Thanks for your reply. I appreciate your thoughts.
I went to Catholic school (very traditional like yourself, Latin and all) for 12 years and took religion class 1 hour a day/5 days a week. I was really interested in learning about God, so I always studied hard and pretty much got straight "A"s in that class. But at the end of those 12 years I couldn't reconcile why God would want me to believe something that really didn't make any sense.
2 Timothy 3:7: -"Ever learning, and never attaining to the knowledge of the truth." There is one reason why Our Lord tells us that few are saved. The lack the first degree of faith and humility.
St. Benedict (c. 520): “The first degree of humility, then, is that a man always have the fear of God before his eyes, shunning all forgetfulness and that he be ever mindful of all that God hath commanded, that he always considereth in his mind how those who despise God will burn in hell for their sins, and that life everlasting is prepared for those who fear God.”
The Catholic Church is the one true Church founded by Jesus Christ upon St. Peter (Mt. 16:18-20; Jn. 21:15-17). This is proven by history, Scripture and tradition.
You say you attended Catholic school. Were you baptized Catholic? Did you pray daily, especially the Rosary? Prayer is essential for attaining the graces necessary to come to the supernatural faith of Jesus Christ. The dogma of the Holy Trinity is a Mystery of the Faith and cannot be assented to without the supernatural grace of God. You asked why God would want you to believe what didn't make sense to you. Again, the first degree of humility comes to mind. Why should you believe in the Holy Trinity? Because God has revealed it through His Church.
I'm sorry, but the whole idea of three in one, all the old pictures of a three headed creature, confused me to no end. It was never a comforting thought to me. My earthly dad would never have knowingly confused me that much, so I couldn't understand why my heavenly father would do that to me.
God reveals Himself through His Church and those who sincerely desire to know Him and love Him will inevitably be drawn by Him to this One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. Pictures of a three-headed creature are found in paganism, not Catholicism. St. Patrick used a three-leaf clover (like the one I shared) to illustrate the beautiful truth of the Blessed Trinity. St. Augustine used the analogy of a flame and makes use of the heat, the fire, and the brightness , and how these three, though distinct from each other, make one flame. Even without these analogies, as a Catholic, the very simple fact that God gave authority to His Church who alone is the infallible interpreter of Scripture is enough to know beyond all question that her dogmas are true for all time.
Anyway, one day I met someone who introduced me to the simple idea that Jesus was the Son of God and not God the Son. He asked me if I could show him where the scriptures call Jesus God the Son. It dawned on me that in all those religion classes, I didn't remember even one time where we cracked the actual Bible and looked at it. Nonetheless, I figured I could find somewhere where they do call Jesus God the Son. Not knowing my way around the scriptures themselves, it took me some time, but I finally had to admit Jesus is never called God the Son. Not even once. My friend then pointed out that Jesus was called the Son of God almost 50 times. All of a sudden the confusion the trinity caused me vanished. The scriptures opened up to me in a way that the religion classes never did. I came to understand way more about God and His son, Jesus. Everything made sense. It was no longer necessary for my to take everything by faith. I could now understand with my little pea brain how much God loved me. Likewise I understood how much the man Jesus Christ, God's only begotten son, loved me.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is also God the Son. He is also true God and true man, having two natures, both divine and human. Within the Catholic Faith, we accept both Scripture and Tradition. However, Scripture by itself does teach plainly that Jesus Christ is God as the following quote from vaticancatholic.com proves.
The “Jehovah’s Witnesses” and the Unitarians deny that Jesus Christ is God. But there are many passages in the Bible which show that Jesus is God. The first few that come to mind are:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God” (John 1:1.)
“Thomas answered and
said to him: My Lord, and
my God” (John 20:28).
“Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say to you,
before Abraham was made, I am” (John 8:58).
“I am” is the very name that God gave to Himself when He appeared to Moses in the burning bush to indicate that He is the eternal, uncreated supreme being. When Jesus said this of Himself, He was clearly indicating that He is God. This is why the Jews “took up stones” to kill Jesus (John 8:59). The prophecy of Isaias 9:6, which is clearly about Jesus, also proves that Jesus is God:
“For a child is born to us, a son is given to us: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and
his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace.” (Isaias 9:6)
One of our personal favorites on this point, but which is often overlooked, is Acts 3:15. Referring to how the Jews preferred the murderer Barabbas to Jesus and had Jesus crucified, St. Peter says:
“But
the author of life you killed…” (Acts 3:15)
The author of life Jesus is God. Thus, Jesus is God. Another passage is found in Apocalypse chapter 1:
“And in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks,
one like to the Son of man… And when I had seen him, I fell at his feet as dead.
And he laid his right hand upon me, saying: Fear not.
I am the First and the Last, and behold I am living forever and ever…” (Apoc. 1)
Some people are unaware that God describes Himself as “the first and the last” in the Old Testament.
“I the Lord,
I am the first and the last” (Isaias 41:4).
There are many other passages we could bring up, but the fact that Jesus is God is also proven by what is called “implicit Christology.” This means that the manner in which Jesus spoke showed that He is God.
“
You have heard that it was said to them of old: Thou shalt not commit adultery.
But I say to you, that whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28).
Notice that Jesus, commenting
on the words and commandment of God Himself in Exodus 20:14, clearly puts His own declaration on the same level:
You have heard that God has said, BUT I SAY, says Jesus. This way of speaking shows Jesus is God.
Another interesting passage comes in Galatians.
“Paul, an apostle,
not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead…” (Galatians 1:1)
Since Paul did not become an apostle by men or of man, but by Jesus Christ, the obvious implication is that Jesus Christ is not just a man. He is also God.
The fact that Jesus is God and man (one Divine Person with two natures) was held by the earliest fathers of the Church and is a truth which must be held by all who want to be saved and possess the true faith:
From AD 108, St. Ignatius to the church at Ephesus: “Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to her who has been blessed in greatness through the fulness of God the Father, ordained before time to be always resulting in permanent glory, unchangeably united and chosen in true passion,
by the will of the Father and of Jesus Christ, our God, to the church which is in Ephesus of Asia, worthy of felicitation: abundant greetings in Jesus Christ and in blameless joy.” (Ephesians 1)
End quote.
He was born with innocent blood (the result of the virgin birth). Adam also was born with innocent blood. But whereas Adam wanted to be God (as the devil suggested he could achieve), Jesus was content with being who he was, the son of God and not God Himself. Of course because of Adam's poor choice, we all inherited his sin filled blood. But praise God, Jesus always obeyed his father to the letter, even unto the horrible death I mentioned. Had he sinned, and like the first Adam he had free will and could have sinned at any time in his life, we would still be dead in our trespasses and sins. The devil even offered him all the kingdoms in the world. For God to have refused that is no big deal, but for a man like you or me to refuse such a tempting offer, WOW! And why did he refuse the offer? Because he loved you, me and every other low life sinner that ever lived just that much. To me that is a much grander story than making Jesus God. After many years of Biblical research I've also come to realize that it is exactly what the scriptures themselves really say.
He was conceived by the Holy Ghost in the most pure womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God. He was born innocent because He is God made man. In becoming man, He did not cease to be God. All are born in Original Sin, but God preserved the Blessed Mother free from all sin because of her future office as Mother of God.
You say, after many years of Biblical research...
Again, 2 Timothy 3:7: -"Ever learning, and never attaining to the knowledge of the truth."
It is not possible for God to be the Author of confusion, of so many thousands of warring sects, of so many contradictions in doctrines and beliefs. No, God is the Author of Truth and His Son, Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, Who became man established His Church, the Catholic Church which is to be for all time the Ark of Salvation in which all men must come into or be lost forever.
