IonMic

Almost right,

ENTITY 1: God, the father of Jesus, our heavenly father [in physical and/or spirit form]
ENTITY 2: Jesus, the son of God, our Lord and savior [in physical and/or spirit form]

ENTITY 3: The Holy Ghost, This is a spirit child of God that helps to comfort and confirm the truth of God and help other teach,learn guides and acts as a spiritual witness of christ and heavenly father.[in spirit form only]


okay most Christians do not believe my version at all they believe in this magical mystical entity without shape or form that is all three parts of the trinity so in effect making a trinity meaning three of into one thing and oh yeah we apparently look like this thing that has no shape or form. Their Trinity concept isnt biblically based but is doctrine that was defined by man (not God) at the council of Nicaea by the catholic church and basically most christians believe this because they are told to believe it and not go looking for something that shows more logic and sense and adheres to the scriptures because this might lead them to another church.

The church i belong to is where i first encountered the viewpoint of the trinity i have expressed above and this made far more sense than anything i had learnt of in the past

mdarus

"Trinity" is better understood as a combination of "tri" and "unity". It is attempt to understand what the Bible says about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in the context of there being only one God. The Bible is very clear that the Father and Son and the Holy Spirit have attributes that only God can have and that all three have personal attributes.
When trying to describe God, it is good to recognize when we are "speculating" (guessing). The definition of the Trinity is a "best guess" about the nature of God based on the information in the Bible. We are asking questions that the Bible does not directly answer.

The Bible clearly claims there is only one God. This is the Christian position. Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses do not agree with the Christian position.

There is one God. The Father is God. The Son (Jesus) is God. The Holy Spirit is God. There is only one God. Simple, right?

Catholics and the majority of Christians agree about the basic concepts of the Trinity. It does not matter much whether they use the King James translation or any other translation.

Dean Anderson

The following quotes (also from the Gospel of John, and using the same wording) seem to indicate that the author does not mean this phrase to be taken as an indication of "Jesus is God", but rather - as you say - an agreement...

(emphasis mine)

fast

I’m getting mixed messages.

Imagine a non-denominational Christian church preacher teaching the word of God in the deep south—right through the middle of the Bible belt. By best guess estimates in percentage form, how many would say 1) There is one God, and Jesus is a separate entity, and 2) There is one God, and Jesus is the same entity? The total should equal 100%.

I’m guessing that the vast majority (95%) would say Jesus is the Son of God [and say it to mean it similar to how we would interpret a human son being a different entity than that of a human father.]

So, by default, my guess is that about (5%) would also say Jesus is the Son of God [but mean it in a different way. They would mean that though Jesus is the Son of God, they are ‘as one’ and thus not separate entities.]

mdarus

You have this back-wards. The majority of Christians believe there is only one God. They believe Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are primarily one and somehow, mysteriously three. They would be uncomfortable with your use of the term "separate entity". They may agree that there are three "persons" in the Trinity, but they would not mean this as "separate entities".

fast

I'm starting to feel mighty stupid. I just can't imagine this being this complicated.

When I was a child, I though God was a person (two-arms). I thought Jesus was a person (two-arms). So, given the wording of John 3:16, where one begot the other, I was picturing (four -arms). Two people--two entities.

Then, it was said God was a spirit. Okay, fine, only two arms now, but still two entities. 1) a spirit called God and 2) a person called Jesus. One is the father and the other; hence, OTHER is the son.

Now, you are telling me that the father and the son is one and the same despite the implications of John 3:16 wording. It seems to me that the wording seemingly so clear trumps the nebulous John 1:1 and the associated passages that can be 'interpreted' as them being one.

I'm with you on the only one God part. That's easy. I can even concede to the father, son, and holy ghost be depicted 'as one' in that they are unified by will or something, but to say that typical believers in the south actually view them (two) as not a them (plural) at all seems strange.

I mean, are you saying that according to the Bible, God did not give his only son to save the world and that's what people believe? I can't imagine this being the popular thought. In fact, it seems quite the opposite. That IS what the Bible says. I quoted it. It forms the heart of Christianity. I thought Christians conjured up images of an almighty God sacrificing his son (who is not himself) to save the world. What you're saying I would think would be somehow considered blasphemy by Christians--not dearly held beliefs.

And this Holy spirit being considered a third entity seems strange too. It seems to me at least that only two entities are depicted in these regards. The spirit is more like something coming from within God and to others; hence, it's said that people can possess the Holy spirit--not a person.

I'm not fussing with anyone. I'm just trying to make sense of it all.

IonMic

as a child you understood it perfectly these two are most definately completely separate entities both physically and spiritually.
Here you have it exactly, God, Jesus and the holy ghost are three separate spirits/personages that are 'one' in purpose just as the jesus and the apostles were 'one' but yet 12 personages and just as my basketball team is 'one' as i mentioned earlier
I have thought over the role of the holy ghost much as to what he is and what motivates him if it is a him. After all we all are here to gain earthly bodies and endure the trials of life but what of the holy ghost who never receives an earthly body what glory would he receive. this led me to a few conclusions of which is right i dont know if any.

1. the holy ghost is not a personage hence why he never visibly appears, it could just be the system that god has implemented to allow him to fill the purpose the Holy ghost does.

2. This could be the heavenly mother after all the characteristics are of the holy ghost are inherently female in my opinion. but this brings back the why can it not be seen as heavenly mother would be a person the same as god the father.

3. There are numerous spirits in the spirit world that as part of their roles after this life may act as holy ghosts for individuals .

Buster Daily

Apologetics require mental gymnastics. Ignore all of the bad analogies. Christians claim that Jesus IS God and God-the-Father IS God. They also claim that there is only one God but three persons (including the personified Holy Spirit). There cannot be several persons who are all God that add up to one God. It's nonsensical. Ignore anyone claiming it's simple and straightforward. Save the mental contortions for quantum physics.

mdarus

This is not apologetics. This is theology. There is no requirement to know the complexities of theology to have faith in Christ. Apologetics is about giving people enough information so they can come to faith. Good theology is the attempt to determine what the Bible says about a subject. Often theology goes way beyond that to speculate about issues we have little biblical information about.
This is quite sound.
This is a good analogy. Just because quantum physics sometimes sounds nonsencial does not make it false. The Mormons and JW's make it easy. Who said truth is easy? The Trinity is one of the hardest and the best.

Buster Daily

The a priori assumption of inerrancy along with scriptural apologetics is the source of the theology. One God in three persons was the most tenable way to resolve the apparent contradictions but it requires us to have a different understanding of person, God, and even one.

Ha ha. I knew my attempt at humor was going to be thrown back at me. I can propose theories in quantum physics and devise an experiment to test those theories. I cannot bring a jar of Holy Spirit into the lab and see if it is a person or a God or both. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. For quantum physics we have lots of extraordinary proofs.