What SPECIFIC creeds were an abomination in God's sight?

[foudroyant]

Taken from here: http://www.theologyweb.com/campus/sh...Mormon-Trinity

[Bill the Cat]

Anything Smith wanted to change.

[carbon dioxide]

Taken from here: http://www.theologyweb.com/campus/sh...Mormon-Trinity

Creed according to dictionary.com

1. any system, doctrine, or formula of religious belief, as of a denomination.
2. any system or codification of belief or of opinion.
3. an authoritative, formulated statement of the chief articles of Christian belief, as the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, or the Athanasian Creed.

My understanding of it is something like the Nicean creed and the conclusions it reaches.

[foudroyant]

The Nicene Creed


We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.

Amen.
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What part or parts of this creed is/are an abomination in God's sight?

[DigitalInkling]

Does this sound like a creed?

Question: What specific creeds were an abomination in God's sight?

[foudroyant]

Thanks.
I ask because when I asked a Mormon a few years ago he didn't give me a straight answer. To my recollection he said something like, "Anything that is man-made doctrine" but when pressed what he meant by that nothing more was supplied.

I think this is very important to know because this alleged vision by Smith served as the foundation (one of them at least) for establishing his claims.

So I ask again to any Mormon as I entitled in the OP:

What SPECIFIC creeds were an abomination in God's sight?

[seven7up]

The Nicene Creed


We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.

Amen.
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What part or parts of this creed is/are an abomination in God's sight?

I believe the abominable part is the part where it says that the Father and the Son are the same substance, which implies that they are the same being.

The creed says Jesus is "of one substance with the Father". That is incorrect. Jesus is the image and likeness of the Father's person. Jesus is a perfect representative of God the Father.

However, they are not the same person, and they are not the same being. This is around the time when the church redefined what it meant to be a "person". They manipulate word meanings in order to say that there can be 3 persons, but all of them together are literally a single being.

The Athanasian Creed attempted to expand on this nonsense and repeatedly uses the new term "Trinity" (i.e. the new meaning for the term "Trinity"). It is a mess of contradictions. For example:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"We worship one God in trinity, and trinity in unity, neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance. ....The Father is infinite, the Son is infinite, the Holy Spirit is infinite. The Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, the Holy Spirit is eternal. And yet there are not three eternal Beings, but one eternal Being.... In like manner, the Father is omnipotent, the Son is omnipotent, and the Holy Spirit is omnipotent. And yet there are not three omnipotent Beings, but one omnipotent Being."
- ---- - - - - - --- - - - - - - - - - - -

Note how it says, "nor dividing the substance". This portrays the imagined metaphysical concept that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are literally a single essence/substance.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"But the divinity of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is one, the glory equal, the majesty equal. ..
all three persons are coeternal and coequal to themselves."inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son,..."

The Athanasian Creed calls God, " invisible, without body, parts, or passions, immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, ..."

In the "Mormon Trinity" thread, Bill is currently attempting to obfuscate the problems associated with the way that these terms should be understood. These are Creeds that expand the Christian's beliefs beyond what is actually taught in the Bible, and they are interpretations/teachings of men. The creeds should be understood as man-made documents. None of them are inspired, and they were not claimed to be inspired by God. The creeds were not intended to be authoritative, but that is what they supposedly ended up to be, in terms of separating Christians in "orthodox" and "non-orthodox" camps.


-7up

[foudroyant]

The creed says Jesus is "of one substance with the Father". That is incorrect.

http://www.studylight.org/com/rwp/view.cgi?bk=57&ch=1
6. Vincent: Here, substantial nature, essence.
http://www.studylight.org/com/vnt/view.cgi?bk=57&ch=1

Christ is the same substance (Homoousian) as the Father.

[seven7up]

But this is what is taught in Hebrews 1:3

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. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Hebrews 1:3, NASB).
...

Christ is the same substance (Homoousian) as the Father.

Your statement at the end contradicts Hebrews 1, which says that Jesus Christ is an exact copy, duplicate, stamped out reproduction of the Father's person/substance. They are not the same being or substance, but instead Christ is exactly like the Father in terms of being/substance. See the difference? The Father and Son have the same qualities, characteristics, even the same nature, but not necessarily a single substance/being.

Part of the suffering that Jesus endured included separation from God. This is only possible because they are not literally the same being. Hence Christ says, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me."

-7up

[foudroyant]

How the words are properly defined refute your assertion.

That's like saying there is a contradiction in that Christ is both the High Priest (Hebrews 3:1) and a slaughtered Lamb (Revelation 5:12).

[seven7up]

How the words are properly defined refute your assertion.

That's like saying there is a contradiction in that Christ is both the High Priest (Hebrews 3:1) and a slaughtered Lamb (Revelation 5:12).

I am defining the terms properly. Hebrews 1 calls Jesus a "charakter" of the Father's "hypostasis".

"a. Concerning "exact representation" (charakter)"

So, as previously explained, this is a term defined by the imagery of a stamped out copy, a duplicate, or a reproduction of the original.

"b. Concerning "nature" (hypostasis)"

Sometimes translated as "person" or "substance". Just because Jesus Christ is a reproduction of the Father's nature, does not mean that they are literally the same being or literally the same substance.

To make this more clear, Hebrews 1 does NOT say "Jesus Christ, who is the same substance as the Father". NO! Instead it says that Jesus is a copy, duplicate, reproduction, of the Father.

That is why LDS theology fits that passage of scripture so well, because Mormons literally believe it to be true.

-7up

[foudroyant]

You are defining them according to what you think the definitions are. I cited lexicons as to what these words really mean.

[seven7up]

You are defining them according to what you think the definitions are. I cited lexicons as to what these words really mean.

I am using precisely the definitions that are given by the lexicons (minus the Trinitarian commentary, which is something entirely different.)

Try this one for Charakter

the instrument used for engraving or carving

the mark stamped upon that instrument or wrought out on it

a mark or figure burned in (Lev. 13:28) or stamped on, an impression

the exact expression (the image) of any person or thing, marked likeness, precise reproduction in every respect, i.e facsimile

And this one: hypostasis

that which has actual existence

a substance, real being

the substantial quality, nature, of a person or thing


Jesus is a precise reproduction of the qualities, nature and being of God the Father. Thus they are not the same being.

-7up

[foudroyant]

What lexicon(s)?

From the NIDNTT: Christ is the charakteer tees hypostasews autou, "the very stamp of his [God's] nature" (Heb. 1:3 RSV), i.e. the One on whom God has stamped or imprinted his being. This means that the NT use is entirely different from our modern concept of character which develops itself by a will that seeks to conform to principles...Commenting on the word charakteer, F.F. Bruce writes: "Just as the image and superscription on a coin exactly correspond to the device on the die, so the Son of God 'bears the very stamp of his nature' (RSV). The Greek word charakteer, occurring only here in the New Testament, expresses this truth even more emphatically than eikwn, which is used elsewhere to denote Christ as the 'image of God (Gk. hypostasis) of God is really in Christ, who is its impress, its exact representation and embodiment. What God essentially is, is made manifest in Christ. To see Christ is to see what the Father is like (Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, NLC, 1964, 6) (2:288-289, Image, J. Gess).

From Post #8:
Vine: In the N.T. it is used metaphorically in Heb. 1:3, of the Son of God as "the very image (marg., 'the impress') of His substance," R.V. The phrase expresses the fact that the Son "is both personally distinct from, and yet literally equal to, Him of whose essence He is the adequate imprint" (Liddon). The Son of God is not merely his image (His charakteer), He is the image or impress of His substance, or essence (Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, Image, page 577).

[Sparko]

I am using precisely the definitions that are given by the lexicons (minus the Trinitarian commentary, which is something entirely different.)

Try this one for Charakter

the instrument used for engraving or carving

the mark stamped upon that instrument or wrought out on it

a mark or figure burned in (Lev. 13:28) or stamped on, an impression

the exact expression (the image) of any person or thing, marked likeness, precise reproduction in every respect, i.e facsimile

And this one: hypostasis

that which has actual existence

a substance, real being

the substantial quality, nature, of a person or thing


Jesus is a precise reproduction of the qualities, nature and being of God the Father. Thus they are not the same being.

-7up

No, they are not the same PERSON, but they have the same SUBSTANCE (being) - The Trinity never claims that Jesus is the Father, or the Holy Spirit. But all three persons are GOD. ONE God. Not three.