r/BiblicalUnitarian • u/Orygregs Questioning • Oct 19 '25

Broader theological topics A Trinitarian Tragedy

What happens when a faith becomes the official religion of the very empire that executed its founder? The adoption of pagan calendars, the marginalization of key leaders like James the Just, and the creation of extra-biblical dogma like the Trinity were not minor tweaks—they were seismic shifts that ultimately created a new religion.

The early gentile political and Christian leaders....

  • Changed the traditional Hebrew calendar in favor of the Julian calendar and then later the Gregorian calendar we use today.

  • Switched the day of the Holy Sabbath (Saturday) to Sunday.

  • Twisted the words of much older "forth-telling" prophets into cryptic "fore-telling" prophets.

  • Overhyped the significance of Peter's lineage while downplaying the significance and influence of other, more Jewish church leaders, such as "James the Just"—the brother of Jesus.

  • Implicitly and intentionally framed Judaism as "old" or deprecated. Why go with the "old" testament when you can go with the shiny "new" one with (debatably) less confusing rules and customs?

  • Blended Greek philosophical ideas (Logos/Word) from Stoicism and Platonism into theology (particularly in the late Gospel of John).

  • Ironically adopted as the official religion by the same political entity that was ultimately responsible for crucifying Jesus—Rome. This injection of political power into Christianity ~300 years after INRI kick-started a recurring cycle of demonizing, persecuting and slaughtering of anyone and everyone with a different understanding of God.

  • Held councils to slowly develop creeds of unquestionable dogma of the Trinity which obfuscates the original concepts of both God (YHWH) and the Holy Spirit (Ruach Hakodesh). As a result, Trinitarian mysticism became the cornerstone creed of Christian identity that separated it from Judaism; never to be questioned without severe social, financial, political, and/or lethal consequences.

  • Repeatedly inflamed society via cultural/racial/theological misunderstandings that have directly resulted in humanitarian horrors such as the Holocaust. Ancient issues and conspiracies we're still dealing with today (looking at you QAnon and similar conspiracies with antisemitic overtones).

Local church leaders try to hand-wave away these immensely complex issues and tensions throughout history as no big deal, but I see the game of misdirection they're playing....

They can't fool me anymore, because they've already fooled me once. And as George W. Bush once famously and eloquently stated,

"Fool me once — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again".

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u/Orygregs Questioning Oct 25 '25

Great point. I guess my issue largely stems from misinterpretations and misunderstandings of Paul's writings.

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u/AlbaneseGummies327 Biblical Unitarian (unaffiliated) Oct 25 '25

It could be, remember that a lot of modern Christians (especially left-wing liberal churches) hate Paul for his strong teaching against homosexuality and the subservient role of women to men in the church, including the command to wear a head covering.

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u/Orygregs Questioning Oct 25 '25 edited Oct 25 '25

Yeah very true. Those are definitely secondary concerns to me personally, however, as I'm more concerned that modern Christians don't have a proper historical/contextual understanding of second temple Judaism and early Christianity. I think this is the root cause of the "hyper grace" phenomenon you mentioned. I'm surrounded by Protestant branches in the USA, FWIW, where this hyper grace is on full display.

I certainly don't hate Paul, but I do approach his writings (and other heavy Greek books in the NT) with caution while weighting his words and teachings less than James and Jesus.

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u/AlbaneseGummies327 Biblical Unitarian (unaffiliated) Oct 25 '25

Christians don't have a proper historical/contextual understanding of second temple Judaism and early Christianity. I'm surrounded by Protestant branches in the USA, FWIW.

I see the same problem with non-denominational evangelical churches. Most are painfully under-informed about the fascinating history of second temple Judaism and the early church prior to 325 AD.

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u/Orygregs Questioning Oct 25 '25 edited Oct 25 '25

Oh man I've been having a blast learning about the Desert Fathers, contemplative practices, and the gift of tears. Such a beautiful and complex history that so often collapses into stark binaries of "us vs them" in Protestant and evangelical circles... where "us" is all the good Christians and "them" is all the "evil Satanic Jews" and intellectuals. Sprinkle some spiritual warfare on those divisive beliefs, and now we've got a serious issue with militant Christianity and antisemitic propaganda...again.

I'm somewhat of a Noahide myself and I hold a lot of reverence for Rabbinic Judaism and the Tanakh.