"Opeople of the book! commit no excesses in your religion: nor say of Allah aught but the truth. Christ Jesus the son of Mary was [no more or less than] a messenger of Allah, and His word, which he bestowed upon Mary, and a spirit preceding from Him: so believe in Allah and his messengers. Say not "Three": desist!, it is better for you, for Allah is one god, Glory be to Him, Far exalted is He above having a son. To Him belong all things in the heavens and the earth. And enough is Allah as a disposer of affairs."
The noble Qur'an, Al-Nissah(4):171
"Or have they (mankind) chosen gods from the earth who raise the dead If there were therein gods besides Allah then verily both (the heavens and the earth) would have gone to ruin. Glorified be Allah, the Lord of the throne from all they ascribe (unto Him)"
The noble Qur'an, Al-Anbia(21):21-22
"Allah coineth a similitude: A man in relation to whom are several partners quarreling, and a man belonging wholly to one man. Are the two equal in similitude? Praise be to Allah, but most of them know not."
The noble Qur'an, Al-Zumar(39):27.
In other words, which would be more conducive of
harmony: For an employee to have two bosses quarreling over him,
or for each employee to have only one boss?
"Say (O Muhammad, to the disbelievers): If there were other gods along with Him, as they say, then they would have sought a way against the Lord of the Throne. Glorified is He, and High Exalted above what they say! The seven heavens and the earth and all that is therein praise Him, and there is not a thing but hymns his praise; but you understand not their praise. Lo! He is ever Clement, Forgiving."
The noble Qur'an, Al-Israa(17):42-44.
"And say: Praise be to Allah, Who has not taken unto Himself a son, and Who has no partner in the Sovereignty, nor has He any ally through dependence. And magnify Him with all magnificence."
The noble Qur'an, Al-Israa(17):111.
"Allah has not chosen any son, nor is there any God along with Him; else would each God have assuredly championed that which he created, and some of them would assuredly have overcome others. Glorified be Allah above all that they allege. Knower of the invisible and the visible! and exalted be He over all that they ascribe as partners (unto Him)!"
The noble Qur'an, Al-Muminoon(23):91-92.
The concept of the "Trinity"
as originally adopted by Christianity three centuries after
the departure of Jesus (see historical details at the end of this
chapter) and taught to Christians ever since is the merging of
three entities into one similar entity while remaining three distinct
entities. In other words: Three bodies fold, blend, or merge into
one body so that they become one entity while at the same time
exhibiting the characteristics of three distinct and separate
entities. It is described as "a mystery." As we just
read, the first definition of the Trinity was put forth in the
fourth century as follows: "...we worship one God in the
trinity, and Trinity in Unity...for there is one Person of the
Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Ghost is all one...
they are not three gods, but one God... the whole three persons
are co-eternal and co-equal...he therefore that will be saved
must thus think of the trinity..." (excerpts from the
Athanasian creed).
When the Church speaks of worship, God, Jesus, and
the Holy Ghost are claimed to be one being. This
is because verses such as Isaiah 43:10-11 and countless others
are very explicit in affirming that God Almighty is ONE. However,
when they speak of "the death of God" it is Jesus (pbuh)
who is claimed to have died and not God or the "Trinity."
Now the three are separate. When God is described as having
"begotten" a son it is not the "Trinity" nor
Jesus (pbuh) which has begotten, but a distinctly separate
being from the other two... there are many such examples. So how
do we resolve this problem? Do we simply have blind faith or do
we "love the Lord thy God
with all thy mind,"?.
If we chose the later course of action then we shall first need
to specify what authority we shall accept in our recognition of
the true divine nature of God Almighty.
When God Almighty sends down a revelation, He addresses
it to the common man, the carpenter, the blacksmith, the local
merchant. God does not reveal His scriptures in a language that
only the deep thinkers, the most learned scholars, and those with
Ph.D.s in rocket science alone can understand. This is not to
say that it is not necessary to consult people of authority in
this scripture in times of difficulty regarding matters of secondary
importance, however, if it were impossible for the common man
to even recognize from his scripture who is God, or "who
do I worship?" without extensive external influences from
learned clergymen, then I am sure you will agree that not very
many people shall ever be guided to the truth of this scripture
and the basic message contained therein.
The matter of "who do I worship" is without
a doubt the hands-down most important, nay crucial, piece of information
that must be provided a reader of a divine scripture before they
can accept a single word of this scripture. This matter must be
made exceedingly clear to them before they can accept a single
commandment. If I wish to work for a company but I do not know
who is(are) my boss(s) then how can I know what he(they) want
me to do? How can I know which commands to follow and which not
to?
For the same reason, we would be justified in expecting
that if we were to present a native of the jungles of Zimbabwe
with a copy of a divine scripture in it's original language, and
we were to leave without saying a single word to him, then we
would expect that at the very least, this person should be able
to extract from this scripture the nature of the One who inspired
this book.
Therefore, let us begin by drawing a table and including
in this table some commands of the Bible where we are explicitly
commanded to recognize that God is one, and also all verses where
it explicitly commands us to believe that He is
three. Once the Bible commands me to believe that God is three
in one then I shall not ask for an explanation or a justification.
I do not need God to explain "how" He can be "one"
and also "three" at the same time. All I want is for
the Bible to command me to believe that this is so and then command
me to have blind faith. Here is our table:
| - | Explicit Statement |
| God is ONE | - |
| God is THREE | - |
Now that we have built this table we are ready to proceed. Let
us begin by filling in the first line.
In the Bible we read:
This is only a brief sampling, however, it is sufficient for now.
So let us fill in the table.
| - | Explicit Statement |
| God is ONE | Isaiah 43:10-11, Deuteronomy 4:39, Isaiah 45:18, Isaiah 44:6, Isaiah 45:6, Isaiah 45:22, Exodus 20:3, Exodus 34:14 |
| God is THREE | - |
So now let us move on and fill in the second line. Let us start
with the verses quoted by Mr. J.
Mr. J. has presented us with Matthew 28:19, I Corinthians 12:4-6,
II Corinthians 13:14, and Jude 1:20-21 as proof of the claim that
God Almighty is three-in-one. Let us study them. But first, let
us clearly define our goal. When I asked for a verse wherein God
is explicitly claimed to be "three in one," what I wanted
was a verse that says something like "God, Jesus and the
Holy Ghost are all gods, however, they are not three gods but
one God," or "God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost
are the same being," or "God, Jesus, and the
Holy Ghost are one and the same" etc.
Just because the words "God," "Jesus," and
"Holy Ghost" might appear together in one verse does
not mean this verse requires a "Trinity," or "merging
of three into one." Even if this verse also contains the
word "one" this still does not necessarily require a
"Trinity." For example, if I say "Joe, Jim,
and Frank speak one language" this is not the same as
saying "Joe, Jim, and Frank are one person."
As we shall see, the examples Mr. J. has presented are all at
best implicit statements, so let us begin by modifying our table
and inserting these verses:
| - | Explicit Statement | Implicit Statement |
| God is ONE | Isaiah 43:10-11, Deuteronomy 4:39, Isaiah 45:18, Isaiah 44:6, Isaiah 45:6, Isaiah 45:22, Exodus 20:3, Exodus 34:14 | - |
| God is THREE | None so far | Matthew 28:19, I Corinthians 12:4-6, II Corinthians 13:14, Jude 1:20-21 |
Let us now study Mr. J.'s examples: