Soapbox Saturday

Lots of bloggers do a weekly post like About Me Monday or Wild Card Wednesday so I decided to do Soapbox Saturday. Weekends are usually pretty slow in internet-land so it's a good time for me to talk about the things that nobody wants to hear. And I have lots of things like that! So, my first soapbox speech is about religion....

I used to be pretty involved in some online religious debate. In case you don't already know, I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, often referred to as LDS or Mormon.

Online debates fall into a couple different catagories. First, there are the debates with atheists. Those don't work out so well, because there is no common ground. For example, if you're debating abortion, you have the common ground of the fact that abortions happen. With religion, one of you has faith, the other one has science and there's nowhere to start. At least, not in my experience.

The funner debates are the ones with "True Christians", aka Born Agains, aka Fundies. You have the basis of faith and then you go to town on who's "right." Granted, nobody really ever wins, but I enjoyed them because I learned SO much about not only their religions, but my own.

Most other religions are pretty open minded. My experience with Catholics, Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc has been basically good. They tend to have their beliefs and we have ours. It reminds me of the 11th article of faith "We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may." But my experience with Fundies online and in real life (except for Amy) has been less than positive. I've been told everything from I'm in a cult, to I'm leading my kids straight to hell. Nice.

So, I made it my goal to just try to show them that Mormons aren't crazy. I figured if I could get just one person who hated/pitied us before to admit that maybe we weren't that bad, then I'd have lessened some of the worlds anger and hate by one teeny little iota. And that was good enough. So, I debated for a couple of years. And I was able to better inform some people and that made me happy. But more importantly, I learned A LOT.

So my soapbox today is the Godhead vs the Trinity. Fundamental Christians (in fact most other denominations) believe in the Trinity. They believe that God, the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are all one being. They usually describe them as existing everywhere and in everything. They use analagies like the sun (The sun is God, the light is Jesus, and the heat is the Holy Spirit...three manifestations of one object). Ok...I get it. But it's wrong.

Did you know the nature of God (the trinity) was decided by a group of men in a council in AD 451. LONG after Christ lived. That decision (the three in one thing) has been expounded upon by many different religious leaders over the years, and none of it is biblical.

So, why do the scriptures say that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are "one?" Because they're one in purpose, in mission, in belief. The apostles were told to be "one" even as the Father and the son are one. So, did they meld into one shapeless being to fit the definition of one? Nope. They were to be united. One in purpose. But each a seperate individual.

When Christ was on the earth, he prayed to his Father (seperate being). When he was baptized, Christ was physically in the water, a voice was heard from heaven (his Father), and the Holy Spirit descended. All three beings of the Godhead were there, but seperately. And that is the Godhead. Three distinct individuals, united in purpose. "To bring to pass the eternal life and imortality of man."

This next part is my favorite. I think it's really interesting. This is ancient art depicting the Godhead and how it changed with the passing of time and the accepting of the Nicene Creed.

First, they're depicted as three seperate beings.

Then the Father and the Son are depicted seperately, with the Holy Ghost represented by a Dove.

Finally, they are depicted as one being with three heads or three faces.

Isn't that cool?

If you're interested to read a more in depth discussion on this topic, read Trinity and the Nature of God, a chapter from the book "Are Mormons Christian?" by Stephen E. Robinson.