Talk:KCU/04/Knights
Instructor's Feedback on Your First Draft
As a first draft, this contribution falls short. If it were the final draft, you would not pass. Good thing this is not the final draft! You really only have a short outline.
Things to Improve:
1. Expand your discussion of Arianism, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc. into their own sections having several paragraphs each devoted to them
2. Bring in dialog partners from extra research to expand your discussion above. Bring in original documents & writings of people who believe & teach those views, preferably
3. Cover all relevant scripture on the Trinity
4. Bring in commentaries on those scriptures as dialog partners. The commentaries most likely to be helpful are the ones from the NIV Application Commentary Series, the Word Biblical Commentary Series, the New International Commentary on the New Testament Series, &/or the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament Series.
Here's some web resources that may be helpful:
http://www.sbts.edu/Resources/Publications/Journal/Spring_2006.aspx
http://www.the-highway.com/trinity_Bavinck.html
http://www.the-highway.com/trinity_Watson.html
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/TopicIndex/117/
http://www.christianity.co.nz/trinity.htm
http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/beliefs/trinity.htm
http://everystudent.com/forum/trinity.html?gclid-CKae-uCU204CFQp7PAod5_A
http://www.htb.org.uk/audio/trinity-why-it-matters-graham-tomlin
Here's another useful dialog partner, this time an excellent forum contribution by a student in the online section of Christian Heritage, Missi Balch:
The Trinitarian doctrine as developed by the councils of Nicea and Constantinople has been a topic of discussion since its inception in AD 381. I personally believe in the Trinity whole heartedly. I think it is extremely important to believe in the Trinity and I have substantial evidence to support my belief.
First, even though the word Trinity is not found in the Bible, there are very specific references to all three parts of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. On the surface, I could easily say that I believe in the Trinity because the Bible supports it and I believe everything in the Bible. This is true. I do believe everything in the Bible, for “all Scripture is God breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Paul talked about Scripture as the infallible and authoritative word of God. I think in order to believe in the Trinity, one must believe every word of the Bible. To believe the Bible as the true words of God and then to not believe in the Trinity makes no sense.
I did a web search for the Trinity and came across a site not led by Bible scholars, but by students and for students. I found the wording of what the Trinity means to be exactly as my personal opinion. It states, “the Bible clearly speaks of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit…and also clearly presents that there is only one God. Thus the term: Tri meaning three, and Unity meaning one, Tri+Unity=Trinity. It is a way of acknowledging what the Bible reveals to us about God, that God is yet three ‘persons’ who have the same essence of deity” (www.everystudent.com). What a great definition.
Why is belief in the doctrine of the Trinity so important? If we don’t consider and believe in the unique divinity of Jesus as the second person in the Trinity, then all of His teaching would be no different than any other prophet. He would just be considered a wise man who was a great leader. He was so much more than that. Jesus was God in the fullest sense. According to G.R. Habermas and M. R. Licona who co-authored The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, Jesus referred to Himself as the “Son of Man”. Why would he call Himself the Son of Man if he was God? Jesus was fully man and fully God. (This is another discussion altogether). According to Habermas and Licona, “the key passage concerning the title is found in the Old Testament, Daniel 7:13-14”. In this passage Daniel is describing the second coming of Jesus. He says “I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming…and to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him”. This is the fulfilled prophecy of a human Messiah.
The Holy Spirit is also part of the Trinity. If we do not understand the deity of the Holy Spirit, then how can we allow Him to guide us and direct our lives? There are many scriptural references to the Holy Spirit as a Devine being. In the text What the Bible Teaches by R. A. Torrey, the Holy Spirit is described as having Divine attributes such as being eternal (Ps. 139:7-10), omnipresent (Luke 1:35), omnipotent (1 Cor. 2:10-11, John 14:26, and John 16:12-13), and omniscient.
There is substantial evidence that supports the Doctrine of the Trinity, and many scholars have written books about the subject. I hold fast to my belief in the Trinity. Right from the beginning, we learn about God as a triune being. Genesis 1:26 says “Then God said ‘let us make man in our image, in our likeness”. Jesus said “I and the Father are one” in John 10:30. We are told to “go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19). I believe it and I will do as told.
When I talk to my children about topics such as this, I like to use the illustration of H2O as water, ice, and steam. They are easily identified as unique entities, yet they are all still water. It is simple, but it works.
I can not believe the Bible as the inspired word of God, study it daily, grow in my Christian walk, and then deny the Trinity. I may as well deny God Himself.