Decepto-Meter

False Dilemma: Trinitarian

Give false impression that if intimate details of trinity are not in the Bible that Jesus is a creature.

What Anti-Trinitarians quote:

"The New Testament does not contain a formalized explanation of the trinity that uses such words as trinity, three persons, one substance, and the like." (Why You Should Believe In The Trinity, 1989, Robert M. Bowman Jr.)

What they fail to tell the same book also says:

• That Bowman plainly says that the scriptures teach the deity of Christ and the personality of the Holy Spirit.
• That Bowman is contrasting the undeveloped trinitarian beliefs of the apostles, (who believed in the deity of Christ but had not yet come to grips with the impact on the oneness of God issue) with the developed creedal explanations in Nicea 300 years later.

Our comment

• Just because the Bible fails to "fully develop" trinity doctrine to the same extent as the Nicene fathers, doesn't mean that Jesus isn't God!
• The mistake of may people today is to go beyond the Bible in their trinity doctrine. We should reject the Nicene creed, not because it is in error, but because it speaks on matters where the Bible is silent and doesn't leave the "secret things to God". In other words, we should be content preaching a mono-theism where Jesus is divine and the Holy Spirit is a person, without trying to figure out the mechanics of such an arrangement as the Nicene Creed does.

Deception Exposed:

By creating a false dilemma that says: "if the word trinity is not found in the Bible then Jesus isn't divine" Anti-Trinitarians are deceiving the reader to make a conclusion that is illogical.