Which choice best describes your understanding of the Trinity? Please vote.
This of course, does not suppose you agree or disagree - just what you know or believe the doctrine to be.
__________________ "It is inhumane, in my opinion, to force people who have a genuine medical need for coffee to wait in line behind people who apparently view it as some kind of recreational activity." Dave Barry 2005
I am a firm believer in the Old Paths
Articles on such subjects as "The New Birth," will be accepted, whether they teach that the new birth takes place before baptism in water and Spirit, or that the new birth consists of baptism of water and Spirit. - THE PENTECOSTAL HERALD Dec. 1945
"It is doubtful if any Trinitarian Pentecostals have ever professed to believe in three gods, and Oneness Pentecostals should not claim that they do." - Daniel Segraves
I have talked to many people about this, and some tell me I am not a true Christian because I do not acknowledge a 3-person Godhead. Many of these people want to define a "person" by what a person does, not what a person actually is. They usually insist on Jesus being the "eternal Son," which is a self-contradiction. There cannot be an "eternal Son" if words have any meaning. Other people say the Trinity just means the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are one God; they don't make three "persons" out of it, and they explain the Trinity exactly the way we explain oneness. So I try to find out what the Trinity means to the one that says he believes in the Trinity, not what it means to me.
Which choice best describes your understanding of the Trinity? Please vote.
This of course, does not suppose you agree or disagree - just what you know or believe the doctrine to be.
I don't see much, if any, difference between the 2 choices.
__________________
13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. 14 The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. Galatians 5:13-15 (NIV)
I voted "One God - revealed as Triune - three "persons"". I've noticed that when I speak to Trinitarians, they are either one or the other of those choices. It just depends on who you talk to.
I was just glancing at a book where the author says that "God is one" and uses the term tri-unity. He says that the word "one" when used in reference to God is a compound unity.
He then uses several examples to describe the triunity:
One God is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
One human is spirit, soul, and body.
One sun is unseen rays, seen rays, and felt rays.
One atom is proton, electron, and neutron.
One tree is bark, pulp, and sap
One egg is shell, albumin, and yolk
Water can have three forms, liquid, solid(ice), and vapor (steam)
He says
Throughout the Old Testament God continued to reveal Himself in an unfolding revelation. Much of that revelation came by the names that God revealed of Himself.
He talks about the names of God in the Old Testament such as Elohim, Adonai, Jehovah, and then goes on:
In the New Testament there is revealed a new compound name for God.
At His birth, He is called "Jesus" Matthew 1:21
At His baptism, He became the "Christ" (anointed) Matthew 3:16, 17
At His resurrection, He became "Lord" Acts 2:34-36, Phil 2:8-11.
The name Lord Jesus Christ is not found once in the Gospels, but is found in some form fifty-five times throughout the rest of the New Testament. this is the meaning of Colosssians 2:9. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the fulfillment to us of every promise of God.
__________________
Sam also known as Jim Ellis
Apostolic in doctrine
Pentecostal in experience
Charismatic in practice
Non-denominational in affiliation
Inter-denominational in fellowship
Years ago an elderly minister spoke at our ALJC church and said "trinitarians and oneness people actually believe the same, they just explain it differently."
I have talked to many people about this, and some tell me I am not a true Christian because I do not acknowledge a 3-person Godhead. Many of these people want to define a "person" by what a person does, not what a person actually is. They usually insist on Jesus being the "eternal Son," which is a self-contradiction. There cannot be an "eternal Son" if words have any meaning. Other people say the Trinity just means the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are one God; they don't make three "persons" out of it, and they explain the Trinity exactly the way we explain oneness. So I try to find out what the Trinity means to the one that says he believes in the Trinity, not what it means to me.
Can a person be his own son, and words have meaning?
__________________
Hebrews 13:23 Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty
Years ago an elderly minister spoke at our ALJC church and said "trinitarians and oneness people actually believe the same, they just explain it differently."
I think trinitarians forget that they are monotheist.
__________________
Practice doesnt make you perfect. It only makes you good at what you practice.
Jesus ate Honey Nut Cheerios at the Last Supper.
If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change
I don't see much, if any, difference between the 2 choices.
This is troubling to me. I sincerely consider one to be heretical and fully outside the pale of Christianity while the other is not - though clearly not my preference for describing God (as if that was something I can adequately accomplish! ).
__________________ "It is inhumane, in my opinion, to force people who have a genuine medical need for coffee to wait in line behind people who apparently view it as some kind of recreational activity." Dave Barry 2005
I am a firm believer in the Old Paths
Articles on such subjects as "The New Birth," will be accepted, whether they teach that the new birth takes place before baptism in water and Spirit, or that the new birth consists of baptism of water and Spirit. - THE PENTECOSTAL HERALD Dec. 1945
"It is doubtful if any Trinitarian Pentecostals have ever professed to believe in three gods, and Oneness Pentecostals should not claim that they do." - Daniel Segraves
Can a person be his own son, and words have meaning?
Ouch! You play too rough. And what's a "Doctine?"
The primary concern for Trinitarian dogmatists over the years has been around the words "three Persons." The word "Persons" was coined (invented) by Tertullian to translate the Greek work "hypostasis." Since there was no word in the Latin West for hypostasis, Tertullian took an old Etruscan word for a theater mask and and put it to work in the Latin churches.
And then, Tertullian's writings disappeared for most of a thousand years. He was unknown except by citations and quotations. It really wasn't until the 20th century that scholars began to understand how the terminology developed.
If you go back through the literature you will see a frightening confusion of such terms as "ouisia" and "hypostasis", and "realities" and "essence."
In his most cited work, Against Praxeas, Tertullian doesn't even really develop a Trinitarian doctrine as many had believed. He merely coins the term and then argues interminably about the two Natures.
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