I believe any evaluation of modern Christianity should be determined in the context of the warnings given by Jesus and the apostles concerning an apostasy that was foretold after the death of the apostles.
The
book, The History of Christianity, published by Peter Eckler, stated:
“If Paganism was conquered by Christianity, it is equally true that Christianity was corrupted by Paganism. The pure Deism of the first Christians, (who differed from their fellow Jews only in the belief that Jesus was the promised Messiah,) was changed, by the Church of Rome, into the incomprehensible dogma of the trinity. Many of the pagan tenets, invented by the Egyptians and idealized by Plato, were retained as being worthy of belief.”
Confirmation of this is seen in the warning of this apostasy from true Christianity, in Paul's words.....
“In later times some will depart from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.” (
1 Timothy 4:1)
John 20:17, after his resurrection, Jesus is quoted as saying to Mary Magdalene....
"Stop clinging to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father and to my God and your God.’”
Jesus calls the Father his God...so can God have a God? Does one part of God worship an equal part of himself?
Since, according to the New Catholic Encyclopedia, the Trinity teaching was not fully developed until “the last quadrant of the 4th century,” we have to ask: 'Is it possible that the Trinity doctrine is a result of that apostasy?'
Consider too, that far from bringing people closer to the Father, the Trinity doctrine has actually caused him to be
replaced. In Protestant teaching, this has led to the Father’s being relegated to a position of near-total obscurity. If you ask anyone to whom they are referring when they say “Praise the Lord!” and they will invariably answer, “Jesus Christ, of course!”
"Jah" or "Yah" (shortened form of the tetragrammaton YHWH) occurs 50 times in the Hebrew Scriptures, 26 times alone, and 24 times in the expression “Hallelujah,” which is, literally, a command to “praise Jah.” (Jehovah. Psalm 148:1-6) But because there was a substitution of the divine name with his title "Lord"...that phrase became "Praise the Lord".
This problem resulted from the Jewish tradition of not uttering the Divine Name when reading their scripture.
By substituting a title instead of God's name, the identity of the Lord Jesus became tied up with the Lord Jehovah so that they became indistinguishable.
Jesus never once claimed to be God, nor did he say that he was equal in any way to his Father.
Since we find no explicit doctrine of a "godhead" in the NT at all, don't we have to ask where such an idea came from?
All of the first Christians and Bible writers were Jews, so a deviation from their monotheistic God would have been an abhorrence to them. (Deuteronomy 6:4)
A simple Google search will reveal where the idea originated...
Pagans had trinities...Jews did not. The first Christians did not believe in a three headed god.
The Catholic Church, true to her pagan Roman roots, made her god acceptable to her pagan citizens.
Anyone who disagreed with the Church was considered a heretic...but could it be that the biggest heresy was committed by the Church itself, fulfilling prophesy?