Is there any similarity between the Holy Trinity of Christianity and the pagan trinity? Or what is the difference? And was the cause of spreading Christianity in Egypt the similarity between the Trinity of Christianity and the pagan trinity as manifested
If we say that the cause of spreading Christianity quickly in Egypt is the similarity between its dogmas and the dogmas of the pharaonic Egypt, what then is the cause of the spreading of Christianity in other countries of the world?
Was it also a matter of similarity of dogmas? And if there was similarity, why was Christianity persecuted by paganism?
Why did the pagans kill St. Mark who preached the gospel in Egypt? Why had there been harsh conflict between paganism and Christianity along four centuries which ended with the extermination of paganism as its worshippers abandoned it and the idols were destroyed… !
No doubt Christianity revealed the falsehood and wrong concepts of paganism and not the similarity! Otherwise there would have been no need for a new religion to replace paganism.
As regards the dogma of the Trinity, it is clear that paganism does not believe in it.
Paganism believes in plurality of gods on a large scale not in trinity.
Pharaonic Egypt believed in god “Raa” who created god “Sho” and goddess “Neftoot.” These two married and gave birth to god “Gab” the god of earth and goddess “Nout” goddess of heaven.
These in turn married and gave birth to Osoriso, lsis, Sett and Naftis. “Osoris” & “Isis” married and begot god Horus. There were also many other gods worshipped by the Egyptians.
Where then is the trinity amidst all this multitude of gods?
Can we choose three of those gods and call them trinity?
In the story of Osoris and Isis for example, we mentioned ten Egyptian gods. Even in this story when Isis saved her murdered husband Osoris and restored him to life, she was helped by Tohoot, god of wisdom, Anobis, god of mummification and by her sister Naftis. It is not then confined to a trinity i.e. to three gods and the old Egyptian dogmas have no such dogma known as trinity.
However, we say:
Christianity does not only believe in trinity but in Trinity and Oneness (monotheism).
This monotheism is not acceptable to the old religions which believe in plurality.
The Christian Creed begins with “Truly we believe in One God”, and after in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, we say, “One God. Amen”. And St. John the Evangelist says in his first epistle, “For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.” (1 John 5:7).
The Words “God is one” are stated in many places of the Holy Bible:
It is mentioned in (Gal 3:20), in (Jas 2:19), in (Eph 4:5), in (1 Tim 2:5), in (John 5:44), in (Rom 3:30), in (Matt 19:17) and in (Mark 12:29, 32). It also represented the first Commandment (Ex 20:3), how clear was the text of that commandment “The LORD our God, the LORD is one!” (Deut 6:4).
This same phrase “One God” was mentioned many times in Isaiah on the mouth of God Himself as in (Is 43:10, 11), (Is 45:6, 18, 21), (Is 46:9).
Christianity proclaims that the three persons (Hypostases) are One God.
This is stated in (1John 5:7) and in the words of the Lord Christ
“…. baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matt 28:19). He said “in the name” not “in the names”.
Perhaps one may ask how 1+1+1 = 1, we reply that l x l x l = l.
The Trinity represents the One God with His wisdom and His Spirit, as we say of a person that he and his mind and spirit are one being and that the fire with its light and heat are one thing.
Osoris, Isis and Horus on the other hand are not one but three gods.
This is the first difference between this story and the Holy Trinity of Christianity.
The second difference lies in the story of a marriage between a man god, Osoris and a woman goddess, Isis, begetting a son god, Horus.
There is no women nor marriage in the Christianity, God forbids!
If we say that every father, mother & son from a trinity, it would be in every place, in every country and in every family. However, this has nothing to do with the Christian Trinity.
The Son in Christianity is not the offspring of a sexual propagation.
God forbids that this be in Christianity, for God is Spirit (John 4:24) and He is above sexual propagation. The Son in Christianity is God’s uttered wisdom or God’s wise utterance. The Son’s filiation to the Father in the Trinity is the same as we say the mind begets a thought, yet the mind and the thought is one thing without sexual propagation.
A thought comes out of the mind while still in it and not separate from it, whereas in sexual propagation, the son has an independent entity separate from his father and mother who each has a separate independent entity as well. That is the difference between this and the Christian Trinity.
The Persons of the Christian Trinity are not separate from each other.
The Son says “I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.” (John 14:11). “I and My Father are One.” (John 10:30). Horus cannot say I and Osoris are one! He is in me and I am in him.
Furthermore the Persons of the Christian Trinity are equal in being eternal not differing in time.
God has His wisdom and Spirit since eternity.
But in the story of Osoris and Isis the son Horus was not in existence before being born, he came to existence afterwards. There may also be some difference in age between Osoris and Isis and they also came to existence only when being born by Gab and Nout.
God in the Holy Trinity in Christianity is from eternity, with His Wisdom and His Spirit. There was no time when one of these Person had no existence.
For all the aforementioned reasons, there can be no resemblance between the Holy Trinity of Christianity and the numerous gods of paganism with their variety in sex (a male god and a female goddess) and marriage of gods and begetting children.
