I would like someone to explain this Christian belief.?

Question

Do I have this right? There is only one God, but that God is three persons: Father, Jesus (Son) and Holy Spirit. In other words 1+1+1=1.

To my mind this is illogical, but I am told it is a mystery and I am not supposed to understand, I am only supposed to believe and have faith. If I sincerely ask Jesus into my heart, the illogical nature will no longer be a concern to me, I will attain salvation on the basis of Jesus' sacrifice.

If I do not, then God, who is a loving Father, will see to it that I am tortured for all eternity.

Is this all accurate?

Answer 1

I am a Christian Jehovah's Witness and I think that what you are saying goes against what the Bible teaches and you are right to question it.

Answer 2

First, not all Christians believe that you have to either 1) accept Jesus or 2) burn in hell.

Second, not all Christians believe that Christianity is about wrapping your mind around doctrines and believing in them against your better judgement. Many think its about joining a spiritual community that supports each other in trying to love God and neighbor.

But, though the doctrine of the Trinity really has no great meaning for me, and I wouldn't care if it was 'thrown out', I do agree that "it is a mystery."

It might help to realize that historically, theology is closer to poetry than math. Theology is mankind's attempt to put ineffable experiences into words. Inevitably, the words fall short of capturing what they are trying to say, and invariably, the experiences will not allow people to NOT try. But up until fundamentalism's reaction to modernism, theology has always been a mix of pragmatic power-based decisions, and sincere passion-based poetry.

For instance, a mother with three children may be asked "Which one of us is your favorite?" and answer "You are all my favorite." Logically, that doesn't make sense. There can only be one favorite. If she loves all equally she technically should say "None of you are my favorite" - and some mothers may say that. But other mothers would reply "You are all my favorite" and while that is not logically true, it is an imperfect attempt to express something true - that she loves each so incredibly much that it is as if each one is her favorite. It is true on a level, just like saying "My love is a red, red rose" is true, not a lie that breaks a commandment.

In this case, the doctrine of the Trinity was partly a political compromise between two disagreeing groups of theologians, but it does also show an attempt to express the idea that these people were struggling about - how to express this hard-to-express idea that Jesus was special and unique and not "just another man", but also not 'all of God.' Truly accepting the Trinity does not involve killing your brain, but understanding what paradoxical ideas it's trying to point towards. An interesting book about the power struggles behind the doctrine is the book "When Jesus Became God."

~ Lib

Answer 3

God our loving Father does not want any of His children tortured. That is why He sent Jesus to die for us and save us from eternal damnation. That is why He gave us the ten commandments and left with us His word through the Bible. Jesus in turn left The Holy Spirit to guide us and to help us make wise decisions. Anyone can say for sure what the Father will do if you do not accept Jesus because the Bible talks about these things. Don't you read your bible? Some people do not awknowledge The Father nor the Son nor the Holy Spirit. But when we do get to know one or three of them, we no longer talk or ask questions the way you do. It is not a matter of if I ask Jesus in my heart or if I do not ask Jesus in my heart, the matter is that when Jesus is ready for you, you will accept Him into your heart willingly without hesitation. There will be a great joy in your heart that you will want to go and tell everyone. And you will not understand why others will not want to listen to you. You will then want to invite everyone to know Him, this Saviour who is so sweet and loving beyond compare.
No one tried to explain the Blessed Trinity before but we do know that He is three persons in one God. God the Heavenly Father who is the Supreme being. God the Son who in human form died for our sins giving us Eternal Life and God the Holy Spirit whom Jesus left to live in us that we may be able to be prompted to do what is right and to reject what is wrong. Yes He is three persons in one Mighty God. If you do not understand the simple rules of what is good and what is bad, how can you understand this Mighty and Awesome God of ours?
God the Father said, "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased." when John the baptist was baptizing Jesus in the river Jordon and when the Holy Spirit decended upon Him in the form of a dove thus proclaiming the blessed Trinity. The voice of the Father was heard as the Holy Spirit decended upon the Son.

Answer 4

There have been many ways to try to comprehend the 3 in 1 God: some use the apple (skin, meat, & seeds), some use a divided pie, etc. but the one that seems to work for me is an ordinary room. It has 3 dimensions: Length, Width, and Height. Pick any point in space in the room. That point can be described in terms of height from the floor, width from a wall or length from a wall. The room represents God...The 3 dimensions are comparable to Father, Son, & Spirit. The infinite points in the room can be described using any of the dimensions, but they are still 1 room. Same as God can be either Father, Son, or Spirit, but is still 1 God. Once you believe this, then you can ask Jesus into your heart. He has already died for your sins, so you are saved.

Answer 5

No that is not accurate. The Bible never uses the word Trinity because it isn't found in the Greek - the Trinity is a Latin word. The Bible is adamant, though, that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit exist. I believe that you do not have to say "the three are one" to get into heaven, but still you should affirm that all three are real and significant.

Grace from God
Atonement through Christ
Righteousness through the Holy Spirit

Answer 6

No. It's not ALL accurate. The first part is true, although we don't setup the math like that. When you eat an orange, it has multiple sections. It's still ONE orange. God, in a similar manner, is represented as more than one entity, but still comprise one God.

The part that is not accurate, is the part of torturing forever in hell. God will punish sinners with death, not everlasting life in torture. Most people are confused about this because they do not realize that the Bible says (Deuteronomy 4:24) that God is a "consuming fire." (The Bible speaks of other characteristics of God as well, that He is love, light, and that He is one God.) However, God is eternal. If God is a fire, and God is eternal, then the fire is eternal, right? But that still doesn't make the sinners immortal. They will not burn forever. Romans 6:23 says they will die.

Answer 7

If your belief that you’re going to hell if you don’t believe something illogical, is based on whether or not you believe a false teaching called the Trinity doctrine, then yes, it is illogical. The answer to your last question is no. It’s not illogical to believe that Jesus would come to save us from sin. It doesn’t seem logical, until you think about how you would feel if when you died you found yourself in a world so beautiful and full of wonder that all remembrance of this life would instantly cease to be. Or if there were no salvation and you died and found your self in eternal torment because that’s what happens to everyone after death. Some believe that there is nothing after death. Does believing it make it true? Is it logical to gamble with eternity when God has made his will known to us? We can’t argue people into heaven, but we can present what the bible says. I’m sure you’ve seen this before but… faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

John 3: 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Answer 8

Nice little challenge you set up, what is your reason?

It is God the Father, then God the Son (who came to earth in human form), and God the Holy Spirit.

It is called the Trinity and it can be confusing, it is not blind faith, its faith by belief thru the Holy Spirit within our heart and working in our heart & our lives to provide us with wisdom from God.

God created you, every little cell, He formed you with His own hands and He knew you before you were even a twinkle in your mother's eye (or your father's), since He created you, me, every single person in this world, and everything within the world, He does not view us as we view ourselves and others.

Yes, if you've not accepted Christ and God knows that you will not accept His son before you die, He has already grieved for you and has moved on. He is not obligated to protect you or anything else, because you have rejected Him for all eternity.

So, this Almightly God who loves you more than any human being could ever love you, loves you only because you are His creation. He is not going to see to it that you will be tortured for all eternity. He knows that it was your choice.

However, on the other hand, if He knows that one day you are going to accept His Son, then He is protecting you more than you can imagine right now, but when you do accept Christ, you will be able to look back on your life and see all the many places He has protected and led you out of harm's way.

I hope God knows that one day you will accept His Son.

Answer 9

Yes, God is One in Three and Three in One. Matthew 28:19 tells to baptize disciples in the name (singular) of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 1 John 5:7 reads, 'For there are three who bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word (Jesus Christ the Son of God), and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. I have given you scriptures to show that the Holy Trinity is true. I hope your heart is at rest now. God bless you abundantly as you continue to draw close to Him.

Answer 10

Jesus was a Jew who never heard of Christianity. He was a great public speaker who could draw a crowd. He had a lot of followers. From among these he chose his twelve apostles. The Romans were the bosses and they didn't want any Jewish leaders so they decided to bump him off. I think it was probably an ordinary murder. A few soldiers killed some guy, but the story that has come down to us is like an opera or something, with a crowd of Jews yelling Crucify him! and the Romans reluctantly giving in.

The Romans would never have permitted anyone to take the body down from the cross. They would have left it up there for the birds to eat. Their purpose was to terrorize the populace.

There were a lot of pagans who had taken on a lot of Jewish ways, but they couldn't convert to Judaism because they refused to get circumcised. Saint Paul had never met Jesus, but he started preaching to those people. He told them they could keep their own customs. They became the first Christians.

Augustus Caesar was the first emperor of Rome. He started claiming to be the Son of God, to which the early Christians replied "Jesus is the Son of God!"

Now they had a problem because they had two Gods and they were only supposed to have one. They solved that problem by developing the doctorine of the Trinity, One God who could manifest himself as three different people. Sort of like changing your shirt.

The idea of heaven and hell is a later invention.

Answer 11

God does not want to see anyone go to hell. He is a very loving God and by his grace only are we saved from hell if we choose. I agree with the part that you will no longer see it that way, once you ask Jesus into your heart, sincerely, all your questions will be re-directed to wanting to know God and his plan for your life and how you can serve him better. It is a mystery but I believe in the end it will all be revealed to those who are saved. That's exciting to me because I want to know too everything that is to incomprehensiple to me now, so I will continue to follow Christ. This is not the only reason why I choose to follow, my life is different now since I got saved 8 years ago.