Must We Believe In The Trinity For Salvation

[Thomas Lane]

This has been a burning question for me for the past 4 years. The scriptures do not support a Triune God. Jesus did not preach a new Law, and he was direct about it. When a scribe asked him about the most important Commandment, Jesus replied:

 

Jesus answered, "The foremost is, 'HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.'… (Mark 12:29-30)

 

His response has been echoed in scriptures throughout the Bible.

 

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one." (Deuteronomy 6:4)

 

"For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God." (Psalms 86: 10)

 

"You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder. (James 2:19)

 

"And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?" And he answered, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." And He said to him, "You have answered correctly; DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE."… (Luke 26-28)

"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And He said to him, "'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' "This is the great and foremost commandment.…"

(Matthew 22:37)

 

Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" (which means, Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, 'I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.'" Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and that He had said these things to her." (John 20: 16-18)

 

However, there is an inconsistency in the Gospel of John, that was most likely added, as it is not congruent with the rest of scripture. The Gospel of John was a Gospel that was written after the Synoptic Gospels. The inconsistencies are evidence of encroaching theology within the gospel itself, whereas the previous three reported without commentary.

 

It says in John 5:16-18,

And for this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. ¹⁷But He answered them, 'My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working. ¹⁸For this cause therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God."

 

This passage seems absurd because a son is not equal to a father. Jesus tells us in chapter 20 that he will ascend to His God and our God. So, there is an inconsistency within the very same Gospel. Is God Jesus' God, as He proclaims, or is Jesus equal to God as the writer of the Gospel of John states? Or, is this statement discussing that the Jews (the establishment bent upon killing Jesus) believed that Jesus was equating himself with God? In any even, the assertion seems to have been used to prove the existence of the Triune God.

 

I will not go any further with my post. However, do not take my words as truth because I have presented some scriptural basis upon which the Trinity has been an error. I believe that there is a 'Tri-Unity' between God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. In this belief, I think that Jesus is correct in saying "The Father is in me, and I am in the Father". There is nothing errant in this assertion, because they share the same purpose. Jesus can do nothing of Himself, but it is the Father who works through Jesus. If Jesus was God, would He pray to himself? Would he not know the day and the hour of his second coming? Jesus is most blessed of all humanity. furthermore, God's indwelling Spirit worked in Him and though Him. You may ask, but what about 'God's word' being with Him at the beginning. Yes it was. It was the creative power that manifested the universe. God said, "Let it be" and so things were. In much the same way, God's Word became flesh, and that flesh was Jesus Christ, who was not crafted out of the clay/earth, and who was not crafted from the rib of man. God said, "Let it be" and Jesus was present within the womb of his blessed mother, Mary. Thus, Jesus was the 'New Adam', but Jesus' existance was and is far more powerful than Adam, as God's Word made flesh. I believe that Jesus is the salvation of the world. I believe that he died for our sins, taking the consequences for the sins of the world. I believe he is the Son of God, in the sense that He is the living Word of God. I do not, however, believe that Jesus is God.

 

Thanks

[JosephM]

In short answer to your question....

 

I personally do not believe so ..... and am not in fear of missing salvation as if i am in need of saving by a particular belief.

 

Joseph

[glintofpewter]

IMO, The Trinity is an invention to make the human Jesus divine, connect God, the Old divinity with Jesus, the New divinity, and explain why Jesus did not come back in his followers' life times, A handy little package of ideas that should never have become dogma.

 

Dutch

[soma]

I believe in the Trinity, but in a deeper way. I feel it has been mis-interpreted to sell something and not to bring people into an experience with God the Father. Christians pass rumors and heresey, but they need the direct experience.

[Apollo Sunrise]

In Luke 10:25-37 (the parable of the Good Samaritan), Jesus says that if you love your neighbor as yourself, you will be saved. In this self-contained passage, Jesus does not mention faith or belief, in the trinity or otherwise. The example he uses of that love of neighbor is of the non-believing enemy, the Samaritan.

 

In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus describes the final judgment and says that if you show compassionate for those who are hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, in prison, strangers or all those he called “the least of these,” you will be saved. Period. Again, no mention of faith or belief, in the trinity or otherwise.

 

I take him at his word on this.

[soma]

I feel no one has to believe in the Trinity or Redemption. They are symbols and allegories to teach a deeper meaning. Some will get it and some won't. I feel Jesus the wisdom master is saving us from our self that puts up barriors to separate us from God the infinite. "Love your brother as yourself" so beautiful could mean become one with in love, which removes the barriors and opens our hearts to the Eternal energy of love. Some will see this and some won't, but we are all saved in the mind of Christ.

[PaulS]

Believing in the Trinity is one thing, believing you need 'salvation' is another. Typically modern Christianity has characterised this 'salvation' as being saved from eternal damnation to a place called Hell. I don't believe this type of salvation is require because I don't believe any loving God would create a place of eternal torment.

 

Subsequently for me, belief in the Trinity comes down to a better understand of and/or relationship with, God, and frankly, I don't really see any benefit in believing God is triune that would make such belief a necessity. Oh, that's after I have considered what 'evidnce' we may have and as far as what I can tell, I don't think the Bible supports a realistic interpretation of a Trinity.