Hopkins, E. Washburn: Origin and Evolution of Religion

Decepto-Meter

Satanic Quote: Christianity Trasher

Washburn Hopkins trashes the whole of Christianity, not just trinity: "Finally, the life, temptation, miracles, parables, and even the disciples of Jesus have been derived directly from Buddhism". But even Hopkins openly states that Apostle John taught the trinity one sentence before the watchtower quote!

Hopkins, E. Washburn: Origin and Evolution of Religion

What the Watchtower deceptively quotes:

"The final orthodox definition of the trinity was largely a matter of church politics." (Origin and Evolution of Religion, E. W. Hopkins, quoted in, Should you believe the Trinity?, Watchtower publication)

"To Jesus and Paul the doctrine of the trinity was apparently unknown; . . . they say nothing about it." (Origin and Evolution of Religion, E. W. Hopkins, quoted in, Should you believe the Trinity?, Watchtower publication)

Compare this:

How the Watchtower quotes Hopkins:	What they left out of the same paragraph:
"To Jesus and Paul the doctrine of the trinity was apparently unknown; . . . they say nothing about it." (Origin and Evolution of Religion, E. W. Hopkins, p 336)	"The beginning of the doctrine of the Trinity appears already in John " (c. 100). "To Jesus and Paul the doctrine of the trinity was apparently unknown; . . . they say nothing about it." (Origin and Evolution of Religion, E. W. Hopkins, p 336)
"The final orthodox definition of the trinity was largely a matter of church politics." (Origin and Evolution of Religion, E. W. Hopkins, p339)	"The final orthodox definition of the trinity was largely a matter of church politics. ... The church ... also believed with the first simple Christians that Jesus Christ was God on earth." (Origin and Evolution of Religion, E. W. Hopkins, p339, all quoted within the same paragraph)

What the fail to tell you that Hopkins also said:

"The beginning of the doctrine of the Trinity appears already in John " (c. 100). "To Jesus and Paul the doctrine of the trinity was apparently unknown; . . . they say nothing about it." (Origin and Evolution of Religion, E. W. Hopkins, p 336)

"The early Church declared that Christ was the Logos and that the Logos was God. As such, though the earlier Gospels give no hint of this, Christ in John is represented as remembering his preexistence. Paul does not say that Christ is God, but he identifies Christ with the Holy Spirit and applies to him words of the Old Testament used of God: 'I am God and ... unto me every knee shall bow' (Isa 45:22-23; Phil 2:10)." (Origin and Evolution of Religion, E. W. Hopkins, p. 336)

"But the first Christian theology was given in the words 'I and my Father are one' and the plain faith of the early church members who were not doctrinaires was just this and nothing more. Jesus is God. So proclaimed the first hymns, sung by the early Church." (Origin and Evolution of Religion, E. W. Hopkins, p 338).

"Christianity, though built upon the rock of Peter, utilized for the construction of its church much pagan material, some of which had filtered through Jewish sources, while some was inherited from Mediterranean and Grecian cults. Baptism, fast, purification, vigil, the hope of immortality and resurrection, miraculous cures, water turned into wine, all these were pre-Christian." (Origin and Evolution of Religion, E. W. Hopkins, Ch 20, The Christian Trinity).

"As Buddha has been resolved into a sun-myth, so Jesus Christ has been explained as cosmic truth in legendary form, a Gilgamesh or other divine hero. The wisdom of Buddha has been referred to Zoroaster and to Moses; that of Jesus to Seneca and Epictetus. Finally, the life, temptation, miracles, parables, and even the disciples of Jesus have been derived directly from Buddhism." ... "At this point it is thought by some scholars that there has been fusion with the much older resurrection-story which long before Jesus' day had held the East enthralled. As in the later contact with the Mithra-cult, it is not possible to say definitively whether the later religion borrowed from the earlier" [but the author entertains this as a clear possibility] (History of Religions, 1918, E. Washburn Hopkins, Professor of Sanskrit and comparative Philology, p 552,556)

The deception identified:

How can JW's use Hopkins as proof that Trinity was borrowed from the pagans, when in fact Hopkins says: "the life, temptation, miracles, parables, and even the disciples of Jesus have been derived directly from Buddhism."?

Hopkins is not even a Christian, but a Bible hater that trashes the whole of Christianity including the fundamentals of the JW's faith.

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Written By Steve Rudd, Used by permission at: www.bible.ca

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