Forgive me for stating the obvious, but the Christian doctrine of the trinity is utterly ridiculous. Not only do I find the idea to be unfeasible and nonsensical, but as far as I can tell, it isn’t even necessary for the Christian religion to exist.
These two criticisms are extremely intertwined; I’ll try to differentiate them though. The first relates primarily to the absurdity of it. What is the trinity? How can one god be three persons/people? Does Yahweh have multiple personality disorder? These questions raise interesting concerns, which are never answered by theologians, the only answers we ever receive are statements of overwhelming inanity like “God is mysterious” or incredibly weak analogies. Most of the analogies that are used by Christians actually better demonstrate other non-Trinitarian doctrines that were deemed heretical.
Does Christianity even require the trinity? In my opinion, no it doesn’t. I am not a biblical scholar, but it seems that deriving the doctrine of the trinity from the Biblical texts requires some mental and theological gymnastics. Besides the polytheistic/Henotheistic/Monolatrist vibes one gets from many Old Testament passages, the rest is extremely monotheistic, and there are no hints that Yahweh is actually three entities. The doctrine of the trinity isn’t even implicitly taught in the New Testament, but rather seems to be a poorly constructed doctrine based on a few scattered verses mentioning the spirit of God, various passages from John and Paul’s writings that allude to the supposed divinity of Jesus, and some of the polytheistic references from the Old Testament. The only time they are all mentioned at once as far as I know is in the prescription of the Rite of Baptism, which I suspect may even be a later interpolation.
As many will be aware, some early sects of the Christian cult were not even Trinitarian, and the primary reason that most denominations today are, is because this was the position of the various Catholic councils that deemed other views heretical. Some examples of other views are the Modal view of God, where the Father, Son and Holy Spirit were just different ‘modes’ of God, or expressions. In this view, the deity was still very much singular. Other views included ones where Jesus was either not human, or not divine such as Arianism (Do not confuse this with Aryanism).
What does the trinity even bring to the religion? Nothing. What doctrines are illuminated by God being split into three personalities? Why would an infinite deity require being composed of 3 parts? It is questions like these remaining almost entirely unanswered that makes me more certain that the religion is of purely human origin. Doctrines were invented whimsically to try to explain ideas, but instead they only serve to confuse. Apparently the god of the Bible is the author of the confusion, because the god of the bible is mankind.
dknf
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theologynetwork.org/christian-beliefs/doctrine-of-god/getting-stuck-in/enjoying-the-trinity-1--a-delightfully-different-god.htm
ReplyDeleteand the two talks that follow on from it, hopefully, will explain the concept of the trinity to you, and why it's so concrete to the Christian faith. The talk was given to a group of Christians, so bear with it - but I hope it will answer this post better than I ever could.
Oh, I understand the trinity as much as most Christians do, probably more than most. I find it utterly vacuous, incoherent and superfluous to the rest of Christian doctrine.
ReplyDeleteIt is an unnecessary and utterly idiotic concept.
ReplyDelete“Anyone of intelligence, however, can realize that the process of begetting is not the same in all things, but occurs in each thing according to its own proper characteristics. Thus, in some animals it occurs through male and female intercourse; in plants, however through sprouting or germination, and otherwise in others. Now God is not of carnal nature, such that He needs intercourse with a woman so as to beget, but is of a spiritual or intellectual nature; rather He is above every intellect. Hence generation in Him is to be understood in the manner appropriate to an intellectual nature…” To better understand the Blessed Trinity read St Thomas Aquinas book titled, “Aquinas: On Reasons for our Faith against the Muslims," 23.
ReplyDeleteGod is life-givng love. The Father eternally begets the Son in the Holy Spirit. Perhaps the most natural analogy is the family. God created us according to His image and likeness, thus He created us to be family. Maybe that's the reason why you and I were born into a family.
why can't your god be in an eternal wife and husband relationship with mary? why can't he eternally beget jebus through mary? if he is a twin relationship with his brother jesus, then surely he can be in wife, husband and son relationship too. it is very simple
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