Why do Christians differ on the Trinitarian doctrine?

The bottom line up front is: There is no God but God.

The Qur'an says:

[3:45] The angels said, "O Mary, GOD gives you good news: a Word from Him whose name is `The MESSIAH, Jesus the son of Mary. He will be prominent in this life and in the Hereafter, and one of those closest to Me.'

Crucifying "the Body" of Jesus*

[4:157] And for claiming that they killed the MESSIAH, Jesus, son of Mary, the messenger of GOD. In fact, they never killed him, they never crucified him - they were made to think that they did. All factions who are disputing in this matter are full of doubt concerning this issue. They possess no knowledge; they only conjecture. For certain, they never killed him.*

*4:157-158 Jesus, the real person, the soul, was raised in the same manner as in the death of any righteous person. Subsequently, his enemies arrested, tortured, and crucified his living, but empty, body. See Appendices 17 & 22, and the book ``Development of the Christian Doctrine'' by Lisa Spray (United Submitters International, Tucson, Arizona, 1990).

Trinity: A False Doctrine

[4:171] O people of the scripture, do not transgress the limits of your religion, and do not say about GOD except the truth. The MESSIAH, Jesus, the son of Mary, was a messenger of GOD, and His word that He had sent to Mary, and a revelation from Him. Therefore, you shall believe in GOD and His messengers. You shall not say, "Trinity." You shall refrain from this for your own good. GOD is only one god. Be He glorified; He is much too glorious to have a son. To Him belongs everything in the heavens and everything on earth. GOD suffices as Lord and Master.

[4:172] The MESSIAH would never disdain from being a servant of GOD, nor would the closest angels. Those who disdain from worshiping Him, and are too arrogant to submit, He will summon them all before Him.

Gross Blasphemy

[5:17] Pagans indeed are those who say that GOD is the MESSIAH, the son of Mary. Say, "Who could oppose GOD if He willed to annihilate the MESSIAH, son of Mary, and his mother, and everyone on earth?" To GOD belongs the sovereignty of the heavens and the earth, and everything between them. He creates whatever He wills. GOD is Omnipotent.

Today's Christianity Not Jesus' Religion*

[5:72] Pagans indeed are those who say that GOD is the MESSIAH, son of Mary. The MESSIAH himself said, "O Children of Israel, you shall worship GOD; my Lord and your Lord." Anyone who sets up any idol beside GOD, GOD has forbidden Paradise for him, and his destiny is Hell. The wicked have no helpers.

*5:72-76 In John 20:17, we see that Jesus taught that he was neither God, nor the son of God. Many theologians have concluded, after careful research, that today's Christianity is not the same Christianity taught by Jesus. Two outstanding books on this subject are ``The Myth of God Incarnate'' (The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, 1977) and The ``Mythmaker'' (Harper & Row, New York, 1986). On the front jacket of ``The Mythmaker'' we read the following statement: "...Hyam Maccoby presents new arguments to support the view that Paul, not Jesus, was the founder of Christianity....it was Paul alone who created a new religion through his vision of Jesus as a divine Saviour who died to save humanity."

[5:75] The MESSIAH, son of Mary, is no more than a messenger like the messengers before him, and his mother was a saint. Both of them used to eat the food. Note how we explain the revelations for them, and note how they still deviate!

Upholding the Teachings of Religious Leaders,

Instead of God's Teachings

[9:31] They have set up their religious leaders and scholars as lords,* instead of GOD. Others deified the MESSIAH, son of Mary. They were all commanded to worship only one god. There is no god except He. Be He glorified, high above having any partners.

Don't follow man's doctrines but follow the word of God.

*9:31 If you consult the "Muslim scholars" about worshiping God alone, and upholding the word of God alone, as taught in this proven scripture, they will advise you against it. If you consult the Pope about the identity of Jesus, he will advise you to uphold a trinity. If you obey the "Muslim scholars" whose advice is contrary to God's teachings, or if you take the Pope's advice instead of God's, you have set up these religious leaders as gods instead of God.

I think the evidence is clear for those who are guided but not to those who are led astray.

What is the trinitarian doctrine?

I grew up thinking that the trinitarians believed in 3 gods. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost.

We had tracts and charts that told about the ONE GOD doctrine and we had songs and things that professed the One God and we would use these as arguments to sway the trinitarians to the correct way of thinking. Recently I was talking to a Baptist and she stopped me and said we have always believed that there is just one God. And then I started realizing that not all trinitarians do believe in three gods, but they believe in the 3 attributes of ONE GOD. Trinity = triangle. One thing with 3 points to it. Then I realized that us One God Apostolics and the Triniatarians believe the same but express it differently. We (Pentecostals) do believe that baptism does require the Name of Jesus being applied - not just the titles of the Father Son and Holy Ghost. That is OUR one big difference. That, and the necessity of receiving the gft of the holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. Acts 2:38, 39.

Its very hard to begin grasping the true beginning of a higher trinity, in which you find that God, is a Divine, Sublime and Omnipotent being, an entity in his own rights.

The second part or the next portion of the Trinity is comprise by the coalition between the Son, God and the Holly spirit, one for all, three different entities one person, in which God , Divine, Sublime and Omnipotent allows some of his qualities, to become and reflect on Jesus and in the Holly spirit, as potentials HIM(God), have entrusted the Son and the Holly Spirit with.

To which, by all means they can call into such potentials, unto God, to act upon then, at any time, totally and before it, approved by God for then to use. Although some still have questions, about the divinity of Jesus and the sublimity of the Holly Spirit, in some peoples minds, its all confuse.

Though the understanding of the trinity, and whom should have all the power is the main question, Why??, I Don't know. I do believed in the Divinity, and Sublimity of the Son, omnipotence?, which at any rate HIM(Jesus) can use and its at his disposal, against Evil, Satan, the Beast and all Demons wills and desires. This is the fight all about, between good and evil because Evil and demons together with Satan don't which to allow the materialization of the divine and sublime quality of the Son, as well his omnipotence giving to him(Jesus), by the Lord God, also heavenly Father".

To answer your Question from the King James Version Bible:

The trinity in Scripture:

Evidence of God's tri-unity is seen throughout Scripture. The Father ( 1Peter 1:2 ),

The Son ( John 1:1; 20:28 ),

and the Holy Spirit ( Acts 5:3-4 ) are each called " God." they operate distinctly from one another, indicating person hood.

Given the emphatic declaration that there is only one true God ( for example, Deuteronomy 6:4, John 17:3 ), we conclude that this " one God " exists in three unique Persons.

Many passages ascribe divine attributes to all three Persons or list the three together ( as in the words used for baptism in Matthew 28:19......

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Answering Objections;

Most objections focus on the subjection " of the Son to the will of the Father and Jesus' statement that the Father is " greater " than He ( John 14:28 ). Philippians 2:5-11 explains how Christ subjected Himself in taking on human nature to redeem mankind. While Jesus was on earth, the Father was in a " greater " position than He, but position doesn't denote an inferior nature.

While I admire how fundamentalists focus on the practical applications of the lessons taught in the Bible, it seems to me that they sometimes do so at the expense of essential Christian doctrine, trinitarian doctrine being the most frequently ignored by fundamentalist groups. Ignoring dogmatic theology leads to misunderstanding dogma, which in turn leads to schism, which in turn leads to man trying to explain things in his own terms, which is probably why we have the Oneness/ Modalist movement, a movement that was abolished by the Church many times, long before the Bible was even canonized.

Anyone can put the label "Christian" on their church. It doesn't mean that they know the Bible accurately and follow the teachings.

This is a core belief of Christians. It's important to get this one correct. Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist and all other mainstream Christian denominations totally agree on the trinity doctrine.

1 Timothy 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

Seems pretty clear to me.

Because it's not clearly stated in the Bible, like "I am one God in three persons". You just find some verses which indicate that Jesus is God but without explanation.

That's why some Christians say, it's not in line with "Adonai echad", and try to interpret those verses in a different way, which is almost not possible

And others say, hmm we don't understand how that fits, lets find a system that would reconcile both statements. Some then come up with the trinity (tree persons, one God) and others with "Oneness" (Jesus only). And others have a different interpretation of what trinity means ...

To sum it up ... It's just difficult interpret the bible. That's why it's a mytstery.

Because trinitarianism was created as a compromise anyway, and interpreting something which doesn't make sense is going to lead to differences inevitably.

In any other subject or religion people agree that two (or three) things either are the same, or they're not. Only christianity maintains that three things can be the same thing and yet not the same thing. Arianism and belief in God's incarnation combined to form this conceptual monstrosity.

Because, as shown by the debate between Arius and Athanasius (around AD 318), both the Trinity and non-Trinitarian viewpoints can be defended by Scripture. It was a matter in which the Church exercised her God-given teaching authority in providing the correct interpretation of Scripture regarding this matter.

The Trinity can be defended by Scripture. John 1, for example, clearly states that the Word was not only WITH God, but it WAS God. This Word (which is God) is incarnate in Jesus Christ. If Jesus is God, and there is only one Person in God, then it makes no sense for there to be a communication between the Father and the Son.

Furthermore, we know that God is love (from 1 John). God is love even before He created anything at all, and this lends credence to multiple Persons in God, for this reason: a single person loving himself is a selfish love, and not at all the model for us. Therefore, God, as love, is the love BETWEEN two Persons: the Father begets the Son and loves him (with fatherly love), and the Son honors the Father and loves him (with a self-sacrificial love). This love cannot be a creation, or God could not be said to be love by His very nature. This love, then, is itself a Person in God, distinct from the Father and the Son: the Holy Spirit.

EDIT: Another reason why God as a Trinity makes sense is because it establishes God as a relational Being, a Being Whose very essence is a relationship of love. This makes it clear to us that God's desire to have US in a relationship with Him is not something foreign to His Being, not something "added" after He created us. On the contrary, because God is a relational Being, it only makes sense that humans, who He made in His image, are also relational among each other and are MADE to be in relationship with Him.

I don't know however they shouldn't. The doctrine of the trinity can befound in the Old Testament scriptures.

Some believe in modalism, where God takes on different forms, He is God the Father then becomes the Son then becomse the Holy Spirit.

That is unbiblical and I am not sure why they believe that way because the Father sent the Son and the Son sent the Spirit.

For information aboujt the tri-unity of God, check out below

Who raised Jesus from the dead? [Rom.10:9

Romans 10:9

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Jn.2:19

"Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."

Romans 8:11

"But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you."

Christians differ on many doctrines. So do other religions. Even the scientists do not agree on everything. I don't find anything unusual.