[Mephibosheth2]

Originally Posted by aron

I think so. Irrespective of my inability to clearly articulate it, there still is an unresolved issue(s).

I happily confirm myself as a card-carrying "orthodox" christian, who acknowledges the creedal "trinity" formulation. But I'm old enough and settled in my faith to say that I've never understood it. The Holy Spirit is 1/3 of the Trinity? Huh? And there are a lot of "loose ends" conceptually in the text.

...Bingo! ...

And now, as I unsling, and cock, and take careful aim with my trusty old, African hunting-rifle, aron, allow me to shoot you a question (don't worry, it'll just graze...)

Admittedly, you have a problem with the Holy Spirit being one-third of the Trinity. In other words, as I understand it, you are challenged by the whole notion of God being 'Triune', that is, three-in-one...

If we dismiss, therefore, the idea that the Holy Spirit is part of the Godhead and relegate him to the status of an angel (or seven angels-in-one), to that of a mere messenger, if you will; you are now left with the Lord Jesus Christ being 1/2 of the Godhead. Now, how is that any less mystifying than the Spirit being a 1/3 of the Godhead? To me, it seems like just as much of a conundrum: because any arguments in favor of or against the Spirit are exactly as confounding as those that may arise with respect to the Son.

It remains, therefore, that if we cannot accept that the Holy Spirit is God, then we cannot also accept that Jesus Christ is God. Unless, of course, the concept of the 'Diune God' (or two-in-one) is something that makes much more sense to you, somehow, than a God who is three-in-one! And so alas, we find ourselves in the unenviable position of denying the very deity of, not only the Holy Ghost, but of Jesus Christ Himself; which is the very cut and thrust of the Islamic philosophy and the central emphasis of the Koranic scriptures! ...(cf 2 Tim 1:7 & 2 Tim 3:5)...see, where we've ended up?...

The problematic phraseology aside, which I do not support -because it is really mathematically impossible to break down things of eternal dimensions and proportions into halves and quarters, and other such fractions (Infinity divided by three, or by four, or by seventy-six, or by a hundred million, is still Infinity!)- the crux of the matter is that God is Spirit (John 4:24) and the Spirit is the Son (which I will later show you from verses you yourself quoted and misinterpreted from Revelation) and therefore, the Son is God. He is not a 1/3 of God anymore than you can have a 1/3 of Infinity (which is impossible according to our narrow and limited four-dimensional view and concept of everything) He just is God, as the Spirit, just is God.

To put it in kindergarten-picture terms: to frame 'words' you need your 'breath' i.e. you cannot speak without your breath; the Son is the Word, the Spirit is the Breath. The Breath is required to frame the Word. Both are the Same and Both are Eternal. John has used an ordinary fact crucial to everyday life as a metaphor to convey to us some idea of the relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. He couldn't have been more clear. Anything less than this is and you have 'Allah'.

...So, can you really have your cake and eat it too?...