Posted on Monday, September 06, 2010 - 7:00 pm:

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I have always believed God is ONE - like water, ice, steam are all forms of water. We say God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit - 3 in 1.

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"The analogy of the three forms of water (steam, water, and ice) is also inadequate because (a) no quantity of water is ever all three of these at the same time,21 (b) they have different properties or characteristics, (c) the analogy has nothing that corresponds to the fact that there is only one God (there is no such thing as 'one water' or 'all the water in the universe'), and (d) the element of intelligent personality is lacking.

[...]

"21There is a certain atmospheric condition (called the 'triple point' by chemists) at which steam, liquid water, and ice can all exist simultaneously, but even then the quantity of water that is steam is not ice or liquid, the quantity that is liquid is not steam or ice, etc."

--M1,http://books.google.com/books?id=DA8xl4eagDcC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0#PPA240,M1

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Whatever that is. How can we totally comprehend it? God has a form that passed before Moses. God referred to His face (Ex 33:20 'But,' he said, 'you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.'), talking with Moses face to face, but He was unseen. Then in Ex 33.23 God said 'Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.' Sooo, God has a face & a back. Is that a form that could be visibly discerned? There is also this in Ex 24:9 'Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and 70 of the elders of Israel went up. 10 And they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. 11And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel, they beheld God, and ate and drank.' ESV
The NLT renders vs 11 'And though Israel's leaders saw God, he did not destroy them.'

The Bible says God has a face & a back & feet, and was seen by more than 70 whom He did not destroy.

And we are told that God is spirit & those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit & in truth. John 4:24

Hec's reference to the blind men & the camel seems somewhat apropos. We are trying to understand what we cannot hardly imagine.

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G-d is Incorporeal

Although many places in scripture and Talmud speak of various parts of G-d's body (the Hand of G-d, G-d's wings, etc.) or speak of G-d in anthropomorphic terms (G-d walking in the garden of Eden, G-d laying tefillin, etc.), Judaism firmly maintains that G-d has no body. Any reference to G-d's body is simply a figure of speech, a means of making G-d's actions more comprehensible to beings living in a material world. Much of Rambam's Guide for the Perplexed is devoted to explaining each of these anthropomorphic references and proving that they should be understood figuratively.

We are forbidden to represent G-d in a physical form. That is considered idolatry. The sin of the Golden Calf incident was not that the people chose another deity, but that they tried to represent G-d in a physical form.

http://www.jewfaq.org/g-d.htm

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I am not at the point yet in my transition to believe my salvation hangs on trinity vs tritheistic. (I want to let all the seminary Phds fight over that one!) As far as my family & friends go, that is far from being the biggest issue in sharing with them in my book.

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Posted on Monday, September 06, 2010 - 10:09 pm:

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On the other hand I also remember being taught that Jesus had to go to heaven so He could send the Holy Spirit who could be everywhere at once as Jesus no longer could because He forever was keeping His human body. Hmmm that may be questionable.

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Posted on Sunday, December 12, 2010 - 12:24 pm:

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Seventh-Day Adventist's will always believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. What we don't believe is the Catholic interpretation of what that means -- specifically, the one-essence with three manifestations part. Catholics call their concept the Holy Trinity. Seventh-Day Adventists may use the same term, but they mean something different when they do so -- specifically, the Bible represents the Three Members of the Godhead as One (i.e., United) but still separate individuals.

I believe God created the concept of the Human family to help Man have a limited understanding of the Godhead. Man shall leave his mother and a Woman shall leave her home. They shall travel on to where the two shall be as one. Then, they have a child -- yet, they are to remain as one, united family. Three as one.

God bless.

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Posted on Monday, December 13, 2010 - 6:45 pm:

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The Trinity.

IN the fourth and fifth centuries
many absurd views were set forth respecting
the Trinity—views that stood
at variance with reason, logic, and
Scripture. As these views were formulated
into creeds, humanity had to shut
its eyes and receive them as the dictates
of God, though they were verily
human and some of them even satanic.
Mystery was heaped upon mystery, and
the mind of man at last gave up the
effort to reason out the dogmas of what
claimed to be religion.

Satan was behind this work of mystification,
just as he has been behind
every other false idea of God. Where
Satan cannot lead into absolute unbelief,
he will endeavour to mystify so
that the belief remaining may prove
ineffectual. From the confusing idea
of "one God in three Gods," and "three
Gods in one God "—the unexplainable
dictum of theology—the enemy gladly
leads to what appears to be a more
rational, though no less erroneous idea
—that there is no trinity, and that
Christ is merely a created being.

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But God's great plan is clear and
logical. There is a trinity, and in it
there are three personalities. We have
the Father described in Dan. 7 : 9,
10, a personality surely—the "Ancient
of Days" enthroned. In Rev. 1 : 13-
18, we have the Son described. He is
also a personality. The appearance
and form of the Holy Spirit is not described.
He is the agency whereby God
revealed His Word to man, and of
Him Christ declares, " He shall not
speak of Himself." John 16 : 13.
Hence the man who speaks much of
himself has not a very close acquaintance
with the Holy Spirit. The Holy
Spirit is spoken of through the Scriptures
as a personality.

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These divine persons are closely associated
in the work of God. Christ
speaks of Himself and the Father as
"one." But this union is not one in
which individuality is lost. Christ
would have His people one even as He
and the Father are one. But we know
that the union of God's people is to be
one of mind not of personality (John
17: 21-23). , This is set forth in the
admonition to "be of one mind."
1 Peter 3 : 8.

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With these scriptures agree the words
of the Spirit in these latter days :—

" There are three living persons in
the heavenly trio. In the name of
these three powers— the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Ghost—those who
receive Christ by living faith are to be
baptized, and these powers will cooperate
with the obedient subjects of
heaven in their efforts to live the new
life in Christ."—Mrs. E. G. White, in
Bible Training School, February, 1906.

This is indeed a divine trio, but the
Christ of that Trinity was not a created
being such as His angels—He was the
" only begotten" of the Father, and
He came to earth as the one with the
Father from the " days of eternity."
Micah 5 :2 (margin). His goings forth
were of old, and He came full of " grace
and truth" to reveal God to man.
John 1 : 14, 17.

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While on earth He ceased not to be
divine, for we read of the " divine-human
suppliant." — Desire of Ages,
page 693. " From the days of eternity
the Lord Jesus Christ was one with the
Father." — Desire of Ages, page 17.
" In the eyes of the world He possessed
no beauty that they should desire Him ;
yet He was the incarnate God, the
light of heaven and earth." — Desire of
Ages, page 21 . " Christ had not ceased
to be God when He became man.
Though He had humbled Himself to
humanity, the Godhead was still His
own." — Desire of Ages, page 663.

Then let not the lips of man speak
of Christ as a created being. He is one
of the divine trio — the " only begotten
Son " of the Father ; and the doctrine
that would make Him a created being
is not of God. R. HARE.

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