Has anyone ever made sense of the trinity?

Question

I'm not trying to insult anyone here, but I can't makes sense of it. And I've never heard anyone say anything about the trinity that made sense. Most religious ideas at least make some sense within the limits of the particular religion. There's usually an internal logic that applies. The trinity seems to be an exception to this. What do you think?

Answer 1

No.

‘Christ according to the faith, is the second person in the Trinity, the Father being the first and the holy Ghost the third. Each of these three persons is God. Christ is his own father and his own son. The Holy Ghost is neither father nor son, but both. The son was begotten by the father, but existed before he was begotten--just the same before as after. Christ is just as old as his father, and the father is just as young as his son. The Holy Ghost proceeded from the Father and Son, but was an equal to the Father and Son before he proceeded, that is to say before he existed, but he is of the same age as the other two. Nothing ever was, nothing ever can be more perfectly idiotic and absurd than the dogma of the Trinity.’

- Col. Robert G. Ingersoll

Answer 2

A nod to American history helps... Thomas Jefferson didn't publish his bible in his lifetime because he knew his extraction (removal) of the miraculous would never be accepted or understood in his day. I am a believer, but I can't fault the man. He saw nothing different about the lives of "believers" than about any other people. But, he greatly admired the ethical teachings of the man, Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 2:5). He understood that if a religion can not be "seen" in the deeds and life of the believer, than it is a religion without value.

A belief should have a "fleshed out" reality. That is, you should see a reflection of it, or rather an embodiment of it, in those who profess belief. The Trinity would make much more sense if those who believed in it were one as they profess God to be one, but in three persons. The Savior prayed that those who believed in Him would love each other and be one as He and the Father are one (John 13:34-35 and John 17:20-23). Evidently, either at the personal or the denominational level, His prayer can not be answered. There's something fundamentally wrong there.

Either He is a sorry Savior, or those who profess belief in Him don't truly believe. Or there is a third possibility, that He is an unrighteous man whose prayers can not be heard. We know the prayers of the righteous accomplish much (James 5). So, was He righteous? If He was, why aren't His prayers being answered?

Maybe it's because those He prayed for love their lives in this world too much to obey Him... to give up all their possessions (Luke 14:31-33 and Acts 2 and 4), to lay down the sword, to be wholly devoted to a life of love. There are so many verses in the New Covenant that have no reflection, no embodiment, no reality in the life of Christians individually or corporately.

It's no wonder the Trinity makes no sense to you. I don't see how it could unless those who believe it are one as they claim the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are one.

The divided have a doctrine about the God who is one. For this, countless people have died through the centuries. Read your histories and see. It's a sad story.

Such inherent inner confusion, such refusal to face the facts that your way of life disqualifies you from teaching about that which you do not do, makes possible the greatest evil of all, those with the "right" doctrine persecuting those with the "wrong" doctrine. It's waiting to happen in our day and age again. Just wait till you see what happens when church and state merge again! Woa!

Answer 3

There are lots of views on this. I'll just throw out some things for you to see what you like or not.

First off, some people believe that there is not real trinity, but that it is just a way to try to understand 3 different aspects of gods personality.

Others point out that there was no concept of a trinity in this religion until it was exposed to egyption gods/culture. one of whom was a trinity god, and the culture absorbed that into theirs.

Others believe that god is the father, the holy spirit is the mother, and jesus is the son.

Some even take this further and point out that the bible says that jesus was begotton or "birthed or born from" the father.. and that this actually implies that god was literally a father and the trinity is actually 3 seperate gods.. a mother, father, and son who all act together.

Others point out that the bible never really mentions a trinity and that it was just something that we all made up.

Answer 4

What doesn't make sense?

Augustine and Aquinas attempted to make sense of it with ideas similar to this: God is love. In order to be love, you must love something that is the Son. So God becomes the lover and the Son become the beloved. There then needs to be an expression of love between them which is the Holy Spirtit. Put another way, God is all knowing and this creates a self knowledge which is the Son and the love of knowing each other is the Holy Spirit.

Answer 5

Some people say you're devoid of intelligence if you believe in the trinity, while it's true that we can't explain every aspect of our faith to the liking of everyone, I don't find it hard to accept, and I like to think I have at least SOME measure of intellect. Most people would agree that we have a body soul and spirit, although all we can see is the body, and so I accept, since we are made in God's image that the trinity to be a truth that, although I don't claim to be all knowledgeable in, I accept through faith, and in how I was created myself.

Answer 6

I will be the first to admit, I have difficulty with it as well, as have most Christians throughout history. It is one of the great mysteries of life, like how God can forgive sin or how Barry Manolo ever made a hit record.

There are a variety of analogies that attempt to explain it; the analogy of the egg (three parts with separate functions that when taken as a whole form a single object), or the shamrock (three parts that form a whole), or the role of a man (husband to his wife, son to his father, father to his son, but still only one man). None completely explain the eternal, self sufficient nature of the Triune God. RC Sproul, in his book "Essential Truths of the Christian Faith" comes closest to explaining it for me when he reminds readers that there are three persons of the Trinity, but one essence, and speculates that it is God's way of setting and illustrating the limits of human speculation and reason.

Answer 7

I was raised with this idea, as a Catholic, and though I bought into the rest of it, this concept NEVER made any sense to me! Many people throughout history have felt the same, and early Christian groups (such as some in Egypt) splintered off and even fought wars over it...that's how loony it is! I'm not sure what purpose it serves, at all. No wonder I left the church at age 13!

Answer 8

If you try to make sense of something that is so beyond our own human comprehension it hurts your head. Try using something that God calls in the Bible "FAITH." Without faith it is impossible to know Him, understand Him or even make sense of the Trinity.

Once you have made the step by faith to accept that you are a totally wicked and finite person, and that you need God (the Father, Son & Holy Spirit) then you are on your way to starting to understand the things that are found in the Bible.

But it takes a life-long pursuit of humility, submission and study of & to the God of HEaven & His Word to truly understand the things that He is. And we will never know it all until we see Him someday and then He alone can answer all of our questions.

Just faith.

Answer 9

I believe in the Trinity. They are three different entities thinking as one. I don't have my bible in here, but a good example of the Trinity exsisting is when John the Baptist baptized Jesus. The Holy Spirit came as a dove and sat on Jesus' shoulder, and a voice from heaven said: "This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased." God bless

Answer 10

I could not understand how people believed it. The Nicene conference and Creed made this concept of the trinity up. It was a concept that the people then, who worshiped Greek and Roman gods could relate to. So, the church adopted it, to insure converts.

My G-d would not come to earth in human form. My G-d is One.

That is why, years ago, I converted to Judaism--among other things, such as a love of the history of Israel with their G-d, and the feel of community and belonging that I found there.

Answer 11

The Karma can foresee things happenning. Such as you fill a cup of coffee. You lift up the teapot, the following step is to fill then the cup is filled and you lift up the cup and drink the coffee. The procedure are formed, the karma are happening. Once you lift up the teaport to fill the coffee, the last process is lift up the cup to drink. The result is obviously but in between the lift up of cup, the bell ring, you go to open the door. Can I say that you never drink the cup of coffee? To know the future is not to commit crime and avoid it. You know the floor is full of banana skins, You drift aside to avoid and one day you still step on it. May be you sick and blind and neglect for whatever reason. It still come the day. The right thing to do is to get rid of the banana skins from the floor and don't threw on the floor again.