Rizal on the Trinity

Did you know that Jose Rizal, the Philippine national hero, was non-Trinitarian? If you read the following arguments, you would think you’re reading an Iglesia ni Cristo tract. However, these are in fact from the letters of Rizal to the Catholic priest Pablo Pastells.

"Who died on the cross? Was it God or was it man? If it was God, I cannot understand how a God can die, how a God, conscious of His mission can exclaim in his bitter melancholy: Pater, si possibile est, transeat a me calix iste! [“Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass… (cf. Matthew 26:39; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42 / also see John 18:11) - rly] and on the cross the sorrowful, “My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me?” This cry is absolutely human; it is the cry of a man who trusted in the justness of God and in the goodness of his cause and then saw himself a captive of every kind of injustice, without hope of salvation. Except the Hodie mecum eris, [i.e. Christ’s reply to the good thief, “Today you shall be with me” (Luke 23:43) - rly] all the cries of Christ on Calvary reveal a man in torment and in agony, though, what a man! For me Christ Man is greater than Christ God. If it were a God who said, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing, those who laid hands on him ought to have been forgiven unless we say that God resembles certain men who say one thing and then do another. All these subtleties of theology in explaining the union of God with man is for me an effort of fantasy. What fragile mould of human clay contains all the weight of God, Creator of the worlds? [1]

REFERENCES:

[1] The Life and Writings of Dr. José Rizal, Dr. Robert L. Yoder