In article <074.08.07.05.392208000@srcbs.org>, basicallyblues says...
>
>>No not at all. Almighty God does not have a God. period.
>
>>Yes He does.
>
>Maybe your God does (2 Cor. 4:4...okay maybe that was harsh of me) but
>the God of the Bible- the "only true God" as *Jesus himself called him*
>(John 17:3) YHWH does not have a God.
>
>>There is nothing 'unbiblical' about it. Or is your bible missing Mt
>>28:19? Or
>>what _did_ you think "Father, Son and Holy SPirit" are if not the
>>Trinity?
>
>Why, because the three are mentioned together. So I guess Abraham,
>Isaac and Jacob are a trinity too?

I guess you didn't notice that I capitalize THE. Or you failed to notice why.

>I'm surprised you cited this verse.

You should not be. For there is a long and venerable tradition of
using this verse, it dates back at least to St. Basil the Great.

>Few trinitarians ever try this one because it obviously does not speak
>of a trinity.

No, many trinitarians _do_ use this one, because if you look carefully
at the Greek, yes, it _does_ speak of the Trinity. That is why I
capitalized the THE. There is ONE name, that of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
That IS 1st century language for the Trinity.

>In other verses those three are listed..... as follows in The New
>Jerusalem Bible. Second Corinthians 13:13 (14) puts the three together
>in this way: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and
>the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." First Corinthians
>12:4-6 says: "There are many different gifts, but it is always the
>same Spirit; there are many different ways of serving, but it is always
>the same Lord. There are many different forms of activity, but in
>everybody it is the same God who is at work in them all." And Matthew
>28:19 reads: "Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations; baptise
>them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
>Spirit."

>Do those verses say that God, Christ, and the holy spirit constitute a
>Trinitarian Godhead, that the three are equal in substance, power, and
>eternity?

They are all references to the Trinity.

>No, they do not, no more than listing three people, such as
>Tom, Dick, and Harry, means that they are three in one.

But how can you claim that all these verses are merely equivalent to
list of three? They are not.


>This type of reference, admits McClintock and Strong's Cyclopedia of
>Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, "proves only
>that there are the three subjects named, . . . but it does not prove,
>by itself, that all the three belong nec