I BELIEVE!
Posted on 06/14/2006 8:05:55 AM PDT by NYer
The Trinity, fine. That's easy.
Now, how about the immaculate conception? The assumption? The perpetual virginity? A sinless Mary?
;O)
Thankfully I don't have to rely on three leaf clovers or other gimmicks. Instead I can rely fully on God's word. The Bible is inspired by God so there are no mistakes and He is surely NO SINNER with an agenda.
So why do I believe in the Trinity? Because it is stated in the Bible. This IS ONLY source a CHristian is to rely on for answers.
Matthew 28:18-20
[18] And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
[19] Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
[20] Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Matthew speaks of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit all being part of ONE name. But, these are three distinct persons.
Deut. 6:4 states this:
[4] Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD
1 Cor. 8:6
[6] But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
So God is of ONE essence, but three in Persons. God has one nature, but three centers of consciousness. In other words, there is only ONE "What" in God but there are three "Whos". God is in one essence and revealed in three forms, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
I dare say this gets to the meat of the matter!
"Now, how about the immaculate conception? The assumption? The perpetual virginity? A sinless Mary? "
Just another obvious reason not to rely on man for answers and why I am not Catholic. I couldn't be. I rely on God for answers and I get my answers from the Bible.
I dare say the Bible clarifies what we label the Trinity much clearer than any of these other sinners, er philosophers.
The Bible clearly disagrees with you, and commands obedience both to sacred tradition (2 Thess 2:15) and church authority (Heb 13:7-8, 13:17).
Get back to us when you actually start obeying your "only source" consistently, instead of picking and choosing which parts you want to obey.
And when you're not sure what the Bible means, you get your answers from a fundamentalist preacher or theologian, a man who is just as much a sinner as the Pope.
Luke chapter 2 defines the Immaculate Conception as clearly as anything defines the Trinity. As for Mary's perpetual virginity, there is nothing in Scripture which makes any mention of her having any other children.
There is also the undeniable fact that prior to Gutenburg's printing press, there was almost no chance that the average person would ever even own a Bible as they all had to be transcribed by hand and were incredibly expensive and rare.
I BELIEVE!
LOL! Your "proofs" do not, by themselves, prove that God is a Trinity of Persons.
"Baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit" does not automatically lead to the idea of three hypostasis and one ousia! This took the Church hundreds of years to theologically define. You don't realize how Catholic you already are, do you? There are numerous heretics who THOUGHT they understood the Bible differently and came up with different ideas on who God is. Yours is the Catholic/Orthodox concept from Scriptures AND Apostolic Tradition.
Regards
Who delivered God's Word to Balaam?
Yes, God works His plan in mysterious ways.
I'm sure you meant to use some word other than "sinless" there ... better make the correction before somebody jumps all over you for it.
For which you can thank the Catholic Church :-)
Mark 13:31 - heaven and earth will pass away, but Jesus' Word will not pass away. But Jesus never says anything about His Word being entirely committed to a book. Also, it took 400 years to compile the Bible, and another 1,000 years to invent the printing press. How was the Word of God communicated? Orally, by the bishops of the Church, with the guidance and protection of the Holy Spirit.
We believe in the Blessed Trinity because we believe in Jesus, Who revealed the Trinity Godhead.
Sorry this is a misnomer for the word Trinity is not in the Bible!
Col. 2
4 And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.
5 For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ.
6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
Why should an infinitely holy God wish to be incarnated of a sinful person? If He can creat Adam and Eve without sin, it's not a problem for Him to create a sinless vessel for His own coming to earth. And why would Mary need to have other children, prone to sin, after giving birth to the Savior of the world?
Scott Hahn's " First Comes Love" is an excellent book on the Trinity. He shows how the human family is an analogy of the Trinity.
I think people are forgetting that using the Bible as a source of Trinity theology works fine with other Christians, but how do you explain the Trinity to Non Christians ? St. Patrick, St. Augustine and others were faced with that very issue.
Plus if Bible alone was sufficient to prove the Trinity we would not have the Jehovah Witness', The Mormons and Oneness Pentecostals. They too use the Bible as their proof text. The Arian heresy is alive and well.
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