Is there a good reason why "Trinity" is complex?

"Neither the word Trinity, nor the explicit doctrine as such, appears in the New Testament, nor... in the Old Testament." - The New Encyclopedia Britannica, 1985, Micropedia, vol. 11, p. 928.

(An honest, clear statement of the Trinity Doctrine isn't a difficult statement for anyone to write, let alone an inspired Bible writer. But you will never see it (not even once) in the inspired Scriptures.)

As you pointed out, among those who believe that Jesus is God or in the Trinity, many cannot even agree on their own Doctrine and often provide different and conflicting explanations.

And when Trinitarians get to the point of complete exasperation in the attempt to accurately define the Doctrine that they so fervently believe in, the usual cop-out answer is provided: "It's a mystery."

But the nature of God is not “a very profound mystery” because, as you said, honest Bible students know full well His identity and that divine revelation itself does not allow for such a view of God: "God is not a God of confusion." -1 Corinthians 14:33 (RSV)

If the nature of God truly is supposed to be a "mystery" as many Trinitarians claim, then Scriptures like John 17:3 become very confusing: "And this is the way to have eternal life...to *know* you, the only true God," (NLT)

Jesus said that it means "eternal life" to know who God is. (John 17:3) This is fundamental. God is not so cruel as to tell us that we need to know Him in order to gain eternal life but then not be able to receive it because His very nature is a "mystery"!

Clearly, the real mystery is *why* the Trinity Doctrine is still such an accepted teaching despite the relative ease to demonstrate it's pagan and unscriptural history.

How Did the Trinity Doctrine Develop?

http://www.watchtower.org/e/ti/article_04.htm

How Is the Trinity Explained?

http://www.watchtower.org/e/ti/article_02.htm

Trinity And Pagan Influence

http://searchforbibletruths.blogspot.com/2011/05/t...

The Trinity is a construct based partly on the Gospel of John, Chapter 1, about "the Word (Logos)". "...And the Word was with God, and the Word was God, ... (and) in the beginning with God... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us". This is a mystical reference to Jesus Christ that has been interpreted by the Christian Church as meaning that he was part of God, and is now believed to be the second Person of God. The first Person is God the Father. They also refer to the story of Christ’s baptism when a dove appears above Jesus’ head, and a voice is heard saying “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17 and Luke 3:22).

There are many references to the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, and again this has been interpreted by the Christian Church as the third Person. Some theologians have tried to square the circle by explaining that the Son issues from the Father, from eternity, and the love between the Father and Son is itself a Person, the Holy Spirit.

The doctrine of the Trinity was adopted generally in the Council of Nicaea in 325CE. It's tempting to think that it's influenced by other pagan beliefs. Theologians try to make it sound technical by referring to the Triune God - One God, with 3 Persons.

A book on Theology I’ve got sometimes takes a more recent concept or construct and reads it back into earlier scriptures. So they might then interpret earlier scriptures as referring to newer doctrines that the author never intended. So in Genesis 1, when it refers to God saying "Let us ...", they then re-interpret that as the Trinity talking to itself; the author had probably envisaged the Canaanite pantheon (Elohim, sons of the Most High God El Elyon).

This is the best explanation I have ever heard, makes perfect sense

Those who teach the doctrine of the Trinity claim that it is a mystery.

They claim that the Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is also a God.

How they can be three separate persons is something that they can’t explain! Yet, they insist that any who want to be saved must accept by faith because this is a mystery beyond our comprehension. Could this be the reason they label it a mystery?.

Luke 1:36 says that Mary and Elizabeth are cousins and that John the Baptiser is 6 months older than Jesus. This makes John and Jesus second cousins.

Luke 3:23 says that Jesus was thirty years old when he was baptised by John.

The Trinity teachers claim that Jesus is God. This immediately makes John God’s second cousin and makes John six months older than God!...... And...... man was here on earth 4,000 years before God was born!.

This is ridiculous but it gets better when you read Luke 3:21 and 23. John had the unspeakable privilege of baptising his creator who was also his second cousin, but the incredible thing is that John was six months old before his creator was born.

The trinity teachers say that the Holy Spirit is also God, so now get this, while John is standing there in the water he sees God come down and sits on top of his own head!, and this is not all, he gets a good look at God. God is now either a bird sitting on top of what looks like a man, or is it the other way around?

And then he discovers that this God bird man is also a ventriloquist! While he stands there in disbelief, God tells a deliberate lie to the people who are watching. Obviously he doesn’t want the people to know that he really is God, so, he throws his voice to make it appear like someone is heaven is speaking and saying “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”. This is amazing!!!! No wonder they call it a mystery.

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I have looked up the scriptures that the trinitarians have listed and not one of them says trinity, 3 in 1 and doesn't Rom 10:9 that Chris cited state that jesus was raised from the dead by God with no mention of the holy spirit show that there is no such thing as the trinity! Really, Stephens vision recorded in acts 7:55 when Jesus was already in heaven explain it? God, Jesus at his right hand and no holy spirit person!! The trinity is just an old pagan teaching adopted along with many others and people spend so long trying to prove it that they miss the whole point of the bible. Even more interesting is the same Church that formulated in several centuries after the first century Christians died out is the same one that is teaching Adam and Eve are a Myth....crazy!.

My friend and I were talking about trinity yesterday. ( We both are Jehovah's Witnesses ) So , we don't believe in the trinity; however , many people will believe in trinity for something that they will never understand three in one so they still go ahead to believe it without checking the facts. (Sad)

So, my friend had told me why some people must have believed in trinity for some reason ...

There is something about " FAITH " most baptist church people have to have faith to believe in and Jehovah's Witnesses are way different than baptist because we have faith by showing action and preaching. ( Sorry , my English isn't that great. )

Anyway , when they want to believe that trinity aren't true but they're afraid to lose their faith because they are doing different than Jehovah's Witnesses.

Seem to me long time ago people who don't follow the Bible and also seem like they were playing with people's minds and still is today.

So their biggest fear is that to lose their FAITH, that is why their head is so strong to not want or willing to believe the truth.

Jehovah's Witnesses must follow the Bible ( Jehovah's words ) and we do act and preach to show our faith and people who aren't JW are way different than we are.

We follow Jehovah's words but those other people seem to listen men or preachers instead of Jehovah.

They don't want to lose their faith in because they have to believe in trinity , how sad it is. The only way they have to open their hearts to see reality.

Peace.

Indeed, the doctrine known as the "Trinity" is not esoteric, rather, a construct that has evolved over time, much like Darwinism, it is a fallacy, that many swear makes sense, but in reality, it is bad 'math'.

Sadly, in the 16th- 17th century there was a "Profanity Against the Trinity Act" in England, which had serious punishment on anyone convicted.

Sir Isaac Newton, famous Physicist, Mathematician, and Astronomer, did not publish his "Historical

Account of Two notable Errors in Scripture" in England, because of his fear of speaking out against

the Trinity.

At the end of it all, it can be said that the two fallacies that have misled MOST persons on planet earth, are Trinity, and Evolution.

Both are "death dealing" and mitigate against any real search for truth.

The Trinity is complicated because it is a lie. It should be easy for anyone to understand something a s basic as a Father is older than his son, the son originated after his father, that we are talking about two individuals, one with lesser knowledge and authority than the other.

(Matthew 11:25, 26) 25 At that time Jesus said in response: “I publicly praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intellectual ones and have revealed them to babes. 26 Yes, O Father, because to do thus came to be the way approved by you.

There is nothing complex about the Holy Trinity only how man understands the Holy Trinity is complex.

Simple:

There is one God who is three Divine Persons, The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit are consubstantial meaning they are the same Being (God). The Son is the eternally begotten Son of The Father not created, in which The Holy Spirit eternally proceeds.

You can substitute the word "eternally" with "before all ages", and you can substitute "begotten" with "born".

Now the existence of God is a mystery in which no man can comprehend, yet alone understand why God is three Divine Persons instead of one Divine Person. It's not our place to know this about God. The Holy Trinity was revealed by His Church through The Holy Spirit, the belief (doctrine) was formulated from both oral and written traditions of His Church.

well you need to completely create a good character, that's why in the first movie she acted slightly mysterious then admitted her love to neo. if she told him her prophecy right in the beginning her character would appear forward not to mention making the movie less entertaining.

The academics are necessary but have their limits. The Trinity defines God as LOVE. And those who understand the Trinity in that manner will discover and enjoy the Trinity as something extremely beautiful. Those technical complicated academics will melt away as reason is perfected in love. Love then becomes the true source of the knowledge for the intellect. The intellect defers to love as its true source of information. The true mystery of life is LOVE.

The academics can only go so far. We teach the Trinity best by viewing God as love since the Trinity is merely how a self aware God knows and loves Himself. The best symbol for the Trinity is the family since God is about family and relationships. The best source of knowledge about the Trinity is love. Because in these matters, reason is perfected in love. Reason defers to love in order to be fulfilled. Those who truly love God will discover that the Trinity is the greatest love story in existence and will find it a thing of great beauty.

You are mixing the complicated academics with the true spirit of the real meaning of the Trinity. If you concentrate solely on these academics, you will never be able to accept or even come close to really understanding its true meaning. God will hide that understanding from you (scripture). We teach that God is LOVE and that our best experience of this intimacy of love IS IN THE FAMILY UNIT. God is about relationships and this is how God wants us to understand Him. If one freely and humbly allows this concept of the Trinity to penetrate him, those academics will melt away since the intellect will now acquire knowledge through love rather than through book learning alone. The intellect is now instructed in a new way as it finds its perfection in love. ONLY love reveals the true mystery of the Trinity.

It is ironic that the word 'trinity' is not found even once in the Bible, yet so many mistakenly think it is the most important doctrine.

If the Trinity doctrine were true, it should be clearly and consistently presented in the Bible. The apostles affirmed that the Bible is God's revelation of himself to mankind. Since we need to know God to worship him acceptably, the Bible should be clear in telling us just who he is.

"At first the Christian faith was not Trinitarian . . . It was not so in the apostolic and sub-apostolic ages, as reflected in the New Testament and other early Christian writings."—Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics.