How would you describe the Trinity?

Question

How would you describe the Trinity for someone who either didn't believe, or who was just beginning to explore Christianity?

Answer 1

About trinity compared to the three states of water, and three leaves on one stem, we can answer back in several points,,,

1) Eventhough we agree that the three states of water ( liquid, steam and ice) are all formulated by H2O, but still we can't say they're one, they are " three states", so we are still left with three.

2) Eventhough all three states are represented by "H2O", but we cannot name steam as water ! and we cannot name ice as steam! and we cannot call that water as ice ! Why ? Because they are different, and since they are different than they are not the same ! and when they're not the same they're not one !

3) When water gets changed to ice in a glass, it is still one and in the glass, and the water itself turn to steam ! whereas your belief states that Jesus is on earth , and the Father is in the Heavens !And Jesus was praying to the Father, so Jesus was praying for someone else not to himself !
so the example shown cannot be used to prove trinity

4) Do you say that God is perfect ? Do you believe that ? Because when we say that God is absolute or total perfection, than he is not in need of anything, even not in need for himself !
When you are perfect and you "own" all what you want, than you are not in need of anything, so is God as he owns this creation and is not need of anyone else !
But from the example of three states of water you say that God is need, and when you say that he is in need, than there is a power more powerful than God ! How come ?

You "need" heat to change water to steam ! you "need" heat to melt down ice, and you "need" cold temperatures to change to ice ! So is you God, He "needed" the body of Jesus to exist on earth, and he needed a medium that would let him be in Jesus's body and coming to earth, but when that happens will still God be in two places at a time ? In the Heavens and on Earth ?

5) Lets put this example, When water is liquid, i.e normal water, their are specific descriptions or adjectives that we call normal water as water , the description is its liquidity ! and therefore we cannot say that it is steam or ice, because of the description !
But when this water turns to steam, and we say that steam was liquid water, can we say that liquidity is the current description of steam ? of course not, because the meaning changes, and the descriptions of the three states of matter do not fall equally on each !!

6) When you want to say that God is one, the one does not change, but in your example water does, so does the belief of trinity, God does change...
As God is at one time the Son, and Another time the Father... and those meanings are different, and when God - in your belief- came to earth, he has changed !

7) If Jesus is part of God, than when you take a part, you will be left with another part, therefore having "two parts" not one.
When one part is God and the other is Jesus, and one is in heaven the other on earth you have two parts therefore two Gods!!


There are hundreds of logical answers that prove that the trinity theiry is wrong as it is not logical to say that 3=1, or 1+1+1=1

Answer 2

PEOPLE who believe the Trinity teaching say that God consists of three persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each of these three persons is said to be equal to the others, almighty, and without beginning. According to the Trinity doctrine, therefore, the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, yet there is only one God.

Many who believe the Trinity admit that they are not able to explain this teaching. Still, they may feel that it is taught in the Bible. It is worth noting that the word “Trinity” never occurs in the Bible. But is the idea of a Trinity found there? To answer this question, let us look at a scripture that supporters often cite to uphold the Trinity.
“THE WORD WAS GOD”

John 1:1 states: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (King James Version) Later in the same chapter, the apostle John clearly shows that “the Word” is Jesus. (John 1:14) Since the Word is called God, however, some conclude that the Son and the Father must be part of the same God.

Bear in mind that this part of the Bible was originally written in Greek. Later, translators rendered the Greek text into other languages. A number of Bible translators, though, did not use the phrase “the Word was God.” Why not? Based on their knowledge of Biblical Greek, those translators concluded that the phrase “the Word was God” should be translated differently. How? Here are a few examples: “The Logos [Word] was divine.” (A New Translation of the Bible) “The Word was a god.” (The New Testament in an Improved Version) “The Word was with God and shared his nature.” (The Translator’s New Testament) According to these translations, the Word is not God himself. * Instead, because of his high position among Jehovah’s creatures, the Word is referred to as “a god.” Here the term “god” means “mighty one.”
GET MORE FACTS

Most people do not know Biblical Greek. So how can you know what the apostle John really meant? Think of this example: A schoolteacher explains a subject to his students. Afterward, the students differ on how to understand the explanation. How can the students resolve the matter? They could ask the teacher for more information. No doubt, learning additional facts would help them to understand the subject better. Similarly, to grasp the meaning of John 1:1, you can look in the Gospel of John for more information on Jesus’ position. Learning additional facts on this subject will help you to draw the right conclusion.

For instance, consider what John further writes in chapter 1, verse 18: “No man has seen [Almighty] God at any time.” However, humans have seen Jesus, the Son, for John says: “The Word [Jesus] was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory.” (John 1:14, KJ) How, then, could the Son be part of Almighty God? John also states that the Word was “with God.” But how can an individual be with someone and at the same time be that person? Moreover, as recorded at John 17:3, Jesus makes a clear distinction between himself and his heavenly Father. He calls his Father “the only true God.” And toward the end of his Gospel, John sums up matters by saying: “These have been written down so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” (John 20:31) Notice that Jesus is called, not God, but the Son of God. This additional information provided in the Gospel of John shows how John 1:1 should be understood. Jesus, the Word, is “a god” in the sense that he has a high position but is not the same as Almighty God.
CONFIRM THE FACTS

Think again about the example of the schoolteacher and the students. Imagine that some still have doubts, even after listening to the teacher’s additional explanation. What could they do? They could turn to another teacher for further information on the same subject. If the second teacher confirms the explanation of the first one, the doubts of most students may be put to rest. Similarly, if you are not sure what the Bible writer John was really saying about the relationship between Jesus and Almighty God, you could turn to another Bible writer for further information. Consider what was written by Matthew, for example. Regarding the end of this system of things, he quotes Jesus as saying: “Concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matthew 24:36) How do these words confirm that Jesus is not Almighty God?

Jesus says that the Father knows more than the Son does. If Jesus were part of Almighty God, however, he would know the same facts as his Father. So, then, the Son and the Father cannot be equal. Yet, some will say: ‘Jesus had two natures. Here he speaks as a man.’ But even if that were so, what about the holy spirit? If it is part of the same God as the Father, why does Jesus not say that it knows what the Father knows?

As you continue your Bible studies, you will become familiar with many more Bible passages that have a bearing on this subject. They confirm the truth about the Father, the Son, and the holy spirit.—Psalm 90:2; Acts 7:55; Colossians 1:15.

Answer 3

I would go with a more general description of the Trinity. Some sects, religions, or cultures accept the Trinity in different or multiple ways. I tend to think of it as three aspects of one being, broken apart so we might better understand the nature of the divine. Words like stages, phases, aspects, or pieces might help in describing the Trinity.

Relate the subject matter to something that everyone is familiar with, for example, a story. A story has a beginning, a middle, and an end, and without these elements, it is not entirely complete, or it would not speak to us in the same way--it would seem impartial, which is why it is important to accept all three parts.

I would then go on to personally describe what it means to you in your religion.

If you want to be more specific about what it means in a Christian sense, check out the chart in the below reference. It explains that all three are God, but each of the three is not necessarily the other.

Good luck!

Answer 4

So many people on this forum accuse Jehovah's Witnesses of being a cult because they do not believe in the trinity. If you would do a little research, you will find that reference books from your own religions openly admit that the trinity is not found in the Bible. For example:

The Encyclopedia of Religion says: "Theologians agree that the New Testament also does not contain an explicit doctrine of the Trinity."

Jesuit Fortman states: "The New Testament writers . . . give us no formal or formulated doctrine of the Trinity, no explicit teaching that in one God there are three co-equal divine persons. . . . Nowhere do we find any trinitarian doctrine of three distinct subjects of divine life and activity in the same Godhead."

The New Encyclopædia Britannica observes: "Neither the word Trinity nor the explicit doctrine appears in the New Testament."

Bernhard Lohse says in A Short History of Christian Doctrine: "As far as the New Testament is concerned, one does not find in it an actual doctrine of the Trinity."

The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology similarly states: "The N[ew] T[estament] does not contain the developed doctrine of the Trinity. 'The Bible lacks the express declaration that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are of equal essence' [said Protestant theologian Karl Barth]."

Yale University professor E. Washburn Hopkins affirmed: "To Jesus and Paul the doctrine of the trinity was apparently unknown; . . . they say nothing about it."—Origin and Evolution of Religion.

Historian Arthur Weigall notes: "Jesus Christ never mentioned such a phenomenon, and nowhere in the New Testament does the word 'Trinity' appear. The idea was only adopted by the Church three hundred years after the death of our Lord."—The Paganism in Our Christianity.

Thus, the canon of 27 inspired books of the Christian Greek Scriptures provide any clear teaching of the Trinity.

Answer 5

"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 form 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." [Robert G. Ingersoll (1833-1899)]

Answer 6

My favorite book describes the Trinity in a way like no other. If you are curious and would like to give it a try Amazon or Barnes and Noble carry it on line: Thinking and Destiny, by Harold W. Percival. Have fun exploring.

Answer 7

1. GOD sent part of himself to earth to be a living example as to how humans should live. By sending part of himself. is that part not GOD? If I take a loaf of bread and cut it in half, does either half stop being bread? Do not the two halves make up the one loaf? Two in one.

The living GOD has a living (Life Force for lack of a better word),
even as you use your body, but that is not you. I know it is not you, because you can lose parts of it but you do not go away, .i.e arms, legs, eye, or even heart replacement, but you remain no matter what. I think we call this the soul/spirit. The body and the spirit, two in one.

So, what is all these issues with GOD, the part GOD sent to earth, called the son and the spirit of GOD?

The BIBLE says that man and woman shalll join together and become one, two in one, and from them shall come a child and inside the child lives both the essence of the father and the mother, 3 in one!

Where is the issue? Even so called Christians continue to ponder this, but they do not have issues with Christ raising the dead or walking on water>

Answer 8

Trinity would best be described as water. Water has three individual forms: ice, water, and steam. Yet it is still the same thing: water.

Trinity has three individual forms: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Yet it is still the same thing: God.

Answer 9

"Trinity" is a term that is not found in the Bible but a word used to describe what is apparent about God in the Scriptures. The Bible clearly speaks of God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit...and also clearly presents that there is only one God. Thus the term: "Tri" meaning three, and "Unity" meaning one, Tri+Unity = Trinity. It is a way of acknowledging what the Bible reveals to us about God, that God is yet three "Persons" who have the same essence of deity

Answer 10

I don't know about the Trinity, but one time Jesus was transformed in a cloud and with him appeared Elias and one other guy, I forget.

A freind of mine in high school did a painting of that event and he titled it "Three Jews in a Cloud."

It was very impressive.

Answer 11

It is simply the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

The Father, being God
The Son, being Jesus
The Holy Ghost, being the spirit left behind when Jesus was resurrected and taken back into heaven

They are all three parts of one whole