Holy Trinity

[ericman211]

susan,

one person +one person+ one person= three persons
There is no way that Three persons will become one. Trinity as catholics say is a mystery. Yes it is. because the Bible does not talk of such. What was clear is the teaching of Christ that the Father was the only true God (John 17: 1, 3).

Why in some verses, Jesus Christ was described as one with the Father ? or even described as in the form of God? does that mean that He was God as well? No. Jesus is in the form of God in the sense that He is holy, as God is holy. Jesus and the Father are also one in their thoughts of taking care of the flock, that they would not want someone to be lost and be taken away from their hands. God also ordered man to praise Jesus Christ. And so aside from God, we need to worship Christ. And everything in this world and beyond are given to christ by God. And so if we shall notice, the glorious characteristics of God may be found in Christ. But did Christ achieved gloriousness all by himself. No. Christ, himself attested that everything he had came from God. And so God is different from christ, since God’s gloriousness is innate. No one made his gloriousness, unlike Christ’s. In fact, apostle Paul said that after everything has been put under Christ, Christ would then submit to the Father so that the father will be on top of all including christ. And so Jesus submits to God. Have you known of a true God submitting himself to someone? A true God does not submit to someone as written in the Scriptures. Therefore Christ is man, and not God.

Can Christ be man, at the same time God? No. Because a true God is Spirit (no flesh and bone as what are seen in Christ). And so remember when Thomas doubted of the risen Christ, when He saw Christ to his surprise he said “My Lord and my God”. Have you noticed the next incidence after this, Christ corrected Thomas and said: “a Spirit has no flesh and bone as what you see in me (Christ)”.Then Jesus shows his hands with wounds. Why did he corrected Thomas? Because Christ knows that a true God is Spirit (no flesh and blood).

 

[susanj19]

ericman211,
First of all, you should read Colossians carefully and see that not only did Jesus create everything, but that everything was created for him and for his purpose! The "fullness of theos(deity) was pleased to dwell in him and yes, this means that Jesus came from God (begotten, not made) and retained His divine person taking on human nature, “humbling himself for awhile lower than the angels.” Read Hebrews which was written for the Jewish Christians and discover how their monotheism was confirmed by their believing that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Old Covenant and the God of the New Covenant. They believed in Christ as the Son of God, meaning divine, JUST as God the Father is divine. The one thing that I just don’t get is how people can believe that there is more than one God. That means there are NO true lower-case gods; and the people who claimed to be divine (Roman emperors, false prophets, the devil) are all false gods, not gods at all. If there is any one main theme in the Bible, I think that monotheism and belief in Christ as
God, the only one who could possibly take away our sins, would be it. He was able to redeem us because he had both natures, God and man. He never ceased being God, although “for awhile humbled himself, not considering equality with God” because while he was a man on earth, he of course worshiped the same Father that some of the Jews knew and loved. There are so many many verses that prove he was God and that the Holy Spirit was God’s spirit, obviously God. Even in Rev. Jesus is the subject, everything centered around Him and His will. The beginning of Ephesians shows that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit all have a will and that their wills are all the same will because they are the same God. Just because the word, Trinity, doesn’t appear in text doesn’t mean that the concept isn’t there. It’s written all over the Old and New testaments. Just as the third place besides heaven and hell that St. Paul talks about as a place where we might go after death isn’t called a specific name in the Bible. We call it purgatory, because that third place St. Paul tells us about is where we can be purged or purified so that we may be made perfect before God in heaven. Redemption and salvation are not the same and if you know the New testament, I’m sure you must agree with this obvious teaching of Paul and the apostles. Even in the Old Test., penance is taught by God. When king David stole Bathsheba from her husband and had Uriah killed, he repented and was told by Nathan that God has forgiven his sin, BUT there is still a consequence— the baby that resulted from that union was taken by God away from them. Even though Jesus opened the gates of heaven for all people of all time, our salvation depends on us “not wavering” as Paul would say. If you are confused about any particular teaching in the Bible, consult the authority, the Church. For Jesus said he was founding A church on Peter and that what he says goes. In other words, what the church teaches, God teaches, because God’s Holy Spirit is constantly guiding the church and “the gates of hell will never prevail against it.” Just imagine, all the evil that the devil has managed to affect the church with over 2000 years almost, and it is still standing as the same Church, teaching the same apostolic teaching. For a non-Catholic, I understand that this is hard to accept because you have been taught different ideas, but Jesus doesn’t lie. He knows everything! And I’m sure he knows your heart and will lead you to Him if you ask. After all Jesus said, “Ask anything of ME and I will do it.” I don’t mean to sound condescending if it does sound that way to you, I’m just telling you the truth about the Truth. God didn’t give us inspired Bible books so that the world could have thousands of different interpretations. Jesus prayed earnestly that His church (his followers) would remain ONE, just as He and the Father are One. God bless you!!!

 

[susanj19]

ericman211,
In response to the latter part of your comments, Jesus does have a body, a perfected one, a Spirit-body, if you will. That is how St. Paul describes it. We do not see Spirit-bodies or in other words, “glorified bodies” because they are not of this earth, no longer human flesh. Jesus however can do anything, and He appeared physically to the apostles and many others to prove that it was really Him, his body resurrected as a “glorified body”. If Jesus wasn’t God, His response to “doubting Thomas” saying “My Lord and my God” would have been more like “Don’t say that!!! How could you worship me as you do the Father!!!” but He didn’t say that at all. He accepted Thomas’ worship and acknowledgment of his Divinity and the following words of Jesus explain that He is alive and well, his body is resurrected (even though the wounds still visible to them) and his body is a perfect, glorified body. We too, when we get to heaven will have a perfect, painless (Thank God) glorified spirit-body that will live forever. God bless you.
Susan