Someone Explain the Trinity to Me!

[gangleri2001]

I'm honestly confused by this concept.

There is one God, but God is the Father and the Father sent his Son, who is also God to Earth, after filling Mary (the mother of God the Son) with the Holy Spirit that is also God.

Could someone please explain this in the simplest terms possible? They are three different things, but together they make up one God, but are also independently God?

3 = 1

For further reference, see 2 + 2 = 5

 

[classical_hero]

How many Christians does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Three, but really one. Only it's three. Which is really one...

That is a good joke.

To properly explain the situation would take many thousands of words to get the point acro,even today the greatest theologians can't properly explain it, sine realistically it is a matter of faith to believe that God is 3 person in 1, each one unique and yet the same. It is like trying to describe the hypostatic union in Christ, meaning that Jesus is both 100% man and 100% God.

 

[Souron]

That is a good joke.

To properly explain the situation would take many thousands of words to get the point acro,even today the greatest theologians can't properly explain it, sine realistically it is a matter of faith to believe that God is 3 person in 1, each one unique and yet the same. It is like trying to describe the hypostatic union in Christ, meaning that Jesus is both 100% man and 100% God.

A preacher talking for long hours does not make him make sense. And that it takes so many words suggests a flaw in reasoning somewhere. As to taking it on faith, that is impossible without understanding the concept. You can say the words, but if you don't know what they mean then you can't believe in what they mean.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

And that it takes so many words suggests a flaw in reasoning somewhere.

I don't accept the concept of the Trinity but even I have to object to that. Some things really are complicated.

 

[Godwynn]

Tridentine theology was actually articulated much earlier than this. Most of the debates you are referencing were on the nature of Jesus Christ himself, not his position within the Trinity, though the Arian heresy certainly diminished Jesus' role and emphasized the Father.

Here is my best attempt to explain the Trinity to the uninformed:

The Father exists as the Creator of the universe, and all within it. From a modern conception, he can be considered invisible, intangible, the most "distant" of the Trinity. He is the Prime Mover in Aquinas' terminology, the pure conception of infinite divinity, and the motive force for all that is.

The Son exists as the physical incarnation of that divinity. He is the necessary intermediary between a God and His creation, having a substance at once human and divine. Jesus affirms the humanity of God and the divinity of humanity, and makes the message of the Father accessible to humanity through a living example of perfect compassion and humility.

The Holy Spirit exists as the non-incarnate divine force by which God's will is made manifest on Earth. When individuals talk about the "works of God through man," it is the Holy Spirit which allows them to occur. The Holy Spirit is what Christ leaves behind Him as a sign of His presence. Things such as miracles and grace occur by the presence of the Holy Spirit.

To summarize the roles of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one can compare them to parts of the human body: Head, heart, and hands. The Father is the generative force, the Son is the emotive force, and the Holy Spirit is the mechanical force by which the Father and Son are connected to humankind and work through them. The human body is one organism, but it has highly specialized organs which serve differing functions, so too with God.

Thank you for this post Thlayli. It makes more sense than it used to.

Is God the Father not willing to be on Earth except in the form of the Son and the Holy Spirit?

Are the three essences in the same way I am a brother, son, and uncle at the same time? I'm one person with three different roles to different people.

 

[Neonanocyborgasm]

I'm honestly confused by this concept.

There is one God, but God is the Father and the Father sent his Son, who is also God to Earth, after filling Mary (the mother of God the Son) with the Holy Spirit that is also God.

Could someone please explain this in the simplest terms possible? They are three different things, but together they make up one God, but are also independently God?

That's an easy one.

There were several versions of the original Christ story in circulation which could not all be reconciled, especially not theologically, so the only way to do so was to make God/Jesus into 3 entities, thereby allowing him to be fill 3 roles all at once.

 

[Brian Shanahan]

I'm honestly confused by this concept.

There is one God, but God is the Father and the Father sent his Son, who is also God to Earth, after filling Mary (the mother of God the Son) with the Holy Spirit that is also God.

Could someone please explain this in the simplest terms possible? They are three different things, but together they make up one God, but are also independently God?

Ignorance is Strength,
War is Peace,
Love is Hate.

This has always confused me too...

How can they all be god, but at the same time not?

Is Christianity polytheistic religion, or a monotheistic religion?

Both.

Frankly my secondary school RE teacher, who was a Brother and fairly knowledgeable, by all accounts, in the Catholic mysteries could not explain this one either. This is one of the nosensical beliefs or practices which crop at all times in all religions, where taking the idea or practice on faith is the mark of a true believer, and the lack thereof is the mark of an unbeliever who can be safely used to start the municipial bonfire in the town square.

 

[Elrohir]

I'm honestly confused by this concept.

There is one God, but God is the Father and the Father sent his Son, who is also God to Earth, after filling Mary (the mother of God the Son) with the Holy Spirit that is also God.

Could someone please explain this in the simplest terms possible? They are three different things, but together they make up one God, but are also independently God?

I'm not sure it's possible to explain this in simple terms. It's an extremely complex doctrine. (And quite honestly, something that will probably not ever be fully and completely resolved) I think it's possible for Christians to differ on the exact composition of the Godhead and yet be saved, so while it's a big thing, it's not the single biggest. (I'd say that would be faith in salvation through the death of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.) But, I'll try and explain it a bit:

You are a Person. That is, a being with rights, and ideas,, and sapience, and an existence, among other things. (Note that human is not the same as person -- a human leg is not a person, but a part of one, and E.T. would be a non-human person, and so on.) As a person, you exist -- simple enough, right? But the question is, what do you exist of? Well, the simplest answer seems to be material stuff. Bones and muscles, complex molecules, protons and neutrons, etc. Most Christians would say there's a non-physical existence as well, but that's a secondary argument -- the point is that you're a Person (Godwynn) with the Substance of (Godwynn).

This leads us to the Trinity. Each member of the Trinity is a person. But what makes the Godhead, or Trinity, one God instead of three is that these three persons share the same substance. So Jesus is the Person (Jesus Christ) with the Substance of (Godhead). And the Father is the Person (God the Father) with the Substance of (Godhead), and the Spirit is the Person (Holy Spirit) with the Substance of (Godhead). The reason this is confusing is because we're using to thinking of substance as a material thing, and we tend to think of physical substances as being one thing or another, but not separate things at the same time. (I don't think that's necessarily true, but that's how we normally think, so I'll leave that issue alone for now) But God doesn't consist of physical substance, but rather of spiritual, which certainly can have this property of existing in multiple persons.

I think it's fair enough to decide that you don't think this doctrine is true, but it's not inherently incomphrensible, either. It's just difficult, and requires thinking of things differently from how we normally think. (Which, I feel I should add, isn't terribly unusual, since we're talking about God)

Did that help at all? I can try to explain further (here, on PM, or in fiftychat) if you like.

That's an easy one.

There were several versions of the original Christ story in circulation which could not all be reconciled, especially not theologically, so the only way to do so was to make God/Jesus into 3 entities, thereby allowing him to be fill 3 roles all at once.

No. Even from the earliest records, there was a distinction between Jesus and the Father, from the Spirit/paraclete that comes after Christ. You can argue if you like that these were unnecessarily conflated later on, but saying that they came from various versions of Christ is nonsensical, since they were clearly distinct persons, even from the beginning.

 

[Agent327]

I don't accept the concept of the Trinity but even I have to object to that. Some things really are complicated.

I think I can do better.

There is only 1 God. Jesus and the Holy Spirit are attributes of that 1 God. (In other words, they are Divine.)

But here´s the catch. Since there is only 1 God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit must be God as well. Which leads to the paradox that 1 equals 3.

Ofcourse to some this is pure blasphemy; since there is only 1 God, Jesus and the H. Spirit cannot be God. (They must be of a subordinate nature.)

The Orthodox answer is that the true meaning is inconceivable to humans.

The Trinity is a concept and therefore conceivable.) Inconceivable to doesn´t mean anything.) Either something is conceived (the root verb) or it isn´t. Since it is conceived, it is conceivable. And we know so because it is a concept.

But verily, I say onto you, this is a question for Plotinus. And indeed, it came up as a question on his thread and he provided an asnwer.

 

[berkut]

There is one God, but God is the Father and the Father sent his Son, who is also God to Earth, after filling Mary (the mother of God the Son) with the Holy Spirit that is also God.

Could someone please explain this in the simplest terms possible? They are three different things, but together they make up one God, but are also independently God?

To understand we need an analogy. Man and woman are body and rib of the body, they are separate persons but incomplete, only through reunion they can be complete, in the sense of becoming one, but for this reunion happens there is the need of a third substance, the love for each other that will glue the rib back when the couple hug forming one body, that you can call family.
the trinity works in a similar manner.


And I'll risk a second analogy. God, mankind and faith are three diferent bodys that are independent (who said that humanity created god? maybe the aliens did it lol), but when people turns into god throgh faith, a new power emerge that we can call religion.

 

[NBAfan]

The Trinity is 3 different persons, but 1 God.
We will never be able to understand it excatly.

 

[cardgame]

God is shizophrenic

Personality 1: Wrathful and impulsive, this is the god of the OT

Personality 2: Nearly the opposite of personality 1

Personality 3: *sits quietly in a corner, doing nothing*

 

[NBAfan]

God is shizophrenic

Personality 1: Wrathful and impulsive, this is the god of the OT

Personality 2: Nearly the opposite of personality 1

Personality 3: *sits quietly in a corner, doing nothing*

Jesus got angry too.

 

[cardgame]

hmm, true. Well, that's the problem with over-simplification for ya.

 

[Lillefix]

Jesus got angry too.

At a fig tree

(and some merchants a little later on)

 

[dusters]

They all are parts of God. Like you are part of entity called Humans.

 

[cardgame]

no, I'm an entity of myself.

 

[dusters]

You trying to tell that you are not a human? I'm certainly a Fairy and I expect you to be one of these 2 legged, 2 handed, one headed creatures...

 

[Miles Teg]

You trying to tell that you are not a human? I'm certainly a Fairy and I expect you to be one of these 2 legged, 2 handed, one headed creatures...

I think he's saying that humanity is not an entity, because entity is singular. Unless you subscribe to some hippy hive mind or collective unconscious or whatever, humanity is a group or a category, not an entity like the trinity is supposed to be.

 

[_random_]

I think what Dusters was getting at was that the Persons of the Trinity share the same essence (divinity) just as we as men share the same essence (humanity.) Of course, there are several factors that allow the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to be considered one God, whereas we couldn't be considered one man.