Could someone explain to me the Trinity?

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TreeOfLife123

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I don’t yet understand how Christ is God yet also the Son of God?
I don’t yet understand that.
 
TreeOfLife123 said:
I don’t yet understand how Christ is God yet also the Son of God?
I don’t yet understand that.
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Don’t feel bad. No one understands it – it’s a mystery. Not that no explanation can be made, but none can do full justice to the subject.

I’ll give it my best shot, though, from what I understand. God is an eternal person. This is hard for us to grasp because we are “caught” in time and cannot live outside it, but there is no time for him. Therefore, he has always been what he is and never will be anything other than what he is.

To say that the Son proceeds from the Father is not to say that at one time the Father existed and the Son didn’t. It merely means that of the Godhead there are three persons one of whom is the generator of the other but that there never was a time (there’s that concept getting in the way again) when God the Father and God the Son didn’t always exist.

We can’t understand this. It’s a revealed truth, not one we can come to by reason alone. God’s existence, for instance, can be come to by reason and evidence but not the Trinity. God had to reveal his nature to us in order for us to know about it, you see. I hope that helps.
 
TreeOfLife123 said:
I don’t yet understand how Christ is God yet also the Son of God?
I don’t yet understand that.
Click to expand...
As far as I know, no one on earth fully understands the Trinity. It is a mystery beyond our natural mind’s ability to absorb. You can read about it, but it really is something you have to accept on faith. Jesus told us about it and that’s enough for me.
 
I heard on some Christian question-and-answer radio program refered to the Trinity as ‘One What, Three Whoms’. Then there is Saint Patrick’s use of the shamrock’s three leaves on one stem. I have a feeling even when we’re in Heaven we will take several billion years we’ll just starting to understanding the Trinity. :banghead::manvspc:
 
I once heard an apple used to describe the trinity.
I will try to get this right.

The core/seed is God the Father…the source of all life and new life

The “meat” of the apple is the Holy Spirit, it feeds us and sustains us

The peel is Jesus…the part that is visible to us when he walked among us

It takes all 3 pieces to be the apple

Not a perfect analogy, but it was enough of an explanation by a Holy Priest 45 years ago in religion class to have this little boy never question the Trinity… after this it seems to be an easy thing to accept and understand
 


The Trinity is like neapolitan ice cream.

Three distinct flavors, one ice cream box.

Three distinct persons, one God.
 
TreeOfLife123 said:
I don’t yet understand how Christ is God yet also the Son of God?
I don’t yet understand that.
Click to expand...
+I should pray right now+

Each member of the trinity shares the same core creative/authoritive/lifegiving essence. The Father is the one who is at the top of the trinity, whatever he wills, The Son and The Holy Spirit bring into reality. The Son, is begotten of God, and he is the life found in the Father and the Holy Spirit. The Holy spirit, comes fourth from the Father and the Son, and guides them. They are all uniquely 1.

But regardless, to explain to you the Fullness of the Truth found in the Trinity would literally take all of eternity.

+GOD BLESS YOU+
 
TreeOfLife123 said:
I don’t yet understand how Christ is God yet also the Son of God?
I don’t yet understand that.
Click to expand...
All we know is what Jesus taught us and what is revealed by the Holy Ghost. The link to the Baltimore Catechism is a good place to find the scriptural references. Oh and we also follow by what the apsotles understanding and practice was. Being with Jesus, they had first hand experience.

Also, don’t get confused by the words Father and Son. They are descriptors used for our limited understanding. I wouldn’t get all caught up in how it is described. Our faith is what we learn from the bible in Jesus’ teachings.
 
When I talk to my CCD students about understanding the Trinity I use this story to share how impossible it is for us to fully understand the Trinity:
“There is a story that St. Augustine was walking on the beach contemplating the mystery of the Trinity. Then he saw a boy in front of him who had dug a hole in the sand and was going out to the sea again and again and bringing some water to pour into the hole. St. Augustine asked him, “What are you doing?” “I’m going to pour the entire ocean into this hole.” “That is impossible, the whole ocean will not fit in the hole you have made” said St. Augustine. The boy replied, “And you cannot fit the Trinity in your tiny little brain.” The story concludes by saying that the boy vanished as St. Augustine had been talking to an angel.”
 
Jim_Dandy said:
Recommended reading: Theology for Beginners by Frank J. Sheed. This book has many easy-to-understand explanations of the basic Christian concepts.

amazon.com/Theology-Beginners-F-J-Sheed/dp/0892831243
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^^^ THIS! As I like to mention in every other Trinity thread I come across. Either this book or “Theology and Sanity” which is basically just a more in-depth version of the same book by that same author.

Sadly that book (either version) is the only explanation of the Trinity I’ve ever come across that actually makes sense and doesn’t dodge the question. Most other people give a cop-out answer and say “oh it’s just a mystery” or give you some bad analogies that really hurt a lot more than they help.
 
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