Can someone describe the Trinity

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How do you describe the Trinity to a Jew or to a Mormon or a Jehovah’s Witness? How do you explain one being but three persons?
 
I could go into detail, but that would take pages…but either way, in the end, I couldn’t explain it because it is a mystery…logically, you can’t explain it…through the eyes of faith one can understand it…but never define it or truly explain it…therefore I always tell people that it is a divine mystery and to look at The Holy Trinity through the eyes of faith…
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jimmy:
How do you describe the Trinity to a Jew or to a Mormon or a Jehovah’s Witness? How do you explain one being but three persons?
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jimmy
as dum said its a hard thing to describe, especially when you mention all those very different groups who each have very unorthodox (except the Jews) views of the one true God.
 
Catholic Dude:
jimmy
as dum said its a hard thing to describe, especially when you mention all those very different groups who each have very unorthodox (except the Jews) views of the one true God.
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OK, just focus on the Jews then. How would you explain it to a Jew who thinks we worship three Gods?
 
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jimmy:
OK, just focus on the Jews then. How would you explain it to a Jew who thinks we worship three Gods?
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I have never even been in that situation, because as we know they dont even accept Jesus as significant in any way shape or form, unlike LDS and JWs. The only group I have had this talk with was the LDS and it didnt get very far.

As for describing it I dont know where to start. We never use the term “Gods”, only “God”, so its not like we are trying to hide something.

Could you give us more info on the situation, I would love to hear it and think about it. Im interested on hearing what others have to say as well.
 
The Trinity is the way of describing God, a single Divine Nature with 3 distinct persons. God is infinite Love, infinite Mercy and Infinite Justice. The fact that a single entity, God can exist as three distinct persons is a Divine Mystery, beyond the abilities of a mere human to fully comprehend. We accept it because God has told us this to be true.

It makes sense that there are three persons in the one God if he is to be infinite Love for Love exists between 2 persons, and there is no-one but God capable of receiving and returning Infinite Love, as the love that exists between God the Father and God the Son.

There are also scripture references, but I don’t have them at my fingertips.

CARose
 
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CARose:
The Trinity is the way of describing God, a single Divine Nature with 3 distinct persons. God is infinite Love, infinite Merchy and Infinite Justice. The fact that a single entity, God can exist as three distinct persons is a Divine Mystery, beyond the abilities of a mere human to fully comprehend. We accept it because God has told us this to be true.

It makes sense that there are three persons in the one God if he is to be infinite Love for Love exists between 2 persons, and there is no-one but God capable of receiving and returning Infinite Love, as the love that exists between God the Father and God the Son.

There are also scripture references, but I don’t have them at my fingertips.

CARose
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Good explanation.

God is one nature in 3 divine persons. Nature is what something is. Person is who someone is. So if someone asks, “What are you?” I say, “I am a man.” (nature) If someone asks who I am, I say, “I am Scott” (person).

Scott
 
Somone on this forum once decribed it this way:

I’m a mom
I’m a wife
I’m a daughter

but…all these ‘3 people’ I am are really one person.

i thought this was good.
 
He who is the Father is not He who is the Son and is not He who is the Holy Spirit. But, That which is the Father is That which is the Son and is That which is the Holy Spirit.
 
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Elzee:
Somone on this forum once decribed it this way:

I’m a mom
I’m a wife
I’m a daughter

but…all these ‘3 people’ I am are really one person.

i thought this was good.
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This is problematic theologically. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are really and truly 3 persons. Somehow they are also one God. Mom, wife, and daughter are the same person (in this case) but different modes of that same person.

Go here and scroll down to “II. Modalists” are read from there.

It’s really, really hard to describe the Trinity by analogy because there is really nothing analogous to It. It is a mystery. Some analogies can be helpful though because they can shed light on different aspects of the Trinity and learning about any aspect of the Trinity is surely spiritually beneficial.
 
Here’s my best shot at an analogy:

A tree.

God the Father is the root.
God the Son is the trunk.
God the Holy Spirit is the branches.

All make up the tree. Yet remove one, and the others cannot exist.
 
The Trinity is the whole, made up of God, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

The tree is the whole, made up of the trunk, the branches and the leaves. Each of those, the trunk, branches and leaves, are things all in their own right. But, together they make up the tree. Without the trunk the branches and the leaves do not exist. Without the leaves, the trunk and branches do not exist. Without the branches the leaves and the trunk do not exist. All three are one, in the tree.

Oh, and don’t tell the JWs that the Trinity is a Mystery, they don’t get that concept, and will twist it.
 
St. Patrick did it best. Is a three leaf clover one or three? There are three leaves but one clover. None can exist (and be a clover) without the others…the three in one and one in three.
 
My thinking is along these lines. There are (of course) three Persons, but their love for each other is so complete and so completely self-giving that they hold back nothing of themselves from the others. There is no part of any of the Persons that is not given to the others. Each abides completely in the others, and the others abide completely in each. This is how I see three Persons being united into one God.

An analogy is how a man and a woman are supposed to come together in love (not just romantic love, but total and complete love) and become one flesh. It may also be that the fact that the love between a man and a woman can actually bring forth life, is a pointer to the deeper reality that the love between the Father and the Son brings forth the Holy Spirit.
 
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VociMike:
My thinking is along these lines. There are (of course) three Persons, but their love for each other is so complete and so completely self-giving that they hold back nothing of themselves from the others. There is no part of any of the Persons that is not given to the others. Each abides completely in the others, and the others abide completely in each. This is how I see three Persons being united into one God.

An analogy is how a man and a woman are supposed to come together in love (not just romantic love, but total and complete love) and become one flesh. It may also be that the fact that the love between a man and a woman can actually bring forth life, is a pointer to the deeper reality that the love between the Father and the Son brings forth the Holy Spirit.
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Mike, I think this way of looking at it can be problematic. It sounds like what you are saying is that there are 3 seperate beings. We know that the Son is begotten of the Father, and the Spirit proceeds from the Father(ultimately) and the Son. I think, I may be mistaken, that what you are saying sounds like three destinct beings that have come together.
 
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jimmy:
Mike, I think this way of looking at it can be problematic. It sounds like what you are saying is that there are 3 seperate beings. We know that the Son is begotten of the Father, and the Spirit proceeds from the Father(ultimately) and the Son. I think, I may be mistaken, that what you are saying sounds like three destinct beings that have come together.
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That reminded me how a mormon described the Trinity
Its from an old thread here (post #17)
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bdawg:
Mormons believe that God is ONE. They are one in that they are bound in a deep, eternal unity that is so profound that humans cannot fully understand it. It is so profound that we can sometimes say that they are one God, or that the Jesus is both the Father and Son, because they are completely unified in will, love, purpose, and covenant. On the other hand, we believe they are all separate anthropomorphic beings, so in another sense they can be called “Gods.”
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Again, Mike, Im not saying this is what your were saying, but just to be careful because the way that bdawg described it was not in line with Catholic teaching.
 
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jimmy:
Mike, I think this way of looking at it can be problematic. It sounds like what you are saying is that there are 3 seperate beings. We know that the Son is begotten of the Father, and the Spirit proceeds from the Father(ultimately) and the Son. I think, I may be mistaken, that what you are saying sounds like three destinct beings that have come together.
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No “beings” have ever come together because all three Persons of the Trinity were always as they are. They never existed independently. They are certainly three distinct Persons, but I don’t know what difference you draw between Persons and beings, so I’m not sure what you think the problem might be.
 
Catholic Dude:
That reminded me how a mormon described the Trinity
Its from an old thread here (post #17)

Again, Mike, Im not saying this is what your were saying, but just to be careful because the way that bdawg described it was not in line with Catholic teaching.
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I’m certainly not suggesting each Person of the Trinity is a separate God (or god). Three Persons, One God.

In truth, analogies such as the root-trunk-branches and the 3-leafed clover don’t help me at all, because they say nothing about the Persons of the Trinity, and how they exist together, as Persons, as God. My view (always open to fuller understanding) is a way to try to understand to some degree the three Persons in one God.
 
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