Some Trinatarians in their attempt to explain the nature of the supposed “Triune God” say that God has one essence, shared by three different persons. In the words of Christian apologist James White “God is one what, but three whos.” The essence being the “what” and the three persons in the godhead being the “whos”.
However, does this make sense in light of what the Bible says? When Christians claim to worship one God, do they really mean to say that they are worshiping a “what”? Surely, that can’t be possible. A “what” is an impersonal being, which cannot answer prayers. Only a “who” could answer prayers.
When we read the Bible and see personal pronouns such as “me” and “I” being ascribed to the one single God (read through the ten commandments as an example) and we see how this one single God also speaks, what is the first thing, which crosses our mind? What crosses our mind is that this one single God is a “who”, since a “what” does not speak and ascribe itself with personal pronouns. This theme is repetitive throughout the Bible and it is only reasonable to assume that this single God is a “who” when we put aside our theological presuppositions.
Given that this single God is a “who”, he then must be a single “who” (because to say that God is a single who, yet three whos at the same time is nothing more than a blatant self-contradiction) and if God is a single “who”, then how could the Trinity possibly fit in anymore?
For further reading…
http://www.21stcr.org/multimedia/artitcles/ab-god_is_a_who_not_a_what.html
Bassam
Categories: Christianity
The Muslim Debate Initiative 
Nice and concise!
Good luck trying to get any intellectual honesty out of Dr White though…
Three whos in one who.
No matter how it is explained—the trinity simply does not make sense. That is why Christians say it is a “mystery” and advocate blind belief.!!
Another question is who/what died on the cross.
If God died–then God is finite not eternal
If man died–then what was the purpose of incarnation as any man would do….
If both man and God died then then again God becomes finite
If neither man nor God died—–then the whole slavation doctrine based on the crucifixion becomes void.
If only man died but God did not—then again the whole purpose of incarnation becomes questionable.
no matter how you look at it—-nothing about Chistianity makes sense.
To Anon:
If God died–then God is finite not eternal…………….why?
If man died–then what was the purpose of incarnation as any man would do….would do for what?
If both man and God died then then again God becomes finite………….why?
If neither man nor God died—–then the whole slavation doctrine based on the crucifixion becomes void…………………….that’s what the Koran says, but we don’t believe that.
If only man died but God did not—then again the whole purpose of incarnation becomes questionable. Perhaps God did die but what do you mean by death? A cessation of existence or a change of state? Or maybe both? Maybe if you define what you understand by death we can debate if God can experience this in some way.
Maybe you should say nothing about Christianity makes sense to your sense.
It makes sense to my sense
Deicide–or “killing God” was a Christian accusation hurled at Jews for a long time.
definitions (as I understand them)
to kill—to deprive of life.
death—cease to exist.
The Atonement—-from “Gospel Mysteries.net”
Most modern Christians believe that Jesus suffered and died in order to pay for everyone’s sins. By sacrificing himself, he brought about the atonement that allowed God to forgive us and offer us salvation.
But many people wonder why God didn’t just forgive everyone outright, without requiring a sacrifice first. There are several possible explanations for why a sacrifice was necessary. Known as Atonement Theories,—-
the ransom theory
the satisfaction theory
the moral examplar theory
the penal substitution theory —-seems to be the most popular one
the governmental theory
the christus victor theory
….etc……
the basic assumption all of these theories are based on is that “Jesus suffered and died”
If Jesus is God–then If God “died”–then God is finite not eternal (as in God/Jesus ceases to exist)
If Jesus is Man–If man died(as sacrifice)–then what was the purpose of incarnation as any man would do for the “sacrifice”.
If Jesus is 100% God and 100% Man and If both man and God died then then again God becomes finite—because God DIES (as in— ceases to exist)
if Jesus is 100% God and 100% Man but neither DIES—then the whole salvation doctrine based on the crucifixion (sacrifice) becomes void—because atonement theory is based on the idea that “Jesus suffered and DIED”.
If Jesus is 100% God and 100% Man and only the “Man” part dies (and the God part only changes state)—then what was the purpose of incarnation as any sacrifice of 100% Man would do for atonement.
Islam—we do not have an atonement theory based on sacrifice (neither do the Jews) and so both Muslims and Jews believe God simply forgives those who a repent and ask for forgiveness—-Because God is Most Compassionate, Most Merciful.
This entire argument fallacious. (Keep in mind I’m no trinitarian so it is not my desire to defend that teaching). Even though I know trinity is error I cannot just ignore the problems of this argument. If God is a “who” and not a “what” then God was mistaken saying “thou shalt have no other Gods before me.” Especially if there is only ONE God “who.” Why would God even say such a thing? People have declared statues and even other men and worshiped them as God. This is ALL the evidence that we need that “GOD” is a position of authority and an “object of worship” and not JUST a “WHO.”
Now there is but one object of worship as God WHO IS God, the others are false, but that does not change the fact that “A GOD” is not a JUST WHO but a also a WHAT!
You are playing semantics here, for certainly since the GOD (position) has been taken and is occupied by ONE SINGLE PERSON, namely YHWH, then there is but one GOD PERSON, yet that does NOT change the fact that GOD is not WHO YHWH is, but WHAT he is.
The title YHWH is “I am THAT I am” not “I am WHO I am.”
The person (SINGULAR) of God is GOD!
Trinity teaches that God is a NATURE. Trinity teaches that there can be multiple WHO’S who have this “GOD NATURE” and they are correct, where it goes wrong is to say that all the “who’s” that possess this nature are ALL “God.” This is not found in scripture.
We are ALL partakers of the “Divine Nature” according to Peter:
2 Peter 1:
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Christ said “be ye therefore perfect even as the Father in heaven is perfect” thus signifying it is possible to have the “Divine Nature” as a human.
Where trinity errs is to say this Divine Nature is God (rather than the person who occupies the POSITION and AUTHORITY AS GOD OF THE UNIVERSE).
Trinity fails because it even says that the Son is NOT the Father and that the Father is GREATER than the Son (in rank and authority). Thus admitting that the Son does not occupy this prestigious position in heaven as “God of the Universe” to whom all Godly Worship must be directed!
Trinitarians teach that God is a WHAT and not a who and that is wrong, but you teach that God is a WHO and NOT a what and that is ALSO wrong.
It’s like trying to say that the President of the United states is a position and not a person.
It is BOTH!