Concerning the trinity. When I read most of the verses that people use to “prove” the trinity, I do not see the same thing. When Jesus says ” if you’ve seen the son you’ve seen the Father”; and “the Father and I are one”; I always took that as meaning that they are very similar. Kind of like when someone says that your son is a chip off the old block. Could those verses like in John ch. 1 have been mistakenly copied or corrupted on purpose? I read a book about how other societies had their version of the trinity before Christ was even born. I want to say that I’m not taking anything away from Jesus and what he did for us. I truly believe he is God’s son and that he died for my sins and rose from the dead. He is my savior! It’s just that if the trinity is so hard to understand, maybe it’s because we’re trying to read it into the scriptures.
I don’t think it’s reasonable to assume that scholars and theologians down through the ages have been misreading the scriptures, and I don’t think it’s likely that every one of the thousands of original language texts still in existence could have been altered in exactly the same way so as to deceive us. The Bible is clear in affirming the Trinity. Your inference that the pagan religions started the idea and then Christianity copied it doesn’t hold water either. If you compare John 1 and Genesis 1 you find the Trinity present right from the very beginning. And how do you explain that the first time the Hebrew word for God appears in the Bible, it’s a plural word? The Bible never explains the Trinity, nor do I think the Lord expects us to understand how it’s possible, but I’m convinced He does expect us to believe it.