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Similarly, for every verse held as evidence of the Trinity, there is one or more that
discredits or disqualifies. Much to the frustration of the Christian world, biblical
confirmation of Jesus teaching the Trinity is not just scarce, it is absent. If anything, the
opposite is the case. Three times Jesus is recorded as having emphasized the first
commandment, saying, “The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Mark 12:29; Matthew
22:37; and Luke 10:27). In none of these three instances did he even hint at the Trinity.
And who has more biblical authority than Jesus?
Vain analogies similarly fall apart.
The Trinitarian argument that, “God is one, but One in a triune being, like an egg
is one, but one in three separate and distinct layers” is catchy, but unsatisfying.* Once
upon a time the world was flat, and at the center of the universe. Base metals could be
transmuted into gold, and a fountain of youth promised immortality to those who could
find it. Or so people believed. But good explanations do not a reality make. The question
is not whether a valid analogy to the concept of the Trinity exists, but rather whether the
doctrine is correct in the first place. And did Jesus teach it? The answers, according to the
information cited above, are No and No.
Consequently, proponents of Trinitarian doctrine have run out of arguments.
Lacking biblical evidence, some have gone so far as to suggest Jesus taught the Trinity in
secret. Even this claim has an answer, for the Bible reports Jesus having said, “I spoke
openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where the Jews
always meet, and in secret I have said nothing” (John 18:20—italics mine).
So we have Moses teaching the oneness of God, Jesus teaching the oneness of
God, but church authorities teaching us to believe what they tell us, and not what we read
in the Bible with our own eyes. Who should we believe, Jesus or the Pauline theologians?
And what should we trust, scripture or doctrine? And a doctrine based on nonbiblical
sources at that?
It is worth noting that the Holy Qur’an not only confirms the oneness of God
(Allah) but refutes the Trinity, thereby establishing a common monotheistic thread
between the teachings of Moses, Jesus and the Holy Qur’an:
1. “Do not say Trinity: desist …” (TMQ 4:171)
2. “They do blaspheme who say: God is one of three in a Trinity: for
there is no god except one God (Allah)” (TMQ 5:73)
3. “Your God (Allah) is One God (Allah): whoever expects to meet
his Lord, let him work righteousness, and, in the worship of his Lord, admit no
one as partner” (TMQ 18:110)*
Now, these are teachings from the Holy Qur’an, but it tickles the imagination to
consider what Jesus Christ might say differently, were he to join us for a chat at a local
café (our treat, of course). We can well imagine him sitting hunched over a decaf latté as
he morosely stirs in a third packet of turbino sugar (he takes his coffee sweet, I have no
doubt), slowly swaying his bowed head as he mutters, “I told them there’s only one God.
I said it once, twice, three times. What did they need me to do—carve it in stone? That
didn’t work for Moses, why would it have worked any better for me?”
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