god Archives - Page 4 of 8 - Bible Authenticity

Is the Trinity Doctrine Taught in 1 Peter, or Contradicted?

November 4, 2019 BibleAuthenticity Comments 2 comments

The book 1 Peter opens up with a statement that has been that has been used to support the Trinity doctrine. The question for us to consider is, “Do we find the Trinity in 1 Peter?” Trinitarians point to the naming of the three who are said to be in the Trinity as proof of its existence. For example:
“Who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood” (1 Peter 1:2 NIV). Yes, the three are mentioned. Trinitarians count 1,2,3, and say, ‘There’s the Trinity!” The mention of three does not tell us anything about their supposed equality, nor the “personhood” of the Spirit, nor their supposed “oneness” of substance. In fact, only one of the three is identified as God, something Trinitarians overlook. Rather, “God the Father” is shown to be in control with his “foreknowledge”. In fact, only “the Father” is said to have such “foreknowledge”, meaning that he knows things that “Jesus Christ” doesn’t know, which is a very clear indication of their separateness and distinction. The holy Spirit is always described by “the”, indicating that it is not a person, and therefore cannot know anything. Being “sprinkled with” “Jesus” Christ’s “blood” indicates that he died, which also means that he cannot be Almighty God, since God cannot die (Habakkuk 1:12).
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . he has given us new birth . . . through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3 NIV). “The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” indicates that “God the Father” is the God of, or over, Jesus Christ, thus denoting his superiority. “The resurrection of Jesus Christ” implies his Father’s superiority because he brought his Son back from death. “From the dead” implies that Jesus was dead, which means he cannot be God, since God cannot die (Habakkuk 1:12). Jesus admits that, “I was dead” (Revelation 1:18), meaning that his entire person was “dead,” not just the Trinitarian imagined “human part” of him. The “God-man” dogma of Trinitarianism is contradicted by 1 Peter. read more

Are Jesus, God, and the holy Spirit a Trinity in 1 Timothy?

October 15, 2019 BibleAuthenticity Comments 68 comments

Is the Bible reliable? — Is the Trinity in 1 Timothy?

It is frequently asserted by Bible preachers and teachers that Jesus Christ Is Almighty God, along with God the Father, and ‘God the Holy Spirit,’ they are part of a Trinity. If this is so, then we should find plenty of scriptural evidence to support it. Do we find the Trinity in 1 Timothy? Since 1 Timothy was written by Bible scholar and teacher, the apostle Paul, to counter false teachers and false teachings, let’s see what it says.
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope” (1 Timothy 1:1 NIV). God and Christ are here clearly portrayed as two separate and distinct individuals. As if this is not enough, it is further emphasized in verse 2:
“Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord” (1 Timothy 1:2 NIV). “Grace, mercy and peace” are said to come from both God and Christ, with no mention of the Holy Spirit. This omission of the Holy Spirit would be surprising and confusing if the Trinity were true, but since the Holy Spirit is not a person, this statement makes perfect sense. read more

Does 2 Timothy Support the Trinity?

October 6, 2019 BibleAuthenticity Comments 0 Comment

In Paul’s final canonical letter, and now facing certain execution at the hands of the Romans, we would expect Paul to at least make some mention of the Trinity, if it was true, since it is purportedly the “primary doctrine of Christianity”.
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, in keeping with the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 1:1 NIV). There is no mention in this opening greeting of the holy Spirit. God, not Jesus, obviously is the one who is supreme, since Paul is “an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God”. There is no mention, nor is there any evidence of, any personhood of holy Spirit, or any equality between God and Jesus.
“Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord” (2 Timothy 1:2 NIV). In this verse, we again do not find any reference to a Trinity, nor of the holy spirit, but we do have “God the Father and Christ Jesus” named as separate and distinct individuals. If the holy spirit was a person, or the Trinity was real, we would expect that there would be greetings from them, but there are not any. These facts provide no evidence of the Trinity doctrine.
“Guard this rich trust with the help of the holy Spirit that dwells within us” (2 Timothy 1:14 NAB). “The holy Spirit” is referenced by the definite article “the.” The holy Spirit is real. It is God’s power (Luke 1:15-17; Acts 1:8) and no name is ever given to “the holy Spirit”, both of which are evidences that the holy Spirit is not a person.
“Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead” (2 Timothy 2:8 NIV). Since “God . . . will never die” (Habakkuk 1:12 NIV), but Jesus “was dead” (Revelation 1:18), Jesus cannot be Almighty God. “God has resurrected this Jesus” (Acts 2:32 HCSB), which is strong evidence that God the Father is superior to Jesus, and, thus, there is no equality.
“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead” (2 Timothy 4:1 NIV). Here we again see a clear distinction between Almighty God and Jesus Christ. This verse also reminds us that “the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22 NIV), which is powerful evidence of the Father’s superiority over the Son. Also notable by absence is any reference to the holy Spirit, or the Trinity, at 2 Timothy 4:1 regarding the matter of judging. The Trinity is never mentioned, in 2 Timothy, or anywhere else, in the Bible.
The Letter of 2 Timothy gives us very good evidence that the Trinity doctrine is not only false, but is one of the “myths” that many Christians unfortunately were foretold would “turn aside to” (2 Timothy 4:4 NAB; NIV; NJB). read more

DOES THE LETTER OF JAMES SUPPORT THE TRINITY?

October 5, 2019 BibleAuthenticity Comments 5 comments

False Doctrines — “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ” (1 John 4:1 NIV) Is the Trinity in James?

Is the Trinity in James? James’ short general letter to early Christians doesn’t have a plethora of references to God, Jesus, and the holy Spirit, but what it does have is more than enough to figure out whether the Trinity doctrine is in the book of James. First of all, notice who James is a servant of:

“James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (James 1:1 NIV). James identifies himself as serving two distinct personages, namely Almighty God and Jesus Christ. These two are not mysteriously merged together, as Trinitarians assert. Their distinctive separateness is maintained. Notable by absence are references to the Trinity and the holy Spirit. If these are real, why isn’t James serving them?—Perhaps because the Trinity is fictional. He’s not serving the holy Spirit because it is not a person, even though it is real. “The holy Spirit” is called “it” at John 1:32 (ESV); 14:17 (NAB, REB), Acts 2:33; 8:16; 11:15 NAB, and Romans 8:16,26,27 (NAB;REB). Persons are not called “it”. The holy Spirit is God’s “power” (Acts 1:8), not a person. read more

2 Peter—Is Jesus Christ Almighty God, or Part of a Trinity?

October 4, 2019 BibleAuthenticity Comments 0 Comment

Trinitarian bias influences translators to render the first verse of this short letter in a way that makes it appear as though Jesus is Almighty God. For example, “by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:1 ESV). However, the verse is more accurately translated as:

“Through the justice of our God and of our savior Jesus the Anointed” (2 Peter 1:1 Hart)
“Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ: To those to whom there has been allotted the same precious faith as that which is ours through the righteousness of our God and of our Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:1 Weymouth).
“Through the righteousness of our God and the savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:1 NAB ftn).

“Through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus =&0=&
“Through the righteousness of our God and the Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:1 NRSV ftn).
Almighty God and Jesus Christ are thus clearly presented as distinct and separate in these three accurate translations. Notice how this so in the very next verse:

“Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord” (2 Peter 1:2 NIV).

“We told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power . . . He received honor and glory from God the Father . . . saying ‘This is my Son” (2 Peter 1:16,17 NIV) read more

Is God the Father Exclusively the Almighty?

September 5, 2019 BibleAuthenticity Comments 16 comments

Can God the Father of the Bible be the only Almighty?

“The Father is Almighty, the Son is Almighty, and the Holy Spirit Almighty. And yet they are not three Almighties, but one Almighty. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. And yet there are not three Gods, but one God”—The Athanasian Creed

Trinitarians assert, in probably their main creed, above, that ‘God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,’ all rolled into one Almighty God, but three entities at the same time. Of course, this makes no sense, but let’s see what the Bible says:

“We know that, ‘An idol is nothing at all in the world’ and that ‘There is no God but one’. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many ‘gods’ and many ‘lords’), yet for us there is one God, the Father . . . and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ”—-1 Corinthians 8:4-6 NIV. read more

HOW SHOULD WE VIEW MONEY?

April 30, 2018 BibleAuthenticity Comments 0 Comment

“Wisdom is a shelter the same as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this: Wisdom preserves those who have it.” (Eccl 7:12 NIV) Money certainly has some value. It is a protection, to an extent, and a gift from God also, in a way. Proper use of knowledge and wisdom is even more valuable, however. The folk saying ‘A fool and his money are soon parted’ certainly backs up this Bible proverb.

We need a balanced view of money. “Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.” (Pr 30:8-9) Both wealth and poverty have their potential pitfalls. A person is usually much better off to be somewhere in the middle. The problem with always desiring more? “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income, this too is meaningless.” (Eccl 5:10 NIV) Such a person is never satisfied. The greater a person’s desire for money, the worse it gets. “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” (1 Tim 6:10 NIV) Even a rich person without an inordinate desire for more money usually has problems that “come with the territory,” so to speak. “The sleep of the laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much, but as for the rich, their abundance permits them no sleep.” (Eccl 5:12 NIV) A rich person has a lot of material things to think and worry about, unlike the average person who doesn’t have so much to worry about. read more

Does the Fitness of Light Give Evidence God Created Universe?

March 8, 2018 BibleAuthenticity Comments 3 comments

Scientists have been forced by their own discoveries to admit that the universe had a beginning. Much has been discovered about the fitness of light. How might the fitness of light provide evidence that God created the universe?

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…. Then God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light…. Then God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will serve as signs for festivals and for days and years.They will be lights in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth.’ And it was so. God made the two great lights—the greater light to have dominion over the day and the lesser light to have dominion over the night—as well as the stars. God placed them in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth, to dominate the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:1,3,14-18 CSB) read more

RABBI MISREPRESENTS BIBLE ON ABORTION

March 6, 2018 BibleAuthenticity Comments 3 comments

What scriptures in the Bible help us to get Almighty God’s viewpoint of abortion? The purpose of this article, and indeed this website, is not to get involved in any partisan politics, but to advocate for God’s Word, the Bible. As the late Billy Graham said late in life, he wished he’d stayed out of politics. Yet, the Bible is very “useful for . . . correction” (2 Timothy 3:16 NIV). read more

Scientific Evidence the Universe Created by God

March 5, 2018 BibleAuthenticity Comments 12 comments

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). Is there scientific evidence the universe was created by God?

In our article about the expansion of the universe, we showed how some basic scientific facts about the universe point to the existence of God. This article examines even more scientific concepts about the universe and we will see how they relate to the Creator.

Existence of Elements Essential for Life

When two helium nuclei collide, they fuse together and produce the fleeting, unstable beryllium. An additional collision with a single helium nucleus, and carbon is created. Without these very unlikely “lucky accidents” constantly occurring carbon would not exist, and neither would we.

“For thus says =&0=&

Almighty God created the earth for a specific purpose — “to be lived in”!

The Fine-tuned Universe

A proton is 1,836 times heavier than an electron. If this difference was any greater or lesser, it would not be possible for life to exist in the universe.

“The laws of science, as we know them at present, contain many fundamental numbers, like the size of the electric charge of the electron and the ratio of the masses of the proton and the electron . . . The remarkable fact is that the values of these numbers seem to have been very finely adjusted to make possible the development of life.” – Stephen Hawking

In 1961, physicist Robert H. Dicke said that certain forces in physics, such as gravity and electromagnetism, must be perfectly fine-tuned for life to exist anywhere in the Universe. Fred Hoyle also argued for a fine-tuned Universe in his 1984 book “Intelligent Universe.” He compares “the chance of obtaining even a single functioning protein by chance combination of amino acids to a star system full of blind men solving Rubik’s Cube simultaneously.”

“In you is the source of life, by your light we see the light.” (Psalm 36:9 NJB) The Bible refers to Almighty God as “the source of life.”

Fine-tuning of the Force Strengths to Permit Life

The constants governing the four fundamental forces of physics are finely-tuned to support life.

Strong nuclear force is important for the existence of stable atoms beyond hydrogen. If the strong force were 50% weaker, no elements used by life would exist because protons couldn’t be held together in the nucleus.

Electromagnetic force is responsible for chemistry and plays a critical role in stellar fusion which powers life. The electromagnetic force needs to be much weaker than the strong nuclear force for atoms to be stable – so that the radius of the electron orbit is much larger than the radius of the nucleus.

Weak nuclear force controls proton-proton fusion, a reaction 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 times slower than the nuclear reaction based on the strong nuclear force. Without this, essentially all the matter in the universe would have been burned to helium before the first galaxies were formed. Because the weak nuclear force is so much weaker than the strong nuclear force, a star can burn its hydrogen gently for billions of years instead of blowing up like a bomb.

Gravitational force: the strength of gravity is about 40 orders of magnitude weaker than the strong nuclear force. Based on this expectation that gravity can vary up to strong nuclear force strength, the level of fine-tuning required for life is pretty remarkable:

If gravity is weaker by 1 in 10 raised to the 36th power, stars are unstable to degeneracy pressure (for small stars) or unstable to radiative pressure just expelling huge chunks of the star (for larger stars).

If gravity is stronger by 1 in 10 raised to the 40th power, the universe is dominated by black holes not stars.

If gravity is weaker by 1 in 10 raised to the 30th power, the largest planet that would avoid crushing effects of gravity on any large-brained creatures would have a radius of about 50 meters – which is not a good candidate for an ecosystem and the development/sustenance of intelligent life.