Originally Posted by douglas

I'm not sure I understand what you are saying. As Chili has already pointed out, you have a father, and you have a son. The "holy spirit" supposedly represents the love that exists between them. Hence, the trinity.

A trinitarian would argue that you can't only have a father and a son. You must have a spiritual bond that connects them. If there is no bond, than they are just two unrelated, unconnected strangers.

Originally Posted by reniaa

[still doesn't explain why trinity as a word doesn't appear in the bible which it would for such a central teaching. It amuses me no end how trinitarians constantly try to explain 3 into 1 by as many means possible. Always missing the point that the bible says more than anything else that jesus is God's son, he could be just that, a special creation made before everything else. We are made in god's image and if a man has a son he a separate being to his dad he can be a lot like him but he is still separate.

why would the bible call jesus God's son knowing how we view father and son relationships then bring in the whole 3 in 1 thing...but it doesn't because trinity isn't a bible teaching which is the OP point and one that puts me off most trinity taught christian religions but I keep looking in hope.

the trinitarian belief wasn't confirmed as a definate concept till the council of nicea in 325 AD and strongly influenced by the overseership of constantine.

It could be safe to say without John 1:1 there would be no trinity.

Originally Posted by douglas

[I'm not sure I understand what you are saying. As Chili has already pointed out, you have a father, and you have a son. The "holy spirit" supposedly represents the love that exists between them. Hence, the trinity.

A trinitarian would argue that you can't only have a father and a son. You must have a spiritual bond that connects them. If there is no bond, than they are just two unrelated, unconnected strangers.

Originally Posted by badger3k

I've heard the hypothesis that this trinity idea was based upon the "family" concept of other religions (father, mother, child), with some references being used to show that the holy spirit was/became sort-of feminine (replacing Mary) or some such - there are a few different arguments, and nothing really sticks in my head right now.

Not sure of the validity or possibility to that, but it's another idea to toss out.

Originally Posted by huff

Hi all :wave: , I have been lurking on this site for quite a while and I enjoy the scholarly debate found on this forum. I have a question that I'm not sure about and after a search I didn't see anything come up in the first couple of pages (let me apologize if I should have searched further.) Is the trinity a biblical concept or is it something that has been designed by Protestants, kind of like the rapture. I was raised as a Southern Baptist and I am familiar with the logic that father, the son, and the holy spirit are three separate entities but somehow the same. Luckily I have the ability to look at things objectively/rationally and I turned out not to be a Southern Baptist after all!

Originally Posted by Salam

OK, let's say Jesus is perfect but not divine.

Originally Posted by Joan of Bark

But he's not perfect! He said so himself!

Mark 10:18 (also Luke 18:19) (NIV) "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone."

Unless you can be perfect without being good?

Originally Posted by aChristian

Well, you have gotten a lot of whacky responses to this question. The Trinity is evident throughout the whole Bible. The word is not in the Bible, but the concept is there. It is a theological term that attempts to describe succinctly what the Bible teaches about God's nature. You can get on any good Protestant website and get tons of scripture and information on it. Try Hank Hanegraff's website or any good evangelical website. A lot of Catholic websites are probably good as well on this question. The short answer is that is wasn't invented by the Catholics or anyone, it is revealed in the Bible by God himself.

Originally Posted by douglas

You have no clue what the trinity means or where it came from, do you aChristian? You're just trolling for converts. I dare anyone to got to Hank's website and make heads or tails out of the explanation. The newadvent.org explanation is better, in that it at least acknowledges the history behind the concept.

Is this one of those "wacky responses" you were referring to? I just hope your baptist pastor doesn't happen to be this guy.

Originally Posted by aChristian

Trolling for converts? Of course I am. I don't want to see anyone go to hell. I am just putting in a word now and then in case anyone is interested in the truth.