The Trinity

This series of blogs explores my thinking around my transition from a form of unitarian doctrine to believing in the Trinity.

The series will pursue some fairly hard core theology. We will explore my changing understanding of God as I have transitioned from Unitarian to Trinitarian theology. Obviously a core question is “Who is God?” Is God exclusively God the Father? How do God the Son and God the Holy Spirit fit in?

Transition to The Trinity

My former belief was not true Unitarianism. I am now a practicing Baptist with a mild Pentecostal flavour and I am Trinitarian. I do not mind disclosing that this has been a quite emotionally distruptive and even draining shift in belief. The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the great divides in some areas of Christianity.

Prayer

A particular issue that I did not expect, in reality that blindsided me was that I ceased to pray for nearly a year (except some fairly ritualistic meal time prayers) only sporadically breaking my silence with a earnest, heart broken prayer for, I suppose, some form of certainty.

As a Christadelphian, I think a fundamental flaw that I had in prayer was that Jesus was virtually ignored in my normal prayer life until around 2017 when I started this transition. My prayers were typically focussed on the Father rather than on Jesus. I now have three to pray to, and this has created an almost paralysing confusion for me. The Trinity is a difficult concept even for those who are very experienced in the doctrine.

This has eased thankfully.

Childhood

When you have held a particular belief structure such as a rejection of the Trinity since virtually childhood, it is no small thing to abandon this belief. Add to this, the peculiar belief that both sides of the divide seem to hold that the other side are more or less consigned to damnation and you can see why this issue might create a lot of issues for someone changing in this way. I have even questioned the validity of my baptism which is central to my identity in Christ.

In Peter Scazzero’s Emotionally Healthy Spiritually, he speaks of the dark night of the soul. Transitioning from a firm belief in one doctrine to realising that this former belief was a lie or at least misguided, will inevitably lead to many a dark night of the soul filled with doubt and uncertainty. Faith that God is and that He loves you, will give you the strength. You need God’s strength to continue to explore and become convicted.

Other References

This video contains a great biblical defense of the Trinity

I also strongly recommend these books:

Evidence that Demands a Verdict: Life-Changing Truth for a Skeptical World

The Forgotten Trinity: Recovering the Heart of Christian Belief

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