(January 31, 2018 at 12:52 pm)Grandizer Wrote: Let's see if we can make some sense out of this.
The Trinity, in the mainstream sense, refers to the one God who is three Persons, each being fully the one God, yet distinct from each other.
The Father is fully the one God.
The Son is fully the one God.
The Holy Spirit is fully the one God.
They are all one and the same God, yet three distinct Persons of God?
Of course, many of us are aware of the history behind how the Trinity doctrine came to be, but let's overlook that for the sake of argument and let's see how theists who are all about using logic can make logical sense out of this one.
Remember, the Persons of the Trinity are each the one and only God; they are not aspects/states of the one God (i.e., modalism) or three gods in one (e.g., as Mormons believe).
First thing here is you have posted what you think the Trinity is or at least stated it so there would be an argument between yourself and anyone who replied in explaining the Trinity.
It doesn't matter whether God would be God without one of the Persons of God, God is who He is and that means He is unchanging, He has always been triune and He always will be. This puts an end to arguing about the nature of God, it has been established eternally.
Second you have stated that all three "are fully the one God." This isn't correct and you know it, you've stated it that way because you know you can use it endlessly to argue with. The correct statement is that the Father is fully God, the Son is fully God and the Holy Spirit is fully God, this means they are all of one nature, of one mind. By using "one" the way you did separates them from each other and that isn't possible.
Want proof that the Trinity has always existed, that is if you will accept what the Bible says and you should for this argument since you were the one who brought this up and use the Bible to support your argument. If so then let's go back to Genesis 3:22 Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the Tree of Life and eat, and live forever." Notice the bold, "one of us," I can tell you this God was not taking council from the angels or any other created thing and God being the only One who was never created the the council was within the Trinity. Now that God has shown through His word that He is more than one individual and because we can understand from the rest of scripture that the Son and Holy Spirit are the other ones we have established a Trinity from the beginning of the Bible and because the Bible tells us that God is unchanging we can accept that God was a Trinity for all eternity.
You were correct when you said the three are one God and yet they are three distinct Persons. The Father is not the head but does instruct the Son and Holy Spirit in what to do, Jesus said that He does what He sees the Father doing and Jesus also said that the Father will send the Holy Spirit after I have ascended to the Father. Jesus also said that the Father is the only one who knows when I will be sent back to claim my people, thus more proof of three separate persons.
As you pointed out at Jesus baptisim, Jesus was the one baptised, the Holy Spirit appeared as a dove and sat upon His shoulder and the Father spoke and called Him my Son. Again we have three persons who are one God, they all three made themselves known and that they were in agreement with the beginning of Christ's ministry. Also let me mention that when you see the word LORD in all caps this is referring to the Trinity. As far as I have noticed when Jesus was called Lord in the NT only the 'L' is in caps. So all three are God and all three participate in discussions and decisions because they are of one mind and nature, yet the Father does instruct the Son and Holy Spirit in when they should do things. You might ask why would God do something this way, well it is a guide to how the family is to conduct itself. The father, mother and children are all equal partners in the family and all have a voice in the family, but like the heavenly Father the father of an earthly family instructs or makes a finial decision.
You wanted logic for the Trinity, you now have it and because I'm sure you missed it I will restate it, the three have always been and will always be because God is unchanging and God established from the beginning of time that he is a truine God and no matter how you want to see things this is the way it is and you can't change it one bit no matter what you would like it to be.
GC
God loves those who believe and those who do not and the same goes for me, you have no choice in this matter. That puts the matter of total free will to rest.