Isaacaustin,
"But in a nutshel, it is agreed they are two separate individuals. The oneness is in their operation. They share the same divine nature."
Not so. God is One manifest in 3 persons - all being fully God. The doctrine of God being 3 separate persons, only their operation being in oneness is a Mormonism type of view (3 Gods in one Godhead or office). You also have 3 parts to you: your physical body, your personality (soul) and your spirit which lives beyond the grave. We are made in His likeness and God is so beyond our full comprehension.
Snowbird,
The Message is NOT a bible. It is a paraphrase. Big difference. People use it like it's a bible, but it's just someone's interpretation of a traslation.
You said, "I believe the Holy Spirit is personable only in the fact that It reflects the personality of God" The Holy Spirit isn't an "It". God's Holy Spirit can be blasphemed, lied to, speaks, testifies, hears, is obeyed, grieves, commands, guides, intercedes, etc. That's personality.
"if as much information was given to support the Trinity as the Virgin Birth, you and I wouldn't be having this discussion"
There is a lot of suport if you look for it. Isn't it the Holy Spirit that reveals the Word of God to those who read it? The Bible is divinely inspired, but many read it their whole lives with a veil over their eyes.
PSacramento,
"The Trinity is an interpretation"
How so? I would agreed that nowhere in the Scriptures does it say, "God is a trinity", but the concept of the trinity was given as a way to try to describe what the Word of God says about His nature. Many passages state that Jesus is God, Lord, Savior, Beginning and the End, Almighty God, Creator, Lord of Hosts, Angel of the Lord, etc.; many state that the Holy Spirit is Lord and God; many state that God is Lord. If they are written you cannot deny them so what's the conclusion? They are all God. It is also understood that there is only one God and the belief of more than one God is Polytheism which is not sound doctrine.
So...
Who was Jesus? God Word says,
“I will declare the decree:
The Lord has said to Me,
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
Psalm 2:7
God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that He has raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second Psalm:
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.’
Acts 13:33
For to which of the angels did He ever say:
“You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You”?
And again:
“I will be to Him a Father,
And He shall be to Me a Son”?
But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says:
“Let all the angels of God worship Him.”
And of the angels He says:
“Who makes His angels spirits
And His ministers a flame of fire.”
Hebrews 1:5-7
God became a Father to Jesus the day He was conceived in the womb by the Holy Spirit. Prior to the fulfillment of this prophecy, Jesus (Emmanuel: God with us) was and is the Word of God as indicated in John 1:1. He had no beginning and has no end. The Word, being fully God, came in the likeness of man in the person of Jesus Christ to save sinful man from their sins. Jesus is the God of the OT and through a progression of Scriptural connection can be shown that He is Almighty God, the One who spoke to Abraham, destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24), wrestled with Jacob (Israel), talked with Moses in the burning bush, delivered Israel from Egypt, etc.
Jesus is the person of God that man can see without dying (Genesis 32:30; Isaiah 6:1-5) as the Father dwells in unaproachable light and Whom no man can see and live (Exodus 33:20).
