Take Em' To Sunday School

The Holy Trinity Is To Die For?

"The conclave met, the judge was set,

Man mounted on God's throne;

And they did judge a matter there,

That rests with Him alone;

A brother's faith they made a crime,

And crushed thought's native right sublime."

- John Biddle

Who was John Biddle? He was the same as Bishop Pothinus of Lyons, Leonidas (follower of Apostolic Christianity), Origen, Diodorus, Pamphilus, Lucian, Donatus, Arius, Eusebius of Nicomedia and other Christians that were imprisoned, tortured and killed for not accepting the Church's Doctrine of the Holy Trinity. Wait, wait, wait! You are telling me that you want me to believe that Christians tortured, imprisoned and murdered other Christians for simply not believing in the Holy Trinity? Remember, we are looking at facts, not "faith". The facts shows that creation and acceptance of the Holy Trinity came with some blood-shed... that blood being of fellow Believers.

Unitarians Vs. Trinitarians (Fight to the death, literally).

Unitarianism is a theological movement named for its view that the God in Christianity is one person (Not Father, Son and Holy Spirit)

Trinitarianism- teaching that God is triune, that He has revealed Himself to be three co-equal and co-eternal Persons (Father, Son and the Holy Spirit)

Arius and Anthanasius were the creators of this Great Beef! Arius held that "the Son came into being through the will of the Father; the Son, therefore, had a beginning. Although the Son was before all eternity, he was not eternal, and Father and Son were not of the same essence (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christology/The-Arian-controversy).

Anthanasius held that "the divine nature in Jesus was identical to that of the Father and that Father and Son have the same substance (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christology/The-Arian-controversy)".

The Council of Nicaea was convened to resolved this matter. As previously stated in, "Christian, To Be or Not To Be Muslim or Anything Else?", The Roman Emperor, Constantine (who worshipped the sun god), was the one to settle the matter of Jesus's relationship to God. We all know which view prevailed... Anthanasius's view, the Trinity. I know what some of you Holy Rollers are about to say: That is the view God wanted to win! Okay and that may very well be true, my little Christian Mafia. But, ask yourself this: Would God have wanted Christians to kill other Christians in the name of preserving the Holy Trinity? The Historian, Will Durant wrote "Probably more Christians were slaughtered by Christians in these two years (342-3) than by all the persecutions of Christians by pagans in the history of Rome". Those who believed Arius's Unitarian view were imprisoned, tortured and murdered.

Victims:

Bishop Pothinus of Lyons- Murdered in the 2nd Century)

Leonidas (Follower of Apostolic Christianity and Expositor of Pauline innovations)- Murdered in 208 CE

Origen (Christian Scholar)- Imprisoned and tortured for teaching the Unity of God in 254 CE

St. Pamphilus- Tortured and murdered in 309 CE

Lucian of Antioch- Tortured and killed in 312 CE

Donatus- Selected to be Bishop of Carthage in 313 CE & leader of a Unitarian movement that was popular in North Africa... Emperor Constantine ordered their massacre

Arius (the Presbyter of Alexandria)-Died by poisoning in 336 CE

Eusebius of Nicomedia (Arian Priest)- Murdered

Louis Hetzer- Decapitated, February 4, 1529

Michael Servetus (Anti-trinity)- on 27 October 1553 Servetus was burned alive with a copy of his work tied to his arm

Francis Davidis (Unitarian preacher from Transylvania)- Sentenced to life in prison, which he died in prison in 1579

Faustus Socinus (Non-trinitarian)- in 1598 a mob expelled him from Kraków, wrecking his house, and beating him.

John Biddle ( concluded from his studies that the doctrine of the Trinity was not supported by the Bible, and set about publishing his own views on the nature of God)- Banished to Sicily and imprisoned multiple times, which the last imprisonment led to his death in 1662

Ways the Early Church Dealt With Heresy

*Heresy- theological  or system rejected as false by ecclesiastical authority

Excommunicate- officially exclude (someone) from participation in the sacraments and services of the Christian Church.

Ex- Martin Luther was excommunicated by the Catholic Church for his views

- This is how the Early Church dealt with heresy or people that they deemed as Heretics.

Inquisition- was established by the church to combat heresy; heretics who refused to recant after being tried by the church were handed over to the civil authorities for punishment, usually executed.

Ex- In 1307, Inquisitors were involved in the mass arrest and tortures of 15,000 Knights Templar in France, resulting in dozens of executions, burned at the stake

Who has the power to declare who is wrong or who is right? More importantly, who has the right to take a life for simply not believing the same way? Sometimes as believers, we choose to "believe" blindly. We choose to follow what the majority is doing without conducting our own research or stepping out on our faith. I would have never known that the Holy Trinity was forced upon believers through persecution, not through the spirit of love. Jesus died because he was seen as a "heretic" for his views during his time. Then, Christians turn around and did the same exact thing to other Christians for simply disagreeing. Again, believers choose to follow so blindly that they are not aware of the blood that has spilled within their own Christian faith by their own Christian community. Remember, the Pharisees attempted to get Jesus to sentence the woman who sinned to be stoned. How did he respond? "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her".

Shawnalations 1:4

"When we choose to keep our eyes closed, we find ourselves tripping or falling over things. We only realize that we should have had our eyes opened only after hurting ourselves".

*Disclaimer: Take Em' To Sunday Schools is not meant to overwhelm readers with information that they cannot grasp in one read. We take topics apart, piece by piece in order for readers to fully grasp the concepts that are being taught.