Trinity or Monotheism

[Judean]

can somebody please explain to me how Trinity and monotheism are consistent,
is it three or one? choose because three is not one.

"Hear O Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one"
Deuteronomy 6:4

 

[Tree of Life]

can somebody please explain to me how Trinity and monotheism are consistent,
is it three or one? choose because three is not one.

"Hear O Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one"
Deuteronomy 6:4

The doctrine of the trinity teaches the following:

1. There is only one God
2. There are three persons in the one God
3. The three persons are distinct

Christianity believes in Tri-unity. We are not tri-theistic, believing in three Gods that are autonomous. Neither are we unitarian, believing that God is only one person. We believe that God is perfectly one as three distinct persons. God is a perfectly united community. He is so united that there is absolutely no disagreement or independence between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They live in perfect love and agreement with one another, constantly loving, glorifying, and submitting to one another.

This is what we mean when we say that "God is love". He is an eternal, united community of loving relationships. God is a network of relationships. And yet the three persons of the trinity are so united that they are one.

This is also why a triune God doesn't need anything outside of himself. He is perfectly satisfied and glorified in himself.

But a unitarian god... this is a god who is lonely. This is a god that doesn't have anything or anyone to love until he creates something to love. This is a god that needs something from his creation. This is not the god of the Bible and not the wonderful, glorious triune God.

 

[Steeno7]

can somebody please explain to me how Trinity and monotheism are consistent,
is it three or one? choose because three is not one.

"Hear O Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one"
Deuteronomy 6:4

The correct term is actually, Trinitarian Monotheism. It's not either or, it's both.

The oneness of God is not a singular, mathematical oneness, i.e. an unextended numerical integer of one, but is a relational oneness of divine being in the Triune Godhead of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So, when we declare that “God is One,” we are indicating a Trinitarian, relational Oneness. Not an abstract oneness of monism.

 

[Albion]

can somebody please explain to me how Trinity and monotheism are consistent,
is it three or one? choose because three is not one.

One God, three aspects.

That isn't the way the theologians would describe it, but you get the idea. In fact, I can't imagine how anyone could NOT get the idea.

The framers of the Nicene Creed, which is the famous exposition of the Trinity, used the term persona, and that word works quite well IMO.

 

[Judean]

most of the philosophers who believed in God believed in Its absolute unity because it is impossible for more than one being to be infinite, because if there are two there must be a "boundary" between them
which makes them finite and therefore not God

when was Trinity revealed? in the bible Jesus is called the son of God but not God, maybe he was just like Moses or as Islam views Mohammad?

there are Christians who believe in absolute unity such as the Arians, is anything in the new testament against it?

 

[lesliedellow]

when was Trinity revealed? in the bible Jesus is called the son of God but not God, maybe he was just like Moses or as Islam views Mohammad?

Try reading John 20.28

 

[Steeno7]

most of the philosophers who believed in God believed in Its absolute unity because it is impossible for more than one being to be infinite, because if there are two there must be a "boundary" between them which makes them finite and therefore not God

Not more than one being. Three Persons, one Being.

 

[Steeno7]

The Trinity is wholly a Christian concept. Appealing to two deists as higher authorities on Christian theology is pretty meaningless. All it shows is that deists deny the Trinity, which should come as no surprise.

 

[Colter]

Jesus was called God in the Bible, the Jews sought to destroy Jesus and stop his teachings because he spoke as if he was a pre-existing incarnate being.

The I AM is an Infinite, Eternal being.

In the early 19th century another epochal revelation occurred that provided further explanation and information about God, the universe, the history of our evolutionary planet and the identity, origin and office of Jesus. Jesus isn't the 2nd person of the Paradise Trinity, he is rather a Son of the Trinity, a derivation, a grandson of the Father yet co-creator of his own respective universe.

"THE Paradise Trinity of eternal Deities facilitates the Father’s escape from personality absolutism. The Trinity perfectly associates the limitless expression of God’s infinite personal will with the absoluteness of Deity. The Eternal Son and the various Sons of divine origin, together with the Conjoint Actor and his universe children, effectively provide for the Father’s liberation from the limitations otherwise inherent in primacy, perfection, changelessness, eternity, universality, absoluteness, and infinity." UB 1955​

 

[Judean]

But a unitarian god... this is a god who is lonely. This is a god that doesn't have anything or anyone to love until he creates something to love. This is a god that needs something from his creation. This is not the god of the Bible and not the wonderful, glorious triune God

God loves us, but He does not need love, He is not incomplete because of that and in fact He created the concept of love, so how can He be subject to a concept He Himself created?

even after three pages of this thread I don't understand the words "three persons one god" without saying that they are separate beings, if there are out there three thinking minds then one must be able to think and act independent of the others? if Jesus saves, that means the others would destroy
without him saving, isn't that polytheism?

 

[Albion]

even after three pages of this thread I don't understand the words "three persons one god" without saying that they are separate beings, if there are out there three thinking minds then one must be able to think and act independent of the others?

That doesn't logically follow. But in the end, you probably said it best when you said that you don't understand. I'd suggest that a few brief comments, however well intended, on a discussion board isn't the best way for you to be able to understand, either. So why don't you do a serious and thorough search and study and see what you find?

if Jesus saves, that means the others would destroy
without him saving, isn't that polytheism?

Jesus was the name of a human being, remember, and it was his sacrifice that we believe made salvation possible for mortals. The idea that "the others would destroy" seems strange, to say the least, and suggests that there are three different and possibly competing gods here, which I thought we'd gotten past.

 

[Judean]

There is One true and living God - indivisible, infinite; co-eternal, co-equal, and co-existing in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each possess the same essence and attributes of deity; deserving our obedience and reverence. However, the Father is not the Spirit; the Spirit is not the Son; and the Son is not the Father. This is the Trinity doctrine.

how can something existing in three boxes be indivisible?
I don't understand how an indivisible infinite can be "kind of divided" into three

 

[Albion]

how can something existing in three boxes be indivisible?

I didn't see anything in that post about "boxes."

I don't understand how an indivisible infinite can be "kind of divided" into three

You've never encountered anything that has three components, parts, aspects, qualities, or anything like that? I'm surprised.

And, chances are, you won't. Not so long as you keep putting words into our mouths and then taking exception to them.

 

[Judean]

Jesus was the name of a human being, remember, and it was his sacrifice that we believe made salvation possible for mortals.

thats right a human that died for the sake of mankind, not an eternal being

 

[Albion]

thats right a human that died for the sake of mankind, not an eternal being

Did you study ANYTHING about this subject before coming to us to say you didn't understand it??

Jesus of Nazareth was completely human. He was also God incarnate.

Of course the human Jesus was not operating on the same level for those 33 or so years as would have been the case had there been no Incarnation.

 

[Colter]

thats right a human that died for the sake of mankind, not an eternal being

Jesus didn't claim or teach that he was a sacrifice for Sin. The Pagans who merged with Paul's Christianity already had a sacrifice narrative in their ritualized, blood drinking, flesh eating religion. So the atonement doctrine contaminated Jesus' original message of salvation through faith.

After the cross everything changed, the original gospel was replaced by a new gospel about the cross and the risen Christ.

 

[Judean]

You've never encountered anything that has three components, parts, aspects, qualities, or anything like that? I'm surprised.

you're right I have, but I cannot imagine something like it being infinite eternal and indivisible.
Perhaps you've encountered something like that?

And, chances are, you won't. Not so long as you keep putting words into our mouths and then taking exception to them.

What do you mean? My deepest apology for any of the kind.

 

[Viren]

I think the problem with understanding the trinity is the concept that God is somewhere else. Paul makes it clear in Acts that God is in whom we live move and have our being. 1John makes it clear that God lives inside people. So the problem is trying to understand God who is Spirit in physical ways. Eyes that focus on created things will only see separation and finiteness. Spiritual eyes can see love and it has no boundaries.

 

[Steeno7]

how can something existing in three boxes be indivisible?
I don't understand how an indivisible infinite can be "kind of divided" into three

There are no boxes and there is no division.

 

[FreeinChrist]

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