The Trinity has a great impact on Catholics. We begin our prayers with “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Non-believers may ask, “I thought you believers believed in one God?” “We do.”
Of course, this line of thought leads to an explanation of the Trinity. No explanation can do justice to the magnificent reality of God being three unique Persons, and at the same time One Person. One can try to explain the Trinity by referencing the Bible, but the word, Trinity, as such, is not mentioned in the Bible. The term “Holy Trinity,” has been used for many centuries by Christians to embody the concept of Trinity, which is presented as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Many have tried to explain the concept of the Trinity. Sometimes they help to understand, but they all have their limitations. I have encountered “1x1x1=1”. The Trinity is like ice to water to vapor, but they are all H2O. Also there is, the egg is a shell, whites, and the yolk, but one egg. Of course, there’s St. Patrick’s famous shamrock, made up of three leaves, but one clover. There’s even the novel, The Shack by William P. Young. The author has the Trinity as: Father a black middle aged female, Son a young Arab, and the Holy Spirit as some sort of electric current.
All these explanations fall short. The Trinity is a mystery. One argument that has some merit includes a view of other religions that don’t have the Trinity. Some of these religions seem to cater to man’s desires. They fulfill man’s wishes. For example, the Muslims picture heaven as being inhabited by young beautiful virgins. Obviously, a paradise created for man. The Hindu reincarnation may be an expression of man’s desire to live forever. One can see that these expressions are fulfillments of man made dreams. Then where did the idea of the Trinity come from? What man could have ever conceived of such an idea?
Divine inspiration can not be ruled out.
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