Doesn't the Trinity mean polytheism?

Question

God said 'I am your only God'. So what is the Trinity? Doesn't it mean there are actually 3 gods in Christianity? If Jesus is the son of God, that doesn't make him a God himself, because he'd contraddict what his father said. Please answer, without quoting the scriptures.

I'd like an answer that explains monotheism in Christianity. Sayinh that they are 3 different aspects of God doesn't answer my question because God is the father and Jesus is supposedly the son. Therefore they are two different entities. We always mock other religion for being polytheistic. Zeus' son was Hercules, but we think of him as a semi-God, not a God, since he had a human mother, as Jesus had.

How can some people say the Trinity is three different people because it's the way it is? How do you know? It's acceptable to hear 'as a Christian, that's the way it is. This is my opinion.' But can you force other people to accept that this is the only way and explanation?

Answer 1

I've read the other answers and they're problematic on many levels. I'm going to answer you the best I can. First, you are quoting scripture in your question, if you will grant me this verse I'll try not to be to "versey" since I suppose that you have not studied what the bible is and how it came to be.

I'm going to work through your each of your questions but, first I want to say these are excellent questions and I wish more Christians would ask them to find the answers so you could get a good responce from friends rather than online.

1. God said 'I am your only God'. So what is the Trinity?
(I am assuming that you are not spaking of the first commandment. if you are let me know and i'll answer this first part exogetically)

the word trinity is a theological word that was developed in the early 4th centery to describe what God is based on the revelation He has given us throught Scripture and Tradition.
(Please keep in mind the articulation of a truth and the reality of it are 2 different things. i.e. the world was discovered to be round rather than flat. this doesn't mean that the earth became round. it had always been. we just came to that realization.) The trinity is that there is one God ontologicaly but 3 in personhood or personalities. (remember that God is a non-coporial being) Christianity is monotheistic. It is illogical to have more than one God. Plato proved this point. And as you have pointed out the bible say "Behold O Isreal, the Lord your God is one."

2. Doesn't it mean there are actually 3 gods in Christianity?

no. you cannot have more than one God. if you did then which ever one was more powerful would be God the other would be just a supreme being. Here are a couple of words to help define this point.
monotheism= 1 God
Polytheism= infinite # of Gods
tritheisim= 3 Gods
Henotheism= 1 God of all and many lesser gods (greek mythology and Isreal prior to Babalonian captivity)
trinity= 3 persons or personalities in 1 substance. from the words tri and unity. 1 what, 3 who's.

3. If Jesus is the son of God, that doesn't make him a God himself, because he'd contraddict what his father said.

the term son of God is to be understood in light of the meaning given in the old testament. The verse you quoted says that God is one. So, therefore Jesus can be ontologically God and not nullifying this verse in any way. Christians are to neither devide the substance nor combine the personhood of God. if they due they are unorthodox as deemed by the council of Nicea in 325 AD.

I could get more in depth but that would take alot longer, so, let me sum up.

To fully understand what's going on here you need to first come to an understanding of a few things.
1. Is there such a thing as absolute truth and can I assertain it?
2. Is the New Testament I have today generally reliable as a history of Christ?
3. If it is, then what does is say about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in relation to the attributes of God?
4. How has the Church understood these same questions throughout the first 500 years of it's history?

With a little research you can come to an understanding about what Christians believe in regard to your questions.
Once again great questions. If you want more irenic answers on any christian doctrine please feel free to e-mail me directly.

-Samson

Answer 2

In a perfect environment (which on earth is a vacuum) the simplest of elements (water) can exist at the same time in three states. If this can be done with minimal effort here, is it so hard to think God could be capable of the same thing?

The trinity is very definitely not polytheism. That's what Jesus and Paul were trying to explain to the Jews. They already knew God as the Father. They also already understood the concepts of God as the Holy Spirit (from the beginning of Genesis) and God as the Savior Son. The only issue they had with Jesus is that they thought the Savior would be a political leader who would save them from the persecution of Rome, not a spiritual leader who would save them from death. Anyway, saying Jesus is the Son of God is a way to describe his separateness.

A very crude way of explaining this is using modalism as an example. This is not accurate either, but it works as a useful example. In the last hour, I've been a parent, a spouse, a counselor, an employee, and a consumer. Different roles, but still me, no matter when or which role. The reason modalism isn't accurate is that it implies God has to change to be God in a different role.

God is the only God. He exists simultaneously as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. He is not three distinct people, just three distinct persons, united. That's where the word trinity comes from, by the way. Tri-unity. Hope that cleared it up a little. If not, and you still have questions, please let me know and I'll be happy to share more info I have on this topic. (Without scripture references, if you prefer.)

Answer 3

The answers to your questions are, in no particular order: Yes, no and maybe.

The different aspects of the Christian god all come from ideas of god of surrounding religious groups.

God the Father is the YHWY of the Old Testament giving credibility to Christianity for the Jewish people.

Characteristics attributed to Jesus, God the Son, were those of other resurrection myths like the pagan Man or Osiris, or any of the many others.

The Holy Spirit representing "God's will on earth" represents an everpresent God rather than a creator who left us to our own devices. I'm sure this "always on alarm system" was quite useful for early church leaders as a motivating tool.

Answer 4

Trinitarians reject tritheism. We believe in one God eternally manifest as three persons. The Bible clearly teaches there is only one God but there are three distinct persons referred to as God. Studying the complete teaching of the Bible, the church has been trinitarian from the beginning with the teaching being explained in more detail as time progressed. The answerer who asserted that the Nicean council voted for trinitarianism on a close vote knows very little about the Nicean council or church history in general. In reality, of the more than 300 bishops at Nicea, only five protested the creed it produced and only two actually refused to sign it. Furthermore the church was already trinitarian at this time. The real controversy at Nicea was the Arian teaching about Christ. Admittedly many people have trouble understanding how one God and three persons can be logically reconciled but trinitarians see this as a weakness of our finite minds. Think of it this way, 1+1+1 does equal 3, but 1x1x1=1. The three persons are distinct but in such a way as to not violate their unity. I would explain further but you have asked that the Scriptures not be cited.
________

Update -- We could easily answer the question in your update if you would allow us to cite Scripture. For Christians the Bible is authoritative for doctrine. A careful study of the Bible reveals that God is one and that at the same time there are three "persons," not just modes or aspects that are called God and described as having the characteristics and prerogatives of God. It should surprise no one that the Church has historically chosen to believe the Bible's revelation about God. If you are interested in learning about what the Bible says about the trinity (the word may be a theological construct but the concept is taught liberally in the Bible) I suggest you ask for Scriptural justification for 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.’

- Col. Robert G. Ingersoll




"The three-in-one/one-in-three mystery of Father, Son and Holy Ghost made tritheism official. The subsequent almost-deification of the Virgin Mary made it quatrotheism . . . Finally, cart-loads of saints raised to quarter-deification turned Christianity into plain old-fashioned polytheism. By the time of the Crusades, it was the most polytheistic religion to ever have existed, with the possible exception of Hinduism.

This untenable contradiction between the assertion of monotheism and the reality of polytheism was dealt with by accusing other religions of the Christian fault. The Church - Catholic and later Protestant - turned aggressively on the two most clearly monotheistic religions in view - Judaism and Islam - and persecuted them as heathen or pagan.

The external history of Christianity consists largely of accusations that other religions rely on the worship of more than one god and therefore not the true God. These pagans must therefore be converted, conquered and/or killed for their own good in order that they benefit from the singularity of the Holy Trinity, plus appendages." -- The Doubter's Companion (John Ralston Saul)

Answer 6

First, we must understand that God's ways are not our ways, and God's thoughts are not our thoughts.

This, in a nutshell, indicates that there are some things that our little minds just cannot comprehend at this time.

The best I can do now, is bring to the fore that all of the elements of the world seem to reflect God and His plan in one way or another.

Consider this. There are words in the English language that are neither singular nor plural in nature. The word "Fish" is one such word. Without a helper word like "a" or "several" we have no clue as to the number of fish being referred to.

"Management" is a word that could indicate either singular or plural. We could refer to Management as a team of individuals running a company. Could we regard the word "God" in the same light?

Take it to management. Take it to God.

So, you can call me a polytheist if you want, but perhaps this explanation is as close to the truth as we can understand.

Answer 7

Trinity is a false doctrine, invented by men without authority from God. In the Nicene council in 320 AD religious leaders(Catholics) at the time got together and voted on the doctrine of the trinity. The Trinity was decided on a close vote of men who were not prophets of God.

Yes.

Jesus is the Only Begotten Son. He never said I am God the Father... on the contrary, Jesus prays to God and Only does his will, not his own.

Have a good day!:)

Answer 8

yes. to put it rather simply, the trinity is polytheistic.

>>"so I guess god did a complete 180, you know, genocide, plauges, floods, slaves, killing women and unborn children. To healing the sick and wounded and walking on water for the fun of it. "<<

yes, don't forget about going from "absolute singular" to "incarnate and split into parts" and from "no hell" to "80% of humanity gets eternal torment"

the god of the NT is far more cruel. the OT one might have had genocides and bloody wars and enslavement, but that was just this life. there was no eternal hell in the OT.

edit for above: "The real question is, will you trust God with it? Or, will it be a stumbling block to your salvation? "
God identified himself, specifically, as a singular undivided entity.
God commanded to have no others before him.
what you describe is in absolute contradiction to that.
the trinity is polytheistic idolotry, plain and simple.
you CANNOT give the slightest convincing argument to support the trinity theory in the old testament, because it is absolutely not there.

Answer 9

There is only one God and He shows Himself in three forms... the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus is God, yes. Only God Himself could have saved us from sin. God came to us, as Jesus Christ, by way of the virgin birth because the seed of Adam was sinful.

God the Father planned and authorized the universe, Jesus ordained it, and the Holy Spirit did the work. There is an element of faith involved for sure. We will not completely understand the relationship of God in three persons until we get to heaven.

The real question is, will you trust God with it? Or, will it be a stumbling block to your salvation?

Answer 10

This is one thing of the faith that we can not fully understand or comprehend. But it is monotheistic. God the Father created the God the Son and then God the Spirit was sent to renew the earth. All three persons of the trinity work together with one God, a great mystery of the faith.