willnever,
Really? So when Christians throughout the world end their prayers and sermons with the phrase, God the father, God the son, and God the holy ghost, then they are what - simply confused? Kinda really looks like they are calling out 3 separate gods there.
So if Jesus isn't a god then he was simply a man then? And he should never be referred to as God the son.
I can understand how a God might perform different roles as a single entity - i.e. simple monotheism, but to give separate identities to the roles, is again simple nonsense.
The trinity is a pure fudge in an attempt to explain how the original idea of a king-like messiah (never intended to be a god) was morphed into a religion and hence had to be a god - but oops too late aren't we meant to already have a god? Hmm, good point, I know let's just call them the same thing - no one will notice. Similarly with the miracle stories that were all generated around the same time to add weight to the notion that the Jesus character had godlike powers. Makes more people listen to the stories if the hero can do miracles.
None of that matters to a Christian. They are called Christians for a reason and that is the belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior so anything else is not really relevant.
How they view the trinity is Jesus as the main focal point. They say the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as a metaphor for Jesus Christ. So they say the son is Christ in the flesh, in human form with the same body as we have. The reason is because he was born on the earth sohe will always be known as the son of his mother.
They view three distinct aspects of his life:
1. Jesus showed you how to live.
We can view that as his teachings and sermons. Sermon on the mount, turn the other cheek etc. The whole life of Christ and his teachings to just love one another.
2. Jesus showed you how to die.
He did this through great suffering just as any human would. And this was at the hands of the Romans and tht is a big part of all of this. Maybe the main part being through great suffering comes reward so you may suffer here on earth but that is the essence of life and death. Anyone who dies goes through some kind of suffering but also anyone who lives does too.
3. He showed what comes after.
Which is that there is an afterlife for those who attempt to live a certain way. He tells you to suffer at the hands of another but never let someone suffer by your own hand...that is if you can endure it and also not by someone elses hand, sometimes by our own hand or simply being born with an affliction. And finally there is forgiveness. Because every step of the way he made it clear that he can forgive but you choose your own path in life and you live with that because ultimately the choice is yours.
So there we have another trinity and really the point is that Christians only acknowledge Jesus Christ because they believe the three things above.
