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Mut (mother), and Ptah
(بتح) or Khonsu
(حونسو). Generally we find a family of
deities, father, mother, and son, such as of Osiris (Asari
أسَري), Isis (Isi
إسِي)
and Horus (Hor
حور). The myth related about these three is widely known but
not instructive. The Egyptians believed that their deities possessed material
bodies. A hymn addressed to Osiris says: 'Thy body is of bright and shining
metal, thy head is of azure blue, and the brilliance of the turquoise encircleth
thee.' This deity also probably represented the sun. Traces of an earlier belief
in one God were preserved in the titles given to many of the gods, each of which
was often spoken of as if he alone were god.' Yet it would not be correct to say
that we actually find in the ancient religion of Egypt either monotheism or the
scriptural doctrine of the Trinity. Nor is any thing similar found among the
Lama-worshippers of Tibet.
It was also thought at one time that certain great philosophers of Greece and
other countries had by deep thought arrived at belief in the doctrine of the
Trinity in Unity. Among others, Plato was supposed to have made this discovery.
Plato (أفلاطون) was one of the greatest of Greek philosophers,
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DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY TRINITY.
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and he lived some 400 years before the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. In his
books we find much that is wise and good, but we do not discover there any clear
knowledge of the Unity of God, still less is the doctrine of the Trinity
contained in them. In the Timaeus
(طِيمَيُوس) he states the theory that the
Creator, whom he also calls the Maker and Father of this universe, formed the
world out of matter which previously existed, giving it order and harmony, and
making all things in it in accordance with a previously existing and
unchangeable pattern.1 The world is alive, because in it there dwell
reason and a soul, and Plato calls it a 'second god'. There is here much that is
superior to the polytheism of the heathen; but it would hardly be correct to
call Plato a monotheist, for he elsewhere admits the existence of the heathen
gods, and does not even make it clear that he believed the Creator to possess
personality. He seems to accept the popular belief of the heathen Greeks, that
the gods worshipped by them were the children of heaven and earth; and he
represents the Creator as addressing them as 'Gods of gods'. But it is probable
that he did not himself believe in them. Nor does he regard the creator as
ruling or caring
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