Author Ray Pritchard offers these startling words with regard to the Christian Doctrine of the Trinity:

All Christians believe in the doctrine of the Trinity. If you do not believe this – that is, if you have come to a settled conclusion that the doctrine of the Trinity is not true – you are not a Christian at all. You are in fact a heretic. Those words may sound harsh, but they represent the judgment of the Christian church across the centuries. 

Pritchard wrote these words as a provocative opening to his digital article, God in Three Persons: A Doctrine We Barely Understand.

Pritchard’s words may be a bit shocking. But they are well founded. Affirming the Trinity is one of the non-negotiables of the Christian Faith. Yet, the doctrine of the Trinity is perhaps the most logically confusing among the many complex propositions of historic orthodox Christianity. It is so easy to take a step too far in almost any logical direction and find that we have fallen into a heresy.

I have long been a fan of Hans Fiene’s Lutheran Satire. And I particularly appreciate the humorous way he tackles the issue of the Trinity in this video. Take a moment to watch it.

For those wanting to ponder the definition Patrick finally rattles off in the end (and for which he is affirmed by Donall and Conall):

The Trinity is a mystery that cannot be comprehended by human reason but is understood by faith and is best confessed in the words of the Athanasian Creed which states that we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; neither confounding the Persons: nor dividing the Substance. That we are compelled by the Christian faith to confess that each distinct person is God and Lord and that the deity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is one equal in glory, coequal in majesty.