I didn't ask the questions, I asked for the definition of God. People were making contradictory statements in their own posts. How can I discuss what God means if I don't know what someone means by God?
You didn't start two separate threads asking if Jesus and and the HS should be worshiped? You could have started a discussion by stating your point of view and then asking for feedback.
Actually, what is orthodox today is irrelevant. I guess it would be if one believes that the Scriptures change. Do you believe the meaning of the Scriptures change?
Whether it is relevant or not, you should realize that most Christians will respond to you with a definition of God that is orthodox today. I do not believe that the meaning of scripture changes nor do I believe it has to in order to support orthodox ideas that have developed over time. The fact is, the scriptures are living and they apply to all ages and even though the scriptures do not change - cultures do change. Our cultures have now been influenced by the work of the HS in our hearts for over 2000 years - we have grown with the Kingdom of God in our hearts since the time of St. Ignatius. The truths in the Bible have been expanded without being contradicted or changed, in order to speak to our generation. The doctrine of predestination, the incarnation and the Trinity prove this.
I gave the definition of the Father and Son from the early Christians.
Did you bother to read anything from Athanasius of Alexandria? The reason he had to clarify the orthodox teaching of the nature of God was to defend against heresies like Modalism, Adoptism, and all manifestations of dualism. The early churches' cloudy, unclear understanding of the Godhead was not going to stand up against opposition. Therefore, the church had to develop a doctrine to help clarify what they already believed, but could not express.
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They were the one who were taught by Christ and the apostles, if what they say is different from modern orthodoxy, as long as it is not opposed to Scripture I will lean their direction, after all some had direct personal contact with the apostles. For instance, Ignatius, he was the disciple of John and he was appointed as the third bishop at Antioch by the apostle Peter. Ignatius says, Jesus is God. I have said nothing different. If find it surprising that you don't' know what I believe after all of this. I wonder if it isn't because of the misstatements. I said Jesus If God, the Father is God, the holy Spirit, is God. All three are separate beings not one being, yet all three are God (deity) they are all divine. I showed that the idea that the Father and the Son are the same being was considered heretical and rejected by the early church.
The Father and Son are not the same personage according to the doctrine of the Trinity either. Unfortunately, stating that all three are separate, yet divine is polytheistic because according to the OT, there is only one God. The oldest extant work in which the exact word "Trinity" (Greek Trias, triados) is used to refer to Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is Theophilus of Antioch's 2nd-century To Autolycus. The relationship between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit was not explicitly expressed in the writings of ante-Nicene Church Fathers exactly as it would later be defined during the First Council of Nicaea (325) and the First Council of Constantinople (381), namely as one substance (ousios) and three persons (hypostaseis). But their Trinitarian concepts did become defined with greater detail over time in this period.
What you said about the apostacy, I had never heard that before. So, no, again, I'm not JW. I showed where my understanding comes from and it was many, many, years before there was a JW.
I was thinking that your doctrine sounded more like SDA than JW. Of course, you know both groups believe they represent the beliefs of the Early Church, as well.
Regarding Ducky's passage, I did address it. they did worship, however, it does not say the Chrsitian is to do so. Now I'll say again, I didn't say Christians aren't to worship Jesus, I said I didn't see anything in Scripture instructing us to do so.
How often does the NT instruct us how to worship God? I can think of the Beatitudes and the Lord's Prayer.....