guno
Gold Member
- Banned
- #1
From earliest times, paganism featured many gods often subsumed beneath or within one apparently greater god. Each tribe or territory had their own god, but as they were subsumed within other tribes by conquest or some other form of domination, their god became subsumed beneath the god of the dominant tribe or nation. Thus there developed pantheons of gods, and yet within the pantheons there was often a hierarchy, and a desire to insist on one hand that the god of the subdued people still existed, and yet on the other hand, an insistence that the god of the dominant group was supreme. When tribes were taken into captivity, or conquerors came and lived in their land, the gods had to somehow be accommodated within a religious system. And so began the idea of 'godheads'. The mysterious, ill defined relationships between the members of the supposed 'Trinity' are very similar to those assumed within the godheads of paganism. Apologists for the Trinity are all divided about the nature of the relationships between Father, Son and Holy Spirit; this is a weak point in the whole idea. And the very same difficulty is encountered by any who would wish to explain or defend the gods within the pagan godheads. Further, it becomes apparent from the literature and sculptured art of early paganism that gods, animals and humans all tend to get mixed up; half-human and half-god. Again, we can see how this came to be reflected in Trinitarian views of the christian man god Jesus.
The idea of a Divine figure coming to earth to redeem the faithful was a very common pagan myth in the Middle East of the first century . It's easy to see how early Christians would've been tempted to claim that Christ was some form of pre-existent God in order to make their beliefs accommodate the surrounding paganism- and it's understandable that some would've been eager to misinterpret Bible passages to this end.
The idea of a 'trinity' of gods was widespread in paganism. The Egyptians had three main gods, Osiris, Isis and Horus. Horus was in turn divided into 3 parts or persons:
Horus - the King
Horus - Ra
Horus - the Scarabaeus.
Likewise the Hindu Vedas of around 1000 BC claimed that one God existed in three forms:
Agni - Fire, presiding over the earth
Indra - the Firmament, presiding over the mid-air
Surya - The Sun. presiding over the Heavens.
In later Hinduism, the 'trimurti' or trinity of gods became:
Brahma - the creative power
Vishnu - the preserving power
Siva - the transforming power.
So when Theophilus, bishop of Antioch introduced the word 'trias' to Christian literature for the first time in 170 CE, and the word 'trinitas' was first used by Tertullian in 200 CE, they were importing pagan concepts which were familiar and had been for millennia.Coupled with virgins having relation with gods as was in their pagan belifes it wasn't difficult or them to make the switch
The idea of a Divine figure coming to earth to redeem the faithful was a very common pagan myth in the Middle East of the first century . It's easy to see how early Christians would've been tempted to claim that Christ was some form of pre-existent God in order to make their beliefs accommodate the surrounding paganism- and it's understandable that some would've been eager to misinterpret Bible passages to this end.
The idea of a 'trinity' of gods was widespread in paganism. The Egyptians had three main gods, Osiris, Isis and Horus. Horus was in turn divided into 3 parts or persons:
Horus - the King
Horus - Ra
Horus - the Scarabaeus.
Likewise the Hindu Vedas of around 1000 BC claimed that one God existed in three forms:
Agni - Fire, presiding over the earth
Indra - the Firmament, presiding over the mid-air
Surya - The Sun. presiding over the Heavens.
In later Hinduism, the 'trimurti' or trinity of gods became:
Brahma - the creative power
Vishnu - the preserving power
Siva - the transforming power.
So when Theophilus, bishop of Antioch introduced the word 'trias' to Christian literature for the first time in 170 CE, and the word 'trinitas' was first used by Tertullian in 200 CE, they were importing pagan concepts which were familiar and had been for millennia.Coupled with virgins having relation with gods as was in their pagan belifes it wasn't difficult or them to make the switch