495 Early Church History 13: Trinity Controversy in the Fourth Century

Posted on May 11, 2023May 17, 2023 by Sean Finnegan

This is part 13 of the Early Church History class. Between the year 325 and 381 titanic shifts occurred that changed Christianity forever. Rather than ending conflict and ushering in a golden era of lasting peace, Constantine’s Council of Nicea ignited a theological civil war within Christianity that raged for six more decades. In today’s Read more about 495 Early Church History 13: Trinity Controversy in the Fourth Century[…]

Short One-God Videos

Posted on April 20, 2020April 20, 2020 by Sean Finnegan

Over at the Unitarian Christian Alliance, we’ve been hard at work putting out a bunch of short videos about who God and Jesus are. These videos are great to use as a teaching aid for adults and children. They’re also great to share with others from “traditional” Christian backgrounds to make them think. Here are Read more about Short One-God Videos[…]

175 Did Christians Believe in the Trinity before 325 (Council of Nicea)?

Posted on May 2, 2019December 28, 2020 by Sean Finnegan

Now I realize we are in the middle of our theology class, but I thought this would be a good time to take a quick break and put out my recent presentation from Restoration Fellowship’s 2019 Theological Conference, titled, “The Trinity before Nicea.” Next week we’ll get back to theology and build up a biblical Read more about 175 Did Christians Believe in the Trinity before 325 (Council of Nicea)?[…]

Did Christians Believe in the Trinity before the Council of Nicaea in 325?

Posted on April 20, 2019April 16, 2019 by Sean Finnegan

Last weekend I presented on “The Trinity before Nicea” at Restoration Fellowship’s Theological Conference in Hampton, GA. This is such an important question to wrestle with, since the answer has a huge bearing on whether the Trinity was a new idea in the fourth century or if Christians had always believed and taught it since Read more about Did Christians Believe in the Trinity before the Council of Nicaea in 325?[…]

Theology 12 – Challenging Jesus’ Humanity

Posted on April 19, 2019April 25, 2019 by Sean Finnegan

Last time we considered Jesus’ identity as God’s messiah. Today, we’ll look at a number of texts that are sometimes misunderstood to teach that Jesus is God. We’ll go through three classifications of verses: (1) those with manuscript issues, (2) those with translation issues, and (3) those with interpretation issues. Here is the breakdown. Manuscript Read more about Theology 12 – Challenging Jesus’ Humanity[…]

The Trinity before Nicea

Posted on April 12, 2019August 21, 2023 by Sean Finnegan

Did the earliest Christians of the first three hundred years believe in the Trinity? This presentation works through the most quoted texts to show that they should not be used as proof of teaching the Trinity before a.d 325. Scroll down to see my conference paper. For more podcasts and videos challenging the Trinity see: Read more about The Trinity before Nicea[…]

Theology 10 — Challenging God’s Oneness

Posted on April 4, 2019April 10, 2019 by Sean Finnegan

How many is God? Although the ancient Shema (recorded in Deuteronomy 6) teaches that God is one, Christian theologians have put forward a number of reasons arguing for a plurality within God. We will examine a number of these words, texts, and reasonings in an effort to agree with Jesus who wholeheartedly affirmed the Jewish Read more about Theology 10 — Challenging God’s Oneness[…]

163 Jesus, God’s Agent

Posted on February 10, 2019February 10, 2019 by Sean Finnegan

In this presentation you’ll learn about the core creed of the bible, both in the Old and New Testaments, the Shema, and how that relates to the smattering of texts in which Jesus may be called “God.” If Yahweh alone is God then how can Jesus be God too? Are there two Gods or is Read more about 163 Jesus, God’s Agent[…]

162 Refuting Michael Brown’s Case for the Trinity 4

Posted on February 7, 2019February 7, 2019 by Sean Finnegan

We continue our refutation of Michael Brown’s opening statement by addressing a whole smattering of texts, including Isaiah 9.6, John 20.28, Colossians 2.9, 2 Peter 1.1, Romans 9.5, and 1 John 5.20. We explain and debunk Brown’s unusual singular verb argument from 1 Thess 3.13, 2 Thess 2.16-17, and Rev 22.3-4. We briefly touch upon Read more about 162 Refuting Michael Brown’s Case for the Trinity 4[…]

161 Refuting Michael Brown’s Case for the Trinity 3

Posted on February 1, 2019June 1, 2021 by Sean Finnegan

We continue our refutation of Michael Brown’s opening statement by addressing some alleged pre-existence texts in John 17.5, John 12.41, Philippians 2.6-11, and Matthew 23.37. (See previous episodes here.) Lastly we spend some considerable time working through Hebrews 1, giving special attention to verses 8 and 10. To help you follow along, here is the Read more about 161 Refuting Michael Brown’s Case for the Trinity 3[…]

160 Refuting Michael Brown’s Case for the Trinity 2

Posted on January 26, 2019April 20, 2020 by Sean Finnegan

In this episode we tackle the next chunk of Michael Brown’s opening statement in the recent Trinity debate. We address his argument that since God’s words remain forever and Christ’s words remain forever, they must be the same (cf. Mat 24.35 vs. Isaiah 40.7-8). Next we briefly explain the grammatical issues related to Titus 2.13 Read more about 160 Refuting Michael Brown’s Case for the Trinity 2[…]

159 Refuting Michael Brown’s Case for the Trinity 1

Posted on January 24, 2019May 10, 2023 by Sean Finnegan

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Jerry Wierwille and I systematically refute Michael Brown’s problematic case for the deity of Christ in his recent debate with Dale Tuggy. Due to the number of texts Brown crammed into his opening statement, this will have to be a multipart series. In this episode we Read more about 159 Refuting Michael Brown’s Case for the Trinity 1[…]

Interview 51 Dale Tuggy Post-Debate Review

Posted on January 22, 2019January 22, 2019 by Sean Finnegan

Are you curious how Dale Tuggy thinks he did on the Trinity debate with Michael Brown? In this post-debate interview I ask him about his strongest points as well as what he thought Brown’s strongest arguments were. I ask Tuggy about Brown’s Trinity theory and he explains the “one self” version of the Trinity as Read more about Interview 51 Dale Tuggy Post-Debate Review[…]

Five Major Problems with the Trinity

Posted on January 19, 2019August 21, 2023 by Sean Finnegan

Have you wondered about the Trinity? Here are five major problems about the Trinity that need answers. I presented this at a conference in 2011. It has received more than 200k views on YouTube. Scroll down to see my original notes in outline form. For more podcasts and videos challenging the Trinity see: The Trinity Read more about Five Major Problems with the Trinity[…]

Interview 47 Christian Disciples Church and the Only True God (Calvin Chan)

Posted on December 13, 2018November 19, 2020 by Sean Finnegan

Have you heard of the Christian Disciples Church? They are a biblical unitarian group scattered throughout Asia primarily. In this episode Calvin Chan, who has been with the disciples since the beginning, will tell you the story of how this group got started as a student disciple movement. He also shares about how the founder, Read more about Interview 47 Christian Disciples Church and the Only True God (Calvin Chan)[…]

Interview 46 Misunderstood Texts about Jesus 4 (Bill Schlegel)

Posted on December 6, 2018December 6, 2018 by Sean Finnegan

This is the fourth and final part of our Misunderstood Texts about Jesus series with Bill Schlegel. In this episode he offers remarks on Philippians 2.5-6, Colossians 2.9, and Revelation 1.17. After this, I ask him one of the biggest questions on this subject: if Jesus isn’t God then how can his sacrifice possibly pay Read more about Interview 46 Misunderstood Texts about Jesus 4 (Bill Schlegel)[…]