Hard Facts
“There is some warrant for asserting that the
propensity to believe evident nonsense increases rather
than decreases with higher education.” [1]
“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation
in the knowledge of him; the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope
of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his
inheritance in the saints” (Eph. 1:17-18).
We have come to the firm personal conclusion that no
amount of bluster or scholarly waffle about “wasting
God’s time” can hide the fact from a reasonable mind that
some things believed by churchgoers are in fact
nonsense.
The sordid history of orthodoxy does not do honor to the
Name of the One they claim to know and teach.
Therefore, one has only to apply Jesus’ test, that one does
not draw sweet water from a polluted well or grapes from
a thorn bush. Unfortunately, few are willing to forgo the
acceptance of their peers and make a stand for what they
suspect to be true in their own minds, but rather they
imagine ignorance or embrace “mystery” to salve a
troubled conscience and agree with the crowd. Truth then
fails!
It is easier for Christians to go along with popular
opinion, as was ably explained by the German
philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860): “
There is
no opinion, however absurd, which men will not readily
embrace as soon as they can be brought to the conviction
that it is generally adopted.”
An example of the sort of dogma that is proclaimed
by orthodoxy to keep the unlearned “in submission” goes
like this: “The Son of God died; it is absolutely to be
believed because it is absurd. And he was buried and rose
again; the fact is certain because it is impossible.” [2] That
sort of argument must be either blindly believed (“by
faith”) or thrown out as nonsense, which unfortunately,
most of the world do.
The Bible never speaks like this,
but yes, the Son of God (not God the Son) did die and his
Father raised him from the dead and exalted him. In plain
language see Acts 2:14-36.
Even Albert Einstein gave homage to Isaac Newton,
the great physicist and theologian who perceived God’s
hand in Creation and
refused to confess the Trinity;
therefore many of Newton’s theological works are kept
unavailable to the public. Newton wrote that “the human
race is prone to mysteries, and holds nothing so holy and
perfect as
that which cannot be understood,” but advised that
“Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in
multiplicity and confusion of things.” How true!
William Tyndale said that scholars who argued about
the meanings behind the apparent meaning of words were
“
idle disputers and brawlers about vain words, ever
gnawing on the bitter bark without and never attaining the
sweet pith within.” To Tyndale, the Bible is to be read as
a whole, and the words accepted for what they are, “for it
tells a tale that any man or woman can understand,
without being ordained, or studying theology.” Not long
before the Church burnt Tyndale for his faith he wrote,
“Cleave fast to the rock of the help of God and commit
the end of all things to Him” and “Be not overcome by
men’s persuasions.” [3]
Isaac Watts, the great logician and hymn writer
(“When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” “Joy to the
World,” “O God, Our Help in Ages Past” and over 500
more), pointed out in his classic textbook on logic, “The
power of reasoning was given us by our Maker, for this
very end, to pursue truth; and we abuse one of His richest
gifts if we basely yield up to be led astray by any of the
meaner powers of nature or the perishing interests of this
life. Reason itself, if honestly obeyed, will lead us to
receive the divine revelation of the Gospel, where it is
duly proposed, and this will show us the path to life
everlasting.” [4]
It is evident that there is a close connection between
Isaac Watts’ study of logic and
his rejection of the
Trinity. After devoting 20 years to intense scriptural
study on the nature of God, Watts wrote:
“But how can
such weak creatures ever take in so strange, so difficult
and so abstruse a doctrine as this [the Trinity], in the
explication and defence whereof multitudes of men, even
men of learning and piety, have lost themselves in infinite
subtleties of dispute and endless mazes of darkness? And
can this strange and perplexing notion of three real
persons going to make up one true God be so necessary
and so important a part of that Christian doctrine, which,
in the Old Testament and the New, is represented as so
plain and so easy, even to the meanest understandings?” [5]
In the light of the foregoing, my question is: On what
grounds does an organization claiming to be Bible-based
and “Christ-centered”
uphold doctrine never mentioned
by Jesus or the Apostles, unless it follows the Roman
creed of inerrancy and superiority of the [Roman] Church’s teaching and tradition over the Bible? To be honest before
God you must answer that question and act.
Consider these passages. Read them as they are;
don’t try and “interpret” them according to some
preconceived doctrine:
- John 14:28: “I go to the Father, for my Father is
greater than I.”
- John 20:17: “I ascend to my Father, and your Father;
and to my God, and your God.”
- Ephesians 4:6: “One God and Father of all, who is
above all.”
- Jesus prays: “Father, the time has come. Glorify
your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you
granted him authority over all people that he might give
eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is
eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. [“Sent” does not
suggest “from heaven”, John the Baptist and the prophets
where all “sent.” It means “commissioned.”]
I have
brought you glory on earth by completing the work you
gave me to do” (John 17:2-4, NIV).
The words in bold are strange statements between coequal,
co-eternal beings!
“Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his
voice, and declared to them…‘Men of Israel, listen to
these words: Jesus of Nazareth,
a man approved of God
among you by miracles and wonders and signs,
which
God did by him in your midst...being delivered by the
predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed
to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to
death, but God raised him up, putting an end to the agony
of death…
This Jesus God raised up, to which we are all
witnesses. Therefore having been
exalted to the right hand
of God, and having received from the Father the promise
of the Holy Spirit, he has poured forth this which you
both see and hear…Therefore let all the house of Israel
know for certain
that God has made that same Jesus,
whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:14-
36).
Later Stephen testified: “But being full of the Holy
Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of
God, and
Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he
said, ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened up, and
the Son of
man standing at the right hand of God…They went on
stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, ‘Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit!’ Then falling on his knees, he
cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin
against them!’ Having said this, he fell asleep” (Acts
7:55-60).
And there are many more such clear statements in
Scripture that exclude any idea of Jesus being God or of
God being three Persons:
- 2 Corinthians 11:31: “The God and Father of the
Lord Jesus, He who is blessed forever, knows that I am
not lying.”
- Ephesians 1:3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.”
- 1 Peter 1:3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has
caused us to born again to a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
- Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our
God is one Lord.”
[1] Peter Berger, A Far Glory: The Quest of Faith in an Age
of Credulity, Free Press, 1992, p. 163.
[2] E.G. Bewkes, The Western Heritage of Faith and
Reason, Holt, Rinehart, 1971.
[3] From William Tyndale: If God Spare My Life by Brian
Moynahan.
[4] Logic, first published in 1724, reprinted by Soli Deo
Gloria Publications, Morgan, PA, 1996, p. 325.
[5] Quoted in William G. Eliot,
Discourses on the
Doctrines of Christianity, American Unitarian Assn., 1877,
pp. 97, 100.
The above article was taken from
Focus On The Kingdom
