Post Two continued from Above
Columhcille wrote: That being said, the LDS church supports the teaching that the three in the trinity are three separate entities..
I think where some confusion comes into play is certain areas of scripture this:
In revelation and Genesis right off the top of my head, it talks about Satan becoming the Father of Lies and deceit. Satan was a brother of Christ and a brother to us children of God. God bade them come to Him and he asked both Satan and Christ if they would save His children [we who choose to follow Him] from being lost to Him forever. Satan said he would take away our free agency and force us to follow and come back to God…
Christ on the other hand understood God's plan and that we should have Free agency to choose to love God and follow Him or to choose not to; Christ said he would never force us to do anything.
Orthodox Christianity teaches that God is One –
not three separate Gods as Mormonism teaches. CRI (Christian Research Institute) defines the Christian Orthodox doctrine of the Divine Trinity like this:
God is a perfectly unique and simple being, existing as one infinite Being called God. There is therefore only one God, who is called Yahweh in the Old Testament, and who reveals Himself in the persons of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit…
The teaching that supports three separate gods (tritheism) is not found in the bible for the following reasons:
One-- The Christian Orthodox doctrine of the Divine Trinity lines up with the clear teachings from the bible as stated in Deuteronomy 33: 26, Isaiah 46:5, Isaiah 43:10, Isaiah 44:6, Isaiah 41:4, Isaiah 45:5, 6, 18, 21, 22
that there is none Like God.
This line up with what God says about himself as well; therefore, God’s form of oneness is certainly unlike all other forms of oneness we can conceive of just as the bible record of what God says about himself states. Best way to describe God is a mystery –
One God in three distinct persons of one Divine essence. This is complete accord with scripture that there is none like him.
God’s oneness must be incomprehensible to fulfill this. If you make God into any other image of oneness – you will be in violation of the principles taught in Deuteronomy 5:7-8
By your own admission – Mormonism creates God according to an image of comprehensible oneness just as Romans 1:22-23 warns not to do and Joseph Smith states in D and C 130:22 to do. Is the bible right or Joseph Smith?
More on God’s Incomprehensibility Below from CRI:
From CRI Article wrote: 13. INCOMPREHENSIBLE: God is incomprehensible, not in the sense that the concept of God is unintelligible, but in the sense that God cannot be fully and directly known by finite creatures, because of His uniqueness and His infinitude.
a. None like God (Ex. 8:10; 9:14; 15:11; 2 Sam. 7:22; 1 Chr. 17:20; Psa. 86:8; 1 Kgs. 8:23; Isa. 40:18, 25; Isa 44:7; Isa 56:5, 9; Jer. 10:6-7; Micah 7:18)
b. Analogical language necessary to describe God (Ezek. 1:26-28; Rev. 1:13-16)
c. God cannot be comprehended as He really is (1 Cor. 8:2-3)
d. God can only be known as the Son reveals Him (John 1:18; Matt. 11:25-27)
This Quote from
this CRI Link
Two -- When God says, there are none like him and that only He is God and no other – for God to have a father and his father have a father would prove inexpiably that God lies. This is in violation of his-own nature and character. God is not man that he should lie – God is without iniquity – perfect in all His ways.
For God to clearly state none like him as well as No other Gods formed – He means just that: Read Isaiah 43:10 please…
Three— Mormonism uses the names Elohim and Yahweh in a manner that tries to make these usages of these two names for God to denote two separate Gods. This is error. There is only one God – Yahweh. His name can and does refer to, according to context and grammar usages, to every member of the Godhead which Orthodox Christians call the Divine Trinity. For details on this read the CRI quote below.
As the below quote from CRI article posted below reveals:
From CRI Article wrote:
CRI Link
10. ONE: God is a perfectly unique and simple being, existing as one infinite Being called God. There is therefore only one God, who is called Yahweh in the Old Testament, and who reveals Himself in the persons of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the New Testament; thus excluding polytheism, tritheism (belief in three gods), and subordinationism (in which Christ is a lesser god subordinate to the Almighty God).
a. Only one God (Deut. 6:4; Isa. 43:10; 44:6, 8; 45:5-7, 21-22; Zech. 14:9; 1 Cor. 8:4-6; Gal. 3:20; Eph. 4:5-6; 1 Tim. 2:5; James 2:19)
b. All other "gods" are only "so-called," (1 Cor. 8:4-6; 2 Thess. 2:4)
c. Moses was "as God," not God or divine (Ex. 4:16; 7:1)
d. Satan, idols, and the belly are all false gods (Psa. 96:4-5; 1 Cor. 10:20; 2 Cor. 4:4; Phil. 3:19)
e. Wicked judges called "gods" in irony, not to describe nature (Psa. 82:1, 6; John 10:34-36)
f. Yahweh is Elohim (Gen. 2:4; Deut. 4:35, 39; Psa. 100:3 [thus excluding the view of Mormonism that Jehovah and Elohim are distinct beings])
g. Implied by the doctrines of self-existence, transcendence, and omnipotence
Note Section f again:
f. Yahweh is Elohim (Gen. 2:4; Deut. 4:35, 39; Psa. 100:3 [thus excluding the view of Mormonism that Jehovah and Elohim are distinct beings])
Four – Jesus and Satan are not brothers and the bible refutes this. Colossians 1:16 clearly states Jesus created all things – even the angels. He
created all things means precisely that = He created all things – principalities, powers. Note about angelic beings, powers, principalities see Romans 8:38, Ephesians 1:21, Ephesians 3:10, Ephesians 6:12, Colossians 2:10, 15
Lucifer i.e. Satan is a created angelic Cherub as Ezekiel 28:13-19 and Isaiah 14:12-15 state. Since Christ created all things, all powers, principalities, thrones, dominions, Jesus cannot be related kin to Lucifer – brothers. You have two classes mentioned – the created and the creator.
Fifth – You cannot derive from the Hebrew words that Yahweh (Jehovah) refers only to Jesus and Elohim refers only to the God the Father. Genesis 27:20 refutes this as does Exodus 3:6, 7 and Jeremiah 32:18 as well too… reveal clearly that Yahweh and Elohim are one in the same – note Deuteronomy 6:4. As does CRI article section f scriptures quoted above does too. Read these verses to yourself and tell us what you think?
Yahweh refers to the entire Godhead of the Divine Trinity as does Elohim. It is only by the context of scripture can one begin to comprehend which person of the Godhead is speaking in the OT. This comes by illumination of the Holy Spirit connecting the dots. I will not connect these for Mormons as they continue to do what Romans 1:22-23 states…
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