Polythestic Christianity

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Ok, I’ve been told sence as far as i can remember there is only one god…

But the thing is though I also hear about the holy trinity.

Father
Son
Holy spirit

Now from what I figured the father aspect is God, the son aspect is Jesus, and the Holy spirit i’m still working on.

and polythestics bealive in many dieties and or intaties (sorry if I misspelled that) and the FSH is 3 seperate things standing united as the Holy trinity to represent christianity, just like how theres many gods/goddesses to represent Paganism.

If im dead wrong or hazy on some of my thoughts please let me know.

blessed be,
cody
 
reborn_pagan said:
Ok, I’ve been told sence as far as i can remember there is only one god…

But the thing is though I also hear about the holy trinity.

Father
Son
Holy spirit

Now from what I figured the father aspect is God, the son aspect is Jesus, and the Holy spirit i’m still working on.

and polythestics bealive in many dieties and or intaties (sorry if I misspelled that) and the FSH is 3 seperate things standing united as the Holy trinity to represent christianity, just like how theres many gods/goddesses to represent Paganism.

If im dead wrong or hazy on some of my thoughts please let me know.

blessed be,
cody
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They persons of the Trinity are distinct from each other to a degree, but they are not separate from each other to nearly the extent that your pagan deities are.

They can never truly contradict each other, for starters, unlike the old Greek and Roman gods who are depicted as constantly squabbling and fighting amongst themselves.

Contrast this with the unity of will and intent among the members of the Trinity - for example in the Creation story. God the Father creates man, with and through Jesus (whos is described in the Gospel of John as God’s ‘Word’ through whom the universe was created), and the Spirit is breathed into man’s body to bring him to life.
 
reborn_pagan said:
Now from what I figured the father aspect is God, the son aspect is Jesus, and the Holy spirit i’m still working on.

and polythestics bealive in many dieties and or intaties (sorry if I misspelled that) and the FSH is 3 seperate things standing united as the Holy trinity to represent christianity, just like how theres many gods/goddesses to represent Paganism.
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The key here is “aspect.” There are also plenty of folks who identify as Neopagan who consider all Gods and Goddesses a sort of aspect/face/reflection/facet either of one God/Goddess or as such of a primary God and Goddess. The first is still monotheism, the second more properly duotheism.

For the polytheist, the Gods are distinct individuals, though each individual may be worshipped in one or more of His or Her roles, and may be depicted in iconography as multiple to emphasize those roles. For instance the Greek Goddess Hecate is frequently depicted as a statue of three women joined together, facing in different directions. This doesn’t mean that Hecate is a Triune Goddess in the way that the Christian God is viewed as the Trinity. Hecate is the Goddess of the crossroads, that she looks in different directions emphasizes this particular role or concern of her, of being able to see in many different directions at once. Kind of the same way that Byzantine iconography of the saints will show them with larger eyes than normal humans to show that they have clearer vision.

The Muses and the Fates are both usually honored as one group, but they are understood to be totally separate individuals within that group, again in a way different than the Christian Trinity is conceived. The Triple Goddess of the Wiccans probably comes closest though not completely there, more along the “different faces” concept as I understand it and not surprisingly so, since the understanding of Her arose from a society with a very Christian worldview.

To my view, the Christian view of the Trinity hovers between the “different faces” and “separate individuals” positions in a pretty unique (and to me at root incomprehensible despite 30 years in the religion and intensive study) way. I have never been able to fully wrap my mind around it and have it make sense.
 
KarenNC said:
The key here is “aspect.” There are also plenty of folks who identify as Neopagan who consider all Gods and Goddesses a sort of aspect/face/reflection/facet either of one God/Goddess or as such of a primary God and Goddess. The first is still monotheism, the second more properly duotheism.

For the polytheist, the Gods are distinct individuals, though each individual may be worshipped in one or more of His or Her roles, and may be depicted in iconography as multiple to emphasize those roles. For instance the Greek Goddess Hecate is frequently depicted as a statue of three women joined together, facing in different directions. This doesn’t mean that Hecate is a Triune Goddess in the way that the Christian God is viewed as the Trinity. Hecate is the Goddess of the crossroads, that she looks in different directions emphasizes this particular role or concern of her, of being able to see in many different directions at once. Kind of the same way that Byzantine iconography of the saints will show them with larger eyes than normal humans to show that they have clearer vision.

The Muses and the Fates are both usually honored as one group, but they are understood to be totally separate individuals within that group, again in a way different than the Christian Trinity is conceived. The Triple Goddess of the Wiccans probably comes closest though not completely there, more along the “different faces” concept as I understand it and not surprisingly so, since the understanding of Her arose from a society with a very Christian worldview.

To my view, the Christian view of the Trinity hovers between the “different faces” and “separate individuals” positions in a pretty unique (and to me at root incomprehensible despite 30 years in the religion and intensive study) way. I have never been able to fully wrap my mind around it and have it make sense.
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If you make you responses any longer im gonna have to make an appoitment for them. 🙂

But what your saying is that that the iconogrophy of Hekate and the trinity is just indivual aspects that are connected in a Mecastructure right?
 
What does it mean in practice for a person to believe in God?

It means to adhere to God himself, entrusting oneself to him and giving assent to all the truths which God has revealed because God is Truth. It means to believe in one God in three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Source: Compendium Catechism of the Catholic Church (see Chapter 3: Man’s Response to God)

For more in-depth answer see Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragrahs 150-152 and Paragraphs 176-178
 
Also I think questions 33-58 of the Compendium Catechism of the Catholic Church and the answers to those questions will help you.

Especially questions
43) What does it mean to believe only in one God?
45) Can the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity be known by the light of human reason alone?
49) How do the three divine Persons work?

Once again here is the link to the Compendium Catechism of the Catholic Church
(see Chapter 1: I Believe in God the Father)

Once you get to the link you will have to scroll down a little and you will see a table of contents.
Click on the words “Chapter 1: I believe in God the Father” it will take you to the questions 33-58
 
Well, it can be hard to explain because to my knowledge Christianity’s view of the Godhead is unique amongst the world religions.

The only sort of example style description that I can think of is if you took the Hindu trinity Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu these are three distinct beings that operate as a unit. Well if you take that and inverse it to a unit that operates as 3 distinct beings that might be close.

It’s not elegant but that’s the best simplistic answer I can come up with.
 
Ah the Trinity… a preplexing concept. The best way I can get my thick skull around it is science.

H2O = God
solid =Father
Liquid = Son
Vapor = Spirit
All three are H2O so all 3 are God.
3 in 1

AWESOME!!!

This world of time and space has many examples that compliment the trinity.

Peace
 
The Trinity is Three Divine Persons NOT aspects (Or “roles”)–that is the ancient heresy (“error”) of Sabellianism, aka Modalism, apparently re-invented by the “Jesus Only” Pentecostal churches.

Each of the Three Persons IS the Singular, One-and-only-and-the-only-One-there-can-be-GOD

The Three Divine Persons are not confused: The Father is NOT the Son, is NOT The Spirit, etc…

That the Only-One God existed is a fact many deduce from their human reason–which many educated Greeks did in rejecting their tribal polytheism. That the One God is Three Persons is a fact that can only come from Revelation, not unaided human reason
 
reborn_pagan said:
Now from what I figured the father aspect is God, the son aspect is Jesus, and the Holy spirit i’m still working on.

and polythestics bealive in many dieties and or intaties (sorry if I misspelled that) and the FSH is 3 seperate things standing united as the Holy trinity to represent christianity, just like how theres many gods/goddesses to represent Paganism.
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The persons of the Trinity are distinct, but not separate. And they are distinct only because they relate to each other:
  • The Father is the Father (and is neither the Son nor the Holy Spirit) because he fathers the Son.
  • The Son is the Son (and is neither the Father nor the Holy Spirit) because he is begotten of the Father.
  • The Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit (and is neither the Father nor the Son) because he proceeds from the Father and the Son.
The divine persons, in fact, *are *relations. There is no distinction in God apart from this relationality. This is totally different from a polytheistic group of three self-referential entities.
 
**If you make you responses any longer im gonna have to make an appoitment for them. 🙂 **

You should be used to it by now 🙂 Scary thing? I have been told that when I type, I sound the same as when I am talking.

But what your saying is that that the iconogrophy of Hekate and the trinity is just indivual aspects that are connected in a Mecastructure right?

Not exactly. I am saying that some folks will point to the iconography of Hecate, for example, as a Goddess that was seen in the same way that the Trinity is seen by Christians, and I don’t agree.

Check out Theoi.com for more info on how she was perceived by the Greeks (it was in a great variety of ways, but I don’t see anything that I equate with the Christian concept of the Trinity)
theoi.com/Khthonios/Hekate.html

The Christian Trinity is frankly something I have never been able to get my mind around fully. Brings up a number of issues:

That the basis of the religion is that God required Himself to sacrifice Himself to Himself in order to save from His own damnation the creatures that He Himself had made because due to the nature with which He created them they reacted in a situation that He created as He knew they would at the time that He created both them and the situation, therefore transgressing the law He created knowing that His creations could not follow it.

That the God the Father who is fully and completely the same as and completely identical with, God the Son could separate Himself completely from Himself (My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?)

etc.

This a large part of why I am not Christian.
 
KarenNC said:
That the basis of the religion is that God required Himself to sacrifice Himself to Himself in order to save from His own damnation the creatures that He Himself had made because due to the nature with which He created them they reacted in a situation that He created as He knew they would at the time that He created both them and the situation, therefore transgressing the law He created knowing that His creations could not follow it.

response: The Redemption via the Incarnation was “Plan B”. God created beings with free wills–which is a meaningless concept unless it allows disobedience. All actions, including disobedience, involve consequences. The Redemption is the way out of the consequences of Primal Disobedience (Original Sin)–the Redemption is achieved through Sacrifice. Sacrifice, in whatever form, is a near universal religious concept–an inate ( or near inate) understanding that we humans fall short of the Divine and some price, some offering of the best one has is required to “get right” with the Divine. The Christian understanding is nothing we offer could possibly be sufficient enough–hence God becomes man because a man caused the offense and only a Man can offer the Sacrifice–and the only Sacrifice sufficient is God Himself–thus the nesesisity of the Incarnation,

Adam & Eve could have obeyed**–however, suffering from their disobedience we only know human nature in it’s fallen state–we only get glimmers of what we would be, if they had obeyed, in the lives of the Saints and the Virgin–and of course manifestly in Jesus.

In his second of his “Space Trilogy” novels Perelandra, CS Lewis offers a conception of an unfallen world with a idea the choice and struggle to be a free being with ultimate choice

That the God the Father who is fully and completely the same as and completely identical with, God the Son could separate Himself completely from Himself (My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?)

response: that is NOT the Trinity–The Father is NOT the Son, the Son is NOT the Father–however, both are fully God, the One God

.
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