There used to be a time when Christians would repeat the Athanasian Creed at every Sunday church service, but as we have become better educated during the last few centuries, the Creed has been looking sillier and sillier:
We worship one god in trinity, and trinity in unity; neither confounding
the persons; nor dividing the essence. For there is one person of the Father; another of the Son; and another of the Holy Ghost. But the godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one;
equal in glory and co-equal in majesty.
Today's Christian leaders are so embarrassed by such nonsense they actually try to keep it hidden from outsiders and even from members of the flock. There was a time when the Athanasian Creed was repeated in church on a weekly basis. Today it is repeated only once per year at the Trinity Sunday service. Some churches don't mention it at all.
So here's the test for a believing Christian:
In your own words explain to yourself the concept of the Holy Trinity in a way that you think makes the best sense. I'll bet a penny to a pinch of shit that you will turn yourself into a heretic if you try. Consider these analogies:
(1)
The Trinity is like an egg. In one egg you have the white, the yoke, and the shell composing one full egg.
This analogy denies the unity of the God-head and therefore teaches the heresy of tritheism.
(2)
The trinity is like water which can exist as a solid, liquid, and a gas.
This analogy denies the distinction of the God-head and therefore teaches the heresy of modalism.
(3)
The trinity is a like a Three-Leaf Clover where the three different cloves represent the three different persons of the trinity.
This analogy regards each component of the trinity as one-third of the God-head and therefore teaches the heresy of partialism.
(4)
The trinity is like the Sun - where you have the star which produces the light and the heat.
This analogy makes God the Father superior to God the Son and therefore teaches the heresy of arianism.
The following list will give you an idea about which particular heresy you will commit whenever you try to describe the Trinity:
Modalism
Teaches that the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost are not three distinct persons within a single God, but they are three different modes or aspects of the one God and there are no differences between the three.
Patripassianism
Is a form of modalism which teaches that God the Father suffered on the cross in the same way that the Son also suffered.
Tritheism
Teaches that the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are three
independent persons who share the same
substance.
Arianism
Teaches that the Son of God was created by God the Father and Jesus Christ is therefore subordinate to the Father.
Docetism
Teaches that Jesus Christ is purely divine and never existed as a human being; he just seemed to be human. And he never suffered on the cross; he just seemed to suffer.
Ebionitism
Teaches that God gave Jesus Christ certain powers that other humans did not have, but nevertheless, Jesus was always a human being and never, ever, divine. He was chosen by God, but he was never the saviour of all mankind.
Macedonianism
Teaches that God the Father and the Son are somehow combined but not equal to each other and that God the Father created the Holy Ghost but it is not combined in any way with God the Father and the Son.
Adoptionism
Teaches that Jesus was born as human and it was only later that he was adopted by God and became divine.
Partialism
Teaches that Father, Son and Holy Ghost are three equal components
of the one God. Each represents only one-third of God.
