In today's culture many recognize that most Christian religions believe in what is called the "Holy Trinity". Many are surprised to find that the Many religions have taught the Trinity as well for many years. Why is that? Where did the idea of the Trinity actually originate? To find the answer we are going to have to go back as far back in history as organized religion is recorded, long before the bible was ever written.
Babylon
The bible was written by Moses in 1513 B.C.E. The events we are talking about now occurred over 4,350 years ago. Back to the construction the Babylonian temple under the dominion of who we know only as Nimrod. This man was in complete opposition of God and declared himself a God, later being called Marduk or Shamash.
This is the father of a Trinity the Babylonians believed in. Take note of one important fact, Shamash was a sun god. As we move along you'll notice a pattern here. He also was a god of justice, law, and salvation. He was considered the father in this Trinity relationship we will describe here.
Next is Sin considered the son, he was a moon god and symbolized by a bull.
To finish the Trinity we have a mother named Ishtar she was the goddess of fertility, love, war and sex.
So for clarity this is what we're looking at:
Father- Shamash (sun, justice, law, god of salvation)
Son- Sin (moon, bull)
Mother- Ishtar (Goddess of fertility, love, war, sex)
Egypt
Move forward to our next world power Egypt. They had the Trinity:
Father- Osiris (god of the afterlife, death, life, and resurrection)
Son- Horus (Sky, war, hunting)
Mother- Isis (Goddess of health, marriage, and wisdom)
Notice the connection between salvation and resurrection or afterlife. Essentially the same between the fathers in these trinities. The son went from moon to sky, and the mother from love and sex to simply marriage.
Again just for emphasis all of these we will be discussing are trinities in other words they are 3 and yet 1.
Greece
So what happened when the Grecian empire took control? The following Trinity took the lead:
Father- Zeus (sky, lightning, thunder, law, order, justice)
Son- Apollo (music, poetry, art, oracles, archery, plague, medicine, sun, light and knowledge)
Mother- Athena (Wisdom and War)
Here we see a rearranging of positions yet still a father, son and mother. The father now in the sky, and holds law and justice much like the Babylonian god Shamash. The son now is the sun god and takes knowledge from his mother. Yet she holds wisdom from Egypt and war from Babylon.
Rome
Now Rome comes along and as we all know they simply rename the gods and goddesses according to their liking. This is what we end up with:
Father- Jupiter (god of gods, sky)
Son- Mars (God of war, Destruction and masculinity)
Mother- Venus (love, beauty, sex, fertility, prosperity, victory, and desire)
Jupiter the father holds sky and his son Mars takes on war and destruction. Venus still holds love, sex ect. So we see the pattern continues. But here's the big question what does all of this have to do with the Christian Trinity?
Roman Catholicism
As Christianity took a stronger grip on religion the Roman Empire thought it best to adopt the beliefs as their own. This wasn't unusual for them, they adopted the Grecian religion, actually the Romans were known to allow captives to keep their religion and the Romans would add it to their own beliefs. So what would happen?
In 325 A.D. Emperor Constantine held the first council of Nicene where they made the creed of Nicaea. Emperor Constantine was a Sun worshiper, as Christians would call a "pagan". In this creed they mixed Christianity along with pagan worship, seeing what would fit together.
On May 20th 325 they combined the Father (Jehovah as he was known to the Christians then) and the Son (Jesus) as one god. At this point the only mention of the holy spirit is "we believe in the holy spirit"; however in 381 they added "the Lord and Giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spake by the prophets." To that clause.
No where in the bible does it say to worship the holy spirit. It does say to be baptized in holy spirit but never says to worship it.
As Eusebius described, Constantine "himself proceeded through the midst of the assembly, like some heavenly messenger of God, clothed in raiment which glittered as it were with rays of light, reflecting the glowing radiance of a purple robe, and adorned with the brilliant
splendor of gold and precious stones". The emperor (Sun worshipper) was present as an overseer and presider.
"Some 22 of the bishops at the council, led by Eusebius of Nicomedia, came as supporters of Arius. But when some of the more shocking passages from his writings were read, they were almost universally seen as blasphemous." ~Carroll, Warren (1 March 1987), The Building of Christendom, Front Royal: Christendom College Press, ISBN 978-0-93-188824-3
The Arian controversy arose in Alexandria when the newly reinstated presbyter Arius began to spread doctrinal views that were contrary to those of his bishop. The disputed issues centered on the natures and relationship of God (the Father) and the Son of God (Jesus). The disagreements sprang from different ideas about the God-head and what it meant for Jesus to be his son. Alexander maintained that the Son was divine in just the same sense that the Father is, co-eternal with the Father, else he could not be a true Son. Arius emphasized the supremacy and uniqueness of God the Father, meaning that the Father alone is almighty and infinite, and that therefore the Father's divinity must be greater than the Son's. Arius taught that the Son had a beginning, and that he possessed neither the eternity nor the true divinity of the Father, but was rather made "God" only by the Father's permission and power, and that the Son was rather the very first and the most perfect of God's creatures.
Much of the debate hinged on the difference between being "born" or "created" (Revelation 3:14 calls Jesus, the amen, a creation, not creator) and being "begotten" (only-begotten son, to be begotten means to be brought into existence). Arians saw these as essentially the same; followers of Alexander did not.
So in conclusion the trinity doctrine has been floating around by pagan worship for thousands of years but the Catholic Church adopted it from false religions and sadly many other churches adopted it from the Catholic church.
John 4:24 Jesus said those worshipping God must worship him with "truth". Sadly many say it doesn't matter what you believe, such ones haven't considered what Jesus said about worshipping with truth. John 17:3 he said we must "take in knowledge of him" to get everlasting life. Finally in Revelation, it speaks of "Babylon the great" being destroyed, this rightly represents false religion because as was brought out at the start the Trinity (along with many other false teachings) started there.
So I encourage you as Revelation 18:2-4 says "to get out of her if you do not want to share with her in her sins" if you find your religions teaches the Trinity please flee from it! Run! Or you will share with her in her plagues!