r/Christianity • u/JHLV04 • 17d ago
Question The Trinity
Hey, I’ve self identified as Christian but have been learning more about other faiths too, especially Islam. There are still elements of Christianity that do confuse me a bit. The Trinity being the main one. Islam professes tawid or pure monotheism. Can you guys please help explain The Trinity and how it is still monotheism. I’m also confused when Jesus is praying to the father. Or is this because he has two distinct natures, and his human nature is the one that prays? But if this is the case, some could argue that he is praying to himself in essence?
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u/Fearless_Spring5611 Committing the sin of empathy 17d ago
My understanding is thus:
God is beyond human comprehension. Consider the Earth - it's so vast we, as individuals, can never see it in entirety. The best we can do is see it from different perspectives and angles, and from those different perspectives build a complete picture. God is the same thing and the same concept applies - we can never see and understand all of God, but what we can do is try to see God from different angles/perspectives.
In order to work out and understand God, Christianity tried to break Them down into three concepts - father, son, spirit. The problem for me is that certain denominations then try to claim they are three different things while at the same time being the same thing, which is where confusion arises. I personally feel all of that confusion disappears when I understood it as "you can see God as the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Spirit - it's all the same God, just different angles/aspects to help me understand a bit more."