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!

Roland

I believe virtually all the verses pointing to the Trinity come from the Gospel of John:

"...and the Word [presumably Jesus] was with God and the Word was God.."

Thomas' response to Jesus after he touches his resurrected body, "My Lord and my God."

It's odd how such an important concept would be somehow absent from the other gospels.

And I don't know where the idea that the Holy Spirit was a separate "person" comes from. I mean isn't a person's "spirit" just a part of that person, not a separate entity?

Joan of Bark

I'm fairly certain the trinity is a Catholic concept, although I can't provide a reference right now.

Toto

You can start with Trinity - but this entry reads like a very religious person wrote it. The Blessed Trinity according to the Catholic Church

Tim Holt

Trinitarianism claims that God is one essence but three persons, and is part of both Catholic and Protestant Christianity. It isn't biblical in the sense of being clearly affirmed there (the word "trinity" isn't in the Bible), but is entailed by the following statements so is biblical to the extent that they are:

The Father is fully divine.
The Son is fully divine.
The Spirit is fully divine.
The Father and the Son are distinct persons.
The Father and the Spirit are distinct persons.
The Son and the Spirit are distinct persons.
There is only one god.

Salam

Maybe he wasn't referring to Jesus. It's like when we say "Oh my GOD!" when we're surprised.

mountainman

BULLNECK,
BULLSH*T and
BULLBURNER?

-Jay-

Yep, but it carried over into at least most Protestant denominations. It's one of those topics, though, that you'll get a hundred different interpretations from a hundred different people if you ask around.

I've seen the Trinity described recently as being akin to three "public faces" of God - much like one might have a different demeanor at work, at home, and at, say, a football game. (I personally think that this description, while being a fairly rational interpretation of an inherently irrational concept, is likely to smack of cop-out to a lot of people.)

Some Christians will retroject the Trinity concept onto references of plural gods in, for example, Genesis, as evidence of Biblical support, but in my opinion we have no warrant to do that.

regards,

NinJay

JoeWallack

JW:
Reverend Ingersoll tried to explain the Trinity many
years ago thusly:

Ingersoll's full article is in my admittedly biased opinion probably
one of the best articles I have ever seen explaining the Trinity. But
for the "Am Ha Aretz" among us without the benefit of theological
training such as Magus55 undoubtedly received from the Southern
Baptists this: (Closed caption for the Hamesh)

Listening to missionaries try to explain the Trinity concept has
always reminded me of an Abbott and Costello routine which could be
called "WhoSonFirst?" I never really understood the Christian concept
of the Trinity until my long time friend, Ronald Reagan, explained it
to me. So, in order to educate everyone regarding the proper
understanding of the Trinity concept it is my honor and privilege to
introduce to everyone, the former President of the United States, Mr.
Ronald Reagan:

Hullo again everybody. My good friend, JoeWallack, asked if I would
come here to help explain the Trinity. Now, I'll be the first one to
admit that I'm not perfect. I can see now that JoeWallack was 100%
correct when he told me that if I would just select Jews for the
Secretary of Treasury, State, and Defense positions we could solve
the Federal deficit problem in no time, but I wouldn't listen. But as
you know I am still known as The Great Communicator. In looking over
the posts in this folder I must say that I haven't seen this much
confusion since Yogi Berra and the Pope issued a joint statement
saying that 50% of Catholicism was 90% mental.

In order to reduce all this confusion I will now explain the Trinity
concept. Think of the Trinity as supply side religion, plenty of G-d,
more than enough for everyone. You have the Father, the Son and the
Holy Spirit. The Father and Son can have a relationship, known as the
Trickle Down Theory and the Holy Spirit can be anything which is not
the Father or Son. If you need to argue that there is just one God
you can say they are all just different dimensions of the same God.
If you need to argue that they have a relationship with each other
you can say that they all have different functions. If you need to
argue that G-d was human you can say that the Son was human. If you
need to argue that God is divine you can say that the Father is
divine. If you need to argue that God can be human and divine you
can say that the Son was human and divine. If you have a missing
piece you can argue that the Holy Spirit is the missing piece. Let me
give you an example:

Ronald Reagan : Now, think of God as an infinite pie. Now, half of
the pie well, that's God the Father. Now, half of the
pie, well, that's God the Son and the other half well,
let's just say that that's the Holy Spirit.

JoeWallack : But former President Reagan, that would be three
halfs.

Ronald Reagan : No, you don't understand. Think of the Father as an
infinite Apple Pie. Now, think of the Son as an
infinite combination of an infinite Chocolate Pie and
an infinite Pecan Pie. Now, think of the Holy Spirit
as an infinite Pineapple Upside-Down Pie. Now, take
half of the Apple Pie and half of the Pineapple Upside-
Down Pie and mix them together in an infinitely large
mixing bowl and then pour them out over the Chocolate
and Pecan Pie and then place everything in an
infinitely large cooking pan and bake for eternity in
an infinitely large oven at an infinitely hot
temperature and then remove from the oven and cut into
an infinite amount of pieces and mix for eternity with
the remaining Apple and Pineapple Upside-Down Pies.

JoeWallack : But former President Reagan, that would be a big mess.

Ronald Reagan : That's right! Now you understand.

dog-on