I'll go with anything anybody says so long as it does not contradict the scriptures.
For example, Athenasius says we must believe in the trinity to be saved. There is nowhere in the scriptures that says that. There are several places where the scriptures say how to be saved, but none come even close to saying we must believe the trinity.
How are we to know who God sent and who came on their own? I'm sure you know Paul warned the early church about false teachers. He even said everyone in Asia Minor turned against him. Surely we can't just believe anyone who says they are sent from God just because they say so. We must compare what others say against the scriptures to see if what they say is true or not, just as the Bereans did in Acts 17. They didn't even believe what Paul told them without searching the scriptures to verify.
Thanks for being open with your thoughts and opinions. It appears you are not easily swayed by what a denomination teaches over what the Bible actually says. That error is what I've seen a lot on these forums, and I'm sure you will notice it too. But my question for you is what if Athenasius is actually quoting what the Bible teaches? Are you going to remain staunch in what one narrow focused verse says about Jesus, and not take into consideration what the rest of scripture teaches about the rest?
Before the first century God's people had to believe in One God. That was the focus. Then the New Covenant came along and not only One God, but now that His Son was part of that One God that was hidden in the Old Testament, but was there. Jesus is the Messiah prophesied in Daniel 9:24-27. For instance, there would be those who believe in the Father as God, and that is all. They believe Jesus is not God. Others believe that God came to earth in the form of Jesus and Jesus is all. What is great is that God knows our hearts, and if you abide in Him He will make any crooked places straight. But we must be open to those changes when that light-bulb experience hits you in the forehead. I absolutely love those life changing experiences in full knowledge.
1 John 2:22-24
22 Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. 24 Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.
One chapter I love for this discussion is this one about the Father and the Son. It is not a trinity proof chapter, but more of a we can be like just like Christ chapter and why we can be sinless and have the authority of many gifts that Jesus did while on earth. Anything He did, we are authorized to do the same in His name. That excites me that we have authority even over death, IF you
know who you are in Christ.
John 17:
Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, 2 as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. 8 For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received
them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.
9 “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. 10 And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We
are. 12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father,
are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. 26 And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare
it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”