What's up with Trinity and One God?

Question

If the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are simply three manifestations of the same God and Jesus is truly God then explain this:

1. How is Jesus God and Son of God at the same time. That looks like two gods to me. But you say that it is simply a manifestation, then what about this:

2. How is Jesus God if the Father sacrificed his only Son. Did one manifestaton killed the other? If that's not confusing then answer this:

3. If the Father killed the Son and they are both the same person, then tell me who is Jesus, the God, talking to in, Matt. 27:46, when he says, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

Also, tell me:

** Who is Jesus considering "greater than I" in John 14:28
** Who is Jesus refering to as the one who knows when the "Last Day will come" in Matthew 24:36

You can't have it both ways, You either accept that trinity points to three gods, or reject trinity and accept just one God, the one even Jesus asked for help.

DETAILS - After reviewing some answers:

From much of the answers I get the impression that you could only merge the idea of One God with the idea of a Trinity by using, metaphor and methology. People, this is your core beleif. It should be as clearly spressed in your scripture as the concept of One God is expressed both in the Torah and the Quran.

Torah:
"I am the LORD, and there is none else, beside Me there is no God"
(Isaiah 45:5)

Quran:
"Say: He, God, is One. God is He on Whom all (beings and things) depend." (Ch. 112)

You cannot base your faith on an implied meaning or something that is only explained in a metophorical way or just have to have faith. God does not run out of words. If he wants to say "I am God worship me" he will just come out and say it like this:

"Such is God, your Lord; there is no god but He, the Creator of all things; so, worship Him (and Him alone), and He has charge of all things. (Quran 6:102)

Answer 1

god is one alone!

Answer 2

Christians profess a belief in one God. Historically, most Christian churches have taught that the nature of God is something of a mystery: while being a unity, God somehow also manifests as three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (collectively called the Trinity), the classic Christian "three in one: one in three" formula. Typically, Christian orthodoxy holds that these three persons are not independent but are homoousios (a Hellenistic Greek transliteration), meaning sharing the same essence or substance of divinity. The true nature of the Trinity is held to be an inexplicable mystery, deduced from New Testament teaching but never formulaically explained. However, some critics have suggested that Christianity is a form of Tritheism. Christians will often counter this claim by asserting that since they only believe in one eternity, and that God is eternity, there can only be one God that subsists in three persons. Moreover, some small Christian sects, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses and Oneness Pentecostals, deny the idea of Trinity altogether. Other small Christian groups have their own unique viewpoint. For example, the Rastafarians, like many Christians, hold that God is both a unity and a trinity, in their case God being Haile Selassie. Rastas see themselves, and possibly all individuals, as the Holy Spirit element of the Trinity, with Haile Selassie as an incarnation of both God the Father and God the Son. Haile Selassie is also seen as the head, and the Rastafarians as the body, of God.

2. Men killed Jesus by nailing Him on a cross. That was not God.

I can have it the way that The Holy Bible teaches us, regardless of what anybody else thinks. It teaches us in the Bible that not everyone will hear the truth or go to Heaven. That is just part of it.

I do accept and believe there is only one God and that God is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.

Answer 3

The whole idea of Three in One is a mystery even to us believers! One day we will understand it all when we can actually meet Father and Son in heaven. This is where faith comes into play.
By the way... God did not kill Jesus. Man killed Jesus! God sent Jesus to teach and to be a perfect sacrifice for sin.
If you're having trouble accepting the Trinity idea, know that Christianity is centered around miracles: the virgin birth, Jesus' healings and casting out of demons, and Jesus' resurrection from death.

Answer 4

Great question!!! First, let me say that I don't believe in the trinity. God and Christ can't be the same person, or the same entity, due to what you just listed.. also because that just wouldn't be right, Christ praying to himself and all.

I believe in God the Eternal Father, in his Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. They are three distinct and seperate beings. Christ and God have bodies of flesh and bone. They have passions and aren't just epherial beings, floating around without form or passions. If that were so, then Christ wouldn't have returned to his disciples as a man, with a body. He wouldn't have returned at all. If God and Christ were the same person, then how could God's voice be heard at his baptizm?

I know most you other Christians will gasp in horror and be very offended by my answer, but just know that I mean no disrespect. You can believe what you will, I'm not here to judge you, or tell you that you're wrong. This is just my beliefs.

Answer 5

1. Jesus is God in the flesh, part of God, not the entire God, but part, made manifest in the flesh.
2. His body was killed, his soul, his spirit, the part of God was resurrected, it did not die.
3. He is talking to God, like I said before, he is Part of him, not all of him

Greater than I, God, Last Days, God. Jesus was again a PART of God, not the entire entitiy. Yes you can have it both ways or why would it read:

Jesus said, "Fear not; I am the first and the last:" Revelation 1:17
I and my Father are one. John 10:30

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...All things were made by him...He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not...And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us John 1:1, 3, 10, 14

Jesus saith...he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? John 14:9

For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. 1 John 5:7

Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. John 8:58

Jesus IS God incarnate. Easy to understand.

Answer 6

The Irish man known as St. Patrick described the trinity as a shamrock. The three leaves are seperate parts, but together they make up the whole.
Others describe it as a family, for example the Smith family. Each individual in the family is one person and each is (100%) Smith, but all together they comprise the one family. Each of the three members of the Godhead is 100% God, and together they comprise the One and Only God.

All three members of the Godhead can be seen in Matthew 3:16-17, as well as many other verses.

Answer 7

You have a point, there- I've never been particularly clear on how "God" could be 1 being and still 2 or 3 different people.

I had one man try to explain it to me this way-- I am a daughter to my parents, a sister to my 4 brothers, and a wife to my husband...

But this brings us to your 3rd question- the very physical Son crying to a very absent Father... I could figuratively "slay" the wife facet of myself by getting a divorce, but Annie the divorcee won't go crying to Annie the sister....

The only other option is that Genesis was trying to declare God as suffering from Dissociative Personality Disorder (Split Personality)... which still doesn't fit...

I personally believe that the Father and the Son are two separate beings- if They came to stand in front of you, you'd see two Men. They'd look alike, yes, but They'd be two individuals.

Answer 8

There are many gods but One TRUE God and that is the Creator, the Holy Spirit and the Father of His only begotten son Jesus Christ.
There are many Jesus's but one true Christ and that is Jesus Christ (the annointed one),the man, the Son of God.
They are One in PURPOSE not one in person.
God the Father is the Author of salvation and Jesus Christ is the Agent who carried it out.
The holy spirit is the gift that God could freely give at Pentecost because the plan of the salvation/redemption of man was fulfilled whereby it could be given.
I trust this helps...great question!

Answer 9

trinity as the bible shows it is one God being 3 persons, and each person of that Godhead is a complete God in himself.

so you have God consisting of God, God and God.
(much like a familie)

So God is both 3 and one (in unity)
Thats why Jesus is called God by Tomas (end of john gospel)
and can refer to God the father in heaven.
Its not confusion from Thomas side, cause Jesus confirms it. (Jesus would be like satan if he lied here, cause he tries to make himself God in that case)
Your idea is from a jehovah standpoint of view,but they had to change the new testament (put in the name Jehovah where its never mentioned) to achieve some ground for there believe.

Read also genesis 19:24.Where JWHW (also written as LORD in caps, or jehovah) calls out to JWHW in heaven.The unique name of God. How can JWHW call lto JWHW if hes only one??
And see what was written above Jesus head when he was crucified.
Jesus the nazoreer king of the jews.
In hebrew its written in 4 words... the first letter of each word spells JWHW together.
(Might also answer the question why the full pronouncible name of God was never revealed in the OT...)

Answer 10

this is brilliant. like,,, i've never really played the trinity angle much when arguing against christians. you put this argument together very artistically. good job.

i love point #3. i never gave that any though before. "why hast thou forsaken me?" --- yeah,, that's seems like a really odd thing for god to say to himself. even if a christian argues that the son and father are just different parts of the whole god, it still doesn't make sense why one part of god would be asking another part of god a question like this.

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edit:

and for all of you who are saying that point #2 is wrong because god didn't kill jesus, the romans did,,,, well,,, you're not really reading the point.

is it not true that "god sacrificed his only begotten son"? i could've sworn that this is what christians say. so god DID kill his son. he sacrificed him. don't argue with that because you guys are the ones who are always saying this.

Answer 11

Either you accept that we know what we are talking about, or you can put your other foot in your mouth.

You don't seem to understand the concept of a triune God. The simplest way to explain it is that there are three distinct manifestations of God with different attributes attributed to each of them while each retains the essential godness. Each manifestation is independant of the other two but is part of the same whole.

Ok, maybe that may not clear things up, but there are other articles that can explain these things.