When trying to explain the trinity, I use the following?

Question

I sometimes use the following example to explain the triune God. Think of a rope made of three braids. It is one rope, but three braids within. Each braid is identical in every way to the other two, but it is one rope.

can you think of others

Quella Bella, I obviously can't beat you to this one, but can you beat Dr. G.

cadisneygirl76, the trinity is not used in the bible as such, but the use of the hebrew words, elohim, for example, convey 3 or more. Duet 3:20 I think it is, hear oh isreal , the LORD your God is one Lord, (or hear oh isreal, the YHWY your elohim (three or more) is one YHWY)

i'm going by memory at this moment but otherwise a good call

Dr. Evol (sp, please forgive) you are correct that each strand of the rope is the total and whole of the LORD. good call, I had left that out, excellant observation, I'm impressed

Pono7, we take on faith that the bible means what it says. If Jesus is being babtized, with the Spirit as a dove on him with the Father speaking, we have 3 persons represented...it is beyond human reason

Zlaod (Dawud) my dog says the jury is still out on your answer, I think you can do better

TeeM, do you know what a tautology is? this is a standard legal argument used to confuse jury members as it sounds plausible. Keep in mind that in the use of the rope, each strand is God, indivisible, yet uniquely identified by a name or duty. If I understood this, I would be there face to face

CADISNEY, The explaination of the rope is that God is one, yet 3 individuals are there. You can not tell one from the other as they are exactly the same, in all ways. Yet they are seperate persons. The bible calls Jesus the son to establish for us, a way of knowing him from the Father and Spirit, but they are not the same person, they are 3 distinct persons in One God

Answer 1

Except that the dogma of the Trinity teaches that the One God is one and three DISTINCT persons at the same time.

The example of the rope with three braids is clever, but each braid is not the WHOLE rope, whereas in the Trinity, it is taught, each Person is the whole God!

It has to be a mystery, otherwise who'd believe it?

The Trinity eludes the mind. It's for the faithful only, like everything that is not part of reality, but fantasy.

Maybe on LSD it makes sense!

Answer 2

What is the origin of the Trinity doctrine?

The New Encyclopædia Britannica says: “Neither the word Trinity, nor the explicit doctrine as such, appears in the New Testament, nor did Jesus and his followers intend to contradict the Shema in the Old Testament: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord’ (Deut. 6:4). . . . The doctrine developed gradually over several centuries and through many controversies. . . . By the end of the 4th century . . . the doctrine of the Trinity took substantially the form it has maintained ever since.”—(1976), Micropædia, Vol. X, p. 126.

The New Catholic Encyclopedia states: “The formulation ‘one God in three Persons’ was not solidly established, certainly not fully assimilated into Christian life and its profession of faith, prior to the end of the 4th century. But it is precisely this formulation that has first claim to the title the Trinitarian dogma. Among the Apostolic Fathers, there had been nothing even remotely approaching such a mentality or perspective.”—(1967), Vol. XIV, p. 299.

In The Encyclopedia Americana we read: “Christianity derived from Judaism and Judaism was strictly Unitarian [believing that God is one person]. The road which led from Jerusalem to Nicea was scarcely a straight one. Fourth century Trinitarianism did not reflect accurately early Christian teaching regarding the nature of God; it was, on the contrary, a deviation from this teaching.”—(1956), Vol. XXVII, p. 294L.

According to the Nouveau Dictionnaire Universel, “The Platonic trinity, itself merely a rearrangement of older trinities dating back to earlier peoples, appears to be the rational philosophic trinity of attributes that gave birth to the three hypostases or divine persons taught by the Christian churches. . . . This Greek philosopher’s [Plato, fourth century B.C.E.] conception of the divine trinity . . . can be found in all the ancient [pagan] religions.”—(Paris, 1865-1870), edited by M. Lachâtre, Vol. 2, p. 1467.

John L. McKenzie, S.J., in his Dictionary of the Bible, says: “The trinity of persons within the unity of nature is defined in terms of ‘person’ and ‘nature’ which are G[ree]k philosophical terms; actually the terms do not appear in the Bible. The trinitarian definitions arose as the result of long controversies in which these terms and others such as ‘essence’ and ‘substance’ were erroneously applied to God by some theologians.”—(New York, 1965), p. 899.

Answer 3

I think of it like an egg. First, you have the shell, the white and the yolk. All three are apart of the egg but, each serves its own purpose. Such is the Holy Trinity.

Then, there is water...in the fluid form, vapored form and frozen form. Even so, it is still the same entity (water) but, in different forms. Such is the Holy Spirit!

Just some examples I use.

Answer 4

can you give me an explanation for this- when Jesus was baptized, He was physically on earth, while the Holy Spirit flew over Him physically in the form of a dove, and then Heavenly Father said from the heavens that " this is my SON in whom i am well pleased." three physical, SEPERATE appearances all at the same time. All analogies that i have ever heard, don't explain this one. Even if they are 3 seperate braids to make one rope- it's one rope- they would have to phyiscally be together at all times to be considered ONE rope- which would make Jesus' baptism story impossible. If the braids remain braids, but seperate from eachother, even for a moment they are no longer one rope. None of the water, ice, steam explanations, or the clover explanations work either. Water, steam, ice- yes the same substance- but cannot be all three all at once. water cannot be water, ice and steam all at the same time. Clover- the clover has three sides for one clover- but all three sides would always have to be together, and physically in the same state- if one blade was seperated it would no longer be a three leaf clover. Jesus' baptism and His life on this earth, and the crucifiction when He cries out to His father, and prays that if it be His will that the cup pass from Him (garden of gethsemane atoning for our sins) all these instances, shows that they were seperated from one another- how can they be seperated physically at the same time in the same place and still be considered one?

Answer 5

Rope:

If you take one or two strands away the rope left over is weak and can break easily, So without Christ, God is weak?

Yet trinity all are 'almighty'.

Even if ‘Sam’ is a Grandfather, Father, and Son, Sam still has only one will, unless he is mentally disturbed or Sam is three different individuals. Sam Sr., Sam Jr., & Sam III.

Water may be ice, vapor, or liquid, but in these forms water is not equal nor eternal.

1*1*1=1

does not compute:

3x = 1x
3x/3 = 1x/3
x = x/3
x-x = x-x/3
0=0/3
0=0

Trinity is a zero.

Egg, shell, yoke, white.

If you take away the shell and the white, your egg is incomplete,

and the yoke is on you.

edit ------------------

cre·du·li·ty : readiness or willingness to believe especially on slight or uncertain evidence

Faith according to Paul:

Heb 11:
1 Faith is the assured expectation of things hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities though not beheld

Rom 12:1 Consequently I entreat YOU by the compassions of God, brothers, to present YOUR bodies a sacrifice living, holy, acceptable to God, a sacred service with YOUR power of reason. 2 And quit being fashioned after this system of things, but be transformed by making YOUR mind over, that YOU may prove to yourselves the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.


I'm sorry I'm going to have to agree with Paul
Rom 15:5same mental attitude that Christ Jesus had, 6 that with one accord YOU may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Cor 8:6 there is actually to us one God the Father, out of whom all things are, and we for him; and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things are, and we through him.

Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in union with Christ,


.

Answer 6

Moses, Jesus, and another guy were out playing golf one day.

Moses pulled up to the tee and drove a long one. It landed in the
fairway but rolled directly toward a water trap. Quickly Moses raised
his club, the water parted and it rolled to the other side, safe and sound.

Next, Jesus strolled up to the tee and hit a nice long one directly
toward the same water trap. It landed directly in the center of the pond
and kind of hovered over the water. Jesus casually walked out on the
pond and chipped it up onto the green.

The third guy got up and sort of randomly whacked the ball. It headed
out over the fence and into on-coming traffic on a nearby street. It
bounced off a truck and hit a nearby tree. From there it bounced onto
the roof of a nearby shack and rolled down into the gutter, down the
downspout, out onto the fairway and right toward the same pond. On the
way to the pond, it hit a little stone and bounced out o ver the water,
onto a lily pad where it rested quietly. Suddenly, a very large bullfrog
jumped up on the lily pad and snatched the ball into his mouth. Just
then, an eagle swooped down and grabbed the frog and flew away. As they
pass over the green, the frog squealed with fright and dropped the ball,
which bounced right into the hole for a beautiful hole in one.

Moses turned to Jesus and said, "I hate playing with your Dad.

What did Moses say? He and Jesus were playing golf with Jesus's Dad or Father, if Jesus is God, how could both of them be playing golf with Moses? Jesus is the Son, Dad is the Almighty God, it is just as simply as that.

Answer 7

Last week my pastor used this example. He said that the problem people had with the trinity is that it is counter to logic. We all know that 1 + 1 + 1 = 3. How can you make three ones equal one... 1 * 1 * 1 = 1. Something about that clicked for me.

Answer 8

God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit all make that triune. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE to have one without the other. It just is that way and will always be the same.

Answer 9

Can one braid eternally proceed from another one (or the other two, if you accept the filioque)?

Look, Christ is the Word, right? That makes the Father...the music! And the Holy Ghost would be this really kick-a s s guitar solo.

Answer 10

And did one part of the braid breed another? because the Bible says over and over and over again that Jesus is the SON of God. I am not trying to sound rude and apologize if I do, but the trinity truly makes no sense biblically. The Bible says they are one, but it also says that husband and wife should be one. So being one can easily be interpretted to mean one in purpose. How do you explain away the numerous references to Jesus being the SON of God?


Magnet..... that really doesnt explain why the Bible refers to Jesus as the son of God over and over and over again
Like I said, I can explain how the usage of the word ONE can not mean literally one person. How do you explain the numerous biblical references to Jesus being the son of God?