocus-pocus phantasm of a God like another Cerberus, with one body and three heads, had its birth and growth in the blood of thousands and thousands of martyrs. And a strong proof of the solidity of the primitive faith, is its restoration, as soon as a nation arises which vindicates to itself the freedom of religious opinion, and its external divorce from the civil authority. The pure and simple unity of the Creator of the universe, is now all but ascendant in the Eastern States; it is dawning in the West, and advancing towards the South; and I confidently expect that the present generation will see Unitarianism become the general religion of the United States. The Eastern presses are giving us many excellent pieces on the subject, and Priestley’s learned writings on it are, or should be, in every hand. In fact, the Athanasian paradox that one is three, and three but one, is so incomprehensible to the human mind, that no candid man can say he has any idea of it, and how can he believe what presents no idea? He who thinks he does, only deceives himself. He proves, also, that man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without a rudder, is the sport of every wind. With such persons gullibility which they call faith, takes the helm from the hand of reason, and the mind becomes a wreck.”

    “I write with freedom, because while I claim a right to believe in one God, if so my reason tells me, I yield as freely to others that of believing in three. Both religions, I find, make honest men, and that is the only point society has any right to look to. Although this mutual freedom should produce mutual indulgence, yet I wish not to be brought in question before the public on this or any other subject, and I pray you to consider me as writing under that trust. I take no part in controversies, religious or political. At the age of eighty, tranquility is the greatest good of life, and the strongest of our desires that of dying in the good will of all mankind. And with the assurance of all my good will to Unitarian and Trinitarian, to Whig and Tory, accept for yourself that of my entire respect.”

    There are host of additional materials available on this webpage:

    http://www.brunswickcounty.com/Thomas_Jefferson_and_the_Doctrine_of_the_Trinity-a-1150.html

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  8. Zia H. Shah

    Read about the first six Ecumenical Councils
    This is in response to the comment below.

    It is easy to pick up some verses of the Old Testament and force Trinitarian interpretation on them. But, getting out of the maze that is created by the contradictory ideas inherent in Trinity is another matter!

    A good place to start is to read the account of the first six Ecumenical Councils spread over centuries after the crucifixion of Jesus, may peace be on him. As you look at the convoluted history and the debates it becomes apparent to the wise that Trinity is a confusion that needs to be traded in for the simple creed, “There is no God, but Allah (God the Father)!”

    A good place to start is the article below and some of my other knols and then Google many of the Ecumenical Councils and get to analyze the debates thoroughly. May God be your Guide:

    https://www.alislam.org/egazette/articles/Trinity-First-Council-201006.pdf

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  9. Zia H. Shah

    Breaking the Cross: Epoch making refutation of dogma of Christianity by the Messiah, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani
    Ataul Mujeeb Rashid, Missionary Incharge UK, has wrtiten a very detailed and beautiful book, by collecting excerpts from the writings of Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, who is the Promised Messiah, to refute Christianity. Rashid has written this book in Urdu and it would be very worthwhile if some one translates it into English for the benefit of those who do not know Urdu. Here is the link to read a more than a hundred page chapter in refutation of Trinity in Urdu:

    http://www.alislam.org/urdu/pdf/KasreSaleeb.pdf#page=127

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  12. Zia H. Shah

    The Old Testament versus the New Testament

    “And the Jews say, ‘The Christians stand on nothing;’ and the Christians say, ‘The Jews stand on nothing;’ while they both read the same Book. Even thus said those who had no knowledge, like what they say. But Allah shall judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning that wherein they disagree.” (Al Quran 2:114)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlD-zWa0ODc
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgA6gyv2ICE&feature=related

    All the Jewish Prophets, starting with the Prophet Abraham and Isaac, had no idea of Triune God, whatsoever and William Lane Craig concedes this point at least! Either God played a joke on the Jewish prophets for 2000 years before Jesus or St. Paul played a joke on the 2 billion Trinitarians! If I were you, I would err on the side of God and assign the guilt to St. Paul!

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