The BIBLE Does not support the "TRINITY THEORY"

Hello Timeworn: This is a great topic and one that has been debated for almost 2000 years. With respect to your position, I think it is worth acknowledging to our readers that the Bible itself does not actually use the word "trinity". That might seem to some to support your position and be an indication that the concept itself is suspect. But mention in the Bible of the word "trinity" is not necessary for the concept to be a reality, any more than mention of anything anywhere is necessary for its existence to be true. It is also an unfortunate fact that it would seem that some well-meaning scribe might actually have tried to "explain" the concept of the trinity in verses that appear in later texts of one of the epistles (letters) of John as recorded in the New Testament. (Although even in this case, the scribe does not use the word "trinity".) The fact that this apparent addition does not occur in the earliest manuscripts, therefore, suggests that it should not be considered authoritative. Nonetheless, this ill-advised attempt to explain the concept does not invalidate the truth of the concept itself. In fact, it might actually give credence to the doctrine when one considers independent historical evidence that this would seem to have been a strongly held belief dating back to the early centuries of the first Millenium A.D. Notwithstanding the absence of any treatise on the concept of the "trinity" within the pages of the Bible itself, and despite well-meaning but inappropriate efforts by some in past centuries to try to explain this mysterious doctrine, there is still very compelling evidence in the very language of the Old Testament that supports the concept of God existing in three persons. It is interesting that in the original Hebrew, the Old Testament uses the word Elohim to describe "God" in the very first verse of the very first book of the Bible, Genesis 1:1. It says very simply, "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth" This very powerful statement at the start of this great collection of writings was so striking that it led the Bible scholar, Schofield, to comment very profoundly that "the Bible begins with God....not with philosophic arguments for his existence" But to return to my point, what is particularly interesting about the word for God in this verse ("Elohim") is that it is plural in form. Even more interesting is that in Hebrew, there are three options rather than simply the two options of singular and plural as we have in English. In Hebrew, the options are singular, dual, and plural. And so it is noteworthy that Elohim is the plural form of the word for "God". So. when the Hebrew scriptures, translated into English say that "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth", right from the very beginning of this document, it seems that there was an understanding that God, somehow, was not either singular or dual, but actually, you might say "three" at the very least. So the basis for the very concept of the Trinity was laid in the very first words of the Hebrew scriptures. The ideas that God has made himself known mysteriously and more specifically in the three persons of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is something that is expressed by Jesus himself and developed in the New Testament writings. This fact is known to most who have read the new testament, regardless of their level of belief in its truth. So, for now, at least, I will suspend arguments relating to these many well-known passages of scripture. Of greater importance, at this stage, perhaps, is for us to realize that though the concept of the trinity is a very difficult one for us to comprehend, that is not a reason to invalidate the concept itself. There are many things in life that are difficult for us to comprehend, such as the concept of a universe that is infinite, for example. In our world, everything we know has a beginning and an end. And so it is difficult for us even to understand the concept of a God who has no beginning or end, in the same way that we may find it difficult to understand a universe that has no beginning or end. But in the Bible, God is described as actually being the beginning and the end (the Alpha and Omega of Revelation Chapter 1, or the Pre-existent One described as "the Word" in John's Gospel, chapter 1, verses 1 and 2, (which, I might add, also is quite similar to the very first verse of the book of Genesis). Therefore, because most scientists believe that the universe is, in fact, without end, or infinite, we must suspend our disbelief if we are going to be able to accept this widely held scientific position, no matter how difficult the concept is for us to completely understand. In the same way, though the concept of the "trinity" may be a difficult one to comprehend, and though the Bible itself may not even actually use the word "trinity", those of us who believe that God has revealed himself in the words of scripture, must suspend our disbelief in favour of a position in which we must acknowledge that we do not understand everything that the Bible teaches us. In summary for this phase, I suggest to you here, that this somewhat agnostic position (or one lacking knowledge) is a far more reasonable position to take than one which suggests that if we don't understand it, then we must consider it not to be accurate. Respectfully, Maestrostar