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Author Topic:   The Meaning Of The Trinity
GDR
Member
Posts: 6199
From: Sidney, BC, Canada
Joined: 05-22-2005


(1)
Message 215 of 1864 (789487)
08-15-2016 3:08 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by sidelined
01-13-2007 6:10 PM


sidelined writes:
I have long wondered just what the notion of a trinity was supposed to explain if the common understanding requires that the three are one.
I realize that sidelined is long gone from this discussion but I just thought I'd add my take on it.
God the Father is straight forwrd. He is responsible for the fact that we exist at all.
The Son, Jesus is as the Gospel of John says is that the Word, (or Wisdom) of God became flesh. Jesus the Son then was the perfect embodiment of the nature of God. If we want to understand the Father then we look to the Son. I suggest it is important to remember that when we say the Jesus is God is that Jesus prayed to the Father even to the point of praying to not be called to go into Jerusalem knowing what would happen to someone who did what He was about to do. It was a great act of faith.
I would also go back to Jesus calling Himself the Son of Man. This is an obvious reference to Daniel 7 where the Son of Man is presented to the "Ancient of Days", (God the Father). The Son of Man is then given dominion over an everlasting Kingdom.
The Holy Spirit is the connection that we have with God through our consciousness. It is that "still small voice" or what we call conscience that guides us in the direction that we should go.
The nature of the three is consistent so in that way they are one, and represent a perfect unity.

He has told you, O man, what is good ; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1 by sidelined, posted 01-13-2007 6:10 PM sidelined has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 961 by Phat, posted 12-05-2022 9:15 AM GDR has not replied

  
GDR
Member
Posts: 6199
From: Sidney, BC, Canada
Joined: 05-22-2005


(1)
Message 216 of 1864 (789489)
08-15-2016 3:14 PM
Reply to: Message 214 by Stile
08-15-2016 2:43 PM


Re: The Great Inscrutable
Phat writes:
...the fact that I live on a dust speck of a planet --made possible by a friendly distance Sun--among an estimated one hundred billion stars(suns)--in a galaxy among an estimated one hundred billion galaxies.
Stile writes:
Interesting. It's this same idea that makes me think there is no God.
It seems to me that when we think of the vastness of the universe we should also remember that it was once infinitely small. Personally I just don't see that the size of the universe should cause us to form an opinion one way or the other.

He has told you, O man, what is good ; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8

This message is a reply to:
 Message 214 by Stile, posted 08-15-2016 2:43 PM Stile has seen this message but not replied

  
GDR
Member
Posts: 6199
From: Sidney, BC, Canada
Joined: 05-22-2005


(1)
Message 1080 of 1864 (905348)
01-23-2023 4:49 PM
Reply to: Message 1075 by candle2
01-23-2023 12:21 PM


Re: The Limitations Of Good And Evil Behaviors
candle2 writes:
Those who join the God family will be Spirit Beings.
We will not have physical needs.
Actually that isn't Biblical. That belief came from Plato. This happened when the early Christian church allowed itself to be influenced by the Greco-Roman thing after Constantine.

He has told you, O man, what is good ; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8


This message is a reply to:
 Message 1075 by candle2, posted 01-23-2023 12:21 PM candle2 has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 1082 by candle2, posted 01-25-2023 10:03 AM GDR has not replied
 Message 1083 by candle2, posted 01-25-2023 11:21 AM GDR has replied
 Message 1084 by candle2, posted 01-25-2023 2:01 PM GDR has not replied

  
GDR
Member
Posts: 6199
From: Sidney, BC, Canada
Joined: 05-22-2005


Message 1085 of 1864 (905397)
01-25-2023 8:32 PM
Reply to: Message 1083 by candle2
01-25-2023 11:21 AM


Re: The Limitations Of Good And Evil Behaviors
candle2 writes:
GDR, most of the world believes that when we die we
live on in another form or substance. The vast majority
of Christian churches also teach this.
They teach that we are still conscious after death. Most
of them teach that only our physical body dies.
The Biblical message is we are renewed bodily.
YOu are reading something into your quotations that just isn't there.
Here is a verse that is consistent with the NT covenant.
Paul writes this in his first letter to the Corinthians. Chap 1:10.
quote:
to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
"All things in heaven and earth" That includes all things on earth. Revelation talks of the New jerusalem aoming to Earth and we are taught to pray "Your Kingdom come on Earth as in Heaven.
All through the NT there is talk of the resurrection of the dead, which of course begs the question of what is resurrection. That's easy to answewr. We jusy look at the resurrection of Jesus in a physical body that was like but also unlike His body prior to His death on the cross.
A bigger point is that in many ways it doesn't matter. What happends next is God's business. We are called to live Christ like lives based on God's love for us in this life. I suggest that it is a good idea to let God worry about the next one and just get on with loving our neighbour.

He has told you, O man, what is good ; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8


This message is a reply to:
 Message 1083 by candle2, posted 01-25-2023 11:21 AM candle2 has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 1087 by candle2, posted 01-26-2023 12:47 PM GDR has replied

  
GDR
Member
Posts: 6199
From: Sidney, BC, Canada
Joined: 05-22-2005


Message 1090 of 1864 (905477)
01-27-2023 5:47 PM
Reply to: Message 1087 by candle2
01-26-2023 12:47 PM


Re: The Limitations Of Good And Evil Behaviors
candle2 writes:
GDR, after Jesus was resurrected He did not have a
physical body. He could walk right through walls.

After coming from the tomb, Jesus told Mary Magdalene:

John 20:17 "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to
my father:"

Jesus, while not in His glorious spiritual body, was not in
a physical body.
He also told Thomas to touch him. He ate fish. He walked with the two on the road to Emmaus and they clearly saw Him as a physical being. Yes, there was something different about His renewed physicality but He was physical.

He has told you, O man, what is good ; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8


This message is a reply to:
 Message 1087 by candle2, posted 01-26-2023 12:47 PM candle2 has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 1091 by Tangle, posted 01-27-2023 6:10 PM GDR has not replied
 Message 1093 by candle2, posted 01-28-2023 3:40 PM GDR has not replied

  
GDR
Member
Posts: 6199
From: Sidney, BC, Canada
Joined: 05-22-2005


(1)
Message 1176 of 1864 (906257)
02-09-2023 12:28 PM
Reply to: Message 1167 by candle2
02-08-2023 11:13 AM


Re: The Limitations Of Good And Evil Behaviors
candle2 writes:
Christopher Hitchens believed in the existence of God.
He just believed that God was cruel and uncaring.

He hated God with a passion that burned red hot.
The poor man did his best to turn people away from God.
Hi
I just thought I'd comment on this. When you listen to Hitchen's debates with people like John Lennox I get a very different image of him. He was definitely an atheist, but what he was passionate about criticizing was a god as sometimes pictured in the OT that called for and committed genocide and called for public stoning. As a Christian I agree with him on that issue. That was the god that he and I reject.
This is the problem as trying to understand the Bible as literally dictated by God. You can't square that genocidal commands with Jesus call to love our neighbours. Although he clearly opposed Christianity his focus was on the Christianity that justified a God that could ever support genocide. Hopefully he actually was a benefit to the church by making the church think about these issues. Too often this view has contributed to help justify some very un-Christ-like actions.

He has told you, O man, what is good ; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8


This message is a reply to:
 Message 1167 by candle2, posted 02-08-2023 11:13 AM candle2 has not replied

  
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