ploomf Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 I hope this is the right place for this and I warned you I'd be asking a lot of basic questions. :P I'm super confused about the Trinity and I'm hoping you can help me understand a bit better. From what I've read so far the Trinity is one God in three persons. So there's one God who is at the same time Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is this correct? How does that work if the Father is a spirit and the Son has a body, and the Holy Spirit is a spirit? Sorry I'm just having trouble understanding it, every time I try my brain starts to hurt. Could someone explain it (or point me in the direction of a good explanation) please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thessalonian Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 I hope this is the right place for this and I warned you I'd be asking a lot of basic questions. :P I'm super confused about the Trinity and I'm hoping you can help me understand a bit better. From what I've read so far the Trinity is one God in three persons. So there's one God who is at the same time Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is this correct? How does that work if the Father is a spirit and the Son has a body, and the Holy Spirit is a spirit? Sorry I'm just having trouble understanding it, every time I try my brain starts to hurt. Could someone explain it (or point me in the direction of a good explanation) please? A man came to a priest one day saying he wanted to become Catholic. The priest said okay come to these classes. After some time the man came up to the priest and said "I don't understand and cannot believe the trinity". The priest said, well then I cannot baptize you as Catholic. The next year the man came back and said Father I completely understand and believe the Trinity. The priest said "then I cannot baptize you as Catholic.". The point being that the trinity is farther beyond our understanding than our ability to empty the ocean with a bucket. So if there are things you don't understand about it that is okay. It requires faith and submission more than understanding. Having said that some questions can be answered about the trinity. The Son took on a body. He did not become the son when he took on that body. He was the son from all eternity, totally. Spirit. His body was mortal and finite. He raised it to immortality just as he will raise ours to immortality. It is not beyond the Father or the Holy Spirit to take on a body but that is not how God has chosen to manifest himself to mankind. The Holy Spirit did appear in the form of a dove at Jesus baptism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thessalonian Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 I hope this is the right place for this and I warned you I'd be asking a lot of basic questions. :P I'm super confused about the Trinity and I'm hoping you can help me understand a bit better. From what I've read so far the Trinity is one God in three persons. So there's one God who is at the same time Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is this correct? How does that work if the Father is a spirit and the Son has a body, and the Holy Spirit is a spirit? Sorry I'm just having trouble understanding it, every time I try my brain starts to hurt. Could someone explain it (or point me in the direction of a good explanation) please? A man came to a priest one day saying he wanted to become Catholic. The priest said okay come to these classes. After some time the man came up to the priest and said "I don't understand and cannot believe the trinity". The priest said, well then I cannot baptize you as Catholic. The next year the man came back and said Father I completely understand and believe the Trinity. The priest said "then I cannot baptize you as Catholic.". The point being that the trinity is farther beyond our understanding than our ability to empty the ocean with a bucket. So if there are things you don't understand about it that is okay. It requires faith and submission more than understanding. Having said that some questions can be answered about the trinity. The Son took on a body. He did not become the son when he took on that body. He was the son from all eternity, totally. Spirit. His body was mortal and finite. He raised it to immortality just as he will raise ours to immortality. It is not beyond the Father or the Holy Spirit to take on a body but that is not how God has chosen to manifest himself to mankind. The Holy Spirit did appear in the form of a dove at Jesus baptism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thessalonian Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 I hope this is the right place for this and I warned you I'd be asking a lot of basic questions. :P I'm super confused about the Trinity and I'm hoping you can help me understand a bit better. From what I've read so far the Trinity is one God in three persons. So there's one God who is at the same time Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is this correct? How does that work if the Father is a spirit and the Son has a body, and the Holy Spirit is a spirit? Sorry I'm just having trouble understanding it, every time I try my brain starts to hurt. Could someone explain it (or point me in the direction of a good explanation) please? A man came to a priest one day saying he wanted to become Catholic. The priest said okay come to these classes. After some time the man came up to the priest and said "I don't understand and cannot believe the trinity". The priest said, well then I cannot baptize you as Catholic. The next year the man came back and said Father I completely understand and believe the Trinity. The priest said "then I cannot baptize you as Catholic.". The point being that the trinity is farther beyond our understanding than our ability to empty the ocean with a bucket. So if there are things you don't understand about it that is okay. It requires faith and submission more than understanding. Having said that some questions can be answered about the trinity. The Son took on a body. He did not become the son when he took on that body. He was the son from all eternity, totally. Spirit. His body was mortal and finite. He raised it to immortality just as he will raise ours to immortality. It is not beyond the Father or the Holy Spirit to take on a body but that is not how God has chosen to manifest himself to mankind. The Holy Spirit did appear in the form of a dove at Jesus baptism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thessalonian Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 A man came to a priest one day saying he wanted to become Catholic. The priest said okay come to these classes. After some time the man came up to the priest and said "I don't understand and cannot believe the trinity". The priest said, well then I cannot baptize you as Catholic. The next year the man came back and said Father I completely understand and believe the Trinity. The priest said "then I cannot baptize you as Catholic.". The point being that the trinity is farther beyond our understanding than our ability to empty the ocean with a bucket. So if there are things you don't understand about it that is okay. It requires faith and submission more than understanding. Having said that some questions can be answered about the trinity. The Son took on a body. He did not become the son when he took on that body. He was the son from all eternity, totally. Spirit. His body was mortal and finite. He raised it to immortality just as he will raise ours to immortality. It is not beyond the Father or the Holy Spirit to take on a body but that is not how God has chosen to manifest himself to mankind. The Holy Spirit did appear in the form of a dove at Jesus baptism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinytherese Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 I'll have to look up my notes on the Trinity from the class I took in college and the textbook. The book Mere Christianity talks about it too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apotheoun Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 In the New Testament texts God is revealed as three distinct persons who are one in essence. The Father held to be the source of the Son by generation, and He (i.e., the Father) is also held to be the source of the Spirit by procession. That said, the persons of the Trinity are held to be distinct only in their personal origins and relations, while being one in essence, that is, in the unknowable quality that human beings call divinity. Now there are lots of ways of trying to describe this mystery, but there is no - for lack of a better word - 'solution' to this mystery. In other words, it is something beyond human comprehension, which is why it is accepted as true by an act of faith instead of human reasoning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ploomf Posted April 14, 2013 Author Share Posted April 14, 2013 Thanks everyone for your explanations. :) I don't think I totally get it yet but maybe it's something that I'll grow to understand in time. I'll keep reading and studying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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