We, as Christians, cross ourselves before and after we pray. As we do this, we say, "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen." But what does this mean? The Father is God. The Son is Jesus. And the Holy Spirit is the Spirit that inspires our souls to do great deeds and be holy. God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are united with each other, separate, yet part of the one body of God. St. Patrick described this well. He compared the Holy Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) to a clover and its three leaves. Each leaf represents either the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit. Each is separate, yet part of the same body. In Church, we summarize this by saying the Apostle's Creed each mass.
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty,
the Maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is seen and unseen.
We believe in in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake He was crucified, died, and was buried;
He descended into hell.
On the third day He rose again, in fulfillment of the scriptures;
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated on the right hand of the Father;
in glory He will come to judge the living and the dead,
and His kingdom will have no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit;
the Lord, the giver of life;
the holy catholic church;
the communion of saints;
the forgiveness of sins;
the resurrection of the body;
and the life everlasting.
Amen.
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7 comments:
Greetings Katherine Bonni
On the subject of the Trinity,
I recommend this video:
The Human Jesus
Take a couple of hours to watch it; and prayerfully it will aid you to reconsider "The Trinity"
Yours In Messiah
Adam Pastor
Interesting. However, I'm afraid you misunderstand me. I do not mean to say that Jesus is a separate god from God... he isn't. Jesus is a part of God. Just as my right hand is not Katherine, Jesus, the right hand of God, is not God in his entirety. But Jesus is God's right hand.
There is proof that Jesus is part of God everywhere; in the songs we sing, the passages of the Bible we read, and in the words of guidance our priests give us.
In the song "Mary did you know?" We sing, "When you kiss your little baby. You've kissed the face of God." That's pretty blunt. In the song, "Alleluia, Alleluia" we sing "Jesus is Lord o're all the Earth. He is the king of creation." And God is the only one who rules over all... so Jesus must be part of God.
In the Bible, many call Jesus,"My Lord and my God." Jesus would hate to hear blasphemy, so why did he not say, "I am not your God"? Because Jesus was part of our God. God tells us that Jesus is his son... he is the SON of God. And if you are someone's son, a part of that person is in you. Just as a part of God was in Jesus. Philippians, 2:5-6, "Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus,
Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped."
Jesus "was in the form of God" or was part of God, yet the humility in him and the fact that Jesus was part human kept him from calling himself God.
Fr. Tom Forrest, author of "Move it Out" writes, "Jesus Christ is the indisputable treasure of treasures, our God of Creation, worth more than anything and everything he ever created." How could Jesus be our all unless he is part of God? Fr. Forrest also writes, "Where did Jesus come from? We can never answer this question with the name of a place, not even the place called heaven. We believe that Jesus Christ is God himself, and God does not fit in a place. All places have limits, but God is limitless, boarderless!" God has no limits; He can be God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in one. Though, even for me, it's hard to understand how one being could be three separate entities, if anyone can do it, God can.
Ah, this age-old, divisive issue.
I am rather unread in your literature, unfortuantely, so I have no right to say what it is that you believe, of course.
But I will say that I find it amusing, the idea that God can father a son, even metaphorically speaking. God creates, none can deny that, but his creations aren't his children in that they retain any of his attributes or qualities. For God to have a son would be for God to create...another god! Or a part-god, at least. But God has no genes, no traits that can really be passed down to mortals; He is the Eternal, the Absolute, the All-Forgiving, the Source of Peace.
You mentioned that you also wondered how one being could be three seperate entities. "Being" and "entity" are *synonyms*. If these three beings are within one being, do they think for themselves, or do they think as a unit? If they think as a unit, why must there be three, because if the whole unit is "omnipotent" and "omniscious" does one really need a special Holy Spirit to inspire us to do good, and a separate Jesus to grant us salvation?
Could there not just be God?
Really sorry if this is taken in a bad way, or is particularly intrusive or abrasive. If it is, you don't have to reply, of course. :)
You needn't worry- you're not being intrusive or abrasive. :) You can believe what you believe.
Of course; it's just that I was challenging the logic of your beliefs, after all, and this is a religious blog.
See, people tend to be more principled and/or defensive about their beliefs on blogs and in books than they really are in real life. :)
Hopefully, you and i are not one of them.
Logic is not a word that I would apply to religious beliefs. :)
Not that religion is not logical... it is. Yet I doubt very much that there is any follower of any religion who can say exactly why their God saves this person and smites this one and does this and does that. It's just not logical. Only God knows.
I certainly have no idea why God does half of the things that I read in the Bible. Yet I trust that those who compiled it and translated it knew what they were talking about better than I. As for the Holy Trinity, I know that each mass, in the Apostle's Creed, we recite.
"We believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, begotten from God the Father. God from God, light from light, true God from true God. Begotten, not made, one in being with the father. Through him all souls were saved, for our sins and for our salvation, he came down from heaven."
It seems pretty obvious, from that, that Jesus and God are one.
(I realize that this is not in the Creed that I posted... there are small variations of the Creed Church to Church.)
Of course. As to the actions of God, we can't use our logic to determine *his* logic in doing so!
But when it comes to the nature of God, or the application of religion in contemporary society, or all the other parts of religion that don't involve that "leap of faith", then logic is certainly applicable.
Logic is the reason that there are so few actual polytheists these days. Most Hindus that I know, for example, say that their various gods are simply different forms of one creator, because otherwise they would surely argue and war and how on earth would they be so attuned to each other to run the universe without arbitration?
I guess it's the reason that I consider it appropriate, given that one believes in a single God, to worship him alone, with no intermediaries or children or partners upon his throne.
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