Title: The Trinity Debate
1The Trinity Debate
Biblical or Man-made?
2Propositions Gene Cook, Jr. The Doctrine of
the Trinity is biblical Andrew Corban The
Doctrine of the Trinity is man-made and therefore
unbiblical Each participant must affirm his
own proposition and each participant must also
demonstrate that the others proposition is
biblically falsifiable
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3The Trinity Defined
Within the is one Being that is known as
God, there exists eternally three co-equal and
co-eternal persons, namely the Father, the Son
and the Holy Spirit
Error of polytheism
EQUALITY
THREE PERSONS
Error of modalism
Error of subordinationism
MONOTHEISM
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4How do we know? General Revelation Vs. Special
Revelation
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5The Incomprehensibility of God
Trinitarians do not imply that God is irrational
or illogical when we speak of His
incomprehensibility. We mean that God is beyond
mans ability to grasp exhaustively.
Romans 1133 33 Oh, the depth of the riches both
of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How
unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable
His ways! NASU Ephesians 319 19 and to know
the love of Christ which surpasses
knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the
fullness of God. NASU Philippians 47 7 And the
peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ
Jesus. NASU
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6There is only one true God Deuteronomy
3239 39' See now that I, I am He, And there is
no god besides Me It is I who put to death and
give life. I have wounded and it is I who heal,
And there is no one who can deliver from My hand.
NASU 1 Chronicles 1720 20 "O LORD, there is
none like You, nor is there any God besides You,
according to all that we have heard with our
ears. NASU James 219 19 You believe that God
is one. You do well the demons also believe, and
shudder. NASU
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7The Father is identified as God Deuteronomy
326 6 "Do you thus repay the LORD, O foolish
and unwise people? Is not He your Father who has
bought you? He has made you and established you.
NASU John 423-24 23 "But an hour is coming,
and now is, when the true worshipers will worship
the Father in spirit and truth for such people
the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24 "God
is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship
in spirit and truth." NASU
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8The Son is identified as God Titus 13-4 3 but
at the proper time manifested, even His word, in
the proclamation with which I was entrusted
according to the commandment of God our Savior,
4 To Titus, my true child in a common faith
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ
Jesus our Savior. NASU John 2027-29 27 Then He
said to Thomas, " Reach here with your finger,
and see My hands and reach here your hand and
put it into My side and do not be unbelieving,
but believing." 28 Thomas answered and said to
Him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him,
"Because you have seen Me, have you believed?
Blessed are they who did not see, and yet
believed." NASU
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9The Holy Spirit is identified as God Zechariah
46 6 Then he said to me, "This is the word of
the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, ' Not by might nor
by power, but by My Spirit,' says the LORD of
hosts. NASU Acts 53-4 3 But Peter said,
"Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie
to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the
price of the land? 4 "While it remained unsold,
did it not remain your own? And after it was
sold, was it not under your control? Why is it
that you have conceived this deed in your heart?
You have not lied to men but to God." NASU
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10The Holy Spirit is identified as God 31 Look!
There are days coming, is the utterance of
Jehovah, and I will conclude with the house of
Israel and with the house of Judah a new
covenant 32 not one like the covenant that I
concluded with their forefathers in the day of my
taking hold of their hand to bring them forth out
of the land of Egypt, which covenant of mine
they themselves broke, although I myself had
husbandly ownership of them, is the utterance of
Jehovah. NWT Hebrews 1015-17 15 And the Holy
Spirit also testifies to us for after saying, 16
"THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THEM
AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD I WILL PUT MY
LAWS UPON THEIR HEART, AND ON THEIR MIND I WILL
WRITE THEM," He then says, 17 "AND THEIR SINS
AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE."
NASU Hebrews 1015-17 Moreover, the holy spirit
also bears witness to us, for after it has said
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11Only ONE Savior Isaiah 4311 ..I am Jehovah,
and besides me there is no savior. NWT Isaiah
4515 15 Truly, You are a God who hides Himself,
O God of Israel, Savior ! NASU Hosea 134 4
Yet I have been the LORD your God Since the land
of Egypt And you were not to know any god except
Me, For there is no savior besides Me. NASU
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12Only ONE Savior Luke 211 11 for today in the
city of David there has been born for you a
Savior , who is Christ the Lord. NASU 1 Timothy
23 3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of
God our Savior , NASU 2 Peter 318 18 but grow
in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and
to the day of eternity. Amen. NASU
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13Only ONE Creator Genesis 11 In the beginning
God created the heavens and the earth.
NASU Genesis 126-27 26 Then God said, "Let Us
make man in Our image, according to Our likeness
and let them rule over the fish of the sea and
over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and
over all the earth, and over every creeping thing
that creeps on the earth." 27 God created man in
His own image, in the image of God He created
him male and female He created them.
NASU Isaiah 4424 24 Thus says the LORD, your
Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the
womb, "I, the LORD, am the maker of all things,
Stretching out the heavens by Myself And
spreading out the earth all alone , NASU
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14Only ONE Creator John 13 3 All things came
into being through Him, and apart from Him
nothing came into being that has come into being.
NASU Colossians 115-16 16 For by Him all
things were created, both in the heavens and on
earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or
dominions or rulers or authorities all things
have been created through Him and for Him. NASU
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15Only ONE Almighty God
Revelation 18 I am the Alpha and the
Omega, says Jehovah God, the One who is and
who was and who is coming, the Almighty. (NWT)
Revelation 117 And when I saw him, I fell as
dead at his feet. And he laid his right hand
upon me and said Do not be fearful. I am the
First and the Last, 18 and the living one and I
became dead, but, look! I am living forever and
ever, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.
Revelation 2213 Look! I am coming quickly, and
the reward I give is with me, to render to each
one as his work is. 13 I am the Alpha and the
Omega, the first and the last, the beginning
and the end. (NWT)
Revelation 2220 He that bears witness of these
things says, Yes I am coming quickly. Amen!
Come, Lord Jesus. (NWT)
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16All other gods condemned as false gods
1 Corinthians 84 Now concerning the eating of
foods offered to idols, we know that an idol is
nothing in the world, and that there is no God
but one. 5 For even though there are those who
are called gods, whether in heaven or on
earth, just as there are many gods and many
lords, 6 there is actually to us one God the
Father, out of whom all things are, and we for
him and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ,
through whom all things are, and we through him.
(NWT)
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17All other gods condemned as false gods
Isaiah 456 6 This is what Jehovah has said, the
King of Israel and the Repurchaser of him,
Jehovah of armies, I am the first and I am the
last, and besides me there is no
God. (NWT) and Isaiah 458b And YOU are my
witnesses. Does there exist a God besides me?
No, there is no Rock. I have recognized none.
(NWT)
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18In the face of all of this biblical weight how
can the Unitarian argue against the Trinitarian
God of the bible?
- Mistranslate
- Equivocate
- Obfuscate
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19- Mistranslate
- This is where the NWT comes in.
The NWT was commissioned in 1946 and the first
edition was delivered on August 2nd 1950. But
what did the Jehovahs Witnesses use prior to the
NWT? Answer The King James Version
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20- Mistranslate
- This is where the NWT comes in.
Examples 2 Peter 11 1 Simon Peter, a slave and
apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have
obtained a faith, held in equal privilege with
ours, by the righteousness of our God and the
Savior Jesus Christ NWT 2 Peter 11 Simon
Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus
Christ, To those who have received a faith of the
same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our
God and Savior, Jesus Christ NASU
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21- Mistranslate
- This is where the NWT comes in.
Examples John 11-3 1 In the beginning the
Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was a god. 2 This one was in the beginning with
God. 3 All things came into existence through
him, and apart from him not even one thing came
into existence. John 11-3 In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3
All things came into being through Him, and apart
from Him nothing came into being that has come
into being. NASU
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22- Mistranslate
- This is where the NWT comes in.
Examples Romans 95 to whom the forefathers
belong and from whom the Christ sprang
according to the flesh God, who is over all,
be blessed forever. Amen. NWT Romans 95 5
of whom are the fathers and from whom, according
to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the
eternally blessed God. Amen. NKJV
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23- Mistranslate
- This is where the NWT comes in.
Examples Col. 115 He is the image of the
invisible God, the firstborn of all creation 16
because by means of him all other things were
created in the heavens and upon the earth,
NWT Col. 115-16 15 He is the image of the
invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16
For by Him all things were created, both in the
heavens and on earth, NASU
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24- 2. Equivocate
- Using a clear biblical term and giving it two
totally different meanings
Examples Revelation 117 And when I saw him, I
fell as dead at his feet. And he laid his right
hand upon me and said Do not be fearful. I am
the First and the Last, 18 and the living one
and I became dead, but, look! I am living
forever and ever, and I have the keys of death
and of Hades. (NWT) Revelation 2213 Look! I
am coming quickly, and the reward I give is with
me, to render to each one as his work is. 13 I
am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the
last, the beginning and the end. (NWT) Isaiah
456 6 This is what Jehovah has said, the King
of Israel and the Repurchaser of him, Jehovah of
armies, I am the first and I am the last, and
besides me there is no God. (NWT)
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25 Examples John 2027-28 Next he said to Thomas
Put your finger here, and see my hands, and take
your hand and stick it into my side, and stop
being unbelieving but become believing. 28 In
answer Thomas said to him My Lord and my God!
Reasoning from the Scriptures page 213
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26- To reject these clear truths of scripture is to
reject the God of the bible -
- John 522
- For the Father judges no one at all, but he
has committed all the judging to the Son, 23 in
order that all may honor the Son just as they
honor the Father. He that does not honor the Son
does not honor the Father who sent him. NWT - To fail to recognize Jesus as God Almighty is to
fail to honor him just as you honor the Father
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27 John 1241 NWT page 1349
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28 The worship of Jesus commanded?
Hebrews 16 6 And when He again brings the
firstborn into the world, He says, "AND LET ALL
THE ANGELS OF GOD WORSHIP HIM." NASU Matthew
48-10 8 Again, the devil took Him to a very
high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of
the world and their glory 9 and he said to Him,
" All these things I will give You, if You fall
down and worship me." 10 Then Jesus said to him,
"Go, Satan! For it is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP
THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.'" NASU
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29 The Two Natures of Christ
Philippians 25-8 5 Have this attitude in
yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who,
although He existed in the form of God, did not
regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a
bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of
men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He
humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point
of death, even death on a cross. NASU Hebrews
13 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the
exact representation of His nature , and upholds
all things by the word of His power. NASU
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30 What did my email to Andrew REALLY Say?
Andrew, Â I wanted to address something
concerning the PP. Â You know that I have
publicly stated that I have no formal training in
the original languages. So I wanted to let you
know in advance of the debate that I have no
intention to argue from, answer questions about
or respond to arguments from original
languages. Â I am writing you in advance because
I wouldn't want you to do a allot of preparation
and then find out my intentions after the
fact. Â Having said that, you can prepare you PP
or your debate strategy as you see fit. I am by
no means suggesting to you how you should
approach the debate. I just wanted to give you
some additional info as to how I intend to
approach the debate. Â My goal is that we have a
productive interchange of thought supported by
scripture and not an evening of
frustration. Gene Cook, Jr.
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