More on Trinity

One of the problems with the Trinity doctrine is that, most people seem to think that Trinity refers to three separate Gods. This can be a real stumbling block to someone who is already monotheistic. Sir Isaac Newton was considered to be somewhat heretical because he believed that Trinity and the First Commandment were in direct contradiction to each other. I can certainly see his point. Of course, Newton was given a lot of latitude because a) he was brilliant, b) in spite of the fact that he was arguing against something that a lot of people considered to be a fundamental part of their belief system, there was the understanding that what he believed wasn't really that much different than what they believed, and c) he wasn't overly vocal about it (many of his peers were completely unaware that he was 'anti-Trinitarian').

One of the problems with Oneness doctrine is that, as soon as one announces that one does not believe in the Trinity, the Trinitarians start trying to figure out which person, or persons, the Oneness-believer denies. The fact that the Jehovah's Witnesses are the best known 'non-Trinitarians' doesn't help. The Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jesus was the Christ, but that He was not, in and of Himself, divine. He was the Son of God, but He was not God the Son. Of course, the Jehovah's Witnesses are not generally considered to be part of the Oneness doctrine, but people who do believe in Trinity tend to lump together anyone who doesn't...

Christianity is, by definition, a monotheistic religion. We believe in One God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth... Sound familiar? John 4:24 tells us that God is a Spirit. So, which Spirit is the Father, and which Spirit is the Holy Ghost? Jesus said, in John 10:30, that, "I and My Father are One." Apostle Paul wrote, in 1 Timothy 3:16, that "...God was manifest in the flesh..." The bottom line is that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are all manifestations of our one God. Maybe somebody else can show me differently, but it seems to me that the Holy Ghost descended on Jesus at His baptism, and then Jesus sent the Holy Ghost to us after His Ascension, so, for the entire time of Jesus' ministry, the Holy Ghost dwelt exclusively in Jesus. So, for three years, those two manifestations were the same.

I do want to point out that Jesus was very careful about what He said as far as the identity of God. He knew who He was, but He also knew that His flesh was only temporary. Under normal circumstances, God is an invisible God. God doesn't want us making images of Him. Any image that we make of Jesus is really the flesh that He inhabited during His time among us. That would not be an accurate representation of Him, anyway.

My point is that most of us believe pretty much the same thing about God (well, except for the Jehovah's Witnesses), but we get caught up in terminology that we think expresses what we believe, but that maybe means something else to the person we are talking to. We should be clear about what we believe, so that we don't confuse those around us.