Random Musings on Religion and Theology

The omnipotence paradox is perfectly displayed in the Bible at: (Judges 1:19) And the LORD was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron. GOD cannot defeat iron chariots; come on, your kidding…right?

“The goal of theodicy is to show that there are convincing reasons why a just, compassionate and omnipotent being (Christian God) would permit pointless and debilitating suffering to flourish. But any method of inquiry that begins with a predetermined conclusion is not rational and scientific, as one point of view suggests. Some suggest that the goal of theodicy is not to determine the truth, but to convince skeptics by any means possible that a reasonably doubted proposition is, in fact, true.” From Wikipedia, Parenthesis added.

On the other hand….

“No theodicy is needed or even appropriate. God is so far superior to humankind, that God cannot be judged by humankind. Humankind’s assumption that we can tell God what a benevolent and all-powerful god can or cannot do is mere arrogance.“ Also from Wikipedia, emphasis added.

(John 14:28) “for my Father is Greater than I”

Scholars investigating the historical Jesus often assert that Jesus taught neither his own equality with God nor the Trinity. Jesus referred to ascending unto “my Father, and to your Father; and to my God, and to your God”, and that he said, “the Father is the only true God.”

Constantine established the Nicene Creed long after Jesus died. Basically there were two beliefs afoot before 325 AD. The nontrinitarians and those who believed God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit (What is that anyway?), was just one “Thing.” These were the Trinitarians. Constantine seemed to prefer Trinity and Eusebius, in on this gathering from the beginning, converted hastily to the Trinitarian view. Eusubius goes to work quickly, on commission of Constantine, and starts pulling together many hundreds of religious writings to produce the basic Bible we have today.

The word “Trinity” does not appear in the Old Testament or New Testament. Various passages from both have been cited as supporting this doctrine, while other passages are cited as opposing it.

So, God is a God. Jesus is a God. The Holy Spirit is a God. They three have always existed, weren’t created, so they are equal in power. So Christianity kind of keeps the pagan three gods concept going.

The Assyrians, the Druids, the Persian, the Phoenicians, the Scandinavians, the ancient Mexicans, the Peruvians, and others, worshipped “Trinitarian” pagan deities long before the Nicean council of 325 C.E. officially recognized this to be God’s “true” nature. Now this fits in perfectly with the Catholic Churches propensity to incorporate pagan beliefs into Church Gospel so they can grab and hold on to the flock.

T. W. Doane, a writer of the 19^th. Century, says:

“The works of Plato were extensively studied by the Church Fathers, one of whom joyfully recognizes in the great teacher, the schoolmaster who, in the fullness of time, was destined to educate the heathen for Christ, as Moses did the Jews.
The celebrated passage: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word Was God” is a fragment of some Pagan treatise on the Platonic philosophy, evidently written by Irenaeus. It is quoted by Amelius, a Pagan philosopher as strictly applicable to the Logos, or Mercury, the Word, apparently as an honorable testimony borne to the Pagan deity by a barbarian…We see then that the title “Word” or “Logos,” being applied to Jesus, is another piece of Pagan amalgamation with Christianity. It did not receive its authorized Christian form until the middle of the second century after Christ.

The ancient pagan Romans worshipped a Trinity. An oracle is said to have declared that there was ‘First God, then the Word, and with them the Spirit’. Here we see the distinctly enumerated, God, the Logos, and the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost, in ancient Rome, where the most celebrated temple of this capital – that of Jupiter Capitolinus – was dedicated to three deities, which three deities were honored with joint worship.”

Religion today is in the same predicament that the Catholic Church was in; in the 13^th and 14^th. Centuries. Science just keeps on proving the premises of the church and Bible wrong; leaders keep denying it, and cajoling the congregation to stay, against all logic and reason. Thank goodness they are no longer allowed to kill for disbelieve or heresy.