**The original Reformers affirmed the Trinity without qualification. Thus Luther and Calvin, and the sixteenth century confessions of Protestant faith uniformly attested to the Trinity of Persons in God. But the subjectivism of the Protestant principles paved the way to a gradual attrition of the faith, so that rationalism has made deep inroads into the denominations. The most common form of this rationalism takes the three persons in God as only three personifications of the divine attributes, e.g., divine power is personified by the Father, divine wisdom by the Son, and divine goodness by the Holy Spirit.**
I was aware of the first part of this, but not the second part.
The Concept of the Most Holy Trinity - The Relationship between the Three Persons in One God
A Brief Catechism for Adults - Lesson 3: God and the Holy Trinity
Sheed on the Trinity (Catholic Caucus)
The Father as the Source of the Whole Trinity - Greek and Latin Traditions About the Filioque
Trinity Facts
The Real Trinity
We believe in one only God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit
Brief Reflections on the Trinity, the Canon of Scripture, and the Protestant idea of Sola Scriptura
Why Do We Believe in the Trinity?
The Holy Trinity
Trinity Sunday (and the Trinity season)
Trinitarian Mystery
HaSheeloosh HaKadosh: The Holy Trinity
MARY’S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE TRINITY
The Divine Trinity
Could be the conclusion is no longer relevant.
This might a little off topic but on the local religious channel there a Catholic priest by the name of Father Pisegna. Anyone heard of or seen him and if so any opinions of his teachings. I noticed nothing of his has been posted on FR but when I watch him he seems to make some pretty good points.
“We All Believe in One True God”
by Martin Luther, 1525
1. We all believe in one true God,
Who created earth and heaven,
The Father, who to us in love
Hath the right of children given.
He both soul and body feedeth,
All we need He doth provide us;
He through snares and perils leadeth,
Watching that no harm betide us.
He careth for us day and night,
All things are governed by His might.
2. We all believe in Jesus Christ,
His own Son, our Lord, possessing
An equal Godhead, throne, and might,
Source of every grace and blessing.
Born of Mary, virgin mother,
By the power of the Spirit,
Made true man, our elder Brother,
That the lost might life inherit;
Was crucified for sinful men
And raised by God to life again.
3. We all confess the Holy Ghost,
Who sweet grace and comfort giveth
And with the Father and the Son
In eternal glory liveth;
Who the Church, His own creation,
Keeps in unity of spirit.
Here forgiveness and salvation
Daily come through Jesus’ merit.
All flesh shall rise, and we shall be
In bliss with God eternally. Amen.
Hymn #251
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: The Nicene Creed
Author: Martin Luther, 1525
Titled: “Wir glauben all’ einen Gott”
Tune: “Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott”
An excellent post, great information!
This is my experience, especially with non-Catholic Christians I’ve met online in chats like Paltalk. This is precisely why it is so dangerous to ignore the authority of the Church. It is exactly what St. Peter warned about in his second epistle (2 Pet 3:16-17).
When one is one’s own Pope, it is all to easy to mistake an evil spirit for the Holy Spirit. This is precisely how strange doctrines enter the Body of Christ. The Magisterium is precisely to guard against such errors. It’s much more difficult to bend an entire body against truth, than it is an individual.
This is perhaps the one thing that drives me craziest. In my exact desire to be charitable to people, to help them, I can see the error so easily propigated by this “go at it alone mentality” that Protestantism delightfully encourages.
We are NOT able to come to God alone; and, as I’ve said previously on another thread, this is exactly what the Church is for: it’s to help us keep on the path to Christ.
**The original Reformers affirmed the Trinity without qualification. Thus Luther and Calvin, and the sixteenth century confessions of Protestant faith uniformly attested to the Trinity of Persons in God. But the subjectivism of the Protestant principles paved the way to a gradual attrition of the faith, so that rationalism has made deep inroads into the denominations.**
The “subjectivism” by the most radical fringes of Protestants too, also led to a rejection of the holy Trinity.
Hence, in New England, the great grandkids of the stern very orthodox Calvinist Puritans—formed the Unitarians and Universalists in the 18th & 19th Century. It was Englightenment rationalism gone mad—saying since we cannot COMPLETELY understand God as Trinity, therefore He/it (since they objectified a diestic type God) cannot be that way...
Simularly Thomas Jefferson reached the same conclusion—and rejected the Trinity.
Also at the edge today, certain Pentecostal churches (called “Oneness” Pentecostals, with a real ignorance of history—and a rejection of all but their own personal authority (reading the bible, by themselves))—are monarchical modalists (see the definition above).
Many mainline Protestants today, (Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopalian, etc.) while maybe officially mouthing belief in the Trinity, according to the orthodoxy of their tradition—are functionally Diests however (a bit like Jefferson) who simply cannot accept the idea of God the Son, being involved with His creation—and becoming human in Jesus.
Of course this is a problem among all Christians today—the idea of the creator God being separated (and implicitly NOT a trinity) from the World...which of course is exactly the opposite of what the Church, tradition, and the holy scriptures teach.