Hi folks,
I'm a Buddhist, but I'm interested in understanding other faiths. I was reading the Quran today and have also looked a little at the Unitarians and the Christadelphians? (Hope I spelt that correctly.)
It seems to me that the non-trinitarians are not far from the view of The oneness of God in Islam.
Having read some of what Jesus said in the gospels... do they have a point?
When somebody called Jesus good, he rebuked them and said there was none good but God. He said we should love God with all our hearts... Maybe Paul got a bit too overenthusiastic in how he saw Jesus?
Are those who reject the Trinity correct?
First, I am glad you are visiting our website. But sadly, you have gone to minority cults, with the Unitarians and Christadelphians. I went to the Unitarian church with my parents when I was a teen. There was literally no god at all to be found. Lots of philosphy and humanism, though!
Christadelphians are so obscure, I wonder why you bother? I knew a Christadelphian in another website. He literally would post anti Jesus and anti-Trinity things all day and night. No matter what he posted and was rebuked, he would not listen to Scripture. Really not a good possibility for learning anything about Christianity.
Next, as far as Islam is concerned, there is a huge basic doctrinal issue between Christianity and Islam. Islam believes in a God who is ONLY transcendental. That means he is above us all. God is not approachable, he does not answer prayer, and he certainly never begot Jesus, before the beginning of time. Christians do agree that God is transcendent. God is sovereign, he created everything, and he maintains creation, and is more powerful than we could ever imagine. I was in a mosque one time, and our professor asked the Iman, whether Allah could make part of himself a man, and come to earth. The Iman replied that God could, but he wouldn't. There is no need for God to come to earth as a man. Which means Muslims really have no channel to God. Plus, they have no idea of knowing if they are saved. Allah is capricious, in that he does not have to do anything according to his own rules. So, generally the afterlife with Muslims starts with a weigh scale, and having good deeds on one side, and bad deeds and thoughts on the other side. If the bad receivers the most weight, then you are condemned. That is why so many young Musim men become Jihadist. Because dying as martyr outweighs all other bad deeds. So, the temptation to suicide bomb, etc, is an attempt to please an unpleasable God.
But God is also loving. In fact, the Bible says, "God is love" (1 John 4;8, 16) A transcendent God has no real way of showing his love. He is too far beyond what we can comprehend. But God is also immanent, or with us. Emmanuel, Jesus' title, means "God with us.' Jesus came to earth as a man, to make us the way to be saved by his death on the cross and his resurrection. Jesus certainly performed miracles on earth, and helped people. But, he did some of those things, to prove he was the prophesied Messiah.
The Trinity is a more difficult topic for some people. The word is not in the Bible, but the concept is there from Genesis to Revelation. The Trinity is one in being. Greek calls this
ousia. The members of the Trinity have different functions, but they share the same being.
The Father fulfills the primary role in the act of creation. The Father is the ultimate, direct agent in the creative act. The world exists by the will of the Father. The Father is the goal of telos (Greek) of all things. The Father's function as the ground of creation is an overflow of his function as the ground of Trinitarian life. The primary movement in the Trinity is the Father's eternal generation of the Son which flows from the love of the Father for the Son. The act of creation was temporal, but the intratrintarian movement of generation is internal.
The Son's role is that of being the principle of creation. Further, as the incarnate Son, Jesus is the revelation of the eternal response of the Son to the Father within the divine reality. Throughout all eternity the Son whom the Father generates, responds to the Father in humble dependence and by reciprocating the Father's love. Just as the Son humbly acknowledges the Father as the source of his life, (John. 5:26) so all creatures are to look humbly to God as the fountain of their life. Creation models itself after the pattern of the Son who is the one is whom "All things hold together." (Col 1:17)
Third, the Holy Spirit, the third person hypostasis of God (or person, as the Latin translates it from Greek) is the divine power active in creation. The function of the Spirit is an outworking of his role in the eternal trinitarian relationship. The dynamic that binds the Father and Son - the power of their relationship - is the Holy Spirit. In this sense, the Spirit is likewise the essence of God, namely, love. In other words, the Spirit is the personal power of God -the dynamic of love between the Father and Son - by means of which all tings exist.
But always remember, besides the three, they are one, as the Shema in Deut. 6 says. In fact, this points to a relational God. A relational God cannot remain in isolation. If we inquired as to the being or attributes of God, we are actually asking about the relationships within the one God and also about the triune God in relation with us. The doctrine of the Trinity declares that God is relational, and that the One, true God is a social Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The divine reality is eternally relational even apart from the world, in that the three relational persons comprise the one God. But not only is the immanent Trinity relational, the triune God enters into relationship with this world he created.
My suggestion to the OP would be to read more about who God is. Isalm, Mormons, Unitarians and Muslims all miss the fullness of a triune God. But rather than read some whacked out websites or watching some ravings on a YouTube video, please read some theological books on the topic. I can give you some titles. It is best to learn about God and the Trinity by reading people who believe in the subject. Then, when you fully understand, go back and read some of these anti-divinity and anti-the deity of Christ websites/books, and see how simplistic and unreasonable they are.
As for you and your Buddhism, I would like to invite you to read the New Testament, which covers the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I have no doubt, you will find God. He calls us when we have heard the gospel, and elects us for salvation. Buddhism is a very dead end religion, with all its karmic births, deaths and rebirths. And having to hang out in the Bardo for years. Buddhism is a "works" religion. All the good deeds, the compassion, comes out of a place of wanting more than just sitting around waiting to be reincarnated. It is about earning your salvation. My experience before Jesus saved me, is that I knew I could never do enough good to make up for my bad deeds. Jesus promises us eternal life when we believe in him. So, although theology can be quite complex, the act of salvation is simple. God calls us, we hear the gospel, and God saves us.
"Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel that I preached to you, that you received and on which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received—that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, 4 and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles." 1 Cor. 15:1-6
Christ has paid the price by dying on the cross for our sins. He was the perfect sacrifice for sins. And when we are saved, we live for him and follow him. It isn't hard, because the Holy Spirit leads and guides us. I knew 2 Buddhists well. Both became more and more frustrated after being a Buddhist for more than 40 years. Neither changed, or was transformed by meditation. One got more and more bitter, the other trashed her own life. Jesus not only saves, but he transforms. Praying you will find out more about Christ, and that God will save you.
1
əs/Submit
