Can someone please explain to me how there can only be one god?

Question

but in christianity you have the son, the father and the holy ghost.

How can god be three but only be one?

This makes no sense to me, I have asked people before but dont get an answer that satisfies me.

Serious answers only please - thank you!

(I am an atheist, but I want to better understand where Christians are coming from)

Answer 1

I'm not a christian, but I do believe in the trinity.

Is a tree with 3 branches actually one tree reaching in 3 directions or is it 3 trees?

If you have a river that downstream splits into 3 different channels, does the source of water change?

The idea of the trinity is that there is one Deity, but that Deity is revealed to us in 3 distinct persons. Like the 3 branches of the tree or the 3 channels of the river, the source and essence is the same.

If you truly wish to understand this better, you might want to check out the Urantia Book. From roughly the Foreword through Paper 10 is the portion of the book with an in-depth philosophical discussion of just such concepts as the trinity, eternity, and the 3 levels of reality - existential, transcendental and experiential.

Answer 2

The Trinity or Triune Godhead = God Our Father, Jesus His Son (also God in the flesh or natural world) and the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of God Himself). They are three and they are one.

First there was the Living God (Spirit); He sent His Son Jesus (flesh/natural) and when He died on the Cross, the Holy Spirit (God / Jesus' Spirit) was sent to dwell in us (Christians).

You are asking a Spiritual question from the flesh (natural). God / Jesus / Holy Spirit are a Spirit (living in the heavens and not walking on this earth...at least currently) and therefore all matters concerning God are Spiritual...since you live in the flesh, our answers will be Spiritual...but that still leaves you in the flesh / natural.

You say you are an atheist...and you want to know more (have a better understanding of where we (Christians) are coming from).

My suggest is to explore the Holy Bible for yourself. If I were you, I'd start in the New Testament, the book of John. Once you've read that, try Acts and then Romans. From there I'd go to Matt., Mark, Luke etc.

I think once you've read it for yourself, you might have a better understand not only of the Trinity but also of the Christian faith.

Best wishes!

Answer 3

Before He became the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, he was the Word, the Creator. He created the universe, and all things in, upon, and around it. When He created man He walked with him in His garden. But man sinned, therefore the Creator knew unless He came to earth as the ultimate sacrifice we wouldn't make it. So He planted His seed in a virgin, and she gave Birth to His son, so now He is the Savior, when He died and was resurrected He sent His comforter the Holy Spirit ,to lead us and guide us.

If you have ever read the Bible you know that when God talks about creating He always said us, in the plural form, so in the beginning there was God, His Word, and His Comforter.

God being the Creator, Jesus, the Word, and the Holy Spirit.

Let say I have a company, and I name it Spirit Enterprise, well I want to sell my goods to someone so I open up Word INC. , well I am Bonn, and Spirit is my business, and Word is my corporation, but we aren't exactly alike, although we are one and the same. I am me, Spirit is me, and the Word is me. But we are different, and we provide different things.

Basically that is how God is

God ==== Creator
God ==== the Son
God ==== the Comforter
Different meanings but one person

I could also say, I am a daughter, wife and mother three distinct beings, but one person. To my parents I was the daughter, to my husband I am his wife and to my children I am there mother, but I am still me Bonn

Answer 4

I am LDS (mormon), we believe the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are three separate and distinct beings. The Father, our Heavenly Father, and His Son Jesus Christ are men with bodies of flesh and bone, both of which have been resurrected, the Holy Ghost is a spirits personage of a man, but has no body. We believe what is meant by they are "one", is meaning they are one in purpose and effort. Christ and the Father have the exact same will, actions, and if Christ does something it is in exact accordance with the will of the Father...so that would be the "one" in purpose and effort.
I think Christians believe that all 3 are the same being, which LDS do not believe. If you read the bible, there are so many instances where Christ refers to his "Father" and "the one who sent me", when the Father says "Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" and many other instances. It is clear they are different, dinstinct persons.
Email me for any ?'s

Answer 5

You can't understand where Christians are coming from if you don't accept Christ as your savior.

This is not a pat answer, nor is it born of ignorance. But the fact is that Christ will reveal himself to you when you accept him. Any "intellectual" understanding of Christ is useless and pointless, and it doesn't get you close to understanding Christ.

What your question is concerning is the trinity, obviously. The trinity is a theological concept that you may or may not be able to understand without faith. In essence, God is God. Jesus, God's Son, is God in that he is directly linked to God's will. Jesus carried out his Father's will perfectly. The Holy Spirit is the Paraclete--the "teacher" and "guide" that lives in the soul and "awakens" when one accepts Christ as their savior.

They are one because they are all linked in one purpose, one will. They have different "functions," but one will.

You really can't get it until you get it. Some people claim that a statement such as this is a copout. And yet if one day you receive the gift of faith, you will find yourself in the same position as I at this moment. Saying something to the effect of, "It's true, but you can't know Truth until you accept Truth."

Truth--salvation--does not come through the intellect. It comes through the soul. These are not the same thing. While the intellect, the heart, and the soul are linked, and while they are all in one person, they are not the same. That is an imperfect metaphor for the trinity. We people are mind, body, and spirit--three separate things living as one entity.

Answer 6

Christians believe in the trinity--that God is made up of three parts: the father, the son (jesus), and the holy spirit (how he is manifested on earth). No one made the other, they all always existed as God. I'd go to a church and ask a pastor more about it, or look it up in a book in the library--you'll get all kinds of answers online.

Answer 7

I'm just gonna throw this out to stir the pot. The LDS believe that God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit art three different gods.

Answer 8

We can understand intellectually that the principle of God is existent in all things, and that all creation are just various forms of his manifestation. However, we do not experience this oneness through all creation, so we are not able to comprehend it truly. For this reason God has to manifest in various divine forms which we are able to comprehend more easily and which make our spiritual progress easier.

As we are gross in nature, it is comparably easier for us to comprehend more gross things. From that aspect, It is comparably more easy for us to feel close to a living being, an incarnation of God such as Christ, than to the holy ghost, and much easier than to the unmanifest form of God which has no attributes and which is beyond any comprehension of intellect or five senses. But it does not mean that they are not one God. They are just various ways he manifests.

Just like in the universe you have ether (empty space without any form or feel), air (you can not see but you can feel it) and light (which can be felt, as well as seen) which seem different, but are all various manifestations of the same universe, so it is a similar concept here :)

Answer 9

That is indeed where christians stray (no offence, just my opinion). Read chapter 112 of Al-Qur'an:

"Say: He is God, the One and Only; God, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; And there is none like unto Him."

We must not think of Him as having a son or a father, for that would be to import animal qualities into our conception of Him. He is not like any person or thing we know or can imagine: His qualities and nature are unique.

Answer 10

I believe the divine realm is inherently uncountable.

For example, take the Norse god Thor and the Babylonian god Marduk. They seem like two different gods. Yet the ancient Romans identified Thor with Jupiter and Jupiter with Zeus, while the Hellenistic Greeks identified Zeus with Marduk.

Christianity seems to be doing the same thing.