To me its fairly simple to understand. An analogy of the Trinity is water, or H2O. Water is a liquid. Water can also be vapour. And it can be a solid, ice. The liquid state is not ice, ice is not vapour and vapour is not liquid. They are distinct. But they are all H2O. This is the same as the trinity. God the Father, the son Jesus and the Holy Spirit are distinct but all the same being.
Best Answer
The H2O illustration is on the Never Use list of Trinitarian apologists like this one:
Quote:
“The doctrine of the Trinity is like an egg: three parts, one thing.” Ever heard that? How about this, “The doctrine of the Trinity is like a three leaf clover: three leaves, one clover.” Or how about THIS, “The doctrine of the Trinity is like water: three forms (ice, steam, liquid) one substance.” But the greatest I ever heard was by a guy in one of my classes. He said that he thought that the Trinity was like 3-in-1 shampoo: three activities, one substance.” [Emphasis added.]
Stupid statements. Creative, but stupid. Don’t use them. Any of them. Ever.[1]
He prefers to use the diagrammatic Scutum Fidie instead, and calls the H2O illustration modalistic: "Ice, steam, and liquid are examples of the same nature which *at one time or another* has a particular mode of existence. Sometimes it is liquid, sometimes it is ice, and sometimes it is steam. God is not sometimes Son, sometimes Father, and sometimes Spirit. He is eternally each, always at the same time." Thus it is on the Trinitarian Never Use list.
I understand it that there are three people in the impersonal Trinitarian Godhead as shown in the scutum fidei. As one Trinitarian apologist explained:
Unlike traditional Judaism and Islam, the God of Christianity possesses a unique and mysterious plurality of personhood within its single divine essence. In other words, while God is one in being, he nevertheless exists as three distinct persons (or centers of consciousness). One way of expressing this special monotheism is to say that God is "one what and three whos." That is, in terms of what God is, God is one and only one divine being. But in terms of who God is, God is three distinct persons. (end quote)[2]
Thus God for the Trinitarian is not a person but a What, an impersonal Godhead, composed of three whos or divine people.
Yet, this is diametrically opposed to the beliefs of the Lord Jesus Christ who fearlessly declared with a doubtlessly booming voice that the Father is the "only true God." (John 17:1-5) Thus Jesus Christ clearly believed that God is a single person, the Father.
Additionally, Hebrews 5:7 informs us that Jesus Christ even relied on his Father and God to be resurrected from death, and that his prayers were favorably heard due to his his godly fear or piety.[3]
Thus, despite all the intellectual acrobats Trinitarians must go through to support their man-made, non-biblical doctrine, it still fails to accurately and scripturally describe the Lord Jesus Christ and his almighty Father, the only true God, Jehovah.
Source:
[1] Patton, C Michael. “The Trinity is Like 3-in-1 Shampoo”. . . And Other Stupid Statements. http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/blog/20...
Popular Arguments some Trinitarians use that are on a Trinitarian "Never Use" List
http://jimspace3000.blogspot.com/2012/06...
[2] What a tangled web we weave...
http://jimspace3000.blogspot.com/2010/04...
[3] Hebrews 5:7 and Trinitarianism: A Compatibility Crisis
http://jimspace3000.blogspot.com/2012/09...
