Trinity

Most of us in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been asked why we do not believe in the Trinity. This question is an easy question for Latter-day Saints to answer.

  

It is because the Trinity is not scripturally taught.

Because the concept of the Trinity is not found in the scriptures, we as latter-day saints would have to learn about it from some other inspired source.  If you know anything about LDS beliefs this would not be hard for us because we believe in modern-day revelation.  However, no such "truth" exists in regards to the Trinity outside of oral tradition or private interpretation.  The LDS people get their understanding of the form of God from a source of modern day revelation: the account of Joseph Smith’s vision.  (You can read Joseph’s account of his vision here .)  In this account, God the Father and his son Jesus Christ both appeared to the young prophet Joseph in separate bodily forms (JSH 1:16-17).  This testimony of a prophet in our day is how the LDS people view God and Jesus. You may ask how Joseph's vision can stand in light of the scriptures. I’ll let you be the judge!

What is the Trinity?

I would not pretend to do justice in explaining the concept of the Trinity for two reasons: 1st - no one has ever been able to explain it to me without being contradictory and 2nd - I just don't get it. But from what I have been told there is only one God in heaven who may express himself as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost individually. (Not as individual beings)  Thus, Jesus is God and the Father is God and Holy Ghost is God but they are not 3 different Gods but one God. For the LDS people we believe that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are all God, but we believe they are all separate beings that are one in purpose. They form the Godhead (COL 2:8-9) Sorry for the long introduction, let’s look to see what the scriptures actually teach about one God expressed as 3 or 3 Gods working as one!

A criticism of the LDS church in regards to the Trinity is the belief in more than one God.  In Isaiah 44:8 the question is asked "Is there a God beside me?"  The divine answer is "there is no God: I know not any." Couple this with John 10:30 "I and my Father are one" and you have the Trinity.  These Scriptures can’t possibly embrace a teaching of the Trinity.  In Isaiah 44:9-10 the verses clearly explain that verse 8 was talking about pagan deities of stone or wood, “they that make graven images are all of them vanity…”  John 10:30 will be explained later in this posting under John 17.

Let's move on to some obvious examples of the true nature of God and Jesus.  Matt 3:16-17.  Here, Jesus goes into the water to be baptized. The Holy Ghost makes his descent on Christ and then the Father speaks from heaven, "This is my beloved Son." Now we are either to understand that there is One God on earth (Jesus) who was visited by another God (the Holy Ghost) and a third God spoke his approval from heaven, OR we could believe that there is only one God who came to earth and left two parts of himself (which would make 3 separate Gods anyway) in heaven to transact any business, OR that while Jesus was down on earth he threw his voice and spoke to himself ....approvingly???  This ends the debate for me….

….but for any skeptics who need a little more from the scriptures here are some more examples: Jesus taught his disciples to pray in Matt 6:9-13. In verse 6 he explains that when you pray you should go to a "secret" place, for "thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." This makes good sense for us, but why do we see God going to his secret places to pray to..... Himself???  Read Mark 1:35-37 "he went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed.........and when they had found him they said unto him, All men seek for thee", Mark 6:45-46 "And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray", Luke 6:12-13 "he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to… wait for it.... GOD.  And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples." These are just a small sampling of scriptures that show God (Jesus) went alone to pray to his Father (God).

You may ask if God ever answered his prayers. John 12:28-30 Jesus says "Father, (remember he is talking to someone else) glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven (remember someone is speaking back) saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." The people who were here heard the Father speaking again to the Son.  

Now for this business of the oneness of God:  (John 10:30).  I have had many people try to explain it to me; I prefer to just let Jesus explain what he meant.  John 17:1-John18:2 this whole chapter is the prayer Jesus offers to God alone before he is betrayed. Verse 1 tells us that he prays to the Father and that he asks for blessings from this God in Heaven.  In verse 3 he tells us that "this is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." Just a question I have if Jesus and God in heaven are the same exact God, why does he call his Father the "only true God" and then refer to himself as the one who is sent? Could it be that Jesus, who is God, recognizes that his Father, who is also God, is greater than he is (John 14:28)? Verse 11and 20-23 gives us major insight.  Here is where Christ asks the Father to make the disciples and all who believe on their words "One, as we are."(verse 11) Or "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us." Here, Jesus explains in his own words that the oneness of Father and Son is not one in being, or else all believers in Christ would also have to lose their bodies and join the oneness of God. God wants us to be all one in "glory"(verse 22).  Moses 1:39 "This is my work and my glory-to bring to past the immortality and eternal life of man."

I have already made this post longer then I intended to, I knew it would be hard not to over tell this point. Consequently, I will not continue on, but we can revisit the issue of the Trinity as questions arise…. I will leave you with this to think about.  Jesus (John 8:13) is accused by the Pharisees as baring "record of thy self." They correctly stated that his record could not be true according to the law. Learn from his response in verse 17-18 "It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me." Jesus tells the Jews that he and his Father are not the same but two separate beings giving two different testimonies of his mission. If he and the Father was one God expressed in two ways, Jesus would have proven himself a liar. In conclusion, the LDS people believe the scriptures when they clearly teach that God is not one Being with three parts but is the title given to all those beings who bring about the Fathers’ purpose and have already been partakers in his glory. We count ourselves fortunate enough to have continued revelation in this day so God can make many hidden mysteries plain to his people. As Christ said "search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me" (John 5:39).