shadman's old Musings

I noticed something really unusual in my last blog – I started a discussion about the Trinity, and I didn't bother to define it. Shame on me! Even though I really won't get to discussing it this time around, I really should start by defining what it is so that we all understand what the term really means, from an Orthodox Christian perspective. So let's do that right now, shall we? I'll use as my working definition what James White used in his book, The Forgotten Trinity , Within the One being that is God, there exists eternally three co-equal and co-eternal persons, namely, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. (from The Forgotten Trinity ) So, what exactly does this mean? Let's start with De 6:4: Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! Any definition of the Trinity starts with the fact that God is ONE being, not three beings. First and foremost, Trinitarians are Monotheistic (James 2:19; 1 Cor 8:6; 1 Ti 2:5-6), they are not tri-the...

The Trinity is a very misunderstood topic, and unfortunately those misunderstandings usually begin with the church. A theological battle or sorts was waged in the 3rd and 4th centuries, and is still being waged today, to help codify what the church had always taught but had never realized it needed to codify. There are four streams of thought on the Trinity: 1) the orthodox view, One God, three persons; each co-equal with the other; 2) One God where Jesus is either a subordinate or lesser god, or a man; 3) that each, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are each separate gods, and 4) that God is one being that manifests Himself as three different beings at different times, sometimes the Father, sometimes the Son and sometimes the Holy Spirit. I subscribe to view number one, the orthodox view, which was believed from the beginning. Believe it or not the church fought off the other three views for the first three centuries, which is why it sought to codify the biblical view with a dev...

So I finally got a reply from my email of several months back concerning the History Channel program, " Banned from the Bible ." Here was there response: Dear Mr. Hadfield, Thank you for your interest in The History Channel program BANNED FROM THE BIBLE. A purpose in presenting programs about religion is to explore what is known to be historical fact as opposed to--or in agreement with--what is believed by the faithful. We regret that you find any of our programming biased. We can assure you that offending any particular ethnic, religious, racial, political or socioeconomic group is the farthest thing from the editorial goal of any program found on The History Channel. The producers with whom we work on religion-based programs select historians and interviewees who are educated in a variety of religious disciplines. Like any scholar, each has his or her point of view; all, however, possess credentials from recognized universities and theological institutions. Viewers o...

I often wonder why God guides a person down the path he wants them to travel. When I became a Christian I can assure you that studying apologetics was not at the top of my list. At the time I didn't believe I had any perceivable gifts to speak of, and that may still be true! I have never had any desire to get embroiled in controversies, but I do seem to get involved in one from time to time. I would not consider myself to have any particularly intuitive or insightful perspectives on issues or beliefs, just more guts than brains. Frankly, I'm a 'nobody.' I'm sure I'm no more 'holy' than any one else. But here I am, wanting to contribute something of value in a cacophony of noise generated every day by so many that are so much smarter, more philosophical, and much more eloquent than I. After 4 or 5 blogs on Islam, I'm sure that some of you may be like me, left a little disturbed and dejected, hoping that some one, anyone will have some encouraging word...

And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. (Mark 13:13) There is for you an excellent example to follow in Abraham and those with him, when they said to their people: 'We are clear of you and of whatever ye worship besides Allah: we have rejected you, and there has arisen, between us and you, enmity and hatred for ever, unless ye belieive in Allah and Him alone. (Qur'an 60:4) Wow! Its actually been a month since my last blog. And the crazy thing is, I started immediately after I posted my last one. But then I got to looking at a really interesting Scripture related to the Trinity, and then a mild controversy by what I had shared about a particular verse. But, no matter – here we go! The Crusades are not one of the bright spots as you look at the history of the church, but that really has more about their outcomes rather than the actions of the participants. I'm not going to gloss over the things that were done...