The Trinity Test

I was browsing the internet the other day and came across this link:

http://www.heaven.net.nz/writings/trinitytest.htm

The website above also contains a forum for discussing the Trinity that now holds over 14000 arguments and comments for or against the Trinity doctrine. I guess it just goes to demonstrate what I said when I posted about the Trinity in this blog, all of the material out on the web about the Trinity “will only confuse you”.

I find it interesting that their argument against the Trinity doctrine attempts to substitute the name of the doctrine for the word “God” in the scriptures as though the two are supposed to be interchangeable, and then rejects the doctrine because it doesn’t support their invalid testing method.

Let me show you:

They take a verse such as John 14:1…

John 14:1 - Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. (NIV)

Substitute “Trinity” for “God”…

John 14:1 - Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in {Trinity}; trust also in me.

Expand “Trinity” into “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”…

John 14:1 - Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in {Father, Son, and Holy Spirit}; trust also in me.

Apply a separate person count to each reference to God…

John 14:1 - Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in {1 + 1 + 1}; trust also in {+1}.

Then they point out that those person counts add up to 4 persons instead of the 3 persons they incorrectly think the “Trinity” is supposed to add up to.

Only this arithmatic evaluation of the Trinity is completely invalid. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit do not add up to 3 persons, they add up to 1 person. And when Jesus tells us to trust God and also Himself, He isn’t identifying Himself apart from the Trinity. There is only 1 God, not 3 (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).

Take a look at the “Trinity Test” another way and the arithmatic problem becomes very clear:

This time we’ll use Psalms 103:1

Psalms 103:1 - Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. (NIV)

Now replace all references to the “psalmist” with a person count, just like the “Trinity Test” does with God.

Psalms 103:1 - Praise the LORD, O {1} {+1}; all my {+1}, praise his holy name.

Following the exact logic as the “Trinity Test” we must conclude that this verse is referring to 3 people, not one. How absurd is that?

So getting back to the “Trinity Test” with a correct understanding of the Trinity, John 14:1 actually should read as follows…

John 14:1 - Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God {God's Spirit (The Father), God's Soul (The Son), and God's Body (The Holy Spirit)}; trust also in me {God's Soul in human body (The Son)}.

…Because whether we are referring to God (The Trinity) or Jesus Christ (The Son) we are still referring to the very same God.

If you haven’t read my explanation of the Trinity yet, I recommend you do so. It will clear up all of the confusion.


James :)