The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1913-08-26


rent the Church of God into hundreds
the Bible. The confusion is recognized
by all Christian people everywhere. but
the cause Is not generally discerned.
Church creeds are admitted to be de-
fective, Notwithstanding the truths
which they all contain. Greed clash
ings are the direct result of the Sc
rious errors In all creeds.
Realizing this, why should not all
Christians abandon and demolish their
creedsf They purport to be pen pic
lures Of the Almighty God, and His
attitude toward men and His resultant
plans. No heather idol is so grotesque,
80 terrible, so horrible, as that which
have portrayed with the pen. We are
all ashamed Of having misrepresented
our Creator as worse In His purposes
toward men than the vilest Of humani-
ty-as bad as we knew how to picture
Satan himself and his attitude. Why
hnger longer? If Jehovah be God, let
us worship Him. II the horrible Baal
of the Dark Ages be no longer our
God. let US destroy his creed images
and endeavor to forget them.
Emperor Constantine's Nicene Greed.
After the Christian Church had for
gotten that the Master declared that
His Twelve Apostles would constitute
the chief foundation stones of the New
Jerusalem, they began to recognize
their bishops as successors to The
Twelve apostolic bishops. They over
looked the fact that while God had
das would be filed by another, this
particularly itself intimated that there
would be no successors to The Twelve
The real successor to Judas, Bible
Students recognize in st. Paul. Through
him God has given us the major por-
ton of the New Testament, and spe-
cial light upon the Church's path,
which is to "shine more and more unto
the perfect Day" We now see that the
eleven Apostles, before they had been
confirmed In Apostleship by the Pente-
costal blessing, erred in choosing Mat
thias, whom God merely ignored.
Under these circumstances the bish-
ops rose gradually to power and in
fuence as inspired oracles of God
And proportionately. The Twelve cho-
sen as the Lords mouthpieces to His
Church lost their influence. 1t was
easier to take the word of the bishops
than to search the Scriptures at a
time when copies OF the Bible were
very expensive. and only few were
able to read
Thus Bible study greatly declined
during the second and third centuries,
and disputes between Christians and
Greek philosophers led some of the
bishops to extremes. Not only did they
maintain the Bible teaching that Jesus
was the Son of God, and that He left
His Heavenly condition and became a
man that He might redeem Adam and
his race; but, not content with this.
some went further, and In their zeal
claimed that He was the Heavenly
Father Himself, who came down to
earth and took mans nature and died,
the Just for the unjust. In their anxi-
ETY. to overwhelm the Greek skeptics,
these Christian teachers involved them
selves in absurdities, without realizing
claims appear to have had the great
est influence with the illiterate
Gradually the trinitarian theory was
advanced; and the mystif1cation of say
ing that the Heavenly Father was His
own Son. and that the Lord Jesus was
His own Father, and that the Holy
Spirit was another person and yet the
same person, appealed to people who
delight to reverence most those things
which they do not understand. Thus
today when questions are asked re-
specting the trinity-how one could be
three, and how three could be one-the
answer which is given. and which salts
Aes the ignorant. is, Mystery. Mysteryi
But the Bible makes no mystery of
the matter. 1t never mentions trinity
at all, nor anything that would give
such suggestion. The one text q
John SD which seems to give color
Of support to the thought Is now ad-
mitted by all scholars to be an inter
polation dating from about the seventh
century: for It is not found in manu-
scripts written at an earlier date. The
Revised Version shows quite distinctly
how the passage reads in the old man
uscripts. and how the forgery to sup
port the trinitarian theory was adroIt-
ly accomplished
ITO Us There ls One God"
The Old Testament Scriptures rep
resent the Divine Message of four
thousand years. and say not a word
respecting the trinity. On the con.
rary, they declare. Hear, o Israel,
Jehovah thy God Is one Cod; Thou
shalt have no other gods" To keen
In line with this definite statement,
the trinitarian theory claims that this
one God has three persons, although
Others claim that there are three Gods
but only one person. 1t seems impos-
sible to get a trinitarian to decide
what he really believes; he hedges
with the word Mystery"
The New Testament Is as explicit as
the Old in its statement that there Is
but one Supreme God. Jesus testified
to this. declaring, My Father is great
or than I"-greater than all. John
14:28) Jesus declared that Of Himself
He could do nothing; that He was
merely the Mouthpiece of God in His
teachings, and the Finger of God in
His working of miracles. He directed
that His followers should worship the
Father, and declared, when leaving, II
ascend to My Father and to your Fa-
Their, to My God and to your Cod
John 20:17.
Our Lord did indeed declare the one
ness, or harmony, between Himself
and the Father. but He explained that
this was because He ignored any will
or His own. coming not to do His own
Will, but the viii of the Father who
sent Him. He exhorted His disciples
similarly to have the same mind. the
same win, the same spirit, which ac-
tuated Him-the Holy Spirit. the mind
or disposition to do the will of the Fa.
Their In Heaven. His prayer for His
disciples was to the same effect, That
they all may be one''-even as Thou,
Father, and / are-one in heart, mind,
will, disposition, or holiness Of spirit
harmony with God.-John 1920, p.
What could be more explicit than
or1r fawf ss1So rro fhoro ic ono God fha