Decepto-Meter

Deceptive quote: Trinitarian

The Watchtower deliberately misleads the readers to the wrong conclusion that Philip Schaff, believes the origin of trinity is from the "pagan doctrines" of Plato! Schaff openly states in the that trinity has its origin in the scripture.

"The doctrines of the Logos and the Trinity received their shape from Greek Fathers, who ... were much influenced, directly or indirectly, by the Platonic philosophy ... That errors and corruptions crept into the Church from this source can not be denied." (The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, edited by Samuel Macauley Jackson, 1957, Vol. IX, p. 91, quoted in, Should you believe the Trinity?, Watchtower publication)

Our initial comment

• For Jehovah's Witnesses to quote Philip Schaff and try to make him say that Trinity is borrowed from Platonism is utterly preposterous and totally deceptive as you will see.
• First the quote, when you read the article, is not saying that Trinity is an error! The errors Schaff refer to are not trinity! Since Schaff is a trinitarian who believes the doctrine is based upon the Bible, it should be obvious that he is referring to something else that he considers "error and corruption".
• We begin with the three quotes below to prove the point that JW's are decievers every way they turn!

What they fail to tell the same article also says:

• "The Socinian and rationalistic opinion, that the church doctrine of the Trinity sprang from Platonism and Neo-Platonism is therefore radically false. The Indian Trimurti, altogether pantheistic in spirit, is still further from the Christian Trinity" (Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church New York: Scribner's, 1924, vol. 2, p. 566)
• "The Ontological Doctrine: There is no reason to seek for sources or types of the doctrine of the Trinity outside of Christianity or of the Bible, though in the eighteenth century efforts were made to derive the Christian dogma from Plato, and later from Brahmanism and Parseeism, or, later still, from a Babylonian triad. Even were the resemblance between the Christian Trinity and the pagan triads far greater than it is, there could be no serious question of borrowing. The development, of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity is historically clear, and its motives are equally well known, being almost exclusively due to Christological speculation." (New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia, Trinity, Doctrine of the; p18)
• "The Biblical Doctrine: Early dogmaticians were of the opinion that so essential a doctrine as that of the Trinity could not have been unknown to the men of the Old Testament. However, no modem theologian who clearly distinguishes between the degrees of revelation in the Old and New Testaments can longer maintain such a view. Only an inaccurate exegesis which overlooks the more immediate grounds of interpretation can see references to the Trinity in the plural form of the divine name Elohim, the use of the plural in Gen. i. 26, or such liturgical phrases of three members as the Aaronic blessing of Num. vi. 24-26 and the Trisagion (q.v.) of Isa. vi. 3. On the other hand, the development of Christology and, later, of the doctrine of the Trinity has undoubtedly been influenced by certain passages of the Old Testament..." (New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia, Trinity, Doctrine of the; p18)
• "The doctrine of the divine Trinity is the summarized statement of the historical revelation of redemption for the Christian consciousness of God. It affirms that God is not only the ruler of the universe, but the Father of Christ, in whom he is perfectly revealed, and the source of a holy and blessed life which transforms nature and is realized in the Church. It constitutes the distinctive characteristic of Christianity as contrasted with Judaism and paganism and is a modification of Christian monotheism." (New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia, Trinity, Doctrine of the; p18)
• "Only thus much is true, that the Hellenistic philosophy operated from without, as a stimulating force, upon the form of the whole patristic theology, the doctrines of the Logos and the Trinity among the rest; and that the deeper minds of heathen antiquity showed a presentiment of a threefold distinction in the divine essence; but only a remote and vague presentiment which, like all the deeper instincts of the heathen mind, serves to strengthen Christian truth. Far clearer and more fruitful suggestions presented themselves in the Old Testament" (Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church New York: Scribner's, 1924, vol. 2, p. 566)
• The unity of God was already immovably fixed by the Old Testament as a fundamental article of revealed religion in opposition to all forms of idolatry. But the New Testament and the Christian consciousness as firmly demanded faith in the divinity of the Son, who effected redemption, and of the Holy Spirit, who founded the church and dwells in believers; and these apparently contradictory interests could be reconciled only in the form of the Trinity, that is, by distinguishing in the one and indivisible essence of God three hypostases or persons; at the same time allowing for the insufficiency of all human conceptions and words to describe such as unfathomable mystery. (Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church New York: Scribner's, 1924, vol. 2, p. 566)

Deception Exposed:

The Watchtower deliberately misleads the readers to the wrong conclusion that Philip Schaff, believes the origin of trinity is from the "pagan doctrines" of Plato! Schaff openly states in the that trinity has its origin in the scripture.

How the Watchtower quoted the source

What they left out to deliberately misrepresent the source and deceive you:

"The doctrines of the Logos and the Trinity received their shape from Greek Fathers, who ... were much influenced, directly or indirectly, by the Platonic philosophy ... That errors and corruptions crept into the Church from this source can not be denied." (The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, edited by Samuel Macauley Jackson, 1957, Vol. IX, p. 91, quoted in, Should you believe the Trinity?, Watchtower publication)

"And many of the early Christians, in turn, found peculiar attractions in the doctrines of Plato, and employed them as weapons for the defense and extension of Christianity, or cast the truths of Christianity in a Platonic mold. The doctrines of the Logos and the Trinity received their shape from Greek Fathers, who, if not trained in the schools, were much influenced, directly or indirectly, by the Platonic philosophy, particularly in its Jewish-Alexandrian form. That errors and corruptions crept into the Church from this source can not be denied." (New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia, Platonism and Christianity, p91)

What they fail to tell the same article also says:

• The Platonic dogmas," says Justin Martyr, " are not foreign to Christianity. If we Christians say that all things were created and ordered by God, we seem to enounce a doctrine of Plato; and, between our view of the being of God and his, the article appears to make the only difference " (New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia, Platonism And Christianity, p 88)
• The Fathers of the early Church sought to explain the striking resemblance between the doctrines of Plato and those of Christianity, principally by the acquaintance, which, as they supposed, that philosopher had with learned Jews and with the Jewish Scriptures during his sojourn in Egypt, but partly, also, by the universal light of a divine revelation through the " Logos," which, in and through human reason, " lighteth every man that cometh into the world," and which illumined especially such sincere and humble seekers after truth as Socrates and Plato before the incarnation of the Eternal Word in the person of Jesus Christ. Passages which bear a striking resemblance to the Christian Scriptures in their picturesque, parabolic, and axiomatic style, and still more in the lofty moral, religious, and almost Christian sentiments which they express, are scattered thickly all through the dialogues (New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia, Platonism And Christianity, p 88)
• Platonism, as well as Christianity, says, Look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, only for a season; but the things which are not seen are eternal (cf. II Cor. iv. 18). The philosophy of Plato is eminently theistic. God," he says, in his " Republic " (716 A), " is (literally, holds) the beginning, middle, and end of all things. He is the supreme mind or reason, the efficient cause of all things, eternal, un-changeable, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-pervading, and all-controlling, just, holy, wise, and good, the absolutely perfect, the beginning of all truth, the fountain of all law and justice, the source of all order and beauty, and especially the cause of all good (New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia, Platonism And Christianity, p 88)

Our comment

1. As you can see, the watchtower deliberately left out the sentence, "And many of the early Christians, in turn, found peculiar attractions in the doctrines of Plato, and employed them as weapons for the defense and extension of Christianity, or cast the truths of Christianity in a Platonic mold." before their quote because it would refute and prevent their misrepresentation!
2. What Schaff is saying, is that there are many similarities between Platonism and Christianity, both trinitarians and JW's alike!
3. Schaff's point is not that early Christians borrowed their doctrine from Plato, but that they employed Platonic language to convey Christian truths for illustrative purposes. JW's do the same today when they say that the Holy Spirit is like the "electricity" of God. Early Christians had no concept of electricity as a force. Does this prove that the Watchtower false doctrine that denies the Holy Spirit is a person was borrowed from Benjamin Franklin who discovered it? Is Watchtower theology borrowed from "Franklintonic philosophy"?

Deception Exposed:

1. JW's mislead the reader into thinking that the similarities between Platonism and Christianity, but no similarities between Platonism and the Watchtower religion.
2. JW's deceive the reader into thinking that JW's have no similarities to explain!
3. For example, "If we Christians (or JW's) say that all things were created and ordered by God, we seem to enounce a doctrine of Plato". According the Jw logic, the watchtower borrowed the doctrine from Plato!