Monotheism??

Question

I'll start off by saying I'm not a christian but I was raised in baptist, and later methodist, home.

One thing about the Christian faith has always befuddled me. Christianity is supposed to be a monotheistic religion, one god above all, correct? So how is it that there is the holy trinity and it is still a religion that is considered monotheistic?

How was this gotten around? The father, the son and the holy spirit are three seperate entities from what I understand yet they are seen as one.

I am just curious to see what the reasons are behind this and how it has come to be that christianity is considered a monotheistic religion. Did some church leaders long ago get together and just decide that it was monotheist despite the fact that there are three seperate entities? Did this cause problems from christians early on when they claimed monotheism?

Answer 1

The trinity, along with several other concepts which we now unquestioningly accept as truth, was introduced as the church evolved during the late roman and early middle ages. The church had a problem, the OT said one god but then there was Jesus and the Holy Spirit... since there was only one god then the 3 must all be part of the one and somehow different. This is explained as a spiritual mystery and basically just accepted.

Answer 2

1+1+1=3

Answer 3

This Trinity idea had not been an original one found in authentic Christanity that Jesus Christ (PBUH) brought for the mankind at the time.

It is an addition by preachers later on, as Almighty Allah stresses in Holy Qur'an "Do not speak about Trinity" (Wa la taqooloona Salasa).

Similarly, the prophethood of Muhammad ibn-Abdullah had been precisely stated in original teachings of the Christ, and his followers had been directed to wait for his blessed appointment as God's last Messenger on earth, as it was mentioned during a debate between our prophet and the heads of Christianity at his time, and the Christian archbishops did not raise doubts about its authenticity.

But this problem solving part, too, was deleted from Christianity texts.

Sorry for the lengthy explanation, which I thought might come in handy.

Answer 4

Jesus was like all other prophets were sent to worship only One God an teach them how and help them be closer to him , and direct them to the straight path...
the trinity even wasn't in the true Christianity it was introduced to it by the followers and Jesus was made son of god because his followers exaggerated in his love.

so Islam when it came as it is the last and the end of all revelations it emphasize and stresses on the concept o monotheism even the prophet's teachings , he always stresses in that part beside the other teachings of Islam , the core of Islam is monotheism.

iamnot trying to make comparison , really not , but that are just the thoughts that passed by my mind and have put them down.

peace.

Answer 5

The doctrine of the Trinity -- that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are each equally and eternally the one true God -- is admittedly difficult to comprehend, and yet is the very foundation of Christian truth. Although skeptics may ridicule it as a mathematical impossibility, it is nevertheless a basic doctrine of Scripture as well as profoundly realistic in both universal experience and in the scientific understanding of the cosmos.

Both Old and New Testaments teach the Unity and the Trinity of the Godhead. The idea that there is only one God, who created all things, is repeatedly emphasized in such Scriptures as Isaiah 45:18:

"For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; …I am the Lord; and there is none else."

A New Testament example is James 2:19:

"Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well; the devils also believe, and tremble."

The three persons of the Godhead are, at the same time, noted in such Scriptures as Isaiah 48:16:

"I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; From the time that it was, there am I; and now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me."

The speaker in this verse is obviously God, and yet He says He has been sent both by The Lord God (that is, the Father) and by His Spirit (that is, the Holy Spirit).

The New Testament doctrine of the Trinity is evident in such a verse as John 15:26, where the Lord Jesus said:

"But when the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father, He shall testify of me."

Then there is the baptismal formula:

"baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matthew 28:19).

One name (God) -- yet three names!

JESUS -- That Jesus, as the only-begotten Son of God, actually claimed to be God, equal with the Father, is clear from numerous Scriptures. For example, He said:

"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty" (Revelation 1:8).

HOLY SPIRIT -- Some cults falsely teach that the Holy Spirit is an impersonal divine influence of some kind, but the Bible teaches that He is a real person, just as are the Father and the Son. Jesus said:

"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak; and he will show you things to come" (John 16:13).

TRI-UNITY -- The teaching of the Bible concerning the Trinity might be summarized thus. God is a Tri-unity, with each Person of the Godhead equally and fully and eternally God. Each is necessary, and each is distinct, and yet all are one. The three Persons appear in a logical, causal order. The Father is the unseen, omnipresent Source of all being, revealed in and by the Son, experienced in and by the Holy Spirit. The Son proceeds from the Father, and the Spirit from the Son. With reference to God's creation, the Father is the Thought behind it, the Son is the Word calling it forth, and the Spirit is the Deed making it a reality.


We "see" God and His great salvation in the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, then "experience" their reality by faith, through the indwelling presence of His Holy Spirit.

Though these relationships seem paradoxical, and to some completely impossible, they are profoundly realistic, and their truth is ingrained deep in man's nature. Thus, men have always sensed first the truth that God must be "out there," everywhere present and the First Cause of all things, but they have corrupted this intuitive knowledge of the Father into pantheism and ultimately into naturalism.

Similarly, men have always felt the need to "see" God in terms of their own experience and understanding, but this knowledge that God must reveal Himself has been distorted into polytheism and idolatry. Men have thus continually erected "models" of God, sometimes in the form of graven images, sometimes even in the form of philosophical systems purporting to represent ultimate reality.

Finally, men have always known that they should be able to have communion with their Creator and to experience His presence "within." But this deep intuition of the Holy Spirit has been corrupted into various forms of false mysticism and fanaticism, and even into spiritism and demonism. Thus, the truth of God's tri-unity is ingrained in man's very nature, but he has often distorted it and substituted a false god in its place.

Answer 6

The Trinity aka God head: The Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. (3 in one making it one God we serve)

Answer 7

These days there are Christians who are really monotheistic.

The Father, Son and Holy Spirit is like the soul, the body and the works in a single person

--Emanuel Swedenborg

Answer 8

the trinity is a 3 in 1 idea - the doctrine of the Trinity states that God is one being who exists, simultaneously and eternally, as a mutual indwelling of three persons: the Father, the Son (incarnate as Jesus of Nazareth), and the Holy Spirit.

Answer 9

I don't think you are grasping the concept of monotheism. In Christianity, there is one supreme being: God the Father. The Holy Spirit serves Him. Jesus serves Him and taught us to do likewise.

Polytheism has many competing and in many cases, equally important, gods.

Answer 10

I think it's your misunderstanding of what is meant by the "Trinity".

Would it help if I used the term "Tri-une" God?

Would it help if I gave you examples in creation of things that are tri-une in nature?

Time is tri-une. There is only one time line, but it consists of three components, past, present, and future. The three are uniquely independent and dependent. You can not possible confuse one with the other, but without one aspect, say Future, for instance, time can not exist.

Matter is tri-une. Using H20 to illustrate, H20 can appear as a solid (ice), liquid (water), and a gas (steam), and under the right conditions, all 3 can exist within the same container. Again, independent and yet dependent. Ice is not steam, water is not solid. Yet if you remove one, the very concept of matter is lost.

Space is tri-une that within any solid object you have length, width and height.

Man is tri-une with a body, soul and spirit.

My soul is definitely not my body, nor is my body the same as my spirit. There is only ONE of me, but three essential parts of me, and if you remove one of them, I no longer exist as a complete person.

Finally, you see God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit - one God, tri-une in nature.

This concept is shown all the way back to Genesis 1:1, in which the hebrew word for "God" ("Elohym") is a pleural word, and God said "Let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness" right through the Scriptures to the very end in which Jesus proclaims that He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, just as Jehovah did back in Isaiah.

One God. Tri-une in nature, in which one member of the Godhead somehow split off from God and dwelt in the human body known as Jesus, the Son of God.