What Christians believe about ... The Trinity |
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Tricycle, triplets, triangle, tripod - all have something to do with 'three'. Christians believe in a God who is a Tri-nity, who is 'Three-in-One', both 'three' and 'one' at the same time. The Bible, Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4 tells us 'the Lord our God, the Lord is One.' That means there is only one who is God. He is unique: there's no-one and nothing else like him. And that's the problem! Because he's different from everyone and everything else, we can never look at something and say 'That's exactly what God is like!' So God is 'One', but he's also 'Three'. The words in the The Bible, Matthew chapter 28 verse 19 tells us to use when new Christians are baptized are 'in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit'. When you think about it, that's a bit odd! It says 'name' ... one name because it's one God these people have come to trust in. But they speak of this one God as three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, because that's the way he's introduced himself in the Bible. The problem comes when you try to get your head round all that! Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all fully God. You can't say that each one is 1/3 rd of God, and add them up, 1/3+1/3+1/3=1. But, when you put Father and Son and Holy Spirit together, 1+1+1 doesn't make 3! In this case 1+1+1=1! But, you see, we shouldn't be too surprised if we can't understand God's 'make-up'. He's God, so he's bound to be more complicated than you or me. What would be suspicious would be for someone to tell us God was no more complex than we are. |
The Father - Thinking of God as a father can be difficult, because human fathers are not perfect. But Christians believe God is like a perfect father - loving, faithful, just, caring, our provider and protector - willing even to sacrifice his only son for us. |
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Son - sometimes described in the Bible as the Good Shepherd - the shepherd
protects and cares for his sheep, even giving his own life to save them. | The Holy Spirit - often described in the Bible as a wind. Like the wind, you cannot see the Holy Spirit, but he can be felt and he has power. Christians believe this power source helps them to live a Christ-like life. | ||
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The Bible says
Jesus taught his followers to understand and accept this teaching about
God. He commanded that new Christians should be baptised "in the
name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." What the
Bible says about the Father: What the
Bible says about the Son: What the
Bible says about the Holy Spirit: |
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