What's the best analogy for the Holy Trinity you have ever heard?

Question

I already know the water analogy - liquid, solid and gas. But do you know another or better one?

Please don't answer this question if you don't believe in God.

Miller - how on earth you inferred "terror", "fear" and "hate" from my question is astonishing to me! I am a born-again Christian who is looking for a good "earthly" analogy for the Father, Son and Holy Spirit so I can *attempt* to explain it to some children at church.

Answer 1

Schizophrenia.

Brain tumor.

Stain of the mind.

Pick one.

Answer 2

Supporters of the Trinity say that it is founded not only on religious tradition but also on the Bible. Critics of the doctrine say that it is not a Bible teaching, one history source even declaring: "The origin of the [Trinity] is entirely pagan."—The Paganism in Our Christianity.

If the Trinity is true, it is degrading to Jesus to say that he was never equal to God as part of a Godhead. But if the Trinity is false, it is degrading to Almighty God to call anyone his equal, and even worse to call Mary the "Mother of God." If the Trinity is false, it dishonors God to say, as noted in the book Catholicism: "Unless [people] keep this Faith whole and undefiled, without doubt [they] shall perish everlastingly. And the Catholic Faith is this: we worship one God in Trinity."

There are good reasons, then, why you should want to know the truth about the Trinity.
"The word Trinity is not found in the Bible . . . It did not find a place formally in the theology of the church till the 4th century." (The Illustrated Bible Dictionary) And a Catholic authority says that the Trinity "is not . . . directly and immediately [the] word of God."—New Catholic Encyclopedia.
An examination of the Hebrew Scriptures themselves will bear out these comments. Thus, there is no clear teaching of a Trinity in the first 39 books of the Bible that make up the true canon of the inspired Hebrew Scriptures
WELL, then, do the Christian Greek Scriptures ("New Testament") speak clearly of a Trinity?

The Encyclopedia of Religion says: "Theologians agree that the New Testament also does not contain an explicit doctrine of the Trinity."
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, neither the 39 books of the Hebrew Scriptures nor the canon of 27 inspired books of the Christian Greek Scriptures provide any clear teaching of the Trinity.

Answer 3

Well, there's the father who's also the husband and the skier -- an analogy that emphasizes the trinity as different aspects of one God.

And there's the experiential view -- God out there, God next to us, God in our hearts.

And the cube that's made up of squares, so God is seen as Person cubed.

Answer 4

Time in past, present and futureTime
Time in our universe has three dimensions that are found in past, present and future, yet it is a single continuum and only exists in the present.
Three primary forces of natureForces
There are three physical forces known to control all interactions in matter: gravitational, electromagnetic and nuclear. The Unified Field Theory seeks to identify one set of laws that describes all these forces as different manifestations of one force.
Atoms
The atom defines the most basic unit of every chemical element in the universe. The word atom comes from the Greek word for "indivisible," yet while it represents the purest essence of one element, the atom has three facets, with the positively charged proton and neutral neutron at its core, and the negatively charged electron outside the core that balances its electric charge and interacts with other elements.
Trisecting a line as the basis for design in creationLife
The physical design of the human body, and that of many other life forms, is based on a relationship known as the Divine Proportion, or Golden Section. This proportion is based on trisecting a line such that the ratio of the small piece to the large piece is the same as the ratio of the large piece to the entire line. It is also found by solving an equation with three terms, x3 - x2 - x1 = 0.
Nature of man
The nature of man is expressed as mind, body and spirit, analogous to, and in the image of, the triune nature of God. It's interesting to note that Genesis relates man being made by "us" in "our" image when referring to God, indicating the plurality in His nature.
Life on Earth
Life on Earth inhabits three domains, the sea, the land and the air.

Answer 5

Hello,

1) The shamrock in Ireland which St. Patrick used to explain the Trinity to a skeptical pagan king.

2) You can also think of it as three different personalities in one God. For example take a great military general, You have:

a) The first person who is known to his men as the leader and director of their lives who commands their total obedience and respect.

b) You have the second personality of the general who is a family man who has to project the aura of the family man who shows tenderness and love to them as well as discussing all his intimate thoughts and feelings to his wife,

c) There is the third personality of the general as a community man who has his circle of friends and is active in all the extra community activities from sports to his church where he has to project yet another type of personality.

Cheers,

Michael Kelly

Answer 6

Clearly there is one God but He is revealed in three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The three are not the same person with a different name but three distinct personalities; the Father is not the Son, nor the Son the Holy Spirit, nor the Holy Spirit the Father. All are co - equal and co - eternal. They are distinct yet one.

Answer 7

Note how the questioner is apparently terrified of anyone believing in a Christian deity that is not trinitarian. Of such is polytheist paganism that hates and fears Christ.
.

Answer 8

As a Christian who has studied, I think it is the work of some Greeks determined to water down the divinity of Jesus and to confuse his true identity. There is nothing holy about it, it is a man-made artifice, which cannot be found in the bible.

Answer 9

Six eyes, six hands, six feet.

Three heads, three noses.

Time: Past, present, future.

God the Father is Jewish; Jesus Christ is a liberal member of Judaism; the Holy Ghost is a complete Christian.

Grandfather, son, grandson.

The symbol of God is the triangle (aka Egyptian pyramid).

Other.

Answer 10

Body, Soul, Spirit, 3 parts, one person.

i dont believe any man can understand Gods nature 100% so why do we argue over it.

i believe Jesus is the """Begotten""" son of God (ie is God in flesh) and the holy spirit is God (not God's spirit as God IS spirit) we become sons of God but not Begotten sons.

so God is revealed as Father, Son, Holy Spirit. 1 God revealed in 3 persons.


ive noticed all the atheists are giving the Christians a thumbs down, even though this is a non-atheist question. trolls.... is what they are called.

Answer 11

I am a son (to my parents)
A husband (to my wife)
A father (to my children)

All totally different but all exactly the same person.