"When Jesus prays to the Father, is He praying to Himself? Therefore the Trinity is false." This is what amounts to a clever argument in some circles and people in those circles happily wag their heads "ooh, you've got them!"
It's not so much the argument, but rather the people that think it is clever and decisive that gets me. You see, you've got three basic camps in Christianity:
1) Unitiarianism (God=Father=Jesus=Holy Spirit; God shows himself in different "modes" at different times)
2) Arianism (God=Father, Father != Jesus, Holy Spirit=?), and finally
3) Trinitarianism (The Father is God, Jesus is God, Holy Spirit is God, but the Father is not Jesus is not the Holy Spririt).
When an Arian uses the above argument, it's not clever. It's irrelevant.
Trinitarians aren't Unitarians. They don't believe Jesus IS the Father.
Trinitarians use that argument to REFUTE Unitarianism.
Ignorance is understandable. We all have things we don't know.
When an Arian proclaims that this is a clever argument, he is trumpeting from the rooftops that:
1) he doesn't understand Trinitarians,
2) that he has not really studied the scriptures concerning Trinitarian arguments, but worst of all,
3) he doesn't believe it is necessary to understand the Trinity in order to preach to Trinitarians.
Ignorance is forgivable. Pride, less so. Pride mixed with abysmal ignorance is just bad taste.
It's not so much the argument, but rather the people that think it is clever and decisive that gets me. You see, you've got three basic camps in Christianity:
1) Unitiarianism (God=Father=Jesus=Holy Spirit; God shows himself in different "modes" at different times)
2) Arianism (God=Father, Father != Jesus, Holy Spirit=?), and finally
3) Trinitarianism (The Father is God, Jesus is God, Holy Spirit is God, but the Father is not Jesus is not the Holy Spririt).
When an Arian uses the above argument, it's not clever. It's irrelevant.
Trinitarians aren't Unitarians. They don't believe Jesus IS the Father.
Trinitarians use that argument to REFUTE Unitarianism.
Ignorance is understandable. We all have things we don't know.
When an Arian proclaims that this is a clever argument, he is trumpeting from the rooftops that:
1) he doesn't understand Trinitarians,
2) that he has not really studied the scriptures concerning Trinitarian arguments, but worst of all,
3) he doesn't believe it is necessary to understand the Trinity in order to preach to Trinitarians.
Ignorance is forgivable. Pride, less so. Pride mixed with abysmal ignorance is just bad taste.
