Theology 1.0: What is the Trinity?

What is the Trinity? Do Christians worship three gods?
This is one of the most misunderstood ideas about Christianity. In fact, some critics of Christianity accuse Christians as worshipping three gods (i.e. polytheism) instead of one.

Although complicated to understand, Christians do not believe in three gods, or that God himself dons three masks in the course of human history. Rather, it is one God who revealed Himself in three persons-- the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

One God
The Bible is clear that Christians worship one God. In Isaiah 44:6, God says there is no other God but Him, but he is the first and and the last. In Deuteronomy 6:4, the Bible states that God is one. And in case you were wondering, this view is echoed in the New Testament as well. (see Ephesians 4:6)

Pluarlity of God
Yet, the Bible also makes another thing clear-- there is pluality in the unity of God. In Genesis 1:26, God said, "let us make man in our own image". "Us" and "Our" aren't mistranslations or references to angels.

But what about the trinity, then? one might ask. The word "Trinity" does not is not found in the Bible, but one of the many clear references is in Matthew 28:19. Jesus told his followers to make disciples of all men, baptising them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This showed Jesus placed all these enitities as equality with God.

Conclusion
Although it might be difficult to comprehend and explain, the Christian God is one, but yet in three personalities.

For further references
historic case for trinity

Verses quoted
“This is what the LORD says—
   Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty:
I am the first and I am the last;
   apart from me there is no God." (Isaiah 44:6)

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. (Deuteronomy 6:4)

one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all (Ephesians 4:6)

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” (Genesis 1:26)

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28: 19)

With due respect: A powerful and loving God would not allow pain and suffering!

It is one of the most powerful questions I ever encountered, and it was one of the questions that drove me away from Christianity in my younger days. Yet years later, the same question drove me back to Christianity. So let's try to handle the question-- how can a omnipotent and benevolent God allow evil in the world?

Assumptions
Let's put into things into perspective. The question states three things:

1) God is all-powerful
2) God is all-good
3) Evil exist

And that all three things cannot exist together logically. However, the accuser would be right if one of the two following assumptions was true--

A) There is no logical reason why an all-powerful and all-good God would allow evil in the world
B) It is God's will for us to be senily happy

Poor apologetics
Before I start, I would like to say I will be handling the philosophical/spiritual problem of pain and evil. In other words I skip over the practical reasons of evil, such as evolutionary explanations for pain. For example-- the fact that our nerves can detect danger enables us to survive hazards.

That said, any defence that a Christian makes must not reject any of three realities-- that God is all-good, all-power, and that evil exist. For instance, the Christian cannot 'justify' evil. To justify evil is to deny the existance of evil (the reason why something is evil is that it cannot be justified). Are there reasons for evil? Yes reasons, but not justification.

Free-will defence
 For God to be good, (and fair), He has to allows us to experience consequences of every action anyone (or anything) makes (Lewis, 1940). There is no point giving us freedom to choose, while taking away consequences of the choice. If one chooses an evil act, he and others must face the results of that choice-- be it death or imprisonment.


What about natural disasters?
While most people can accept that evils commited by men, few can "excuse" God from the reponsibility of natural disasters. But the thing is that either for God to be omnipotent, He is involved in everything, or nothing. The natural laws that run our universe cannot be broken by any whim and fancy.

On other hand, I have no problem accepting miracles do happen, but they should happen rarely (hence the term 'miracles'). Although one may claim that God is unfair in saving others, one must remember, nowhere in the Bible claims that it is God's will for all of us to be healthy and wealthy. It is His will for all of us to be reconcile with Him ultimately.

Then how is God good?
In Christianity, God allows evil, yet it is not His will. He may use our acts of evil, to bring about His will (Genesis 50:20). God hates evil, but respects our decisions to choose it over Him (Platinga, 1977).

Problem with naturalism
The problem is simple-- without God, how do you know something is evil? Yet the thought process complex-- one may attribute morality to the natural world, but if nature is "red in tooth and claw", why should we view something that happens naturally such as death and destruction as evil? CS Lewis (1952) explores this concept in Mere Christianity, claiming that if anything,the existance of evil hints towards a god. Afterall, one does not call something unjust, unless he/she has an idea of what justice is.

Conclusion
Although the problem of evil has often been touted as a problem for a Christian God, from the Christian view it is not, and from a theistic view, it hints towards the existance of God. In fact, most philosophers regard the logical problem of evil to haven been sufficiently refuted (Gutting, 2009).

Postscript for the Christians
Yet for the followers of Christ, Jesus never promised freedom from suffering or pain from this earth. He told us that that in this world we will have trouble, but we can take heart -- He has overcome the world (John 16:33)

References

Lewis, C.S (1940) The Problem of Pain

Lewis, C.S. (1952) Mere Christianity

Gutting, G. (2009) What Philosophers Know: Case Studies in Recent Analytic Philosophy

Platinga, A. (1977) God, Freedom and Evil

Merry Christmas!

Hello readers!

Currently I am busy with school so this blog has not been updated for a while. Nevertheless, I will post something soon.

In the meantime, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

God bless,
defensedefumer