The Absurd (and Unbiblical) Trinity

Borromean rings are sometimes
used to symbolize the trinity.

The idea that God is "triune," or "three in one," is one of the strangest doctrines of the Christian faith. It states that there exist three separate "persons"—the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit—who are simultaneously a single being, God. The three beings are equal in power, and although they play different roles within Christianity, they have identical "nature" and "substance."

Christians are very particular about this dogma. It's not that there are three gods, they insist—that's tritheism. Nor that there is simply a single god—that's unitarianism. Nor that the three persons are simply aspects of a single god—that's modalism. And it's not that the Son is a "son" in the sense that of being created by the Father—that's Arianism. Nor that Jesus wasn't fully human in addition to being fully divine—that's docetism. All of these views, along with many others, are seen by mainstream Christians as heretical.

Not only does the doctrine sound strange, it's also not explicitly stated anywhere in the Bible. Nowhere do the scriptures use a term like "trinity," and nowhere does they say anything like "God consists of three persons: Father, Son and Spirit." Instead, theologians have inferred this by piecing together verses throughout the Bible. One would think that if trinitarianism were true, God would simply say so instead of beating around the bush. The mere existence of the Comma Johanneum suggests that the trinity is nowhere to be found in scripture:

"For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one." (1 John 5:7-8)

The italicized phrase was not part of the original text. It's a later interpolation; we know because it's not found in any of the early manuscripts, and the early Church fathers only used the text immediately surrounding it when trying to prove the doctrine of the trinity. The very fact that someone felt they had to add to the Bible to substantiate this doctrine implies that it wasn't all that evident to begin with.

To be fair, there are certainly verses that support this concept—for instance, Jesus says in John 10:30 that "I and the Father are one." However, there are also many verses that seem to explicitly go against the concepts associated with the trinity. For example:

• The Father wanted Jesus to be crucified; Jesus didn't. (Luke 22:42) 
• The Father knows when Judgment Day will occur; Jesus and the Holy Spirit don't. (Mark 13:32)
• The Father is greater than the Son. (John 14:28; 1 Cor. 11:3)
• The Son's power originates from the Father. (Acts 2:36, 5:31, 10:42; Phil. 2:9)
• The Holy Spirit seems to be a manifestation of God's power rather than a distinct "person." (John 15:26; Acts 2:17-18)

The different persons of God want different things and have different knowledge. One is in some way inferior to another, and the power of one stems from another. One doesn't even seem to be a "person" at all. It's not looking good for the trinity based on the Bible alone. There's better support for the "seven Spirits of God" (whatever those might be) than there is for a triune deity.

Pictured: the trinity.
Not pictured: logic.

Even if the Bible supported the trinity, though, the concept would still be incoherent. First, terms used to refer to the trinity, such as "person" and "nature," seem to be poorly defined. In what sense are the "persons" different if they share identical "natures"? And second, Christians generally accept that, for instance, God can't create a rock so large that he can't lift it—that would be not just physically but logically impossible. Yet then they turn right around and say that the Father, Son and Spirit are numerically identical with God but not with each other. This is a direct violation of the transitive property (e.g. if a=b & b=c, then a=c), and is just as logically impossible as the rock-lifting example.

Christians will point and laugh at the strange beliefs of other religions, even as they take their own for granted. I did it myself for all too long. Yes, the elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesha is patently ridiculous, and I certainly have no qualms with identifying it as such—but Christians ought to take a look at the plank in their own eye as well.