Jesus adherents only: How is a ''separate' trinity concept, not polytheism?

[Deeje]

In the created universe, there is no way to measure or speak of time without referring to events. E.g. one second is a tick of a clock and we have a general concept of how long one second is relative to other events.

There is no doubt that time exists but I don't think that earth time (related to the earth's rotation) is experienced outside of Earth's atmosphere.

At Job 1:6 and 2:1 we are told....."Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them."

"Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord."

It stands to reason that a scheduled event needs some kind of time to co-ordinate the event.

What do you believe about the existence of time before God created any being or anything? Do you believe that time existed as we know it, or it existed in a different form, or did not exist at all, or some other view?

It doesn't really matter what any of us think...it will probably be wrong. We simply don't know. Until we have that information, anything is pure conjecture.

 

[Kenny]

I think Jews were persecuted and they resisted (admirably) the Romans forcing statues of their gods in their temples and synagogues.
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Agreed

I think many religions in Roman Republic/Empire were persecuted, perhaps mainly because the Roman leaders wanted the blessings of their gods for power etc. and also because Roman leaders
were also considered gods (divi filius). Once Christianity became the new "politically correct" religion then pagans and Jews were often persecuted/forbidden.
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I'm not sure that was the case. If memory serves me correctly, they tried to keep as much as "whatever god" people wanted to serve to continue. Wasn't it because both Jews and Christians would accept Ceasar as God and would not accept Ceasar's gods whereas others didn't care?

So what happens, is perhaps a band/sect, among many, all of a sudden has the "stage" and has such an impact in people's minds. If a brutal empire such as Roman suddenly declared some other religion "the one", then all the others may fade away also. Maybe that doesn't happen today because we understand the concept of freedom of religion. The statements that the Bible records as being said by Jesus are profound and I do seek God and truth.

So many people go with any beliefs, so easily. Clever people know this (even today) and can take advantage of people. As Jesus pointed out there is such a comfort (wrongly) in the "approval of men". I think that one must discern what is of God and to what extent the Roman empire may have been involved including influencing Christianity for their own purposes even much earlier in the movement than people may realize.

There is much truth in what you just shared. IMV, the influence of the Roman's came about during Constantine and eventually scriptures, though venerated and unchanged, were taken away from the public and held up in monasteries, declared that only "the select few" could read and interpret it, manipulated for there own purposes and the "Dark Ages" ensued.

What was a blessing was that they didn't destroy the actual letters and scriptures and eventually Martin Luther got a revelation of righteousness by faith through the work of the Cross and started the ball rolling to what Jesus intended (although there were still many areas that Luther didn't let go). But it was the beginning to the light of the Gospel to reach the masses as Jesus intended.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

In the created universe, there is no way to measure or speak of time without referring to events. E.g. one second is a tick of a clock and we have a general concept of how long one second is relative to other events. What do you believe about the existence of time before God created any being or anything? Do you believe that time existed as we know it, or it existed in a different form, or did not exist at all, or some other view?

Since God is from everlasting - Psalms 90:2, then eternity is in our hearts. In other words, for each second or fraction of a second we can count we can count both forwards and backwards forever and ever.