Let’s Argue!

Christians love to argue! If you have any doubt about it just get a few believers together and bring up any doctrine you can think of. You’ll see in a hurry that we are a contentious bunch to be sure. Lord have mercy! We’ll argue over just about anything. We’ll argue about the second coming of Christ, the purpose and meaning of communion, spiritual gifts too and the list goes on and on. The debate about Christology has gone on for nearly two thousand years and shows no sign of slowing down. We all know there is no shortage of debatable points to argue about. Name any topic you like and you’ll see our motto seems to be “Let’s argue”.

Let’s Argue About Baptism

Baptism is an especially notable flash point. Many of Jesus’ disciples have been put to death by other Christians for their beliefs about baptism! There are lots of arguable points concerning baptism and believers love to debate all of them. Is baptism really necessary? If so, should we baptize infants or adults? Should we baptize by immersion or by sprinkling and by the way, who gets to do the baptizing? Do we baptize in the name of Jesus Christ or invoke the phrase “in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”? The list of nuanced beliefs and disputes about baptism seems endless.

The First Argument About Baptism

Interestingly enough, the first recorded argument about baptism occurred on the very day Jesus himself wanted to get baptized. Christ had come to John the Baptist to be baptized but John objected to the whole idea! The Baptist was silenced when Jesus said, “Suffer it to be so now to fulfill all righteousness.” At that point John quit arguing about baptism and simply did what Jesus asked. We think that was a good idea then… and we think it’s still a good idea today. Don’t quibble about baptism, just do what Christ asks and follow His example.

If Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, wanted to be baptized to fulfill all righteousness where does that leave us? Jesus was baptized Himself and instituted baptism for His disciples, so we are baptized. He was baptized in the Jordan River by immersion so likewise, we preach baptism by immersion. Christians are meant to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ just like the early disciples did in the Book of Acts. (In fact our word baptism comes from baptizo which means to dip or submerge). Somehow baptism fulfilled righteousness in Jesus’ life and somehow it fulfills righteousness in our lives too. This isn’t complicated!

If you still feel inclined to argue about baptism please consider John the Baptist and his response to Jesus. John had an opinion about baptizing Jesus but quickly abandoned his personal beliefs in favor of Christ’s. Maybe you should abandon your personal opinions too. Instead of arguing about baptism why not simply do what Jesus commanded? Someday you’ll be glad you did.

Consider the Lilies

God’s Creations Are Beautiful and Perfect

Consider what God creates and you’ll see that, “He has made everything beautiful in its time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). When the world was created “God saw everything He had made and behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). “Consider the lilies of the field… even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” (Matthew 6:29). We are surrounded by an incredible amount of beauty that was bestowed upon us by the marvelous hand of God. We are blessed with sunrises and sunsets, blue skies and rainbows, birdsong and butterfly. The scents and colors of flowers, still waters in the moonlight and a night sky ablaze with stars… these things all belong to us! We look around us at God’s creation and see perfection. Incredibly beautiful and amazing perfection… because that’s how God does things.

Man’s Creations Are Flawed

When you consider what man creates it’s a different story altogether. We build concrete cities and highways lined with billboards. Instead of “dressing and keeping” this garden earth we have polluted and scarred it. Most of man’s creations are flawed, deeply flawed. We make weapons of war and have created a world marked by violence and crime, pollution, corruption, wars and greed. God knows we cause a lot of trouble! Our fallen natures are the cause of untold misery and suffering. Look around at what mankind has created and you’ll see far more ugliness than beauty. Sadly though, that’s just how humanity does things.

Scripture is Beautiful

When it comes to spiritual things we see the same pattern. God conveys beautiful truths in the revelation we call the Bible. Scripture speaks of God poetically and in strikingly powerful language. We know God as the Ancient of Days and the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity. Our Father is the Alpha and Omega, The Creator, A Man of War and our Shepherd, Redeemer and Judge. He is Yahweh, the God of Israel and His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ is our Messiah and Savior. The revelation of God and His Son in scripture is a work of divine artistry… beautiful, eternal and perfect! Scripture is beautiful because that’s how God does things.

Creeds Are Ugly

If you consider the “official” creeds of the church it’s easy to see just how ugly these man-breathed writings are in comparison to the lofty beauty of scripture. The heavens (and scripture) declare the glory of God and fill us with hope. Creeds are as dry and lifeless as a software manual and are filled to the brim with human pride and threat. (The Athanasian Creed is a great example of this.) Part of the ugliness of creeds is all the violence and division they have caused within the Body of Christ.

Filthy Rags of Human Pride

Please remember this, “All our righteousness is as filthy rags.” The things men create (creeds) that pretend to be as authoritative as God’s Word are just filthy rags too and they will not save you. Reciting the creeds faithfully every Sunday won’t do you any good. People who heard Jesus speak said “No man ever spake like this man!” His words are Spirit and they are Life and only His words can give us beauty for ashes. All you will get from the trinitarian dogma of the creeds is ashes in exchange for the filthy rags of human pride and philosophy.

Let Beauty Be Your Inheritance

Let beauty be your inheritance and choose scripture instead of creeds. We know and believe that “God has made everything beautiful in its time” and someday He will “beautify the meek with salvation.” (Psalms 149:4) There is coming a time when everything will be made new and beautiful and when that happens we don’t think there will be a creed in sight.

Sola Scriptura…. Really?

The phrase “sola scriptura” is tossed around a lot these days. I hear it in conversations with believers who are defending their beliefs and see it frequently on church home pages. It’s a well known Latin phrase that simply means “scripture alone” and it does have a nice ring to it. Many Christians like to boast that “the Bible is my only authority!” We wish that were true, but sometimes we wonder. How about you? Do you believe in sola scriptura…. really?

Is the Trinity Sola Scriptura?

Let’s take a look at what is arguably the single most important doctrine in modern Christendom and see if it passes the “sola scriptura” test or not. It’s a teaching from our creeds about the nature of God and it’s widely used as a litmus test for orthodoxy. If you question or object to its dogma you’ll likely be written off as a heretic, a wing nut, or at the very least, someone way out on the fringe. Yes, you guessed it! I’m talking about the trinity, our beloved and venerable Holy Trinity. In this article we ask if the trinity is really consistent with the principle of sola scriptura… or is it simply a Christian sacred cow with no real basis in scripture?

Find These Words in Scripture!

If the trinity is scriptural you should be able to find it in the Bible pretty easily by finding the words “three persons”, “triune” or “trinity” in the scriptures. The trinity is built on words and ideas like co-equal, co-eternal, persons, substance, essence, hypostasis, and homoousious. A good concordance could help you find these words in scripture without much effort and prove the trinity is consistent with sola scriptura. All you have to do is find these words in scripture! If the words and ideas that men have used to build the trinity are really consistent with sola scriptura they must be in God’s Word somewhere! But they are not. None of them. None at all. Not even one. Why not? Could it be because the trinity has a lot do to with our creeds but has little or nothing to do with scripture?

Choose Sola Scriptura or Choose the Trinity

The lack of scriptural references to support the trinity creates a problem doesn’t it? Some try to minimize the problem and say, “So what! What’s the big deal?” Well, it is a big deal and here’s the issue. Do you believe in the creeds or do you believe in scripture alone? The dilemma you face is that you can’t have it both ways. You can’t have your doctrinal cake and eat it too. Choose sola scriptura or choose the trinity of the creeds but you can’t honestly have both. Either throw out the archaic creeds that gave us the trinity or throw out the whole idea of sola scriptura.

Choose You This Day Whom You Will Serve

I’m reminded of the time when Joshua confronted Israel with these words: “Choose you this day whom you will serve. As for me and my house we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15) The man chosen to lead Israel didn’t leave them much room for waffling around. The edges of the decision were sharp and the choice before them was stark. Choose your old and familiar religion or serve YHWH in sincerity. Perhaps God has brought all of us to the kingdom for such a time as this and now insists that we too make a choice. Choose scripture or choose an old and familiar man-breathed creed. As for me and a growing number of believers, I think we’ll go with sola scriptura. Why not join us? You’ll be glad you did.

Has the Church Been Led Astray?

It’s reassuring to be in the majority, especially when it comes to religion. No one wants to be accused of belonging to some heretical cult and our herd instinct is pretty strong. Most people also have a lot of confidence in experts. This is especially true when all the experts seem to agree. Of course, sometimes the experts can be horribly wrong. Like when the chief priests and scribes wanted to kill Jesus and got everyone else to go along with the idea. History is filled with good examples of this! Here’s something to think about… has the Christian church been led astray by her leaders? Could it be the majority has been lead down a path of platonic philosophy that has nothing to do with Biblical truth? We think that’s a good question.

The Ancient Gospel That Pre-dates the Trinity

We preach an ancient Gospel that pre-dates the trinity. This Gospel proclaims there is just one God, the Father and Jesus Christ is His only begotten Son. Yahweh is the name of the Father and Jesus of Nazareth is His Christ or Anointed One, the Son of God. The Father is self-existent and eternal while His Son Jesus Christ was miraculously born of a virgin in Bethlehem. Jesus was crucified and then raised from the dead and now He is seated at the right hand of God. This isn’t hard to understand! You can believe it without resorting to the heady intellectualism that Greek philosophy has fashioned into the doctrine of the trinity. All you have to resort to is scripture.

Modern Christians are Embracing This Ancient Truth

What you just read about was the simple faith of most believers in the first three centuries of the Christian religion. This Biblical and understandable faith eventually fell into official disfavor thanks to the efforts and councils of the philosopher/theologians we call the “church fathers”. Fortunately, a growing number of Christians in our time are beginning to ignore the so called “church fathers” and embrace these ancient truths instead! Those of us who believe this Gospel now find ourselves asking a very old question, “Who has believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” (Isaiah 53:1) We hope you’ll believe our report… and that God will reveal Himself to you. God bless.

Jesus’ Favorite Creed

Do you have a favorite creed? Maybe you like the Nicene Creed best of all and recite it every Sunday in church. Or do you prefer the Apostles’ Creed? Lots of Christians like the Apostles’ Creed and it is easily one of the all time top creeds. And who could ignore the Athanasian Creed? Wow! It’s such an impressive creed with serious heft and real teeth. The Athanasian Creed says you better start thinking about God like Athanasius decreed or you will be lost and damned! That may sound harsh but according to the Athanasian Creed it’s just the way things are. Perhaps the disciples of Athanasius should properly be called Athanasians instead of Christians. If the words of Athanasius can decide your salvation they might be even more important than the words of Jesus! Have you ever wondered if Jesus has a favorite creed?

Jesus Has a Favorite Creed!

It turns out that Jesus has a favorite creed too. It is pretty straightforward really. “Hear O Israel, the LORD your God is one LORD!” (Deuteronomy 6:4). The ancient Jewish Shema was deeply upsetting to proponents of the trinity! They preferred, “The Lord your God is Three and One”. In spite of all the church councils over the centuries no one has ever figured out a way to get rid of that pesky old Shema once and for all. In spite of the decisions of church councils and human governments throughout history, Jesus was (and is) so committed to the truth of the Shema that it formed the basis of what He declared was the greatest commandment of all.

Jesus’ Personal Creed Was Outlawed by Rome!

Like a lot of things He said, Jesus’ favorite creed caused some serious controversy. As a result, Jesus’ personal creed was outlawed by Rome! The Justinian Codex or Corpus Juris Civilis (Body of Civil Law) banned the Shema in 529 AD because it was deemed much too Jewish. Unfortunately Jesus’ creed also implied criticism of the Trinity… so it had to be banned under penalty of death. Strangely enough, Christ’s adversaries on this issue still claimed to be His disciples! The prohibition against the Shema was written into Roman law during the reign of Justinian I thereby overruling the clear will of the Savior. We think promoting trinitarian dogma by outlawing Jesus’ favorite creed (at the point of a sword) doesn’t seem like God’s way at all… but it does seem like something Satan would approve of. As Jesus said, “By their fruits you will know them.”

PS: I suppose Justinian’s prohibition against the Shema made a lot of sense to the emperor and to the trinitarian bishops who ruled the state church. It doesn’t make much sense to the rest of us though. Now that you know this interesting bit of history why not share it with your friends? They should know about it too. Thanks and God Bless.