Monday, January 9, 2017

Richard Cartwright, On the Logical Problem of the Trinity

Recently, a Trinitarian apologist tried to respond to one of the logical arguments against the Trinity and for the "plurality of the Gods" doctrine. While the argument was, well, stupid, it does afford me the opportunity to plug the article I derived it from:

Richard Cartwright, On the Logical Problem of the Trinity

It is a pretty "airtight" refutation of the (Latin/Creedal) Trinity.

Edmund Blackadder has kindly given his two cents on this attempted "response":



For more, see, for e.g., Latter-day Saints have chosen the True, Biblical Jesus. As I wrote in that piece:

That this is the Christological model of “Biblical Christianity” can be seen in many places, such as Heb 1:8-9:

But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity, therefore, God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness, above thy fellows.



This is an important pericope for many reasons—this is one of only a few places in the New Testament where Jesus has the term "God" (Greek: θεος) predicated upon him (others would include John 20:28 and probably, based on grammar, Titus 2:13 and 2 Pet 1:1], and yet, post-ascension, Jesus is differentiated, not simply from the person of the Father (ambiguously tolerated in Trinitarianism), but a differentiation from God (literally, the God [ο θεος]), something not tolerated in Trinitarianism. This can be further seen in the fact that this is a "Midrash" of Psa 45:6-7, a royal coronation text for the Davidic King, of whom Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment (cf. 2 Sam 7). Both the Hebrew and the Greek LXX predicates "God" upon the king, and yet, there is a God (in the case of Jesus, God the Father) above him. The LXX reads the same as Hebrews; the Hebrew literally reads "elohim, your elohim" (alt. "God, your God" [ אֱלֹהִ֣ים אֱ֭לֹהֶיךָ (elohim eloheyka)].


Finally, one can't end any discussion on this without reproducing this video ;-)