[vladimir998]

So basically you BELIEVE that . . . your interpretation of scripture IS the same thing as the inspired Word itself.

And you think it makes sense to rely on people like George Armstrong - who denied the Trinity (1 John 2:22-23 says “Such a person is the antichrist”) - for your interpretation of Scripture to begin with?

[Yosemitest]

Trinity? Ah HAHAHAHAHAHAHAA !
You obviously haven read John chapter 1.z
That old "spirit" as a "THIRD" member is so out of date.
It's simply the POWER through which God the Father and God the Son, does things.

Satan has warped YOU mind, selling you that "Trinity" bull, leading to the closure of the "Family of God" .

[Yosemitest]

"- who denied the Trinity (1 John 2:22-23 says “Such a person is the antichrist”) -"

That's the trouble with Catholics: THEY LOVE TO MISQUOTE THE BIBLE !

Let's take a look at 1 John 2:22-23

" Who is a liar
but he that denieth that Jesus is * the Christ ?
He is antichrist,
that denieth the Father and the Son.
Whosoever denieth the Son,
the same hath not the Father:
(but) he that acknowledgeth the Son
hath the Father also.

So... WHERE is your 'ACCLAIMED PART' about>/b> "denied the Trinity... Such a person is the antichrist" ?
Let's take this Line by Line, so other that aren;t as DENSE as you, might actually LEARN SOMETHING !

By the way, I don't know who George Armstrong is,
but I'm familiar with Herbert W. Armstrong, and Gartner Ted Armstrong,
of whom, both would tell you that they were SIMPLY MEN,
and no more, and no less.

NOW... Did either of them DENY that Jesus is "THE CHRIST" (?), and let me add to that; Did either of them DENY that Jesus WAS GOD ?

OBVIOUSLY NOT !

Both of them CONSTANTLY PROFESSED that

JESUS was ... AND IS ... GOD,
and WAS THE SON OF GOD,
and DIED FOR OUT SINS,
and WAS RESURRECTED,
and IS BY THE HEAVENLY FATHER'S SIDE TO THIS DAY !

But that "Trinity" garbage,

from the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D.,
and from Arius, a priest
who believed that Christ was not a God, but a created being;
and from Athanasius, a deacon
who believed that the Father, Son and Spirit are the same being living in a threefold form
(Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed., article "Nicaea, Council of,' p. 641);
Athanasius was an Egyptian from Alexandria and his philosophy was also deeply rooted in Platonism.
"The Alexandrian catechetical school, which revered Clement of Alexandria and Origen, the greatest theologians of the Greek Church, as its heads,
applied the allegorical method to the explanation of Scripture.
Its thought was influenced by Plato:
its strong point was theological speculation.
Athanasius and the three Cappadocians had been included among its members. .." (Ecumenical Councils of the Catholic Church, by Hubert Jedin, p. 29).
In order to explain the relationship of Christ to God the Father, the church fathers felt that it was necessary to use the philosophy of the day.
They obviously thought that their religion would be more palatable if they made it sound like the pagan philosophy that was extant at the time.

And from several sources:

In Indian religion, e.g.,
we meet with the trinitarian group of Brahma, Siva, and Visnu;
and the Egyptian religion
with the trinitarian group of Osiris, Isis, and Horus, constituting a divine family,
like the Father, Mother and Son in medieval Christian pictures.
Nor is it only in historical religions that we find God viewed as a Trinity.
One recalls in particular the Neo-Platonic view of the Supreme or Ultimate Reality, which was suggested by Plato ..." (Hasting's Bible Dictionary, Vol. 12, p. 458).

Of course, the fact that someone else had a Trinity does not in itself mean that the Christians borrowed it.
McClintock and Strong make the connection a little clearer.
"Toward the end of the 1st century, and during the 2nd, many learned men came over both from Judaism and paganism to Christianity.
These brought with them into the Christian schools of theology their Platonic ideas and phraseology" (article "Trinity," Vol. 10, p. 553).

In his book, A History of Christian Thought, Arthur Cushman McGiffert points out that the main argument against those who believed
that there was only one God
and that Christ was either an adopted or a created being
was that
their idea did not agree with Platonic philosophy.
Such teachings were "offensive to theologians,
particularly to those who felt the influence of the Platonic philosophy" (ibid., p. 240).

In the latter half of the third century, Paul of Samosata tried to revive the adoptionist idea that
Jesus was a mere man
until the Spirit of God came upon Him at baptism
making him the Anointed One, or Christ.
In his beliefs about the person of Jesus Christ, he "rejected the Platonic realism which underlay most of the Christological speculation of the day" (ibid,, p. 243).

At the end of his chapter on the Trinity, McGiffert concludes:
". ..It has been the boast of orthodox theologians that in the doctrine of the Trinity both religion and philosophy come to highest expression'' (Vol. I, p. 247).

The influence of Platonic philosophy on the Trinity doctrine can hardly be denied.

However, trinitarian ideas go much further back than Plato.
"Though it is usual to speak of the Semitic tribes as monotheistic;
yet it is an undoubted fact that more or less all over the world the deities are in triads.
This rule applies to eastern and western hemispheres, to north and south.
Further, it is observed that, in some mystical way, the triad of three persons is one..
.. The definition of Athanasius [a fourth-century Christian] who lived in Egypt, applied to the trinities of all heathen religions" (Egyptian Belief and Modern Thought, by James Bonwick, F.R.G.S., p. 396).

It was Athanasius' formulation for the Trinity which was adopted by the Catholic Church at the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325.
Athanasius was an Egyptian from Alexandria and his philosophy was also deeply rooted in Platonism.
"The Alexandrian catechetical school, which revered Clement of Alexandria and Origen, the greatest theologians of the Greek Church, as its heads, applied the allegorical method to the explanation of Scripture.
Its thought was influenced by Plato:
its strong point was theological speculation.
Athanasius and the three Cappadocians had been included among its members. .." (Ecumenical Councils of the Catholic Church, by Hubert Jedin, p. 29).

So you see, the "Trinity" Docrtine is NOT Biblical.
But it IS PAGANISM, pure and simple !