what do Christians mean when they say that they believe in one God?
What do Christians mean when they say that they believe in one God? They will say that they believe that God is one being (not one person) and this one being is manifested in three different persons. They will say that God is one being with three centers of consciousness, souls, personhoods, etc.
So it can be understood as follows:
● God is one being.
● This one being is manifested in three different persons.
So when we Christians say that God is one, we are not emphasizing his oneness of personhood, rather we are emphasizing his oneness of being.
Furthermore they will say:
● The Father is truly God.
● The Son is truly God.
●The Holy Spirit is truly God.
● These are not three Gods, but three different persons who share the essence of that one being who is God.
Do the above statements make any sense? What do they mean when they say that there is one being who is God, but three different persons who share that one being's essence?
That is as illogical as me saying:
● Ahmed is a human being.
● Khalid is a human being.
● Ayman is a human being.
● These are not three human beings, but three different persons who share ONE essence, which is human.
Obviously no one says that one essence "human" is being shared by seven billion people on Earth today. Rather, we say that there are seven billion human beings on Earth today.
Similarly, we can't say that there are three different persons sharing the one essence of God, but that there are three different Gods in light of what the Trinity teaches.
Now this argument probably won't convince Christians, since they would probably go on and reply back saying "Our logic is too limited to grasp the paradox of the Trinity".
Well, if philosophical objections won't work then let us try to pose a theological objection to the concept of Trinity by taking a look at what the Bible says.
According to Christians:
● The Father is truly God.
● The Son is truly God.
● The Holy Spirit is truly God.
There is nothing irrational about the above statement (if we were to assume that it teaches three different Gods). Similarly, the following statement is also logical:
● Ahmed is a human being.
● Khalid is a human being.
● Ayman is a human being.
However, an irrational statement would be:
● Ahmed is the only human being.
● Khalid is the only human being.
● Ayman is the only human being.
Now this is definitely irrational. How is it possible for Ahmed and Khalid at the same time to be the only human being? Anyone could clearly see that these two beliefs are mutually exclusive and it cannot logically be possible for both of them to be true at the same time.
By Bassam Zawadi
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