17. We see this same blasphemous disregard (if the trinity doctrine were actually true) for the third person of the trinitarian God (the Holy Spirit) in all areas of the Holy Scriptures. For example, when giving thanks to (or praising or blessing) God, the inspired Bible writers (and Jesus himself) always said "blessed be God" (Lk 1:68) or "praise Jehovah" (Ps. 22:23, 26; 146:1, 2, ASV) or "thank you, Father" (Matt. 11:25; Lk 10:21)!! They never said "blessed be the holy Spirit" or "thank you, Holy Spirit" or "praise the Holy Spirit"! But they did frequently say: "praise the Father;" "blessed be the Father;" etc. (Mt 11:25; Lk 10:21; Jn 11:41; 2 Cor. 1:3; 11:31; Eph. 1:3; 5:20; Col. 1:3, 12; 3:17; 1 Pet. 1:3, etc.) If the Holy Spirit were really a Person who were God, "he" would not be treated this way! Only if "he" were not a person would such an important thing as HS be ignored in so many scriptures that are intended to bless, thank, praise, etc. God.
(Also note Matt. 24:36 where
'... no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.' - NASB.
Here, again, we are being told of the highest persons in all creation and only one is the highest of them all: the Father. The holy spirit is not even mentioned - - - - Why? Because it is not a person. It is merely an extension of the Father, his power, or active force. If 'he' were another person who was equally God, it would have been blasphemous to ignore 'him' altogether here as has been done by Jesus. Only the correct knowledge of God can explain such things:
'Father, .... This is eternal life: to know thee who alone art truly God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.' - Jn 17:1, 3; NEB.)
Although the Holy Spirit is, in a figurative sense, an extension of God, the Father, Himself and even personified at times, we are still never told to pray to the Holy Spirit, nor do we ever see anyone in the Holy Scriptures praying to the Holy Spirit! Certainly the Bible will tell God's worshipers exactly to whom they must pray! Jesus commanded: "When you pray, ... pray to your Father.... This is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven ...'" - Matt. 6:6, 9, NIV. And to whom did Jesus himself pray? "Father, .... this is eternal life: to know thee who alone art truly God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." - Jn 17:1, 3, New English Bible.
Besides the obvious statement of exactly who the only True God really is, this scripture (Jn 17:1, 3) tells us that, if we wish to attain eternal life, we must know two persons: (1) the Father (who alone is God and, alone, has the personal name Jehovah) and (2) the Son. If the Holy Spirit were really a person who is God, why is "he" completely ignored in this scripture which concerns all-important knowledge which can lead to eternal life for the Christian? - - "saith Jehovah, .... ye shall call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me" - Jer. 29:11, 12, ASV. "Hear my prayer, O Jehovah" - Ps. 102:1, ASV. "thou, O Jehovah, art our Father" - Is. 63:16, ASV.
A similar concept concerns exactly whom we are commanded to worship. We are never told in the Bible to worship the Holy Spirit, and we never see anyone in the Holy Scriptures worshiping the Holy Spirit! Trinitarians tell us that since men have "worshiped" (proskuneo in NT Greek) Christ that must make him God. That can be shown false by examining the different meanings of proskuneo and how it has even been honorably applied in the Scriptures to godly men (including Jesus, of course) in its secondary sense - see the WORSHIP study paper. Worship in its highest sense, however, is applied in the Bible to only one Person: Jehovah who is the Father alone and God alone! e.g., "Worship Jehovah in holy array" - Ps. 29:2, ASV; "Worship God" - Rev. 22:9 "Jesus said .... 'true worshipers will worship the Father'" - Jn 4:21, 23. Obviously the Holy Scriptures will tell God's people exactly whom they must worship as God! That is why so many trinitarians have insisted that Jesus was "worshiped" in the same sense as the Father. But search as you will, and in spite of the frequent personification of the Holy Spirit, you will never find the Holy Spirit being worshiped in any sense of the word!!
We have seen that in all the visions of God reported in the Bible (Ezekiel 1; Daniel 7; Acts 7:55, 56; Rev. 4 and 5; etc.) God is represented as a single person. And sometimes Jesus (the Lamb, the Son of Man, etc.), who is not called God, is even seen approaching God (e.g., Rev. 4:9-5:1, 6, 7; Dan. 7:9, 13). But we never see the "person" of the Holy Spirit in any of these visions! God is Jehovah (the Father only)!
Besides visions of God, we are told about the throne of God in heaven and who sits upon it: "He who conquers, I [Jesus] will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne." - Rev. 3:21, RSV. Here we see that just as those victorious Christians who are allowed to sit with Christ on his throne are not equal to Christ in any sense, neither was Jesus who was allowed to sit with the Father on the Father's throne equal to the Father in any sense! God's throne is the Father's throne. Jesus is allowed to sit at the right hand of God until he is ready to subdue his enemies and assume his own (lesser) throne. And those chosen Christians who are faithful to the end may likewise sit with Jesus on his throne for a time. But where is the Holy Spirit? We are never told that the HS has a throne at all, let alone God's throne! The Father (God alone) has a throne. Jesus has a throne. Some heaven-resurrected Christians have thrones. Why doesn't the Holy Spirit have a throne? Because persons, not things (usually not even personified things), have thrones!
"Christ Jesus ... is at the right hand of God" - Ro. 8:34, RSV. "Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God" - 1 Peter 3:21, 22, RSV. Obviously "God" here is not three persons. Jesus is not sitting at the right hand of himself (and two others)! So is this (finally) God the Holy Spirit?
"the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory.... accomplished in Christ when he raised him from the dead, and made him sit at his right hand in the heavenly places" - Eph. 1:17, 20, RSV. So who is the God that Jesus sits at the right hand of? The Father! (Notice, he is also Jesus' God! Does anyone ever call another person his God if they are both equal? Only when the other person is far superior is he called "my God," "his God," "your God," etc.! The Father, Jehovah, is Jesus' God ! - Micah 5:4 [see f.n. in NIVSB]; 1 Cor. 11:3; 2 Cor. 11:31; Eph. 1:3, 17; 1 Peter 1:3; Rev. 3:12. Jesus is not equally God with the Father, Jehovah, as the trinity doctrine insists!) There is no 'God the Holy Spirit.' We never see "him" as a person of any kind (let alone God), and "he" is pointedly ignored in nearly every instance where "God the Holy Spirit" (if there were really such a thing) would have to be praised, acknowledged, worshiped, etc.
So in spite of the fact that in a very few instances we can find the Holy Spirit mentioned along with the Son and the Father, it is significantly absent in most places where, if it were really God Himself it would be mentioned by respectful, inspired Bible writers:
- "But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone." - Mark 13:32, NASB. Why is the Father alone all-knowing? Because He alone is God! Why would the Holy Spirit not be mentioned here when the scripture is listing all the most knowledgeable persons in existence? Because it is not a person and certainly not a person who is God Himself!
- "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ" - Ro. 1:7, NIV. Exactly who is God here, and where is the HS?
- "yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all things came ... and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came." - 1 Cor. 8:6, NIV. Why is the one God for Christians shown to be the Father only? Where is the HS in this list for Christians of the most important persons?
- "Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!" - Eph 1:3, GNB.
Who is the God of the heaven-resurrected Jesus? Why is the HS never given thanks, praise, etc.?
- "always and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father." - Eph 5:20, RSV. Exactly who is the God we give thanks to in this scripture? Why is the HS never given thanks, praise, etc.?
- "Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you" - 1 Thess. 3:11, RSV. Exactly who is our God in this scripture, and where is the HS?
- "to ... the church in Thessalonica who belong to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" - 2 Thess. 1:1, GNB. Exactly who is God in this scripture and where is the HS?
- "In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels, I warn you to keep these instructions"- 1 Tim. 5:21, NRSV. Who is God in this scripture? Where is the HS in this listing of the most important persons?
- " Grace be unto you, and peace, from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ." - Phil. 1:2, KJV. Who is God here, and where is the HS?
- "All honor to God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" - 1 Peter 1:3, Living Bible. Who is God in this scripture? Why is the HS never given honor (or blessed)?
- "Our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ" - 1 Jn 1:3, NIV. But where is the HS here?
- "[Jesus] made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father." - Rev. 1:6, NIV.
Some of us are servants of other men. In a higher sense we are also servants of Jesus. In a higher sense yet we are also servants of God (Jehovah, the Father). Why are we never servants of the HS in the inspired scriptures? Exactly who is the heaven-resurrected Jesus' God in this scripture?
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