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But he who would deny the Trinity
will lose his soul" (Harold Lindsell
and Charles J . Woodbridge.
A
Handbook of Christian Truth,
pp.
51-52). So accept it or else. we are
told in rather intimidating lan–
guage; there is no use in trying to
understand it.
Says
The New Carholic Encyclope–
dia:
" lt
is difficult in the second half
of the 20th century to offer a clear,
objective, and straightforward ac–
count of the revelation. doctrina l
evolution, and the theological ela–
boration of the mystery of the Trin–
ity. Trinitarian discussion, Roman
Catholic as well as other. presents a
somewhat unsteady silhouette" (vol.
XIV, p. 295).
A Christian, who is firmly admon–
ished by the apostle Paul to "prove
all things" and to "search the scrip–
tures daily," cannot afford to base
his bíblica! understanding on an
"unsteady silhouette." True Bible
doctrine can be unders tood! l t
makes sa ne, logical sense when sub–
jected to proofs and tests. Christ
sa id : "You will know the
truth,
and
the truth will make you free" (John
8:32. RSV).
To Whom Did Jesus Pray?
Can we apply a little plain old bíbli–
ca! "horse sense" to this time-hon–
ored doctrine of a three-person
Godhead? Consider this completely
uns ha ka ble biblical fact: Jes us
Christ of Nazareth- your Savior and
my Savior- was begotten
not
by
a
human father as all other human
beings (except Adam and Eve). but
by the Holy Spirit.
A great angelic being appeared to
Joseph. Jesus' legal father. in a
dream and said: "... Fear no t to
take unto thee Mary thy wife: for
that which is
conceived
in her is o f
the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 1:20).
Perhaps the very same angel - in
thi s case the archangel Gabriel
(Luke 1:26)- was sent with a simi lar
message to the virgin Mary. Notice
carefully the wording of their con–
versa tion . "And the angel said unto
her. Fear not, Mary : for thou hast
found favour with God. And. be–
hold,
thou shalt conceive
in thy
womb. and bring forth a son. and
shalt call his name Jesus" (verses 30-
31).
Mary's reply was just exactly
The
PLAIN TRUTH May 1978
what you would expect of a woman
in that situation. "Then said Mary
unto the angel,
How sha/1 rhis be,
seeing
J
know
nor
a man? And the
angel answered and said unto her.
The
Holy Spirit
shall come upon
thee, and
rhe power of the Highest
(this is the real biblical definition of
the Holy Spirit; it is a force or
power]
sha/1 overshadow thee:
tl1ere–
fore also that holy thing which shall
be born of thee shall be called the
Son of God.... For with God noth–
ing shaU be impossible" (verses 34-
35, 37).
So if we want to believe the Bible.
we are forced to admit that Jesus
Ctu:is.t was conceived through the
agency ofthe Holy Spirit.
Yet Jesus calls
God
His Father–
not
the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ said
to Mary Magdalene in the book of
John: " ... Go to my brethren. and
say unto them.
I
asccnd unto
my
Father,
and your Fa ther ;
and to my
God,
and your God" (John 20: 17).
Can you begin to sec how utterly
illogical the concept of the Trinity
is?
If
the Holy Spirit were a person,
"he" would be Jesus' father- not
God the Father. Yet Ch ri st dogmat–
ically stated, as you have just read,
that
God
is His Father.
Consider further.
IJ
the Holy
Spirit were a person. Jesus Christ
prayed to the wrong "father." Since
Jesus was conceived o f the Holy
Spirit, ifthe Holy Spirit were a per–
son, Jesus' father would be the Holy
Spirit. But throughout the four Gos–
pel accounts, we find Christ praying
directly to His Father- God Al–
mighty! Just one example: "These
words spake J esus, and lifted up his
eyes to heaven, and said, Father. the
hour is come; glorify thy Son, that
thy Son also may g lorify thee....
And this is life eterna!, that they
might know thee
the only true God
(still talking to the Father], and
Jesus Christ. whom thou hast sent"
(John 17:
L,
3).
A Simple Lesson in Grammar
Somebody is going to ask: "What
about the fact that John uses the
personal pronoun ' he' when refer–
ring to the Holy Spirit or Comforter
in the 14th, 15th and 16th chapters
of his Gospel?"
In the Greek language. as in
Spanish, Jtalian, French. etc., every
noun has what is called gender ; that
is. it is ei ther masculine, feminine or
neuter.
Even such an inanimate object as
a glass- being utterly devoid of any
real life- has masculioe gender in
Spanish.
El vaso
is the Spanish
equivalen! of the two words "the
glass" in English. The "el" article
and the
-o
e nding to the word vaso
give the word "glass" masculine
gender in Spanish. Yet by no stretch
of the imagination could a glass be
considered a male person in the
human sense. That would be utterly
ridiculous!
Likewise in the Greek language.
the gerider of a word has nothing
whatever to do with whether it is
really masculine or feminine in the
sexual sense a t al!. Gender in lan–
guage is really nothing more than a
convenient grammatical too!. In the
14th, 15th and 16th chapters of
John, the English pronoun " he" is
definitely used in connection with
the word "Comforter"- but
not
for
theological or spiritual reasons.
Grammatically, all pronouns in
Greek must agree in gender with
the word they refer to-or in other
words, with the term that the pro–
noun replaces. The Greek word
parakleros
("comforter" in English)
has masculine gender: hence the
translators' use o f the personal pro–
noun "he."
(" lt"
would have been a
far better rendering into the English
language.)
1John 5:7
But so deliberate has been the de–
ceptive attempt to foist the false
doctrine of the Trinity upon the
world tha t a monk copyist in the
fourth century A.D. inserted totally
and completely spurious words into
the Bible in order to "prove" this
major doctrine ofpagan antiquity.
Turn in your own Bible (King
James Version) to
I
John 5:7-8:
"For there are three that bear rec–
ord
in heaven, rhe Father, the Word.
and the Holy Spirit: and these three
are one. A nd there are three thar bear
witness in earth,
the Spirit, and the
water, and the blood: and these
three agree in onc."
But d id you know that not one of
the italicized words is in any of the
accepted New Testament Greek
(Continued on page 40)
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