The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is not merely an "article of faith" which men are called to "believe." It is not simply a dogma which the Church requires its good members to "accept on faith." Neither is the doctrine of the Holy Trinity the invention of scholars and academicians, the result of intellectual speculation and philosophical thinking.
- First : To have a Christian understanding of the Trinity is to eliminate all materialistic ideas of Allah.
- Seccond : It is important to recognize that the Qur'anic concepts of the Trinity are wrong and are not useful to understand the Christian conception of the Trinity.
The doctrine of the Trinity is that there is only one God who exists in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Not one god out of three. Trinitarianism is monotheistic
- Third : The doctrine of the Trinity does solve the difficult question of the nature of the Qur'an (Al-Kalaam) itself. How can the Qur'an be uncreated and eternal? This was an important question in the early development of the religion of Muhammad. This conundrum arose because, if the Qur'an were uncreated and eternal, there would be two eternal and uncreated entities: Allah and Al-Qur'an. This duality shatters the concept of One Eternal and Uncreated Being.
(I posted this allready in another post, with no response)
One of the things that distinguishes Old Testament (Bible) believers from New Testament (Bible) believers is how God the Holy Spirit functions with believers. In the Old Testament, God dwelled AMONG His people in either the Tabernacle or the Temple. When Jesus walked in Palestine, he was with men in his physical person doing miracles and convincing men of faith that he was their Messiah. In the New Testament Age of the Church, God, as the Holy Spirit resides IN His children. We literally ARE His sanctuary or temple.
John 16:7 "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter (The Holy Spirit) will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you."
Jesus said he would leave this earth physically before the Holy Spirit would come and manifest himself to man. This should be a clarifying thought as to the nature of the members of the "Trinity" or Godhead. Only one of them has chosen to be manifest on earth at any given time. This does not say that the three persons of the Godhead limit one another, but the Godhead has chosen to manifest itself in one divine Person at a time when offering men salvation in each Dispensation of time. The reason for this is that the Three Persons are One God, not three, as people claim who want to confuse themselves on purpose.
Tertullian (A leading church theologian who lived around 220 AD) was the first to clearly mark out what he thought was happening to cause this Trinity: to wit, the Spirit was coordinated with the Father and the Son, and was joined with them in substance, coming from the Father through the Son in some way. The Godhead is three in sequence (who came first), aspect, and manifestation (how they show themselves), but one in quality (they are perfect and complete), substance (whatever it is that makes God god, all three are), power (all three can do anything), and purpose (their aim regarding the created universe is precisely the same). He calls the Spirit "the third name in Divinity, and the third degree of the Divine Majesty".
It is hard for the Muslim to understand this, for Muhammed made Allah a very anthropomorphic character, that is, Allah is made by Muhammed to behave very much as man behaves. The God of the Bible manifests himself as One God in Three Persons, and this cannot be reduced to physical earthly definitions. It is a mystery which God asks us to believe. If the Muslim insists in an Allah who behaves like a man, then he cannot have The God of the Bible, Father, Son, nor Holy Spirit, as his Savior and friend. Allah, and the God of the Bible, are 100% alien to one another.
Now, the issue of who God is-- Allah, or the God of the Bible-- is a critical issue. Jesus Christ is not the Madhi, or, some good old fellow who will come back, marry a wife, and have a family. He is God with us, He is God who died for our sins in our place, he is God who came back from death to give us eternal life, and He is God the coming Judge of all man. Jesus Christ is one of Three Persons in the Godhead taught in the Bible. This truth is only believed by faith. It is not possible to explain God completely. All religions have their mysteries which cannot be explained. Muhammed's mysteries were all about how special he was, how he and Allah worked out Islam, and how you must believe that all Sharia law will make you holy. The mysteries of the Bible have to do with who God is and how he saves men and cares for them. If you will not accept the God of the Bible on HIS terms, you cannot have ANYTHING he offers. This is why the "Jesus" of Islam is a counterfeit and we reject him as an invention of a blasphemous prophet, Muhammed. The only true Jesus Christ is the Jesus of the Bible.
The data in Scripture is very, very clear: there are three individuals in the Bible who may be called YHWH without error and without blasphemy, who interact with one another and with us. These three individuals affirm, however, that there is only ONE GOD.
the Athanasian Creed reads, "We worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity; neither dividing the substance nor confusing the persons."
"Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[1] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit"" -- Matthew 28:18-19
Note that the word ‘name’ is singular, showing that all three Persons are one Being.