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Chapter One: Defining God

Section 5: Three's Company

The Christian Trinity weakens the case for a monotheistic God.

Coronation of the Virgin by the Holy Trinity; Casabindo Church, Peru

If God exists, is there only one of him or are there many?

Christianity is in the unusual position of claiming to be monotheistic (one god) while appearing to be polytheistic (many gods). Reviewing what this means and how it came about may help us to understand the concept of God.

We will start by looking at the New Testament - the specifically Christian element of the Bible - and then see how the image of God developed during the first four hundred years of the Christian era.

Three key figures emerge in the NT: God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. We know that God is the omnipotent creator of the universe, but it is not clear from the Bible who Jesus is. There is certainly something special about him; he not only claims to have a special relationship with God, but he performed miracles, was crucified, returned from the dead and ascended to heaven.

There is strong evidence - discussed in The Jesus Myth - to suggest that Jesus never existed. But it is not directly relevant to this chapter, so for the moment we will assume that Jesus did live in the early years of the Common Era.

None of this means Jesus was God. God may have been working through him as he had worked through other men and Jesus himself never claimed to be God. He does not deny it when Peter calls him Christ ("the anointed" - with the same meaning as Messiah), but this role is similar to that of Mohammed the


Chapter One: Defining God

Does God exist? Before we try to answer that question we need to have a clear idea of who or what God is. How do we describe God? What versions of God are on offer?

1.1: God, faith and religion
Do they need each other?

1.2: What is God?
God comes in several styles and models

1.3: The evolving God
From prehistory to today

1.4: El, Yahweh et al
The Old Testament family of gods

1.5: Three's company
The Christian Trinity

1.6: Allah
Over to Islam

1.7: Majors and minors
Polytheism

1.8: The unknowable God
Is he there?

1.9: Your god or mine?
Made in our image

1.10: Summary



Finished this chapter? Move on to

Chapter Two
Problems with God


The real God – if such a thing exists – may be very different from the god portrayed by Jewish, Christian or Muslim scripture.

But whichever picture of God we look at - from the Bible and Koran to the images presented by other faiths and believers - we are confronted by problems. When examined closely, God's nature is so contradictory that it is unlikely, if not impossible, for him to exist.



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Muslim Prophet - it makes him human, not divine.

So, if the Bible does not tell us that Jesus was divine, where did that idea come from? The answer lies in the early church, which spent centuries debating the nature of God and deciding which of the many books written at the time were the authoritative Word of God.

Organised religion, like any other activity which brings people together for a common goal, is both a means of co-operation and a political power structure. For three hundred years after Christ's death, individuals and groups argued over theology. Many of these discussions focused on Jesus - was he fully God, only partly human (Apollinarianism), less than God, more than human (Arianism), fully God and not human (Docetism), only a prophet (Ebionitism)? - and such questions naturally led to the nature of God.

Following the Council of Nicaea in 325, the idea that God is "three persons [Father, Jesus, Spirit] but one substance" became the official dogma. This notion has persisted through subsequent divisions of the church into Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant and traditions and is rejected only by minor sects and Mormons.

As time passed, Jesus' mother, Mary, was allotted increasingly greater reverence by the Church and the idea that unique among humans she was born without sin took hold.
Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia: The Annunciation: National Gallery, Washington DC Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia
The Annunciation
National Gallery, Washington DC

Worship of the Virgin grew and was one of the reasons underlying the Reformation, as Protestants rejected the implicit view that she was god-like. For the same reasons, Protestants rejected the notion of prayer to saints - holy men and women that Catholic and Orthodox Christians believe have a special relationship with God and can intercede with him on their behalf.

Whatever the history of the church and whatever the reality of God, the key point being made here is people's conception of the deity. Although officially monotheist, Christians are closer to polytheist Hindus - who worship many gods on the understanding that each individual god is only a manifestation of The One God.

Christians who want to interact with God chose the "personality" most suited to their needs - which may be God the Father, Jesus, Mary or one of the saints. The aspect of God that receives least attention is the Holy Spirit, because his (her? its?) personality remains almost undefined.

This polytheism arises because Christians consider God to be knowable - and if you know someone you know their personality. In contrast, Jews and Muslims worship a single, unknowable God. Yet even in Islam, believers do not present united front. Like Catholics and their saints, many Shia Muslims pray to the historical imams in the belief that they carry special favour with God.

We have seen that the Christian Trinity weakens the case for a monotheistic God. This is another step in understanding that our concepts of God may be unrelated to God himself, if he exists. Now it is time to look at the Muslim version of the deity.



Next: Chapter One: Section 6
Allah


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If God existed, he would...

admire the beauty of a universe that he did not create

recognize that eternity is meaningless

deny both heaven and hell

disown all men and women who speak in his name

denounce the harm caused by religious "morality"

help the human race to thrive without him

If God existed, he would be an atheist.




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