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S. Michael Houdmann
Supporter
The most difficult thing about the Christian concept of the Trinity is that there is no way to perfectly and completely understand it. The Trinity is a concept that is impossible for any human bein...
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Singapore Moses
Doctrine of Trinity: A crack in the foundation will show up in the superstructure. Similarly any false doctrine can be traced to some deviation from the foundational truths of the Bible. One of the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith that is ignored in practice, though not in theory, is the doctrine of Trinity. This has given rise to many unscriptural teachings and practices in the Christendom of today. There are some who argue that the word "TRINITY" does not appear in the Bible. For that matter the word "Christianity" also does not appear! A simple and straightforward understanding of the Holy Bible teaches us that God eternally exists as three Persons— the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Like any other doctrine, the doctrine of Trinity is progressively revealed in the Scriptures, a partial revelation in the Old Testament and a fuller one in the New. However, Trinity is a mystery. It cannot be fully and satisfactorily explained in human language or by any analogy. When we accept it in faith we will understand it in stages by experience. If the Jewish interpreters had admitted the plurality of Persons in one God, they would have had no great difficulty in accepting the divine claims of Christ as the Son of God. It was by quoting Psalm 110:1 that Jesus cornered them. "No one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore!" (Mt 22:41-46). It is impossible for a fair-minded Christian to deny the fact of Trinity after carefully studying, for example, the following passages: Gen 1:26; 3:22; 11:7; Psa 45:6,7; Isa 6:8; 48:16; 63:10; Hos 1:7; Mal 3:1,2; Mt 3:16,17; 28:19; Lk 1:35; 1 Cor 12:4-6; 2 Cor 13:14; Eph 4:4-6; 1 Pet 1:2; Jude 20,21. ✿ These passages are summarised into three statements by Wayne Grudem in Systematic Theology: (1) God is three Persons (Trinity); (2) Each Person is fully God (Deity); (3) There is one God (Tri-unity). Each of these statements is equally important to keep us from going astray. Eventhough the Son and the Holy Spirit are equal in deity to God the Father, they subject themselves to Him in their roles. This solemn truth is ignored these days in the Christian world. In some circles, they only talk about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, and end up with another Jesus. In others, they always talk about Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, and end up with a different spirit. The Father is forgotten in Christianity!
Lynn Willis
For most of my life i couldn't conceptualize the Holy Trinity, until I started reading scripture AFTER meeting Jesus through the Holy Spirit in January 2013. NOW it is so very clear to me. The Holy Ghost has been around forever. Literally. Moving among us, guiding us, loving us, wanting us to know Him. Old Testament speaks of it from before Jesus was conceived in Mary's womb BY the Holy Ghost: Luke 1:35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And Jesus promised us He would not leave us thusly: John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. And the Holy Trinity? Here: Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 1 John 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And a further illustration: God IS the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit is not God, God IS Jesus, but Jesus is not God. God IS God. So basically God is all three, but the Holy Spirit and Jesus singularly, are not God singularly. They are part of the omnipresent and Almighty Father, joined in a way, at the hip into one awesome and magnificent and sovereign God! I hope that helps you to know your one true God and Father better through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit who lives in US! Amen! In HIM, Lynn
Abel Christian
I hope this clarifies.The basics of Trinitarianism draw from Matt 3:16-17. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." This is just one part of the verse which explains the Holy Trinity as some might know.The verse clearly explains the very actions of the three divine persons;the voice from heaven,none other than the voice of the Father;Spirit of God descending like a dove as the Holy Spirit resting on His beloved Son, the Word made flesh as we believe. Therefore, the denomination which holds the concept of Trinitarianism truly believes that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are One God. One rather 'cute' example will be as simple as the egg, or a 'gigantic' example would be the sun, or a refreshing cup of herbal tea;herbal tea bag submerged in a cup of hot water makes a cup of energetic herbal tea!
Bob Snyder
You have to understand the doctrine of the Trinity. God is one being and three personages. For instance a cat is one being and zero persons, I am one being and one person, God is one being and three persons. It is because He is omnipresent and hyper-dimensional. Here are a couple of links to help you understand; http://youtu.be/bUy-H5MmeGU and here is the other http://www.wretchedradio.com/pdf/trinity.pdf Once you wrap your mind around that it will be easier.
David Robinson
I highly encourage everyone longing to dig deeper into the nature and characteristics of the Trinity to read Jonathon Edwards' "Essay on the Trinity." It was never published as a stand alone work but is included in "The Complete Works of Jonathon Edwards." I promise you, it will be more than worth the effort to find and read this classic treatise from the most brilliant theologian and philosopher American has ever produced. Much of Edwards' writings are highly academic and technically precise to the point of being too tedious for most of us bear. However, this article is written in a more accommodating style. It has been well said above that finite man cannot fully comprehend the concept of the Trinity. But, we can apprehend it and we can understand some things about it. Edwards' essay can help us understand more about the nature of our God, and the more we understand the more we are blessed. Through this article God opened up for me a perspective on the Trinity that has been a tremendous blessing and a source of great joy! Without using silly analogies or metaphors and avoiding all heresies (such as the modalism found in Ms. Carr's response above), Edwards shows that God must, of logical necessity, be a plurality and uses clear scriptural text to explain who Jesus and the Holy Spirit are in relation to the Father as well as how they came to be in eternity. I wish I could reprint the entire essay here to save you the time and energy required to search for it, but the length of the piece and copyright issues prevent it. I guarantee you will not regret making the effort to obtain, read and re-read the thoughts of this amazingly brilliant and godly man.
Salem Markus Purba
The Bible teaches us about the Trinity as the power in heaven (God the Father), the power on earth (Jesus the Son of Man) and the power in the Words of God (the Holy Spirit) as taught by Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew 28: 18-20; Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Baptizing means to clean some one from his/her impurities and from all of his/her idols and put the Holy Spirit wich is the Words of God in him/her. (Ezekiel 36: 25-32); for executing this mission, the power in heaven, the power on earth gained by believing and having faith in the Words is needed, otherwise mission will be failed. (Matthew 17: 20). Jesus also taught us the believers and followers of his, that the power of the Siprit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing, the Words He has spoken to us are Spirit. (John 6: 63-65). In conclusion, the Trinity is not a doctrine, it is the power of God dwelling in the believers and followers of Jesus Christ (Mark 16: 17-18).
Tony Railton
1. The Trinity, although not mentioned in the Bible, consists of 3 Persons, each with a different function, yet all in agreement in one, as they are God in one, not three. 2. The Father (God), Jesus (The Son of God), and The Holy Spirit are the three that consist of the Trinity. People will say that because the Trinity isn’t in the Bible, it should not be believed in. They are persons because Jesus said that anyone who speaks anything against the Holy Spirit would never be forgiven, as opposed to being forgiven when speaking against Father God and Jesus. Like Father God, and Jesus, the Holy Spirit can be lied to, blasphemed, tested, quenched, wounded, and grieved; therefore they are all persons with feelings. 3. To believers, the Holy Spirit speaks, instructs, teaches, and reminds believers of what Jesus has said. He also counsels and comforts. When Jesus was alive on the earth, you had to go where Jesus was to be healed or become his disciple. There was only one Jesus and He wasn’t everywhere at all times like He and the Father are now. That is why the Holy Spirit is everywhere all over the earth, being omnipresent, so that any person anywhere over the world can invite him into their lives, receiving Jesus and the Holy Spirit into their lives. 4. Jesus didn’t use the term Trinity but instead referred to it as “the name of the Father and the name of the Son and of the Holy Spirit “, referring to baptising of new believers. I believe that in Genesis, when God said, “Let us make man in our image,” “us” meant the Trinity.
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