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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Explain Trinity Father Son, Holy Ghost | Is 1:1 | halroy | 199580 | ||
Obviously, your Jehovah's Witness friend is already a believer in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whose name is known to your friend as Jehovah, and who is undeniably the Father in Heaven referred to many times in scripture. So you begin from an important point of agreement about God. First Corinthians 2: 9-11 is a good scripture reference for showing the biblical position concerning the Holy Spirit...note especially verse 11, which makes a comparison of the Holy Spirit relating to God (the Father) just as a man's spirit relates to him. Proceed on simply by asking your friend to use a concordance to look up more references to the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, and to prayerfully consider what the bible teaches about the Spirit. Of course, one of the best texts in the Bible that teaches the deity of Jesus Christ is the first verse of the gospel of John, and verses following. However, the Jehovah's witnesses have produced their own translation of the bible, which is not accurate with these particular verses. John 8:58 quotes Jesus as saying ..."before Abraham was, I am..." which is about as clear an indication of Jesus' claim of divinity as can be found in scripture; compare with Exodus 3:14. Finally, my own way of thinking about this that has helped me to understand the triune nature of God, and to accept the many bible verses that equate the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is simply this: we humans, who were created by God in His own image, tend to think of and speak of ourselves in a similar way...we speak of body, mind and spirit, or perhaps body, soul, and spirit, and I find it noteworthy that even atheists use such language to speak of the nature of man's existance. So, if we are made in the image of God, is it then surprising that God also has a triune nature? |
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2 | Explain Trinity Father Son, Holy Ghost | Is 1:1 | DocTrinsograce | 199583 | ||
Dear Halroy, Welcome to the forum! In our efforts to describe the triune nature of our God, we need to be careful to steer clear of Modalism, and other heresies. Still and all, there is really no better definition in the hands of the believers than that expressed by Athanasius in the fourth century, and formally stated in the Nicaean Creed: "We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten of the Father, that is, of the substance [ek tes ousias] of the Father, God of God, light of light, true God of true God, begotten not made, of the same substance with the Father [homoousion to patri], through whom all things were made both in heaven and on earth; who for us men and our salvation descended, was incarnate, and was made man, suffered and rose again the third day, ascended into heaven and cometh to judge the living and the dead. And in the Holy Ghost. Those who say: There was a time when He was not, and He was not before He was begotten; and that He was made our of nothing (ex ouk onton); or who maintain that He is of another hypostasis or another substance [than the Father], or that the Son of God is created, or mutable, or subject to change, [them] the Catholic Church anathematizes." Augustine, addressing this doctrine directly, asserted that each person of the Trinity is fully divine, each is unique to itself, and each is within the other, in perpetual intercommunication and motion, coequal and coeternal. We might further add that they are self-existing, perfectly and fully sufficient unto themselves, and rejoicing in and loving one another. In Him, Doc |
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3 | Explain Trinity Father Son, Holy Ghost | Is 1:1 | halroy | 199586 | ||
Thanks for the welcome, Doc, In seeking to understand how three Persons can be One, I find it handy for my weak mind - I am no scholar - to consider that my own existence seems to entail three...modes, if you want to use the term. However, I ascribe no modes of subordination or derivation to the Godhead based on this. The image of myself produced by my Kodak comes much closer to revealing the essence of my existence, than whatever image my existence reveals to me of the essence of God. It was not meant as an analogy, but just a dim perception of comparison not intended as a basis for doctrine. My beliefs are very conservative, and, I am sure, orthodox. I agree with your caution. may god bless you, halroy |
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4 | Explain Trinity Father Son, Holy Ghost | Is 1:1 | Gunnie | 199587 | ||
Hello A dear old lady I know, when asked by myself to explain the Trinity replied 'Its an egg'. With some trepidation I asked her to explain further , her reply was ' an eggs an egg and it cannot be anything else.' Having to plead ignorance to what she meant she says 'you accept an egg as being an egg. accept God in the same way. An egg is the yolk, the white and the shell, three components forming one overall object. God is the same in terms of Father, Son and Holy Spirit'. This picture shows perfectly how 3 things can exist as one and had no basis on doctrine, theology or the Bible and is always the image I visualise when I get bogged down with the concept |
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5 | Explain Trinity Father Son, Holy Ghost | Is 1:1 | DocTrinsograce | 199592 | ||
"Old lady?" I'd duck about now! | ||||||