I need help explaining the Trinity to my boyfriend

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Hey everyone. My boyfriend believes in God but he doesn’t believe in the Trinity because he doesn’t understand the Trinity. He wants to understand it but he doesn’t know how. He doesn’t understand how there can be 3 persons in 1 God. He needs a logical explanation for this. Any help or links would be greatly appreciated.
 
Holly3278 said:
Hey everyone. My boyfriend believes in God but he doesn’t believe in the Trinity because he doesn’t understand the Trinity. He wants to understand it but he doesn’t know how. He doesn’t understand how there can be 3 persons in 1 God. He needs a logical explanation for this. Any help or links would be greatly appreciated.
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Many have tried to explain the Trinity. Can’t be done to anyone’s satisfaction because it’s a mystery. Explain what the Catechism says, and that’s it. Great minds like St. Augustine tried to understand the Trinity. It is beyond human comprehension. You can show him the sections in the New Testament where the Trinity appears – such as in the baptism of Jesus. Your friend will have to accept the belief in the Trinity as a matter of faith.
 
Well first and foremost, I think it is safe to say that it cannot be fully understood in this life. It is one of the mysteries of our faith that we all have to accept.

The closest analogy I can think of to the trinity is H20. H20 can be steam, or water, or ice. These are three distinct things, yet not one of them is “more H20” than the other, they are all equally H20.

The only bit left to faith is that something is steam, and water, and ice, at once 😉
 
My explanation is also similar. A woman can be a mother, a friend, and a daughter all at the same time. One title does not diminish the importance or need for the other, but all are valued equally according to ones needs. And so it is with the Trinity, all is one, with no less value, yet provides special for our needs. 👍 A great book to read is The Shack by Wm. Paul Young. Best explanation of the Trinity in a book I have ever read!!! 🎉
 
Holly3278 said:
Hey everyone. My boyfriend believes in God but he doesn’t believe in the Trinity because he doesn’t understand the Trinity. He wants to understand it but he doesn’t know how. He doesn’t understand how there can be 3 persons in 1 God. He needs a logical explanation for this. Any help or links would be greatly appreciated.
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Excellent Challenge! I would like to offer an understanding. Please note: the following are personal reflections intended to draw others and myself closer to Jesus Christ and Catholicism for He and His Church are the Way and the Truth. They are also shared for subjection to Harsh Criticisms regarding Alignment with Doctrines of the Faith.

Reflection on the Creator
Before Time, There was the Creator (One Person). His Body is Jesus’ Body, His Mind knows Everything, His Will is Free to Desire and proceeds from His Mind and His Body. His Body, Mind, and Will are distinct, co-existing, co-eternal, and all working together in Unified and Unchanging Essence [Perfect Love - Patience, Kindness, Motivation, and Wisdom.]

Reflection on the Word
Before Time, The Creator wanted to have others in His image and Likeness share in the Awesomeness of Peace, Happiness, and Energy.
To do this He had to Know a Plan that would guide others to Freely Choose to Love.

Reflection on the Word was God
Once the Creator decided to Will His Plan, His Being became Flesh, and time and the world as we know it began to exist.
In order to Guide Free Willed and Desiring Beings to Freely Choose Love, the Creator has to strategically reveal His Being.
He had to have His Mind become Flesh (All of the Things that Happen)
He had to have His Body become Flesh (Jesus).
He had to have His Will become Flesh (Holy Spirit).
He had to have His Essence become Flesh (There must be a State of Perfected Love [Patience, Kindness, Motivation, Knowledge, Peace, Happiness, Energy, and Wisdom]).

Reflection on the Holy Trinity
The Creator is the Father. A Distinct Person who is Fully God.
The Body becoming Flesh is the Son. A Distinct Person who is Fully God (of the same Being) and Fully Man (of Human Nature).
The Will becoming Flesh is the Holy Spirit. A Distinct Person who Fully Proceeds from the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is Fully Man.
The Human Natures of the Son and the Holy Spirit must achieve Atonement in the Essence of The Creator.
All Three Persons work together in Unified Purpose and Essence.

Reflection on the Holy Spirit
Since the Second Coming of Jesus has yet to happen, a human either currently living or soon to be born is the Holy Spirit.

Reflection on What to Do Now
Recognize that we are of the Same Free Will as the Creator.
Recognize that we have the option to directly proceed from the Son and the Father.
Recognize that we are desiring Perfect Love.
Recognize that one of us may be the Holy Spirit.
So Go and use all your being to become One with God’s Purpose and Essence!
Master the Greatest Commandments and Sacraments of Catholicism to Achieve Oneness!

I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Thank you for your time and consideration.
 
I hope I can help:

the Trinity is more like an historical event from different points of view: “I’m punching you” is the same event as “I’m being punched by you” but from different POVs. The differences between the POVs and the event are nominal, just as the differences between the Persons and God are nominal.

But just as there is a real difference that underlies the difference of POVs, there is also a real difference between the Persons since they are real processions within God. Likewise the POVs are real events in their own rights for it is equally true that in a war both 1) one person is being damaged and 2) one person is exerting energy that damages.
 
Holly3278 said:
Hey everyone. My boyfriend believes in God but he doesn’t believe in the Trinity because he doesn’t understand the Trinity. He wants to understand it but he doesn’t know how. He doesn’t understand how there can be 3 persons in 1 God. He needs a logical explanation for this. Any help or links would be greatly appreciated.
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Hello Holly you might try using an egg explaining that it has three parts but is one egg or maybe use your family explaining that your father is Jones his son is a Jones and any other people in the family is a Jones and even though there are separate people the are all Jones By the way I grew up in Vincennes Indiana which part of the Evansville Diocese.
 
As Rebecca suggested already, I would really point him in the direction of Mere Christianity.

Another good analogy is the consciousness. You are composed of a mind. Your mind has three parts: The memory, the reasoning, and the will. Essentially, what you know from the past, what you think this will happen in the future, and what you want to occur. So, the will is based off of both reasoning and your memory. You think it might burn your hand to keep it in the flame and you remember your brother burning his hand. You have the reasoning which is based on what you remember happening in the past related to the situation and partly on what you want. You reason the pizza will only be $1 because you remember it was cheap and you want it to be about $1. Your memory is based off of past reasonings and what you willed in the past.

So, all parts of your mind are working together, all parts are one mind and all are attributed to the same person. This is exactly like the trinity. All are one, all are God. The Father is not the Son or the Spirit and vice versa. However, they are all God and are all connected perfectly and intimately. They all want the same thing to happen and are all working for the same exact end.
 
Trevor_Stamm said:
Frank Sheed’s Theology and Sanity part 1 of the Trinity and part 2
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Please, folks, these two links will give you heaps! Theres a lot of info there, so dont ignore it.

Ignatius Press publishes a 1978 revised version of “Theology and Sanity”.

We can go deep into the Trinity, so its a belief based not purely on faith, but on reason and logic, also. Thats why we have theologians; and Saint Thomas Aquinas is the Number 1 Doctor of the Church for good reason.
 
At first, the idea of three persons in one being might seem beyond comprehension but even among human beings there have been cases of dicephalic (two-headed) conjoined twins, two human persons who share a single human body:
phreeque.com(image from www.phreeque.com/conjoined_twins.html)

If it helps, you might consider thinking of the Most Holy Trinity analogously as “tricephalic (three-headed) conjoined triplets,” three divine persons who share a single divine nature.
 
Andrew, John, and James are three persons [hypostasis] in one essence [ousia] which is man.

Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit are three persons [hypostasis] in one essence [ousia] which is God.

If you like to read, here is St Basil the Great’s excellent explanation of the Trinity to St Gregory of Nyssa: ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf208.ix.xxxix.html
 
I prefer CAL Senior Apologist Jimmy Akin’s take on describing the Trinity.

A rock is a being with *zero *persons (it is non-living and inanimate).

A human is a being with *one *person (living, animate).
(My addition: Some would argue that those with psychological issues of multiple personality could have several “persons” as well.)

God is a being with *three *persons (Father, Son, Holy Spirit). He has no physical body (save, now, Christ, the Second Person)

One thing to remind your friend is that God isn’t anything he can imagine. Try not to “put God in a box” in thinking that He is like a human. Paradoxical to common sense, many of the non-religious or agnostic think that *aliens *exist more likely than God does, so try that approach if that helps.
 
Someone once offerred a simple analogy. An egg is one object but contains three characteristics; the yoke, the white, and the shell. All three elements compose the egg object. Theologically speaking, however, the Trinity is a little more complex but the idea is the same. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit comprise the three distinct personal characteristics of God.
 
Soldier_Of_God said:
The Father, Son and Holy Spirit comprise the three distinct personal characteristics of God.
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The Father, Son and Holy Spirit comprise the three distinct persons that are God not three distinct “personal characteristics” of God. Jesus is of one essence (or substance) with the Father. Jesus is one person of the Trinity not a personal characteristic of the Trinity.
 
“Suppose then that two or more are set together, as, for instance, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, and that an enquiry is made into the essence or substance of humanity; no one will give one definition of essence or substance in the case of Paul, a second in that of Silvanus, and a third in that of Timothy; but the same words which have been employed in setting forth the essence or substance of Paul will apply to the others also. Those who are described by the same definition of essence or substance are of the same essence or substance when the enquirer has learned what is common, and turns his attention to the differentiating properties whereby one is distinguished from another, the definition by which each is known will no longer tally in all particulars with the definition of another, even though in some points it be found to agree.
…]
Transfer, then, to the divine dogmas the same standard of difference which you recognise in the case both of essence and of hypostasis in human affairs, and you will not go wrong. Whatever your thought suggests to you as to the mode of the existence of the Father, you will think also in the case of the Son, and in like manner too of the Holy Ghost.” - St Basil the Great, ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf208.ix.xxxix.html

Man is an essence [ousia] of which there are multiple persons [hypostasises]. God is an essence [ousia] of which there are three persons [hypostasises].
 
Holly3278 said:
Hey everyone. My boyfriend believes in God but he doesn’t believe in the Trinity because he doesn’t understand the Trinity. He wants to understand it but he doesn’t know how. He doesn’t understand how there can be 3 persons in 1 God. He needs a logical explanation for this. Any help or links would be greatly appreciated.
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I read a book by FJ Sheed called “Theology and Sanity”. I found it gave really good explanations of the Trinity and many other difficult subjects. If you can get your boyfriend a copy, you should find it helpful. It’s about 50 years old, but still in print, I think.

Basically, the Trinity is a mystery, that doesn’t mean that we can’t know anything about it, just that we can never fully understand it. The 3 persons in 1 God is three persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) in one nature (God).

Everything has a nature, that could be a stone, a plant, a cat or a human being. Stones and plants have only a nature (I’ve deliberately left out the cat one, as if my missing cat ever comes home, she’ll thump me for suggesting she’s inferior). A human being also has a “person”. If I do something, it is “I”, the person, who decides or wills to do it, through my human nature. The person is the originator of the action, the nature is the act-er. So there is nothing that prevents a nature having more than one person in it.

Why are there three persons in the Trinity? Jesus is called the Son and the Word. The Father is infinite and therefore must be a spiritual entity. For a spirit, a Word cannot be a spoken word, but must be an idea. The Father’s idea of himself is entirely accurate and complete. Therefore it cannot lack anything He has, including existance. So that creates the Son (but there is no time so the Father isn’t “older” than the Son). The son of a human being is a human being so the son of God must be God. As God is infinite, they must be one God, but two persons. The Love of these two persons for each other, just as the idea of self, is accurate and complete. Therefore that creates the Holy Spirit, who is also God, a third person.

I have tried to explain this quickly, but it is very difficult to explain clearly in a post. I would really recommend that book. I think you will find that you get a lot out of it. It isn’t light reading but it gives good, solid explanations for much of our faith.

I will pray for you and your boyfriend.

starsmurf
 
Zekariya said:
The Father, Son and Holy Spirit comprise the three distinct persons that are God not three distinct “personal characteristics” of God. Jesus is of one essence (or substance) with the Father. Jesus is one person of the Trinity not a personal characteristic of the Trinity.
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I appreciate the correction. My (name removed by moderator)ut was intended to provided a simplified link to my egg analogy and yet still be digestible to the uninitiated. When you say to the those that are curious and don’t have a Christian background that the Holy Trinity is three divine and distinct persons in one true God, it proves to be very troublesome. People are used to thinking that 1+1+1=3 rather than 1+1+1=1.
 
Frank Sheed’s explanation in “Theology and Sanity” is very good. So far, the best I’ve read.
 
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