It seems to me that not many people have a very clear idea of who God is - Hence the confusion. Its a bit like two people sitting in a forest somewhere far away trying to explain the airplane that they see passing overhead every now and again. Their only knowledge of it is a 'thing like a bird in the sky which makes a noise and leaves a white string of cloud behind'. Then they decide that its actually 3 things (the noise, the thing and the cloud) and off to the village they go to explain this to the villagers. Converts are made and they wait for the next appearance... Then the pilot visits the village and... --------------------- Got a bit carried away there - sorry if I stepped on anyones toes. Had a bit if fun - is all.

God indeed is not the author of confusion. The Bible clearly says that God is one. It says He is the one who sent Jesus as a prophet. Nowhere in any part of the Bible does the word trinity appear. If all the Gospels were particular enough to tell us that it was a donkey that Jesus rode on into Jerusalem would they have missed to tell us about the trinity? Surely it would have been mentioned as unambiguously as the donkey in every book of the Bible. Evidently then the trinity is one of several inventions by the church that Jesus had nothing to do with.

Most Christians are not confused. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity states there is one true God who is made up of three separate but equal persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Bible does not contain the word Trinity. However, the Holy Trinity is hinted at repeatedly in both the Old and New Testaments. For many biblical references, see: http://www.cwo.com/~pentrack/catholic/Trinity.txt Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, the early Christians prayed and struggled over these hints for a couple of centuries. The concept of the Holy Trinity (three equal persons in one God) was mainstream Christianity in 325 C.E. at the Council of Nicaea and our belief is expressed in the Nicene Creed. How this works is not fully known and is one the Christian mysteries. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is shared by most Christian denominations including Roman and Orthodox Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Episcopalians, and the Salvation Army. There is a story told about St Augustine: Augustine was walking along the seashore trying to figure out the mystery of the Holy Trinity and came up to a little boy. The boy was trying to pour the ocean into a hole in the sand with a seashell. Augustine told the boy what he was doing was impossible. Then the little boy told Augustine that it is also impossible for the mind of man to try to understand the mystery of the Holy Trinity. The little boy turned into an angel and disappeared. For more information, see Catechism of the Catholic Church, sections 232 and following: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt1art1p2.htm#232 With love in Christ.

The original Greek, and most modern translations, say "God is not a God of confusion." This is a Hebraism, the way the Jews talked, and means "God is not a confusing God." Okay, so you can translate that as "author of confusion." What it means is that when we are confused by God, and by the word of God, it's not God's fault; it's our spiritual blindness caused by sin, our acceptance of sinful traditions that come from outside, and our laziness--we'd much rather watch TV than study the Bible. When we try hard to overcome these, we find that the doctrine is not so much confusing as difficult to believe--but it's difficult to believe because of our weak understanding. However, there are other things that are difficult to believe and yet we accept them as true. When I read a textbook about nuclear physics, I may understand every single word in a chapter but not a single concept. But it doesn't matter. As long as the equations balance, the lights go on when I flip a switch and call for more electricity from the nearest nuclear reactor.

It's a good question, with some good answers - but I have to add that the context of Paul's remark in 1 Corinthians 14:33 was that the Corinthian church spoke in tongues a lot, and their services tended to become chaotic with everyone speaking at once and no interpretation etc. So Paul was telling them that God would disapprove of the confusion, because it was seriously unhelpful to worship in that manner. The trouble is, a lot of people think 1 Corinthians 14 means that absolutely everything in church and in life has to be scheduled, including breast feeding aparently! Good question anyway. Has anyone read The Shack?

Imagine that you were to take an individual with a reasonable intellect and no prior knowledge of Church doctrine, and give them the Bible to read for the first time. After reading it you ask the person what the main themes and concepts are, particularly with respect to the nature of Jesus. I would be surprised if more than 1 or 2 people in every million tested would derive the trinity concept from the text. . So to me, the most confusing thing is not the concept of the trinity itself, but rather why the early church leaders came up with and adopted it in the first place. What did they think would be gained by promoting it?