Six Myths About Christianity – Part 11
Posted By Brett on May 17, 2010
Continuing my review of the November Watchtower article “Exposed: Six Myths About Christianity,” I’d like to remind my readers that the full text of the Watchtower article is in blue with my comments in black.
What does the Bible say? “Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand. ‘Look! I can see heaven thrown open,’ he said, ‘and the son of man sitting at the right hand of God.’” -Acts 7:55, 56. The New Jerusalem Bible
What did this vision reveal? Filled with God’s active force, Stephen saw Jesus “standing at God’s right hand.” Clearly then Jesus did not become God again after his resurrection to heaven but, rather, a distinct spiritual being. There is no mention of a third person next to God in this account.
It is strange that the Watchtower does not seem aware of even a basic understanding of the Trinity. Trinitarians hold that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are all distinct persons and are all God. It is therefore appropriate for any one of them to be called God. As with a team of professionals, whether it be doctors, engineers, lawyers, etc, there is usually a lead for each project or case. The lead engineer is often simply called the engineer. This is not a denial of other engineers on the project, it is just the usual designation for the lead engineer. Something similar occurs here. The Father is typically referred to as “God.” This is not a denial of the deity of Jesus. Similarly, John 18:24 says, “Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.” Shall we conclude then that Annas was not a high priest? Not at all for Acts 4:6 says he was high priest. So also, verses that affirm that the Father is God is not a denial that the Son is also God.
They are simply trying to create a problem where none exists. The Watchtower then go on to say “clearly. . . Jesus was a distinct spiritual being.” But where do they derive that? Why can’t he be a distinct person as Trinitarians affirm? I get the impression that they are confusing the doctrine of the Trinity with modalism. Modalism teaches that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all God and all the same person. In this view God is like an actor who performs different roles throughout the play. Modalism does indeed have problems since this passage would have Jesus sitting at his own right hand. But this is not the doctrine of the Trinity.
Why does the Watchtower treat the Trinity as if it were modalism? Do they not know the difference? Do they know the difference but deliberately misrepresent it? Assuming that they are not deliberately lying, why would they publish a magazine on a subject that they don’t understand?
They also state, “Clearly then Jesus did not become God again after his resurrection.” But Trinitarians don’t think he ever stopped being God. It is not as though the Second Person of the Trinity was, and stopped existing when Jesus was born, and then came into existence after the resurrection. No Trinitarian has ever taught differently.They are only attacking a straw man.
Once more they say, “There is no mention of a third person next to God in this account” as if that were relevant. Do passages that only have David in them prove that Saul did not exist? Does the fact that some passages mention only Peter prove that James and John did not exist? This is an odd requirement for them to suggest.
Despite attempts to find passages of Scipture to support the Trinity dogma, Dominican priest Marie-Emile Boismard wrote in his book A l’aube du chnlrtianisme-la nuissance des dagmes (At the Dawn of Chlistianity-The Birth of Dogmas): “The statement that there are three persons in the one God. . . cannot be read anywhere in the New Testament.”
As if this were a problem. It is like saying, “Despite attempts to find passages of Scripture to support the nature of God dogma, some Domincan Priest said ‘The statement that God is all powerful, all knowing, and all present. . . cannot be read anywhere in the New Testament.’” As long as there are verses which claim each of these attributes for God, it does not matter if all these attributes cannot be found in just a single verse.
This is a diversionary tactic. There are Bible verses that teach that there is one God. There are Bible verses that teach that the Father is God, others that teach that the Son is God, and others that teach that the Holy Spirit is God. Finally, there are verses that teach that the Father and Son are distinct, the Son and the Spirit are distinct, and that the Spirit and the Father are distinct. If that is what scripture teaches then scripture teaches the doctrine of the Trinity.
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