Mujahid Mohammed
Well-Known Member
Hello everyone as I had stated I would try and start a thread on this particular subject and others. It is going to be alot of information. I will be discussing in this thread the different aspects of the Historical aspects of the Council of Nicea how the Trinity was created there and how Ancient Mystery religions are dirrectly related to Christianity. And would love to hear your comments. I will begin with a quote from "The New Catholic Encyclopedia," Vol XIV,p.295 "It is diffucult in the second half of the 20th century to offer a clear, objective and straightforward account of the revelation, doctrinal eveolution, and theological elaboration of the Mystery of the trinity. Trinitarian discussion, Roman Catholic as well as ohter, present a somewhat unsteady silhouette. Two things have happened. There is the recognition on the part of exegetes and Biblical theologians, including a constantly growing number of Roman Catholics, that one should not speak of Trinitarianism in the New Testament without serious qualification. There is also the closely parallel recognition on the part of historians of dogma and systematic theologians that when one does speak of an unqualified Trinitarianism, one has moved from the pero=iod of Christian origins to, say the last quadrant of the 4th century. It was only then that what might be called the definitive Trinitarian dogma 'One God in three Persons' became thoroughly assimilated into Christian life and thought... ti was the product of 3 centuries of doctrinal development" So what happened exactly in the fourth century CE Mr. David F. Wright, senior lecturer in Ecclesiatical History at the University of Edinburough, says on a detailed account of Trinity. "Arius was a senior presbyter in charge of Baucalis, one of the 12 parishes of Alexandria. He was a persuasive preacher, with a following of clergy and ascetics, and even circulated his teaching in popular verse and songs. Around 318 CE, He clashed with Bishop Alexander. Arius claimed that Father alone was really God; the Son was essentially different from his father. He did not possess by nature or right any of the divine qualities of immorality, sovereignty, perfect wisdom, goodness, and purity. He did not exist before he was created by the father. The father produced him as a creature." Wright goes on to demonstarate in this book how before the 3rd century CE the " three" were seperate in Christian belief and each has his or its own status. Eerdman's Handbook to the History of Christianity," chapter on Councils and Creeds.
Tertullian (155-220 AD), lawyer and presbyter in 3rd century Church in Carthage was the first Christian to coin the word Trinity when he put forthe the theory that the Son and the Spirit participate in the being of God, But are all of one being of substance with the Father( Interpreter Dictionary of the Bible, V4,p711).
About this time, two serparate events were about to lead up to the official recognition of the church by the Roman empire. One the one hand, Emperor Constantine, the PAGAN emeror of the Romans, began to notice the increasing number of converts to the new faith among his subjects. They were no longer a petty fringe sect of no great concern to the empire, rather, their presence was becoming increasingly noticeable, and the severe division and animosity betewwn their ranks was beginning to pose a serious threat to the internal stability of the empire as a whole.
On the Christian front, controversy over the matter of the Trinity had in 318CE onece again just blown up between two church men from Alexandria, Arius the deacon and Alexander his bishop. Now the Constantine stepped into the fray. The emperor sent thise men many letters ecouraging ythem to put aside their trivial disputes regarding th nature of God and the number of God, etc. To one who had become accustomed to being surrounded by countless gods, goddesses, demi-gods,man-gods, and incarnations of gods,resurrections of Gods, and so forth, the issue of whether a given sect worshipped one god or three gods or "three gods in one" was all very trivial and inconsequential.
After several repeated attempts by the emperor to paciy them failed, he finally found himself in 325AD faced with two serious controversies that divided his Christian subjects: Should the observance of the Passover on Easter Sunday and the concept of the Trinity or accept preachings associated with the commandments of Shepard Hemas and teachings in Gospel of Barnabus etc. The 1st of 12 commandments in Shepard of Hermas is First of all, believe that God is One and that He created all things and organised them and out of what did not exist made all things to be, and He contains all things but alone is Himself uncontained..." ( the apostolic fathers E.J. Goodspeed.) Constantine realized that a unified church was nescessary for a strong kingdom. When the negotiations failed to settle dispute he called the "Council of Nicea" in order to resolve these and other matters. The council met and voted on whether Jesus was God or not. Arius was at a marked disadvantage since he was not given a seat on the council. The council voted effectively Jesus into the postion of God with an amendment condemning all Christians who believed in the unity of God. All books written by Arius or supporting his teachings were then burned and those who hid them were killed.
The Trinitarians quicly coined the word "homoousious"(consubstantial/same substance) and then used theri new found political backing to force all attendees to accept their definitions of the nature of God. No compromise would be tolerated and even those with moderate views were forced to sign the decree and condemn all Unitarians or be subject to severe persecution. All who oposed them were killed or banished.
Many historians believe this was done not based upon religious principles but rather political neccesity. One historian writes" At the beginning fo the council, the party of moderate Arian views of which Eusebius of Nicomedia was the most influential member, was in the majority, and 'homoousious' has some difficulty in securing acceptance; it was imposed rather than accepted. Hosius supported it energetically; the same was true of the bishops of Alexandria and Antioch. The Emperor made it known that he desired the use of the word. This was, for many, a captial argument" another historian writes," Council was, for Constantine, much more an affair fo the state than an affair of the Church. Desirous of putting an end to the disputes which troubled his provinces, he worried little that they approve Arius or Alexander, but he worried a great deal that the majority should arrive at a conclusion of which they could make use to impose silence on the opponents, no matter who they were."(apostacy from the divine church by James L. Barker.)
There is even extensive proof that most of those who signed this decree did not actually believe in it or understand it but thought it politically expedient to do do. Neo Platonic philosophy is the means by whcih the doctrine of Trinity was formaulated. One of the attendees, Apuleius,wrote" I passover in silence" explaning that " those sublime and Platonic doctrines understood by very few of the pious and absolutely unknown to every one of the profane..." The vast majority signed under polotical pressure It is narrated that out of the 2030 attendees only 318 readily accepted the creed.("Al Seerah Al-Nabawiyya", Abu Al-Hassan Al Nadwi p.306)
Only when they returned home did some of attendeess such as Eusebius of Nicomedia, Maris of Chaledon and Theognis of Nicaea summon the courage to express to Constantine in writing how much they regretted having put thir signatures to the Nicene formula: "We commited an impious act, O Prince," wrote Eusebius of Nicomedia, "by subscribing to a blasphemy from fear of you."
However, the damage wsa already done and there would be no undoing it now. It is recorded that 13 conferences were held in the 4th century wherein Arius and his beliefs were condemned. On the other hand 15 supported him. It will also be noted that in 431AD it gave Mary the title "Theotoko" (God-Bearing). This is how she became known as the mother of God.
UNFORTUNATELY DEAR FRIENDS I MUST STOP HERE I LIVE IN THE AREA WHERE HURRICANE RITA(CATAGORY 4) MAY STRIKE I AND MY FAMILY HAVE A MANDATORY EVACUATION. I HAVE MANY PREPARATIONS AND DUE TO TIME AND LENGTH OF THIS POST I WILL HAVE TO CONTINUE YOU IT LATER. I WILL AS SOON AS I CAN CONTINUE WITH THIS POST I APPRECIATE EVERYONES PATIENCE AND WILL INSHA ALLAH TALK TO EVERYONE VERY SOON. MAY ALLAH BE WITH US ALL.
MUJAHID MOHAMMED ABDUL MALIK-UL-MULK
Tertullian (155-220 AD), lawyer and presbyter in 3rd century Church in Carthage was the first Christian to coin the word Trinity when he put forthe the theory that the Son and the Spirit participate in the being of God, But are all of one being of substance with the Father( Interpreter Dictionary of the Bible, V4,p711).
About this time, two serparate events were about to lead up to the official recognition of the church by the Roman empire. One the one hand, Emperor Constantine, the PAGAN emeror of the Romans, began to notice the increasing number of converts to the new faith among his subjects. They were no longer a petty fringe sect of no great concern to the empire, rather, their presence was becoming increasingly noticeable, and the severe division and animosity betewwn their ranks was beginning to pose a serious threat to the internal stability of the empire as a whole.
On the Christian front, controversy over the matter of the Trinity had in 318CE onece again just blown up between two church men from Alexandria, Arius the deacon and Alexander his bishop. Now the Constantine stepped into the fray. The emperor sent thise men many letters ecouraging ythem to put aside their trivial disputes regarding th nature of God and the number of God, etc. To one who had become accustomed to being surrounded by countless gods, goddesses, demi-gods,man-gods, and incarnations of gods,resurrections of Gods, and so forth, the issue of whether a given sect worshipped one god or three gods or "three gods in one" was all very trivial and inconsequential.
After several repeated attempts by the emperor to paciy them failed, he finally found himself in 325AD faced with two serious controversies that divided his Christian subjects: Should the observance of the Passover on Easter Sunday and the concept of the Trinity or accept preachings associated with the commandments of Shepard Hemas and teachings in Gospel of Barnabus etc. The 1st of 12 commandments in Shepard of Hermas is First of all, believe that God is One and that He created all things and organised them and out of what did not exist made all things to be, and He contains all things but alone is Himself uncontained..." ( the apostolic fathers E.J. Goodspeed.) Constantine realized that a unified church was nescessary for a strong kingdom. When the negotiations failed to settle dispute he called the "Council of Nicea" in order to resolve these and other matters. The council met and voted on whether Jesus was God or not. Arius was at a marked disadvantage since he was not given a seat on the council. The council voted effectively Jesus into the postion of God with an amendment condemning all Christians who believed in the unity of God. All books written by Arius or supporting his teachings were then burned and those who hid them were killed.
The Trinitarians quicly coined the word "homoousious"(consubstantial/same substance) and then used theri new found political backing to force all attendees to accept their definitions of the nature of God. No compromise would be tolerated and even those with moderate views were forced to sign the decree and condemn all Unitarians or be subject to severe persecution. All who oposed them were killed or banished.
Many historians believe this was done not based upon religious principles but rather political neccesity. One historian writes" At the beginning fo the council, the party of moderate Arian views of which Eusebius of Nicomedia was the most influential member, was in the majority, and 'homoousious' has some difficulty in securing acceptance; it was imposed rather than accepted. Hosius supported it energetically; the same was true of the bishops of Alexandria and Antioch. The Emperor made it known that he desired the use of the word. This was, for many, a captial argument" another historian writes," Council was, for Constantine, much more an affair fo the state than an affair of the Church. Desirous of putting an end to the disputes which troubled his provinces, he worried little that they approve Arius or Alexander, but he worried a great deal that the majority should arrive at a conclusion of which they could make use to impose silence on the opponents, no matter who they were."(apostacy from the divine church by James L. Barker.)
There is even extensive proof that most of those who signed this decree did not actually believe in it or understand it but thought it politically expedient to do do. Neo Platonic philosophy is the means by whcih the doctrine of Trinity was formaulated. One of the attendees, Apuleius,wrote" I passover in silence" explaning that " those sublime and Platonic doctrines understood by very few of the pious and absolutely unknown to every one of the profane..." The vast majority signed under polotical pressure It is narrated that out of the 2030 attendees only 318 readily accepted the creed.("Al Seerah Al-Nabawiyya", Abu Al-Hassan Al Nadwi p.306)
Only when they returned home did some of attendeess such as Eusebius of Nicomedia, Maris of Chaledon and Theognis of Nicaea summon the courage to express to Constantine in writing how much they regretted having put thir signatures to the Nicene formula: "We commited an impious act, O Prince," wrote Eusebius of Nicomedia, "by subscribing to a blasphemy from fear of you."
However, the damage wsa already done and there would be no undoing it now. It is recorded that 13 conferences were held in the 4th century wherein Arius and his beliefs were condemned. On the other hand 15 supported him. It will also be noted that in 431AD it gave Mary the title "Theotoko" (God-Bearing). This is how she became known as the mother of God.
UNFORTUNATELY DEAR FRIENDS I MUST STOP HERE I LIVE IN THE AREA WHERE HURRICANE RITA(CATAGORY 4) MAY STRIKE I AND MY FAMILY HAVE A MANDATORY EVACUATION. I HAVE MANY PREPARATIONS AND DUE TO TIME AND LENGTH OF THIS POST I WILL HAVE TO CONTINUE YOU IT LATER. I WILL AS SOON AS I CAN CONTINUE WITH THIS POST I APPRECIATE EVERYONES PATIENCE AND WILL INSHA ALLAH TALK TO EVERYONE VERY SOON. MAY ALLAH BE WITH US ALL.
MUJAHID MOHAMMED ABDUL MALIK-UL-MULK
