Burned at the Stake?

I went to church recently with a young friend of mine. This particular morning was "Trinity Sunday," an event I had never heard of. I was not prepared for what transpired during the service.

At the outset, the minister drew our attention to the front of the bulletin, where he pointed out a pictorial representation of the Trinity. "Don't worry if you don't understand the trinity," the minister assured us. "It's explained in this simple diagram."

There, in old-fashioned script, given in a rounded triangle, were words that said:

·         "Father is not the Son nor the Spirit."

·         "Son is not the Spirit nor the Father."

·         "Father is not the Son nor the Spirit."

·         "God is all three."

I had never seen this image before, but no matter how long I stared at it, I couldn't derive any sense from it. Glad that's over, I thought.

Announcements were made; songs were sung. I was familiar with one hymn, "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty." I had sung this hymn numerous times in various settings, always substituting my own lyrics in the chorus. Whenever the congregation sang, "God in three persons," I quietly sang, "God isn't three persons." Whenever the congregation sang, "Blessed trinity," I quietly sang, "There's no trinity." I was careful to keep the correct meter to avoid disrupting the song's rhythm.

Then came the truly shocking part of the service. Because this was Trinity Sunday, we were invited to stand and, together with the minister, recite the "Athanasian Creed." If you're not familiar with this bit of writing, the creed is one of three supposedly central to historic Western Christianity, or so says AI. It was probably not written by Athanasius of Alexandria, the fourth-century bishop who strongly defended the doctrine of the trinity. Most scholars believe it was composed in Latin in Western Europe around the fifth or sixth century. Regardless, I had never read this creed before, and as I read the words, I grew more and more incredulous. How could anyone believe this? If the congregation, with its median age of 85, had broken out into a rousing rendition of the song "The Bare Necessities" from the movie The Jungle Book, I couldn't have been more shocked.

 Here are some snippets of what the minister and congregation read:

·         “We worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; neither confusing the Persons nor dividing the substance."

·         "The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God; and yet there are not three Gods, but one God."

·         "The Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, and the Holy Spirit is eternal; and yet there are not three eternals, but one eternal."

·         "Although He is God and Man, yet He is not two, but one Christ."

·         "God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and Man, of the substance of His mother, born into the world. Perfect God and Perfect Man, of a reasonable Soul and human flesh subsisting."

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You must read the full creed to get a sense of its peculiar blend of circular logic and rhetorical legerdemain. It leaves the brain scrambled because there is not a shred of logic or Scriptural evidence to hang your hat on. Over and over again, in various ways and in sundry contortions, we were told that three is one, that one is three, and you best believe it.

And here's the kicker. It also said: "Whoever desires to be saved must above all hold the catholic faith." In other words, if you do not believe the words of this creed, then you cannot be saved.

Now, as I said, I was shocked by the words of this creed. I was also shocked that folks were expected to recite this en masse. Just when I didn't think I could be shocked any further, the minister concluded the reading by pronouncing that, if anyone in the pews didn't believe these words, they were a heretic. "And we will take you out on the front lawn and burn you at the stake." Those were his exact words. "We will take you out on the front lawn and burn you at the stake." From my seat, I could see out the window onto the front lawn, and for a split second, I imagined such an event taking place.

But no, I thought, he must be kidding about the burning at the stake bit. (I had heard this fellow deliver a talk before and knew he fancied himself as something of a stand-up comic.) But if he was joking about burning heretics at the stake because they didn't cotton to the doctrine of the trinity, this was also shocking. For he was basically saying that disbelief in the trinity is so rare and so unusual that he could joke about burning people on the front lawn. I guess he doesn't realize that there has been a real resurgence of belief in biblical unitarianism—that is, belief that there is ONE God and Jesus Christ is God's Son, not God—throughout the United States in recent years, not unlike the one that occurred in nineteenth-century New England.

After this pronouncement, a guest minister, a young fellow, delivered an impassioned, edifying sermon on the "Great Commission" spoken of in Matthew 18. He never mentioned the trinity.

After the service, I fled the church and met my young friend afterward for a convivial lunch. The Athanasian Creed never came up.

As for being saved, I would rather stake my eternal life on the Scriptures rather than on some bunkum invented by an addle-brained cleric in the Dark Ages.

Romans 10:9-10 (ASV)

‍ ‍9 because if thou shalt [b]confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved: 

‍ ‍10 for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

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