How Accurate Is This?

[GodChild]

[quote]We believe in one God the Father Almighty, creator of Heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. These are the first words of our Creed.

This great gift of believing in God without seeing Him is the gift [Hebrews 11:1] of our Faith, it has been given by God Himself because all gifts come from Him. God is the source of all things, in fact in Him we move, we live and we have our being.[Acts 17:28]

God is One, but He is also three persons. God the Father is the uncreated Spirit, infinite source of existence, eternal being with no beginning or end, the causeless cause. He lives in Heaven surrounded by His Majesty and perfections, He is clothed with unreachable light. He is the Almighty, all knowing and all loving God. He is Father of all, the Omnipotent.

God has spoken through the person of His Son, Who is the Word of God, emanated or eternally generated from the Father and yet united to Him in such intimate Love that they are always One and they are always together.

Jesus, the Son of God, the only begotten of the Father is also God even though He clothed Himself with our humanity and appeared before us as a man [John 1:14], through Him all things were made and nothing exists unless created by Him.

Jesus is the Son of the Living God, also the son of Mary, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity Who became man in order to save us from eternal damnation.

The third person of the Holy Trinity is the Holy Spirit Who proceeds from the Father and the Son, He is equally God in infinite perfections and immutability, He is One with the Father and the Son, as a person of the Holy Trinity we understand Him to be the eternally generated Love of God the Father and God the Son, He is the sanctifying Spirit that fills the temples of our beings. The Holy Spirit permeates creation with His binding Love in His eternal Omnipresence.

God is not separated or divided because He is One, He merely appears as different persons in order to express His infinite fullness which is incomprehensible by finite creatures. Just as a man can not divide his body from his mind, soul and spirit; God is not divided. His works are perfect, His thoughts and ways are above those of all His creatures, His Majesty and power is unequalled, His infinite merciful Love is unfathomable and it is the gift by which we are saved.[/quote]

How accurate is this description of the trinity?

- The Work of God Apostolate [u]http://www.theworkofgod.org/Library/Trinity/Father.htm[/u]

[cmotherofpirl]

[url="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15047a.htm"]http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15047a.htm[/url]

It would be interesting if Apotheun would address this as well.

[beatty07]

Looks good in general. I have one minor observation and one maybe not so minor. The bit about God "surrounded by His majesty and perfections" gave me pause, because eternally speaking God isn't surrounded by anything. In God's original solitude, there is nothing apart from God. When speaking about the realm of Creation, then we can speak of that which God created that is not Himself. But not when speaking about eternity. Some of creation is everlasting, but none is technically eternal because it has a beginning.

Much more concerning to me is the first sentence of the last paragraph. I keep reading over it and just can't see how it could be interpreted as anything but Modalism. That's bad. Modalism states that God is not three Persons in himself eternally, but that he appears that way to us due to our limitations. That's way out of bounds theologically. Even if there were no created finite mind to contemplate God, God is eternally triune. He doesn't merely appear that way, He is!

[kafka]

I agree beatty07

[i]
God is not separated or divided because He is One, He merely appears as different persons in order to express His infinite fullness which is incomprehensible by finite creatures.[/i]

To say or think God merely appears as different persons is the same as saying there is not three distinct and real Persons who share the one and same Divine Nature. This is false, is heresey, is anathema.

Who is God:
God is Father, Son, Spirit. Three distinct and real persons who share one Divine Nature.

What is God:
God is One Divine Eternal Act.

Edited September 13, 2007 by kafka

[goldenchild17]

I agree with the last two posts. Although the creed gives reference to Jesus and the Holy Ghost, the first sentence of the last paragraph makes it seem as if the Holy Ghost and Jesus are two persons that God merely "appears" as. That's not theologically correct at all.

[LouisvilleFan]

And what do we have for our winners?

I was getting kinda tired by the end of that, so I didn't catch it. That's like calling the Eucharist bread and wine because it appears that way.

Edited September 14, 2007 by LouisvilleFan