I Like this Approach...
miykael@pnx.com (miykael@pnx.com)
Thu, 28 Sep 1995 23:38:08 -0500
H> Bro. Davis said, "If you were Peter on the day of Pentecost, and
the people asked you,
H> 'What must we do?' you would not answer them in the manner Peter
did, would you.?"
H>You don't believe what Peter said."
H>Awesome approach, eh? (Canadian dialect there ;-) )
Very true. That is a very interesting approach. I have often used a
different approach when takin on the aspect of Trinity doctrine. I try
very hard not to come right and state, "I do not believe in the
Trinity," because I have found that it tends to set them on a defensive
attitude and totally reject any furthur comments I might make.
Instead, I tell them how and what I believe which leads them to ask,
"So you don't believe in the Trinity?" I answer, "I do not hold to the
CATHOLIC definition of the Trinity." "CATHOLIC?" etc. . .
This will let me explain the Trinity as it is defined in all textbooks
on the subject. I have discovered that MANY people out there in the
denominal world really do not know WHAT they believe. Once I begin
explaining the meanings and applications of the word PERSON to the
Trinity, the quickly see how this can become three gods, i.e.,
ploytheism - which they tend to reject. This has helped me to witness
to many Trinitarians, with great success.
Once I was chatting in the Christian conference on CompuServe about a
year ago with a woman who wanted information on Moslems. Her son had
earlier converted to this religion. I began by explaining that she
would have some extreme trouble with her son since her son could not
understand how there could be three persons in a Godhead. She agreed
that she was having major problems trying to explain the Trinity to her
son. Eventually our conversation came to the above senario, where I
explained the Catholic definition of the Trinity.
She came to understand the Oneness of God and the Extreme Diety of
Christ, but she then told me that if she told anyone that she believed
this, she would be excommunicated from her church because her own
husband was a Baptist pastor. I was almost floored. She had to go
shortly thereafter, but I have tried to continue to remember her in my
prayers that God would continue to lead her into more truth.
God Bless,
Michael Frazier
miykael@pnx.com