Posted on 10/05/2008 10:33:44 AM PDT by narses
Yes, there is only one God.
I am the Lord, and there is none else: there is no God besides me. (Isaiah 45:5)
In God there are three Divine Persons – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Going, therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. (Matthew 28:19)
The Father is God and the first Person of the Blessed Trinity.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (I Corinthians 1:3)
The Son is God and the second Person of the Blessed Trinity.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)
The Holy Ghost is God and the third Person of the Blessed Trinity.
Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (I Corinthians 3:16)
By the Blessed Trinity we mean, one and the same God in three Divine Persons.
Going, therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. (Matthew 28:19)
The three Divine Persons are really distinct from one another.
And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape, as a dove, upon him. And a voice came from heaven: "Thou art my beloved Son. In thee I am well pleased." (Luke 3:22)
The three Divine Persons are perfectly equal to one another, because all are one and the same God.
I and the Father are one. (John 10:30)
The three Divine Persons, though really distinct from one another, are one and the same God because all have one and the same Divine nature.
We cannot fully understand how the three Divine Persons, though really distinct from one another, are one and the same God because this is a supernatural mystery.
A supernatural mystery is a truth which we cannot fully understand, but which we firmly believe because we have God's word for it.
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A supernatural mystery is a truth which we cannot fully understand, but which we firmly believe because we have God's word for it.1 Corinthians 2 (Douay-Rheims):
And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not in loftiness of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of Christ. For I judged not myself to know anything among you, but Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not in the persuasive words of human wisdom, but in showing of the Spirit and power; that your faith might not stand on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.Howbeit we speak wisdom among the perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, neither of the princes of this world that come to nought; but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, a wisdom which is hidden, which God ordained before the world, unto our glory: which none of the princes of this world knew; for if they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written: That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him. But to us God hath revealed them, by this Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
For what man knoweth the things of a man, but the spirit of a man that is in him? So the things also that are of God no man knoweth, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God. Which things also we speak, not in the learned words of human wisdom; but in the doctrine of the Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the sensual man perceiveth not these things that are of the Spirit of God; for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand, because it is spiritually examined. But the spiritual man judgeth all things; and he himself is judged of no man.
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that we may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
“For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that we may instruct him?”
Amen. Deo Gratias.
I’ve noticed that Catholics love to showcase the Baltimore Cathechism? Why? Are its statements supposed to be more authoritative than other RCC statements?
Nope. This is the first (and still best, in my opinion) Catechism written for America. It speaks in American English (it replaced the very excellent but British translation of Bellarmine’s Small Catechism.
This cathechism states the classic Trinitarianism of the RCC. So what. It is authoritative to American Catholics, but I’m not Catholic. For Protestants, official statements like this is reason enough to question it...and reject it.
I have examined it and find it seriously flawed. I reject it like I reject their other doctrines - Mariolatry, the alleged supremacy of the Roman Papacy over Christianity, Peter being their first alleged Pope, and a hundred other similarly false doctrines.
The scripture text for question 31 only covers one of the three possibilities.
“I have examined it and find it seriously flawed.”
“It” being the Catechism? The Doctrine of the Holy Trinity? Something else?
The problem is in other places where Christ and the Church are one, and that when a couple is married they are one in Christ. The whole idea is flawed and did not come into acceptance until the third century.
Christ says that if you have seen him you have seen the Father. They are one just like a husband and wife are one. They are unified, one in purpose. They are three distinct individuals. Together they make up the Godhead. The board of directors of a corporation are not one but they act as one. So it is with the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
30. Are the three Divine Persons really distinct from one another?
The three Divine Persons are really distinct from one another.
And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape, as a dove, upon him. And a voice came from heaven: “Thou art my beloved Son. In thee I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:22)
The “it” is the Baltimore Cathechism, I read it some years ago. I think it was the 60’s version. Maybe they now have out an updated version.
One thing that struck me was it’s pictures. It had all these pictures of an old grey bearded man as God, Jesus as His Son, and a dove. Yet they said they were one. Looked like three to me.
The Cathechism’s “three in one” is just a bunch of double talk - or, should I say triple talk. The Cathechism’s “three in one” amounts to three Gods, plainly and simply. Three separate and distinct Gods.
This, despite the united testimony of the Bible that God is absolutely and uniquely one.
Sigh. So you deny the Holy Trinity?
31. Are the three Divine Persons perfectly equal to one another?The three Divine Persons are perfectly equal to one another, because all are one and the same God.
I and the Father are one. (John 10:30)
that the quoted scripture only covers the equality of the Father and the Son, not of the Son and Spirit, or Father and Spirit.
I'm not by any means saying it isn't true, just that the provided scripture doesn't cover all the possibilities. This is a catechism, not a systematic theology. Brevity is not surprising.
Exactly. I am using the basic Catechism used usually for younger students (like my children).
Sigh. So you deny the Holy Trinity?
I deny the pictures I saw in the Baltimore Cathechism. It was nothing else but blatant, in your face, Tritheism. Or, to put it in another way, Christianized Polytheism.
Is Jesus Christ God?
I love the Baltimore Catechism. Like the Presbyterian Shorter Catechism I learned as a child, it gives a clear and correct, although not exhaustive, definition for key concept. I’ve been learning and teaching it since we began homeschooling when my oldest daughter was 4 (she’s in college now), and I constantly find it useful in discussions or in teaching classes at church.
For example, take an apparently simple question like, “Q: What are angels? A: Angels are created spirits, without bodies.” How many people know that, and understand that angels are distinct from human beings *from creation*, and that one never turns into the other?
There’s much more to say about angels, of course. The CCC says much, the Bible says a great deal, Thomas Aquinas has a contribution or two. But how many Christians have even assimilated the basic definition, created spirits without bodies? The Baltimore Catechism is like learning the alphabet and phonics, as it were.
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