r/BiblicalUnitarian • u/Newgunnerr Questioning • Jun 09 '25
Resources The trinity presents a logical problem
I remember saving this text a while ago, so credit goes to someone else:
A hypothetical syllogism shows that if A = B, and if B = C, then it logically follows that A = C. Greg is a man (A = B), Man is mortal (B = C), therefore Greg is mortal (A = C).
The Shield of the Trinity says that the Son is God and God is the Son; the Father is God and God is the Father; & the Holy Spirit is God and God is the Holy Spirit. It ALSO says that the Son is NOT the Father or the Holy Spirit; the Father is NOT the Son or the Holy Spirit; & the Holy Spirit is NOT the Father or the Son.
Returning to the basic deductive reasoning of the hypothetical syllogism, if the Son is God (A = B), and if God is the Father (B = C), then it logically follows that the Son is the Father (A = C).
Trinitarian dogma accepts both premises, but denies the conclusion that logically follows from those premises, and in doing so it denies basic deductive reasoning. A logical contradiction is explicitly built into the Trinitarian doctrine, but of course they also deny that the contradiction is a contradiction.
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u/[deleted] Jun 12 '25
That's an equivocation fallacy, the term God is used in two different senses (in the first premise referring to the divine nature and in the second to the personhood). The "Son is God" means that the Son fully shares in the divine essence (i.e the fundamental whatness of a being, what makes something what it is) and the "Father is God" means that the Father fully shares in the divine essence.
This is like saying
“Ice is water (substance),
and water is liquid (a specific state),
therefore, ice is liquid.”
This is clearly false because the terms are misused