Praying to Triune God

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Chris Sterrett wrote:

>To whomever felt that the AoG believes the same as Oneness Apostolics,
>I beg to differ.

I'm sure no one here has suggested the Assemblies of God and apostolics
"believe the same." What some of us are rejecting is the assertion that
Trinitarians worship an altogether "false" or "non-existent" god. Holding a
faulty or insufficient understanding of God's nature is not necessarily
equivalent to worshiping an entirely different, false deity. Let's remember
that Trinitarianism generally contends for relational distinctions within
the one spiritual essence of God, not distinctions of *beings*.

Too often we attack Trinitarianism based on extremist views, such as Jimmy
Swaggart's bizarre notion (taken from Finis Dake) that the Father, Son and
Holy Ghost each has an individual body, soul and spirit. Certainly this
smacks of outright tritheism, but it is not a fair representation of
Trinitarianism. Benny Hinn, who now carries AoG credentials, also promoted
this fringe view as a divine revelation, but recanted after it was branded
heretical by other *Trinitarians*, including the Christian Research
Institute and AoG ministers.

Likewise, some Trinitarians attack Oneness doctrine based on extremist
views. Carl Brumback, for example, falsely presented some fringe, divergent
Oneness beliefs as representative of the movement as a whole (and
thoroughly misrepresented the Oneness beliefs of John Paterson) in his book
_God In Three Persons_.

>The following are excerpts from a article written in 1985
>by a Robert M. Bowman Jr.  in the Christian Research Institute
>magazine.  Please note the every effort he made to separate God into a
>triune state.

Just for fun... ;)
Let's also take a quick look at comments from a few fine apostolic leaders
of past and present, regarding >a triune state< of God:
	
	I personally cannot refrain from believing that
	there is a plurality in God's mysterious Being, and
	that this plurality is shown as a three-ness, not
	three separate, distinct Beings or Persons of
	God, but a mysterious, inexplicable, incomprehensible
	three-ness.	
			Andrew Urshan,
			_The Almighty God in the Lord Jesus Christ_

In the same book, Bro. Urshan wrote of "our blessed and adorable THREE-ONE
GOD," and elsewhere he referred to "a divine threeness of the Divine Being"
and to God as having "a three-fold relative nature." Bro. Urshan also
believed the word Trinity was acceptable for the Oneness view, because its
true meaning is "Tri-Unity," not "Tri-Units" (_Pentecostal Witness_, Dec.
1, 1926).

Howard Goss, first general superintendent of the United Pentecostal Church,
of course denied "separate, distinct persons or Gods." But, he also
believed "we are the true trinitarians because the word trinity means
tri-unity -- three in one" (_Pentecostal Herald_, December 1948).

UPC pastor and author Kenneth Reeves's books on the godhead, with tens of
thousands in print, have probably enjoyed wider circulation in the Oneness
movement than anyone's but those of David K. Bernard. While denying any
"plurality of persons," Bro. Reeves believes that God possesses
"multi-intelligence" and that "it would not be surprising" to find "a vast
internal communication" within the godhead, such that God may speak to God
(_The Godhead, Revised_). Reeves emphasizes the Oneness of God, but some
form of triunity seems implicit in such comments.

In another post, Chris commented on a note in God's Word Translated
Student Bible:

>>From the opening lines of this book to the very end,
>>John wants us to know that Jesus is no ordinary man.
>>He is "God in a Bod"---The same God who created Heaven
>>and the earth--- in the flesh and living among us.
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>Pretty neat huh?  Trinitarians, put that in your soup and eat it! ;)

Yes, indeed, pretty neat! And, I presume this insightful comment was
written and published by [gulp] *Trinitarians*, right?

Cary Robison
Apostolic to the bone, because of His blood