More clearly stated—Isn’t Catholicism a form of Trinitarianism? The reason I’m thinking this is because the church, long ago, split The One True God up into three pieces; the Father—the Son—the Holy Spirit. Catholics please set it right here if my thinking is demonized.
Isn’t Catholicism polytheistic?
| nur339 wrote: |
| More clearly stated—Isn’t Catholicism a form of Trinitarianism? The reason I’m thinking this is because the church, long ago, split The One True God up into three pieces; the Father—the Son—the Holy Spirit. Catholics please set it right here if my thinking is demonized. |
Well, here's the thing. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit don't not apply soley to Catholicism. Most of my family is Church of Christ, and they too believe in this "triangle". So I'm answering this based on what I remembered being taught as a child in Sunday school, so bare with me.
Here's the thing... Over the time I went to Sunday school, we had several different preachers, and two of them had a sermon on this very subject, but taught two entirely different reasonings for it.
According to the first preacher, you're right, they basically did split God into three different pieces. But, all three of these are supposed to combine together to form God. Meaning that only when the three are combined are they God. Seperate, they have no divinity.
What preacher #2 preached was that only the Father was God. However, the Son was God in human form, and since He was in human form, the Son is not considered divine at this stage. The Holy Spirit is a bit more difficult to explain. From what I understood (and I may have misinturrpretted completely) the Holy Spirit is merely what "connected", so to speak, the Father and the Son, and as a result, the Holy Spirit itself isn't divine either.
It's a bit confusing and vague, I know, but hopefully this will help you out a bit.
Polytheistic it is not. Trinitarianism--maybe. I just did a quick Wiki check and it said that it is, though I shouldn't really put much trust in that source.
The Roman Catholic Church believes that the Trinity is One. God is One and Three all at the same time--now this varies from other branches of Christianity, but this is what Catholics believe. It could be a difficult concept to grasp [sure did struggle with this for quite some time!
], but this is what we believe.
As on the Nicene Creed, we say that:
I checked the Catechism of the Catholic Church's teachings on the Father, and perhaps this quote may help, and I have added the necessary emphasis:
The Roman Catholic Church believes that the Trinity is One. God is One and Three all at the same time--now this varies from other branches of Christianity, but this is what Catholics believe. It could be a difficult concept to grasp [sure did struggle with this for quite some time!
], but this is what we believe.
As on the Nicene Creed, we say that:
| Nicene Creed wrote: |
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We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father; through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. We believe in one Holy Catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen. |
I checked the Catechism of the Catholic Church's teachings on the Father, and perhaps this quote may help, and I have added the necessary emphasis:
| Catechism of the Catholic Church wrote: | ||
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The dogma of the Holy Trinity 253 The Trinity is One. We do not confess three Gods, but one God in three persons, the "consubstantial Trinity".83 The divine persons do not share the one divinity among themselves but each of them is God whole and entire: "The Father is that which the Son is, the Son that which the Father is, the Father and the Son that which the Holy Spirit is, i.e. by nature one God."84 In the words of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), "Each of the persons is that supreme reality, viz., the divine substance, essence or nature."85 254 The divine persons are really distinct from one another. "God is one but not solitary."86 "Father", "Son", "Holy Spirit" are not simply names designating modalities of the divine being, for they are really distinct from one another: "He is not the Father who is the Son, nor is the Son he who is the Father, nor is the Holy Spirit he who is the Father or the Son."87 They are distinct from one another in their relations of origin: "It is the Father who generates, the Son who is begotten, and the Holy Spirit who proceeds."88 The divine Unity is Triune. 255 The divine persons are relative to one another. Because it does not divide the divine unity, the real distinction of the persons from one another resides solely in the relationships which relate them to one another: "In the relational names of the persons the Father is related to the Son, the Son to the Father, and the Holy Spirit to both. While they are called three persons in view of their relations, we believe in one nature or substance."89 Indeed "everything (in them) is one where there is no opposition of relationship."90 "Because of that unity the Father is wholly in the Son and wholly in the Holy Spirit; the Son is wholly in the Father and wholly in the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is wholly in the Father and wholly in the Son."91 256 St. Gregory of Nazianzus, also called "the Theologian", entrusts this summary of Trinitarian faith to the catechumens of Constantinople:
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Aside from the whole praying to the saints deal (which I find very questionable), no, Catholicism is not polytheistic.
The way I see it, each part of the trinity is like a single line on a triangle. Missing one of the lines, the shape is no longer a triangle, but neither is one line alone a triangle.
The way I see it, each part of the trinity is like a single line on a triangle. Missing one of the lines, the shape is no longer a triangle, but neither is one line alone a triangle.
| ocalhoun wrote: |
| Aside from the whole praying to the saints deal (which I find very questionable), no, Catholicism is not polytheistic.
The way I see it, each part of the trinity is like a single line on a triangle. Missing one of the lines, the shape is no longer a triangle, but neither is one line alone a triangle. |
I was going to respond to this, but it would have simply been a reiteration of what ocalhoun said. While the saint worship borders on icon worship, the Trinity itself is not polytheistic; in essence, Trinity is God and God is one... therefore the Trinity is one, not multiple.
Praying to and praying with are completely different, so careful about your wording there. The idea behind praying with the Saints is that the more people you have praying for you or whatever concerns you have regarding something/someone else, the better off you will be. This process is similar to asking someone to pray for you.
I can see how it is easily confused, because it is not understood. It's natural to judge the unknown.
At any rate, no, the Trinity is not polytheistic, and it's not just Catholics that believe in the Trinity, it is almost all Christians. One God in three different forms is the basic idea.
I can see how it is easily confused, because it is not understood. It's natural to judge the unknown.
At any rate, no, the Trinity is not polytheistic, and it's not just Catholics that believe in the Trinity, it is almost all Christians. One God in three different forms is the basic idea.
So catholics don't pray TO saints, but WITH saints? I must say I dont know a lot of catholicism more than what Ive seen in movies. But the impression Ive got from that is that catholics a lot of times pray to Mother Mary and stuff? Correct me if I'm wrong.
| LimpFish wrote: |
| But the impression Ive got from that is that catholics a lot of times pray to Mother Mary and stuff? Correct me if I'm wrong. |
Catholic teachers have a way to explain this... This is how it was explained to me, a long time ago:
You know how a child is much closer to his/her mother? When you need something from you father, but you're too shy/afraid to do it directly, you tell your mom about it, right? When you want to ask for something, you would usually tell yout mom to tell your dad for you, and be all like, "Hey mom, could you please tell dad that.. blah blah blah..?" That's how "praying to Mother Mary" works. Catholics do not worship Mother Mary; Catholics venerate her--respect her and direct their pleas to God through her, just as how you would ask your mom to act as mediator/intervener/messenger between you and your dad.
hmmm ok... I cannot recall a single bible verse that says anything about that we should do that though. in all places where Jesus talks about prayer he says we should pray to the Father... so it still feels like a weird idea to me.. personally
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