THE TRINITY

INTRODUCTION:

	The question of the trinity (or tri-unity; that God is both three, yet one) is perhaps the most difficult theological precept in Christianity to defend.  It is not brought up often in conversation in church circles, nor do preachers choose it as their favourite topic from the pulpit.  Nor is it a theme which is used in evangelistic tracts.  In  fact many new Christians first find out about the trinity usually after they have made their commitment to Jesus Christ (the second person of the triune godhead).  Therefore it is not surprising that when challenged with the idea of the trinity, most Christians find it difficult even defining it, let alone defending it.
	Yet the challenge remains; Can God be both three and one?  To a casual eye this sparks of ‘polytheism’.  From the outset, we need to say that perhaps no other category is as important to deny, than the accusation that we believe in and worship three separate gods.  Obviously, it is this seeming ‘polytheism’ which disturbs the world the most.  How can God be both THREE and ONE?  This is illogical, is it not?  At face value, from a human perspective one would have to agree; but then we are talking here about the nature of an eternal God, a nature which is beyond all human reason.  This should not surprise us as there are many things which we experience in life which we cannot explain.  For instance electricity is experienced but cannot be explained; the same with the source of sacrificial love.  We talk about God’s omnipotence, and His omniscience, or of Jesus’s virgin birth, yet do we ever think to explain them in categories which others could understand?  Of course not, thus the same is true of the trinity.  Too often humans have tried to reduce God to a level that they could understand for themselves, and in doing so they reduce God to an image of themselves.  We must reject such a thought as quite ungodly.
	Because God is beyond all human understanding we should expect to find aspects of Him that seem strange to us.  Any explanation of God which is fully clear to human understanding must be wrong because He is far more than our little minds can grasp.  Therefore to best understand who He is we are dependant on His revelation of Himself, the categories He gives for Himself.  In order to find those categories we need to go to His scriptures, which is our best and final authority to understand who God is.  It is there that we find the trinity revealed.

[I]  WHAT THE SCRIPTURES SAY:
	Christians and Muslims, alike, worship the God of Abraham.  Furthermore, Muslims and Christians, alike, are Monotheistic, believing in only one, righteous, and transcendent, creator God.
	(A) OLD TESTAMENT:
	The key verse of the Torah, written by the Prophet Moses states that:
"The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might" (Deuteronomy 6:4).
	There is no doubt from this verse that God is one, and He commands us to love Him, and no other totally.  Yet, the Hebrew word used for God in this verse is ‘ELOHIM’, which when translated correctly is ‘Gods’, implying a plurality in the Godhead.
	There are those, however, who point out that it is incorrect to translate Elohim "Gods," as this is an example of a `royal plural.'  Yet, anyone who is trained in linguistics will tell you that in Hebrew the ‘royal plural’ does not exist.  Consequently, Elohim allows for "Gods," which is a ‘composite unity’, or rather a plural.  We find this plurality along with the singularity of God expressed in Genesis 1:26-27; and in Genesis 11:7 as well.  It is similar to the passage in Genesis 2:24, where the husband and wife are commanded to become one flesh.  In the Deuteronomy 6:4 passage it is especially clear, where we read, "Jahweh Eluhenu Jahweh echad," which literally translated means, "The Lord our Gods, the Lord is one."  Because this is not acceptable in English grammar, we leave the "s" out in our English text.  But that does not take away from the fact that the plural tense is there in the original Hebrew text.
	(B) NEW TESTAMENT:
	Jesus Christ, speaking more than one-thousand years after the prophet Moses says:
"The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength" (Mark 12:28-30 and Matthew 22:37).
	Remember, this is the man, Jesus, who claims to have equality with God who is speaking.
	The New Testament provides us with only small clues to the mystery of God as THREE in ONE.  In John 1:18 we find that the only-born God who is Jesus Christ, is in the heart of God.  Thus, God is in God!  
	The Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:10-12) is also in God.  So, God the Son, is in God the Father, and God the Spirit is in God the Father.  As strange and mysterious as this is to the human mind, yet the Bible, as the very Word of God, tells us these things.
	Thus, both the Torah and the Gospel (Injil) agree that God is one.  We are commanded to love one God.  Only He has the right to require our ultimate loyalty.  All other gods which man invents are totally false (Hosea 13:2,3).

[II] TRINITY DEFINED:
	But how can we best understand this strange concept of the trinity?  How should we define the word; or more importantly, how may we best communicate it to those who do not feel comfortable with it?
	John Stott, in his sermon on the trinity maintains that there are three different approaches to understanding the doctrine of the trinity, consisting of the Historical, Theological and Experiential; the three together constituting a solid foundation for our Trinitarian faith.

	(A) AN HISTORICAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE TRINITY:
	So, how did the word trinity come into being?  To our sceptical friends we say, that from the scriptures we find revealed a Divine unity of three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  These make up the trinity.
	The Sceptics have probably approached some of you, asking where in the scriptures the word trinity appears.  We must say from the outset that the word "Trinity" never appears in the Bible.  Not Once!  It is a word which did not even exist at that time.
	The word trinity is in fact a theological term adopted later by Christians to define what the Bible teaches concerning God.  The word "trinity" in the early church simply meant "three persons", but was always undergirded with the unity of God.  
	We must stress however that it was not invented by unpractical theologians.  Rather it was a gradual unfolding historical revelation.  It arose from the facts of the first Christians historical experience.
	(1)  The apostles were all Jews, and therefore were deeply Monotheistic (believing in one god), affirming that he was the creator of the universe and the covenant God of Israel.
	(2)  However, there soon arose a problem, for in their presence the apostles witnessed Jesus forgiving sins and judging the world.  They were acutely aware that only the Messiah, the chosen one from God, or God himself could claim such a status.  Thus they knew that He was God, and therefore worthy of their homage and worship.
	(3)  Yet he was not the Father, because he spoke about the father, and prayed to the father, showing that he was something distinct from the father.
	(4)  Furthermore, Jesus then promised that someone else would come to take his place, somebody he called the Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of Truth, somebody who was distinct from him.
	(5)  Their own historical experience thus compelled them to formulate and believe in the triune nature of God.  History left them no alternative but to believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; all three equally sharing in the Godhead.
	The dilemma they were left with, then, was to formulate a word which would define what they knew to be the true nature of God.  The early church theologians wrestled with the difficulty of defining God from what is revealed in scripture with the limitations of the human language which had no word to express the reality of one God, who is three (even this definition in English seems illogical, and illustrates my point).
	For centuries theologians adopted many words to try to express God's revelation of Himself as three in one (for instance, words such as three prosopon, hupostasis, and trias), yet they were all inadequate.  As an example of the difficulty which concepts like these engendered, the early church theologian, Tertullian (145-220 A.D.) created 590 new nouns, 284 new adjectives, and 161 new verbs to help explain this and other theological ideas found in the scriptures; ideas which because of their sophistication needed new terminology for us to understand them.  It was Tertullian who came up with the word "trinity".  Over the years the word trinity became the accepted definition for the character of God found in scripture and was officially adopted by the church at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD.

	(B) A THEOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE TRINITY:
	But there was still a dilemma concerning the definition of this concept, one which caused a great debate about the being and nature of God in the early church.  How could the church  reconcile the 1) unity of God with the 2) divinity of Jesus and yet the 3) distinctness of Jesus?  How could they believe that Jesus was both divine and distinct, without believing that there were two gods?  How could they hold these three seemingly contradictory components together?  There were a few groups within the early church who thought they knew.
	One such group were the Sabellians (also known as the Monarchists): They began with the unity of God, monotheism.  Yet, they contended that since Jesus is divine, and we cannot have two gods, Jesus must not be distinct from the father.  He was therefore simply from the father, revealing himself in a different mode (i.e. like a drama in three acts, with God in the Old Testament as the father, who in the New Testament stopped and became the son, and then stopped that to become the Holy Spirit).  The problem with this view was that it did not show the distinctness of the three persons of the trinity.
	Another group came forward who were called the Aryans: This was a group who lived in Alexandria at the beginning of the 4^th century, who believed that Jesus was distinct from the father, and since we cannot have two gods, he was not divine, but semi-divine, a created being, a superior kind of angel, but certainly not god.
	The Council of Nicea in 325 AD condemned this heresy.
	How then can we resolve this dilemma of unity of three godheads?  It may be that we need to rethink our definition of the word unity.
	Professor Leonard Hodgson from Oxford in 1943 published a book on the doctrine of the trinity.  In it he maintains that it is our definition of the word unity which is causing the problem, for in reality there are two kinds of unity:
	-mathematical unity, which is simple and indivisible, and 
	-organic, or composite unity, which is highly complex with many component parts. 
(i.e. The atom was believed to be the smallest unit when discovered, only to find out that it was made up of a highly complex universe; much like humans who are made up of many parts though they are one unit: we ask questions, answer them, and listen in as a judge).
	God’s unity therefore is not a simple mathematical unity but a highly complex organic unity, within which there is a mystery of the infinite being of God, made up of 3 eternally distinct personal modes of being called the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
	Christians have often attempted to explain an organic unity by pointing to common objects in our life which are also organic or composite in their unity.  Water is an organic unity, in that it can also be a vapour (steam), and a solid (ice), yet remain H2O.  As with all analogies, it is not perfect, since H2O cannot be both steam and ice simultaneously, while this is so with the triune godhead.  Other popular analogies include the egg (shell, yoke and egg-white), or a man (who functions as a father, son, and brother simultaneously), or Subatomic entities (electrons) which possess particle properties (P), wave properties (W), and quantum properties (h); and thus are ‘explained’ or coded as Pwh; and doubtless there are many more.  None will do total justice to a complete trinity.  They are only models to help point out that we live with organic composite tri-unities all around us.
	So how then should we define the Biblical view of trinity?  The word trinity itself is simply used to express what the scripture delineates as God comprised of three Persons, who are infinite, yet personal, in complete unity of will, purpose, action and love, yet who cannot be separated though they have different functions.  And what are these functions?
	The scriptures speak of God the Father who is the co-Creator with God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit; who blesses (Ephesians 1:3-4), initiates (John 17:2-9) and sends (John 17:3,18).  
	The scriptures also speak about God the Son, who speaks-out the creation (John 1:1), and acts into history, both during the time of the prophets (Genesis 32:25-30; Exodus 3:2-5; 13:21; 33:9-11; Judge 2:1), and later when He was physically incarnated as the saviour, the historical Jesus Christ (John 1:14).
	And finally, the scriptures speak of God the Holy Spirit, who is resident within the disciple of Jesus Christ, who guides, instructs and empowers him (John 14:16-17), and who mediates Jesus Christ and His atoning work (John 15:26).
	Jesus referred to this `Trinity in Unity' when He commanded His apostles to go everywhere and to persuade men to become His disciples, and to baptize believers "...in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19).
	It is important that God as "Father" must not be viewed within a biological context.  Christians share with Sceptics the prohibition against conceiving of God in the form of an image (made by man).  God as "Father" refers, rather, to a relationship; a description of the covenant and fellowship relationship between God and humanity.

	(C) AN EXPERIENTIAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE TRINITY:
	Some may ask whether the idea of the Trinity is relevant for today, whether it really is important for us as Christians?  Do we need to be Trinitarian Christians, or is the trinity a mere philosophical precept, devoid of any practical application?  I believe the trinity is immensely important for us today, and that it indeed has quite practical relevance for practising Christians.
	1) The Lord’s Prayer:
	Consider prayer.  Every time we worship and pray we experience the trinity.  Paul says in Ephesians 2:18 that “through him [Jesus] we both have access to the Father by one Spirit”.  Through the mediation of the Son who died for us, by the one indwelling spirit who introduces us, we come in to the Father’s presence.
	Even more important, every time we say the Lord’s prayer we are Trinitarian.  In Matthew 6:11-13 we read: “Our Father...give us today our daily bread.  Forgive us our debts...but deliver us from the evil one”.  
	1) It is the Father who gives us our daily bread, 
	2) yet the forgiveness of sins (or debt) is due to the work of Jesus Christ, 
	3) while our deliverance from evil can only come about by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.  So we address all three when we pray this prayer.  Our daily sustenance (our physical needs) comes from the Father.  The forgiveness of our sins (our spiritual needs) is due to the work of Jesus on our behalf, and our deliverance from evil (our moral needs) is carried on by the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives today.
	It is therefore not an impractical or irrelevant doctrine at all.  Our three most basic needs (physical, spiritual, and moral) are all provided by the trinity.
	2) Sacrificial Love:
	Yet that is not the only reason for the importance of the trinity.  For it is only because of the trinity that I can begin to understand the source for those areas of humanity which we consider  to be our highest ideals, such as love and sacrifice, ideals which both Christians and Sceptics, as well as those with varying faiths can agree upon (though our definitions may vary).  It is not until we comprehend the trinity (a doctrine often maligned by Sceptics) that we can truly understand love (an ideal which is universal, in that it is found in all cultures an in all ages).  For it is within the trinity that love is fully expressed.
	True love by its very nature requires an object, otherwise it becomes egotistical, self-centred, self-serving and carnal.  If God were one-dimensional, where would true love have originated?  How could love have existed before creation if there was no object on which it could be expressed?  
	The trinity, encompassing the triune godhead, delineates the source from which love began, as each person of the godhead, since eternity, has given and received love from among themselves.
	The best example of the love between the godhead is exemplified by God the Father who sent God the Son to earth (John 3:16); and by God the Son, who in turn "being in very nature God...made Himself nothing...being made in human likeness...He humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:7-8).
  	As a result of this prodigious act of love, we humans, being made in the image of God, can now explain and model perfect love to the world, using the examples of God the Father towards God the Son, and the ongoing relationship of God the Holy Spirit in our lives counselling us to become more like Him, by exemplifying that same love to the world.
	Realistically speaking, love can only be understood within the context of a multi-dimensional God, where it was originally modelled, and where it continues even now to be modelled, as He aids us in that same endeavour through the working of the Holy Spirit.
	God, as three in one, then, helps explain why relationships between one person and another are so important, and why we humans are such `social animals.'  Having been made in God's image, it stands to reason that we would reflect these very significant attributes of God, a God who has eternally been in relationship within the trinity.  We can, moreover, understand why God desires that same relationship with us, His greatest creation.
	“Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning it is now and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, amen.”

[III]  COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS:

	[1] Can 1+1+1=1?
	Possibly the greatest criticism against Christians by Muslims is the false view of the plurality of God.  Christians have often been accused by Muslims of worshipping 3 gods.  Many of you have probably been asked the question, "how can 1+1+1 equal 1," assuming that 1 represents a separate god.  Obviously this is not what Christians believe.  God is not made up of three separate gods, but three "functions" expressed in the one God.  It would perhaps be more correct to ask, "can 1x1x1 equal 1"?  Or why even define God by the number 1, why not give him the attribute of infinity (4), so that 4 x 4 x 4 equals 4.
	All Christians strongly believe that there is but ONE God, and He alone must be the object of our worship and service.  The Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments repeatedly tells us that there is only ONE God (Deuteronomy 6:4; Mark 12:29; Romans 3:30; 1 Timothy 1:17; James 2:19).  Perhaps 1 Corinthians 8:4 says it best, "There is no God but ONE". 
	[2] Is Jesus not merely human?
	Muslims state emphatically that Jesus was merely a human, echoing the Arian heresy of the 3-4th century.  They point to Suras 4:171; 5:116; and 6:101, which maintain the impossibility of God having a son, or that any human could be divine.  They would do well to take a look at Sura 39:4, where we find the possibility of God having a son offered, ‘if he so willed it.’
	Our scriptures also speak emphatically of Jesus's humanness.  They speak of His powerless in Mark 13:32, 11:12-13, and John 5:30.  They point out that He was tempted in Mark 1:12-13, and Luke 4:13.  Mark speaks of His humanness quite plainly in 1:35, and 6:3.  In other passages we find that Jesus was violent, that He was fearful, helpless, and that He could and did die.
	Yet our scriptures are also replete with examples of Christ's uniqueness.  The book of Matthew speaks of His genealogy in the Davidic line in Matthew 1:1; that He was the Son of Man in 8:20, and 11:19; that He had wisdom and miraculous powers 13:54-56, and 17:24-27; and that He was a King in 21:5.  Luke mentions his fulfilled and miraculous birth in 2:21; and that He was more powerful than John the Baptist in 3:16.  John states clearly that Jesus, the Word was God in 1:1; that He created all things in 1:2; and that He was the fulfilment of the many prophecies concerning the Messiah in 1:45, 12:15, and 19:23-24.
	Ironically, the Uniqueness of Jesus is found in the Qur'an as well: that He was born of a virgin is mentioned in Sura 19:16-35; that Jesus is the Spirit of God is referred to in Sura 4:171; that He was the Word of God is found in Sura 4:171; that He is faultless can be seen in Sura 19:19; that He is illustrious both here and in heaven is spoken about in Sura 3:45; that He would be taken to heaven can be found in Sura 4:158; and that He will come back to judge is quoted in Sura 43:61.  Even the resurrection of Jesus is mentioned in the Qur'an, in Suras 4:157, and 19:15,33.
	There are many more Biblical scriptures which we could refer to that point out Jesus's uniqueness.  What is important, however, is to note that our scriptures (like the Qur'an) points to both His natures, His humanness and His divinity.  This can be best summarized by Philippians 2:6-8, which speaks specifically of His Godly nature, as well as His appearance as a man.
	[3] The ignobility of God's humanness:
	A further stumbling block for many Sceptics is the implications which this doctrine entails.  The fact that God the Son, who is fully God, became a human being, and lived in all the limitations and restrictions of human life, finally dying a human death, in all the pain and suffering associated with crucifixion is too much for them to comprehend.  How would the almighty God allow such a thing to happen?
	This is not so much a question about Jesus, but about the very nature of God himself.  Christians believe that God is totally free, All-powerful, and able to do anything He wants to do.  The only thing impossible for God to do is to sin, because He has chosen a sinless nature.  It is not, however, sinful to be a human being.  For God to be a human being He must accept the limitations of human life, but He does not have to stop being God.  When God the Son became a human being, according to Philippians 2, He changed from being in the form ("shape") of God and took the form ("shape") of a servant (i.e. a human being).  Though he came in the form of a man, he still maintained his divine essence.  One can best understand it in the context of the quantity vs. quality motif.  Though quantitatively he limited himself to become a man, qualitatively he retained his divine essence.  Much like myself as an American, when moving and living in a foreign environment I will quantitatively look and talk like a person from that environment, yet nonetheless I will still remain 100% American (at least my passport tells me so).
	God, in the form of Jesus, came and limited himself and dwelt amongst us for 33 years.  This did not pollute him or make him less noble.  In fact it did just the opposite.  One of the basic Christian teachings is that the greatest action a person can do is to serve others, even to the point of dying for them.  This selflessness, humility and self-sacrificial love is at the very heart of the God who is trinity.  God is so great that He humbled Himself and became a servant, washing the feet of His disciples.  The Creator of the Universe showed His greatness in humility, service and love.
	While that may sound threatening to a sceptic, the implications of that act alone are life-changing and eternal.
	[4] Was Jesus begotten?
	Along this same vein, Muslims ask how Jesus could have been "begotten" of God (Sura 112:3, 19:35,88-92)?  Much of the problem can be attributed to their notion that begotten sonship implies a biological relationship, that Jesus was thus the physical son of God.  It may be helpful from the outset to underline that this title was always understood by Jesus Himself, as well as the original writers to imply a relational title.  Let me explain.
	In John 1:18 the New Testament describes Jesus as the Only-born Son of God.  The Greek word used is Monogenes.  What does this word mean?  It is one of several Greek words used to translate the Hebrew word Yahid.  In the Septuagint, an early translation of the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek, Yahid is sometimes translated Agapteos (beloved), and sometimes it is translated as Monogenes" (unique or special child).  For instance, Isaac is Abraham's Yahid son (in Arabic the word Farid, meaning unique, is used).
	How can such a term be used of Jesus of Nazareth?  When was Jesus produced by God as Abraham produced Isaac?
	In the Old Testament one of the most famous of all prophecies reads:  "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given  (this presupposes that He was already existing, as one cannot give something which is not existing) And His name will be wonderful, counsellor, mighty God" (Isaiah 9:6).  A Son would be given.  That presupposes that the son already exists.  Jesus Himself prayed to the Father that He be given the glory that was His before the world began.  Christians do not believe that in some way God gave birth to Jesus, or that God had some female partner who gave birth to Jesus.
	No, Christians believe that God the Son became a human being, was born as a human being, through the work of the Holy Spirit upon the Virgin Mary.  Jesus was not the illegitimate offspring of God, produced by an associate: NO!  This idea is blasphemous to both Christians and Muslims alike.  
	God has no consort and He does not produce children by any kind of reproductive activity.  He is not like some Greek or Roman god who is mixed up with sordid and sinful human relationships.  That is not the claim of the Bible.  Of course we produce sons and daughters in a physical union.  But we are not God!  His Son has always existed; yet, became human through the power of god the Spirit.
For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and caring of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.  For when He received honour and glory from God the Father, the following utterance was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, `This is my Beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased' (2 Peter 1:16-17)
	Therefore it was God the Father who called Him His son, not later Christians.  For this reason the virgin birth is a unique birth, described in both the Bible and the Qur'an alike.
	[5] Where was God when Jesus was on earth?  
	Many Muslims have difficulty understanding who it was that ran the universe while Jesus (as God) was on earth.  The question by its very nature presupposes that God's omnipresence is limited, an idea which is contrary to their own beliefs.  When God was in Christ, being omnipresent, He was still everywhere else, much as the Holy Spirit, who is God is amongst us and yet everywhere.  One must remember that it was God who became Christ, and not the other way around.
	It might be helpful here to point out that this was not the first time that God, the son, (whom some delineate as the second person of the trinity) came to earth.  There are other recordings of His appearance in the scriptures, such as God's appearance before Moses in the burning bush (Exodus 3), or the angel of God who appeared to Abraham and told him of the impending ruin of Sodom, and of the miraculous birth of his son Isaac (Genesis 17-18).
	Though the reasons for His appearances were different, they were none-the-less examples of God appearing on earth to man in time and in space, while simultaneously remaining as God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit.  The fact that God as Son came before helps us accept that He also came in the form of Jesus the Christ 2,000 years ago.
	When Christians explain The Trinity to a Muslim as is done here, they neutralize the criticism levelled against Jesus as being totally other than God.  The function of Jesus the Redeemer, as intercessor, rather than diluting the power of God, brings into context the price of sin, that we cannot pay for the consequences of sin.  Only God can do that for us.  Jesus, the Christ, by taking on Himself that substitute responsibility, not only proved Himself to be deity and thus equal with God, but proved Himself to be worthy of our thanks and worship, in that He has now eradicated the consequences of sin.
	Perhaps the problem between Muslims and Christians has been accentuated due to the "Christian" environment in which transplanted Muslims find themselves; an environment which Muslims have incorrectly assumed is polytheistic.  The prophet Muhammad had similar circumstances during his tenure in Mecca, where the polytheistic practices of the local religion caused him to speak out clearly and often against idolatry.  Therefore, it stands to reason that the reactionary concept of God as one unit would be the focus of the Muslim evangelistic thrust. 
	In the bookstore of the Islamic Center, on Massachusetts Avenue, in Washington D.C., I counted six books which dealt with the subject.  I took special note that these had been strategically placed near the door to attract the attention of any browser who happened to enter.  Above the entrance of the Dar Al Hijrah Mosque, in Falls Church, Va., inscribed into the facade, is a quote from the Qur'an reminding the adherents that God is unique (one unit).  This is the first inscription every individual sees when they come to do their prayers.
	I wonder whether this same emphasis would be evident in a Pakistani or Middle Eastern Mosque, where, due to the small number of Christian churches present, the doctrine of Trinity is not so pronounced.
	[6] Is Mary God?
	A further problem arises with the Qur'anic misconception concerning who exactly makes up the godhead.  In Suras Ma'Idah 5:73; and 5:116, we find Jesus questioned as to why He and His mother are to be worshipped, inferring their divine status by Christians.
	In Sura 6 (Cattle) line 101ff.. it is said that there are those who believe that God has produced sons and daughters, as if God had a consort.  Here is a distortion of what Christians believe.  It must be made clear that God the Son was not produced by a sexual union of God the Father and Mary (as was mentioned above).  Such an idea is as blasphemous to Christians as it is to Muslims.
	The Bible teaches that God the Son has always existed, yet He became a human person by means of the virgin birth through Mary.  Though she is highly honoured as the vehicle by which God used to come to earth, it is quite wrong to afford her divinity, which the Qur'an erroneously states Christians have done (Sura 5:116).  
	Many Muslims, mistakenly believe that Christians consider Mary to be "God the Mother", who produced God the Son, by God the Father.  This is completely false, as the Bible NEVER says anything remotely like it.  According to the gospels, Mary was not at all divine, but was an ordinary sinful human who was used by God to bear Jesus Christ into the world as a human.
	Somehow the "author" of the Qur'an got it awfully wrong, claiming something which the scriptures never even alluded to, while at the same time contradicting the theology of the church both before and after Muhammad's time.  This obviously puts suspicion on the veracity of the Qur'anic sources.  If these were direct revelations from the all-knowing God, why did He not know what His previous revelations said, or at least what those who received it believed?  
	So how did this misconception creep in to the Qur'an?  Though there is evidence of certain Maryamiyya cults in the 5th and 7th century who believed this doctrine, the Choloridian sect is the group which is more likely to have had influence on Muhammad's thinking, as they espoused this form of trinity, and were known to have frequented the Arabian peninsula during Muhammad's lifetime.  Both groups, however, were small and insignificant in comparison to the larger Christian world at that time.
	The fact that Muhammad used the word "trinity" in Sura 5:73 shows that he must have heard it from a group who were close at hand.  Had Muhammad been literate, he would have read the scriptures and probably would not have made such an erroneous claim concerning the trinity.
	[7] Is the concept of trinity not borrowed from a pagan source?
	Many Sceptics contend that early Christian writers merely borrowed their view of the trinity from surrounding pagan beliefs.  The two most popular examples which have been suggested are: the ancient Egyptian pantheon, and the Neo-Platonic philosophy:
		(a) The ancient Egyptians believed in the three gods: Osiris the father, Isis the mother, and Horus their son, who rose up and killed his father Osiris.  Obviously this is not at all like the Christian trinity.  The Egyptian three are quite separate gods (one even killing another), and remain simply a gross pagan polytheism.  The Biblical Jesus (God the Son) has always existed equal with the Father, in loving relationship.
	Athanasius, a great leader of the early Christian church, in 318 A.D. condemned the worship of Osiris, Horus and Isis as "straining impiety to the utmost...worshipping pleasure and lust, as do the pagan Romans and Greeks".
		(b) Platonic Philosophy stated that God (the one) was totally distinct from matter and could have no contact with the material world.  Thus an intermediary (the demiurge) had to emanate from him to give form to the material world, which then was given life by another emanation, the world-spirit.
	Again, this bears no resemblance to the Christian trinity, as neither the Demiurge nor the world-spirit are divine, and have no equality with the one.  Whereas in the Biblical trinity God the Father loves the Son in unity with the Spirit, there is no sense of unity in the Platonic scheme.

CONCLUSION:
	Christians have only ever believed in One God.  Yet, the Bible tells us that this One God has acted in history, showing Himself to be God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  There is no question of the divinity of Mary, or of any sexual union between God and Mary.  Such ideas are blasphemous, and have always been rejected by Christians as heretical.
	The challenge is: what is God Almighty like?  Is He to be judged by any human logic or is He to be free to reveal Himself as He is, beyond all human understanding or imagination?
	As we mentioned earlier, the word Trinity is shorthand for the concept of three and one.  It is God the Father who loves and saves the world by God the Son through God the Holy Spirit.  If we say less than this we are guilty of unbelief in the words of the Bible.  If we say more than this we are guilty of speculation, putting our own ideas into the Bible.  "We must not only say `no' where God has said `no' but we must also say `yes' where God has said `yes'" (Barth)
	We must not be misled by those who have not read or understood the scriptures.  Do not be confused by false accusations.  Examine for yourself the historical birth, life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, following the story on into the Acts of the Apostles.  Only then will you be able to judge the Biblical proclamation of ONE GOD; FATHER, SON AND HOLY SPIRIT.					
(Philippians 2:6-11)

FURTHER QUESTIONS:
	1) Is there historical evidence for Jesus's death on the cross?
	2) How could Christ's death be acceptable when this is a curse in the O.T.?
	3) What do we do with the anthropomorphic intent behind Jesus as God?
	4) How do we answer the powerlessness of Jesus in John 5:30 ("I can of mine own self  do nothing"), & Mark 13:32; Matt.12:28; 28:18; and Luke 11:20?
	5) How, if God cannot be tempted (James 1:13) was Jesus tempted (Mk.1:12-13; Heb.4:15)?
	6) Did not Jesus come only for the Jews (Matt. 2:2, 10:5-6, 15:24-26)?
	7) How can He share God's nature and be hungry, thirsty (Matt.4:2, Mk.11:12, Jn.19:28), how can He war (Lk.19:45, Matt.10:34), how can He flee (Jn.11:53-54, 8:59), or die (Mk.15:37, Jn.19:33, Rom.5:6)?
	8) Jesus never says He is God, or asks people to worship Him in the Bible.
	9) What is the context of "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30)?  Is it not purpose?
	10)What do we do with John 10:34-36?