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Beliefs > Question & Answer > Comparing The LDS Church and Other Religions

Question A few of you have written regarding this question:
http://www.donny.com/question.pl?cmd=view&questionid=11&highlight=
and stating that Catholics do indeed believe that "Catholics do believe that the "Trinity" are three distinct persons, but in one!" Donny hopes to clarify his first answer a bit more in this answer.

Response Dear Friends:

Thanks for your e-mails offering to correct a comment that was made on the beliefs section of the website about Catholicism, and whether or not the Trinity have a physical body. Your statement is that the Catholics most definitely believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and has a physical body. And you went on to say that you believe that we will all receive a glorified body at the end. I am pleased that you believe as I do on that point.

However, what I found on Catholic.com website says that the Trinity is "One substance", but also states that Christ has a physical body. That, of course, is very confusing to me because Christ cannot be one 'substance' with His Father in Heaven and with the Holy Spirit and still maintain His own resurrected physical body. The Catholic-defense website goes on to say,
"But if they say, 'How can there be three Persons, and how but one Divinity?' we shall make this reply: That there are indeed three persons, inasmuch as there is one person of God the Father, and one of the Lord the Son, and one of the Holy Spirit; and yet that there is but one divinity, inasmuch as . . . there is one substance in the Trinity"

Also: "There is one God . . . There is a perfect Trinity, in glory and eternity and sovereignty, neither divided nor estranged. Wherefore there is nothing either created or in servitude in the Trinity; nor anything superinduced, as if at some former period it was non-existent, and at some later period it was introduced. And thus neither was the Son ever wanting to the Father, nor the Spirit to the Son; but without variation and without change, the same Trinity abides ever" (Declaration of Faith [A.D. 265]).

"... the writings of the earliest Christians, who clearly understood them in the sense that we do today--that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are three divine Persons who are one divine Being (God)."
From http://www.catholic.com/ANSWERS/tracts/_trinity.htm

"The Trinity is One. We do not confess three Gods, but one God in three persons, the 'consubstantial Trinity'. [Council of Constantinople II (553): DS 421.] 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.' [Council of Toledo XI (675): DS 530:26.] In the words of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), 'Each of the persons is that supreme reality, viz., the divine substance, essence or nature.' [Lateran Council IV (1215): DS 804.]"
(From: http://www.catholic-defense.com/trinity.htm>

In the final analysis, if we believe the Bible to be the word of God, then we can go there for clarification on the nature of God. For instance, in Gen. 1:26, it says, "And God said let us make man in our own image." As we look in the mirror, we can see what we look like. We have physical features, which are human. God made us in that image. In Ex. 33:11, we read, "And God spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh to his friend." God has a physical form with a face, as Moses so states.

At the baptism of Jesus (Matt. 3:16), we see the person of Jesus coming up out of the water after having been baptized. The Spirit of the Holy Ghost separately descends from the heavens and lights upon Him in the form of a dove, and Heavenly Father’s voice speaks from the heavens. The Father says, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased," for all of those who witnessed the baptism to hear. If Christ was on the earth, and His Father spoke from the heavens, we can see that this situation is separate.

If we examine John 17:9-11, we see that Christ prayed to the Father for His apostles, and asked that they be "one as we are." In verses 20-22 of that same chapter, we again see that Christ is praying for all those of us who would ever hear the words of the apostles. He again asked that we be one as He and His Father are one. What should we conclude from that? First, that when He prayed for His apostles to be one, He certainly was not speaking of one in body. Should we expect that He thought that His apostles should be one conglomerate person with 11 heads, 22 arms, and 22 legs, and that all of the multi-millions of people who would believe in Christ thereafter would also be one conglomerate person? Of course not. We would then conclude that what the oneness meant was the oneness in purpose.

We can see in Heb. 1:1-3 that after Christ had finished His work on the earth, He ascended to His Father in Heaven and "sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High." He did not become the Majesty on High, or part of the Majesty on High; He simply took His place at the right hand of His Father. As you have said, the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost are separate and distinct beings who are one in their purpose, which is to bring to pass our own immortality and eternal life.


More questions answered on Trinity...
http://www.donny.com/question.pl?cmd=view&questionid=3&highlight=
http://www.donny.com/question.pl?cmd=view&questionid=189&highlight=trinity

Sincerely,

Donny Osmond


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