Part V
DOCTRINE

Are commonly used doctrines consistent with the Bible’s words?

CHAPTER 21
Poly-Theism

21.1 God is not the only god, but is one among "us." This is probably not the "royal we," since God normally referred to himself as "I", and is referred to as "he" elsewhere in the Bible.

"And the Lord God said, ‘The man has now become like one of us…’" Gen 3:22

21.2 There were a number of "sons of God" who married human women. How do they differ from the other son of God, Christ, who was part of the Trinity and was, therefore, a God.

"That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives…the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them…" Gen 6:2,4

"Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth…and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" Job 38:4-7

"For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,)" 1Cor 8:5

21.3 Satan is also referred to as a god.

"In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not." 2Cor 4:4

21.4 Angels have supernatural-enough powers to be considered gods.

Xxx examples

21.5 It also seems that there is a queen of heaven. The Bible doesn’t say she’s a fraud, just that she’s unwelcome competition for the Hebrew God.

"…to the queen of heaven…" Jer 7:18; 44:17-19,25

Trinity

21.6 Trinity doctrine is poly-theistic. It espouses tri-theism (Father, Word/Son, and Holy Ghost) or even tetra-theism by adding God as a separate or encompassing being. Jesus was included in the concept of the Trinity as the "Word made flesh."

"For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one." 1Jn 5:7 [This passage is a demonstrated forgery and is omitted from the Revised Version (Ball, 96)]

"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,)…" Jn 1:14

21.7 This concept poses some serious logical absurdities. God and Jesus cannot always have abided in one Godhead, if one reigned in heaven, and the other reigned on earth concurrently. The Holy Spirit cannot have been Jesus, since the Holy Spirit was Jesus’ father. The Holy Spirit cannot have been God, since the Holy Spirit was sent by God.
Upon inspection, the trinity concept quickly becomes incomprehensible. Jesus would be his own father and his own son. The Holy Spirit is neither father nor son, but both. The son was begotten by the father, but then the son would have existed before he was begotten, and the son would be as old as his father, and the father would be as young as his son. Two from three leaves three, and one plus two is one, but each one equals himself plus two. Mary is Jesus’ illegitimate mother as well as his concubine-the God-spirit-father-son fathered Jesus by her out of wedlock. Mary is Jesus’ daughter-the God-spirit-father-son is the father of mankind. Mary is Jesus’ sister-Jesus is the son, and Mary is the daughter of the God-spirit-father-son. Mary is raped by her son, Jesus, the God-spirit-father-son. Therefore Jesus, as God-spirit-father-son, sired himself by the incest and rape of his mother-sister-daughter. In the absence of any rational evidence, this must be considered nonsense.

21.8 The New Testament conflicts with the Old Testament’s view of the uniqueness of God.

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:" Deut 6:4

"For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one." 1Jn 5:7

21.9 The New Testament said Jesus and God were essentially the same.

"Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him…but [Jesus] said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God." Jn 5:18

"I and my Father are one." Jn 10:30

"For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Col 2:9

The New Testament said there was a difference between Christ and God.

"But to us there is but one God, the Father…and one Lord Jesus Christ…" 1Cor 8:6

Even Jesus recognized a difference between himself and God. Not only did he call out to God, but Jesus admitted he did not understand God’s purpose in allowing his crucifixion.

"And at the ninth hour Jesus cried…My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Mk 15:34

21.10 Jesus frequently referred to himself as the "Son of Man," but God is not a son of man, so how can Jesus be God?

"God is not a man…neither the son of man…" Num 23:19

21.11 How can Jesus be God, if God doesn’t abide in man?

"My spirit shall not abide in man for ever, for he is flesh." Gen 6:3

21.12 How can Jesus be God if he was created? If God had no beginning, how can he have been created? And that which is created by God cannot also be God.

"[Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation" Col 1:15

"The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old" Prov 8:22

21.13 Jesus, himself, clearly denies that he is God, Father, or Holy Spirit. Otherwise, who’s he talking to and about in these passages?

"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Mt 27:46 & Mk 15:34

"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Lk 23:34

"Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." Lk 23:46

"I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God." Jn 20:17

"Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven…" Mt 12:31-32

"Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God" Mt 19:17

"I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me" Jn 5:30

"My Father is greater than I" Jn 14:28

"My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me" Jn 7:16

"Who is gone into heaven and is on the right hand of God" 1Pet 3:22

Then again, why do Jesus and the Bible elsewhere claim that Jesus is God and the father?

"I and my Father are One" Jn 10:30

"In the beginning was the Word…and the Word was God…And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." Jn 1:1,14

"He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." Jn 14:9

Jesus to God: "…even as we are one." Jn 17:22

"For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Col 2:9

"Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God." Phil 2:6

Thomas to Jesus: "My Lord and my God" Jn 20:28

"…the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Tit 2:13

21.14 How can Jesus sit beside God if he is part of God, and if God is undivided and unequaled?

"There is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else" Isa 45:6

"There is only one holy as the Lord: for there is none beside thee." 1Sam 2:2

"Wherefore thou art great, O Lord God: for there is none like thee." 2Sam 7:22

"The Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath; there is none else" Deut 4:39

"The Lord he is God; there is none else beside him." Deut 4:35

"[Jesus is] gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God" 1Pet 3:22

21.15 How can God dwell on earth? He’s too large, so the Godhead cannot have dwelt in Jesus bodily.

"…will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you." 1Kgs 8:27

"But will God really dwell on earth with men? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. 2Ch 6:18

21.16 How can Jesus have been God if he was not omniscient like God. Not knowing a thing is highly un-God-like, especially if God knows it.

"But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the son, but the Father." Mk 13:32

21.17 Jesus cannot have been God since God, being omniscient, would not have needed to ask who it was that touched him.

"Who touched me?" Lk 8:45

21.18 If the Trinity was true, then God was simultaneously baptized, flew down from heaven, and spoke from heaven.

"And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Mt 3:16,17

21.19 God was tempted of the Devil.

"Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." Mt 4:1

"And [Jesus] was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan…" Mk 1:13

Satan also showed God his own creation and tried to bribe God with his own creation to worship Satan.

"Again, the devil taketh [Jesus] up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." Mt 4:8,9

21.20 God deserted himself at a crucial time.

"And about the ninth hour Jesus cried…My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Mt 27:46

21.21 God would also been full of himself.

"And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost…" Lk 4:1

21.22 God went to hell after he died on the cross.

"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins…that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;" 1Pet 3:18

This is a specific part of the Apostles’ Creed.

"I believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord; who…was crucified, dead, and buried; descended to hell; on the third day rose again from the dead…"