Are you a Trinitarian, and if so, can you defend the doctrine?

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.

Are you a Trinitarian, and can you defend the doctrine?

  • Yes, I am a Trinitarian, and I can defend the doctrine.

    Votes: 37 63.8%
  • Yes, I am a Trinitarian, but I cannot defend the doctrine.

    Votes: 2 3.4%
  • No, I deny the doctrine of the Trinity.

    Votes: 16 27.6%
  • I don't know if the Trinity is true or false.

    Votes: 3 5.2%

  • Total voters
    58

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
37,840
13,558
113
So if you think Joseph is 3 tribes in one you should have zeroed in on Joseph and the other two tribes.

Joseph' sons are considered as tribes perhaps because of the blessings in Gen 49 which i pointed out. Each son received blessings and Joseph's was different from others because his father loved him more. But there's no mystery of a tribe within another here.
Jacob adopted Joseph's sons, Genesis 48:5
the reason he gave is because he believed God, Genesis 48:3-4
 

Noose

Senior Member
Apr 18, 2016
5,096
932
113
Jacob adopted Joseph's sons, Genesis 48:5
the reason he gave is because he believed God, Genesis 48:3-4
Perfect, and this explains why Ephraim and Manasseh are tribes yet it is not a mystery of 3 tribes in 1 tribe.
 

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
37,840
13,558
113
I wish there was a formula that describes God but there's non
things don't have or not have existence by our understanding of them, but by God's remembrance.

the Spirit of the LORD is God. Genesis 1:2
the LORD is God. Psalm 100:3
The Angel of the LORD is God. Genesis 22:11-12

there is no God but one.
 

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
37,840
13,558
113
Perfect, and this explains why Ephraim and Manasseh are tribes yet it is not a mystery of 3 tribes in 1 tribe.
yet there are only 12 tribes. yet there are 14.
3 are 1.


you can understand this; it's why i brought it up. it's why God put it in His Book.
 

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
37,840
13,558
113
Again, dwelling on the description of God;

In no complicated terms, how many persons was Jesus and how many persons are in God? And does Jesus qualify to be God in your own measure of persons?
How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity?
(Proverbs 1:22)
Jesus Christ is the Son of Man is the Son of God is God manifest in the flesh.
He is fully human and fully God.
no one has ever seen God; if you have seen Him, you have seen God.
blessed are those who have not seen, and believe





i don't measure persons. i don't have a basis.
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/VectorBasis.html
 

Noose

Senior Member
Apr 18, 2016
5,096
932
113
yet there are only 12 tribes. yet there are 14.
3 are 1.


you can understand this; it's why i brought it up. it's why God put it in His Book.
Tribes here means sons of Jacob, if Jacob decides to take two more sons for himself then the tribes (sons) become 14 because of 14 sons.

So are there 3 gods within 1 God? i don't get your explanation using this tribes thing.
 

Noose

Senior Member
Apr 18, 2016
5,096
932
113
things don't have or not have existence by our understanding of them, but by God's remembrance.

the Spirit of the LORD is God. Genesis 1:2
the LORD is God. Psalm 100:3
The Angel of the LORD is God. Genesis 22:11-12


there is no God but one.
So how does these translate to three persons in one God?
 

Noose

Senior Member
Apr 18, 2016
5,096
932
113
How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity?
(Proverbs 1:22)
Jesus Christ is the Son of Man is the Son of God is God manifest in the flesh.
He is fully human and fully God.
no one has ever seen God; if you have seen Him, you have seen God.
blessed are those who have not seen, and believe





i don't measure persons. i don't have a basis.
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/VectorBasis.html
Yet Jesus was made to be like his brothers in every way - Heb 2:17

Does this mean you are also fully man and fully God? Now that you also share in the divine nature (2 Pet 1:4)

Seen God doesn't mean see as in watch but understand- but God has explained Himself from Genesis 1. Man is in the image of God, when it says man, that includes Jesus, you and myself too.
 

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
37,840
13,558
113
Tribes here means sons of Jacob, if Jacob decides to take two more sons for himself then the tribes (sons) become 14 because of 14 sons.

So are there 3 gods within 1 God? i don't get your explanation using this tribes thing.
whenever the tribes are numbered, named or listed, it is 12.
but there are 14.
3 = 1

it teaches us that our 'norm' -- which is a fancy math word for a way to measure ((a ''measure" is an even fancier math word which is simultaneously a lot more simple and a lot more complex)) -- our 'norm' isn't God's norm.
you keep using what is called the L1 norm to count God, saying 1+1+1 = 3.
i showed you what's called the L∞ norm as an example that there are other ways to count. the right way to count depends on the space, or context, or setting, of the thing being counted. the 'setting' of God isn't a simple number line. the accusation that Christianity believes in 3 gods is based on bad math.
 

Noose

Senior Member
Apr 18, 2016
5,096
932
113
whenever the tribes are numbered, named or listed, it is 12.
but there are 14.
3 = 1


it teaches us that our 'norm' -- which is a fancy math word for a way to measure ((a ''measure" is an even fancier math word which is simultaneously a lot more simple and a lot more complex)) -- our 'norm' isn't God's norm.
you keep using what is called the L1 norm to count God, saying 1+1+1 = 3.
i showed you what's called the L∞ norm as an example that there are other ways to count. the right way to count depends on the space, or context, or setting, of the thing being counted. the 'setting' of God isn't a simple number line. the accusation that Christianity believes in 3 gods is based on bad math.
When it says 12 tribes, you know why. Simple, 12 sons of Jacob.

There's no 3 in 1 tribes. Everything that happened with the tribes is just L1 norm, each time a tribe replacing another tribe when the 12 tribes are being counted. If there's a place 14 tribes are counted but mentioning only 12 then it would be L∞ norm, but each time it was 12 with 12 names, so no mystery.

But i still don't understand how this applies to God. 12 tribes = 12 tribes and 14 tribes = 14 tribes but 3 gods = 1 God as per trinity, not possible.
 

bojack

Well-known member
Dec 16, 2019
2,309
1,006
113
In what respect is Jesus being referred to as the second Adam?

I'm not going to ask Jesus that unless i believe in Trinity which i don't. All i'm asking you is, does 3 persons in 1 describe the true God and does Jesus meet this description?

Why is this a difficult question?
Jesus is God, was that difficult ? Jesus is God's name and you don't have to understand it until you do .. Even Adam had to be saved by Jesus .. We are adopted-in sons of God .. Jesus is the only begotten Son ..
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
 

Noose

Senior Member
Apr 18, 2016
5,096
932
113
Jesus is God, was that difficult ? Jesus is God's name and you don't have to understand it until you do .. Even Adam had to be saved by Jesus .. We are adopted-in sons of God .. Jesus is the only begotten Son ..
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
What does begotten mean? Can someone who has no beginning be begotten?

Yet Jesus says the Father is the only true God. So it is difficult for you.
 

Noose

Senior Member
Apr 18, 2016
5,096
932
113
whenever the tribes are numbered, named or listed, it is 12.
but there are 14.
3 = 1


it teaches us that our 'norm' -- which is a fancy math word for a way to measure ((a ''measure" is an even fancier math word which is simultaneously a lot more simple and a lot more complex)) -- our 'norm' isn't God's norm.
you keep using what is called the L1 norm to count God, saying 1+1+1 = 3.
i showed you what's called the L∞ norm as an example that there are other ways to count. the right way to count depends on the space, or context, or setting, of the thing being counted. the 'setting' of God isn't a simple number line. the accusation that Christianity believes in 3 gods is based on bad math.
The tribes (sons) of Israel could line up to be counted to either 12 or 13 or 14 at any time which means there's no 3 sons in 1 son at any given moment. But can the 3 persons of the trinity line up to be counted at any given moment? NO

The analogy is not ok and it is not about Math.
 

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
37,840
13,558
113
The tribes (sons) of Israel could line up to be counted to either 12 or 13 or 14 at any time which means there's no 3 sons in 1 son at any given moment. But can the 3 persons of the trinity line up to be counted at any given moment? NO

The analogy is not ok and it is not about Math.
God always calls them twelve.

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding
 

Noose

Senior Member
Apr 18, 2016
5,096
932
113
God always calls them twelve.

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding
It is clear from the scriptures why the 12 tribes of Israel are 12 even though they could be counted to 14, but it is not clear from the scriptures why you describe God as 3 distinct persons.

The spirit of God manifesting Himself into creation is how God creates; it is how God created Adam and it is how Jesus was created and it is how the whole universe is created. There's no other way God creates other than He Himself becoming... but of course this happens in the heart of a man.
 

bojack

Well-known member
Dec 16, 2019
2,309
1,006
113
What does begotten mean? Can someone who has no beginning be begotten?
Yet Jesus says the Father is the only true God. So it is difficult for you
Yes He can and was begotten to become flesh, the WORD become flesh and the Emmanuel, the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior, the Lamb of God, the I AM, the Son named with a pronounceable name ''Jesus'' .... Ha, not difficult at all .. Jesus said ''I and the Father are one'' and 9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

That's two, the same one God .. God says He is the I AM .. Does that ring a bell for you Bro ?
 

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
37,840
13,558
113
The spirit of God manifesting Himself into creation is how God creates; it is how God created Adam
Nope.
He made him out of dust, then breathed life into him. Dust isn't 'manifestation of God' and dust isn't 'in the heart of man'

With that pantheist/solipsist worldview it's no wonder you can't comprehend this. :(
 

Noose

Senior Member
Apr 18, 2016
5,096
932
113
Yes He can and was begotten to become flesh, the WORD become flesh and the Emmanuel, the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior, the Lamb of God, the I AM, the Son named with a pronounceable name ''Jesus'' .... Ha, not difficult at all .. Jesus said ''I and the Father are one'' and 9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

That's two, the same one God .. God says He is the I AM .. Does that ring a bell for you Bro ?
Nope.
He made him out of dust, then breathed life into him. Dust isn't 'manifestation of God' and dust isn't 'in the heart of man'

With that pantheist/solipsist worldview it's no wonder you can't comprehend this. :(
Gentlemen, ye are funny.

There are two dimensions here; God created in the spiritual dimension but we are living in the physical (fallen from the spiritual) dimension. And even in this physical dimension, nothing is really physical but your mind is the one that creates the physical. IOW, there's actually no dust but your mind (spirit) makes dust a reality just like it makes everything else including your flesh and bones a reality.

Biblically, we can see how Adam and Eve shifted from one dimension to the other:

Gen 3:
6When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.

7And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so they sewed together fig leaves and made coverings for themselves.

They were not created blind so that after they ate of the forbidden fruit their eyes would be opened; it even says Eve saw it was good for food. What this means is that they fell from the spiritual dimension to the physical. Now in the physical, they were able to see as we see today and they saw they were naked, they saw the 'dust' from which they were created which you are now asking me but truth is, there isn't any dust, only our mind.


..... Cont'd
 

Noose

Senior Member
Apr 18, 2016
5,096
932
113
But how does God create?

Ecc 3:9What does the worker gain from his toil? 10I have seen the burden that God has laid on men to occupy them. 11He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom the work that God has done from beginning to end.

Psalm 24:
The earth is the LORD’s, and the fullness thereof,athe world and all who dwell therein.
2For He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.

Prov 20:5The intentions of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out.

Proverbs 18:4The words of a man's mouth are deep waters; the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.

Isa 51:
16I have put My words in your mouth, and covered you in the shadow of My hand,
to establishb the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’”

Gen 1:
1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

Do not go by sight but by understanding. Your fallen understanding is the one that creates the physical world which passes away as it decays. Through Christ (second Adam), the spiritual is restored with the renewal of thy mind and so is the whole creation:

Rom 8:18I consider that our present sufferings are not comparable to the glory that will be revealed in us. 19The creation waits in eager expectation for the revelation of the sons of God. 20For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
 

bojack

Well-known member
Dec 16, 2019
2,309
1,006
113
Gentlemen, ye are funny.

There are two dimensions here; God created in the spiritual dimension but we are living in the physical (fallen from the spiritual) dimension. And even in this physical dimension, nothing is really physical but your mind is the one that creates the physical. IOW, there's actually no dust but your mind (spirit) makes dust a reality just like it makes everything else including your flesh and bones a reality.

Biblically, we can see how Adam and Eve shifted from one dimension to the other:

Gen 3:
6When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.

7And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so they sewed together fig leaves and made coverings for themselves.

They were not created blind so that after they ate of the forbidden fruit their eyes would be opened; it even says Eve saw it was good for food. What this means is that they fell from the spiritual dimension to the physical. Now in the physical, they were able to see as we see today and they saw they were naked, they saw the 'dust' from which they were created which you are now asking me but truth is, there isn't any dust, only our mind.


..... Cont'd
But how does God create?

Ecc 3:9What does the worker gain from his toil? 10I have seen the burden that God has laid on men to occupy them. 11He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom the work that God has done from beginning to end.

Psalm 24:
The earth is the LORD’s, and the fullness thereof,athe world and all who dwell therein.
2For He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.

Prov 20:5The intentions of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out.

Proverbs 18:4The words of a man's mouth are deep waters; the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.

Isa 51:
16I have put My words in your mouth, and covered you in the shadow of My hand,
to establishb the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’”

Gen 1:
1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

Do not go by sight but by understanding. Your fallen understanding is the one that creates the physical world which passes away as it decays. Through Christ (second Adam), the spiritual is restored with the renewal of thy mind and so is the whole creation:

Rom 8:18I consider that our present sufferings are not comparable to the glory that will be revealed in us. 19The creation waits in eager expectation for the revelation of the sons of God. 20For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
You getting worried eh ? Jesus is the Alpha and Omega , the Living Word