The Trinity is being attacked

by people who insist that they are going to become gods and goddesses. 

The Bible indicates that the one and only real God has revealed himself in three ways: as Father, as Son and as Holy Spirit.

The followers of Joseph Smith, Jr. insist that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three separate gods.

For example, here is a Twitter post in which a Mormon repeats a claim that Smith made about seeing the Father and the Son.

In Exodus 33:20, God tells Moses, "No one may see me and live."

So, either God lied to Moses, or Joseph Smith, Jr. lied.

In Numbers 23:19, the prophet Balaam says, "God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind." 

That one lie by Smith - that he saw both God the Father and God the Son - should be enough to convince people that Smith was a fraud.

Yet, Mormons still insist that Smith was a prophet.

In Isaiah 43:10, God tells the nation of Israel, "Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me."

Mormons reject the monotheism that God declares in Isaiah 43:10 because of what Asaph says in Psalm 82. In that passage, Asaph uses the metaphor "gods" to describe certain political leaders.

The use of metaphors in the Old Testament is an obstacle for people who insist that every word in the Old Testament be interpreted literally.

For example, Joshua 10:13 says that the Sun stood still. That verse reveals how things looked from the perspective of the Israelites, who believed that the Sun orbited the Earth.

Today, we know that the Earth orbits the Sun. So, it is unreasonable to interpret "the Sun stood still" literally. It isn't necessary to interpret it literally in order for God to have performed a miracle for the Israelites in Joshua's day.

In summary, the metaphors in the Old Testament do not cancel what God says in Isaiah 43:10.

So, how does Jesus fit in to this topic?

Let's start at the Bible's beginning:

Genesis 1:1, NIV: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

Now let's go to the first chapter of John's Gospel.

John 1:1-3, NIV: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made."

In this passage, John doesn't say that the Word was a god, but that the Word was God.

Afterwards, John writes (verse 14), "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us."

So, John identifies Jesus as being the God of Genesis 1:1.

Indeed, in John 14:9, Jesus tells Philip, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father."

In John 10:30, Jesus declares, "I and the Father are one."

So, Jesus identified himself as being the God of Genesis 1:1.

It is understandable if one is confused by God being both the Father and the Son. Finite human minds aren't capable of understanding all of God's ways and thoughts, as God himself mentions in Isaiah 55:8-9.

I am in agreement with United Methodist elder David Mingus, D. Min., who has described the Trinity as a math formula:

1 (Father) x 1 (Son) x 1 (Holy Spirit) = 1 (God).

Granted, any human description of God, as Dr. Mingus elaborates, fails to give a complete accurate description of God.

So, how does the Holy Spirit fit into this situation?

The answer to that is in the 5th chapter of the book of Acts.

In verses 3 and 4, Peter tells Ananias, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”

In short, Peter identified the Holy Spirit as being God.

When we put all of the pieces together, we see what the Bible teaches: that only one real God exists, that only one real God has ever existed, and that only one real God will ever exist. Also, this one and only real God has revealed himself in three ways: as Father, as Son and as Holy Spirit. 

Not 1 + 1 + 1 but 1 x 1 x 1. 

These lessons from the Bible don't benefit people who want to become gods and goddesses, which is what Mormons want to become. So, they deny the lessons. Instead, they cling to claims made by a man who lied when he claimed to have seen the Father and the Son as separate people.