Christianity is a polytheistic religion.

[techsamatar]

In Nicene Christianity, the distinction among God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit is crucial. Each is considered fully God, with no overlap between them. When Christians pray to one, they're not praying to the others. For example, when God the Son suffered on the cross, it's affirmed that God the Holy Spirit and God the Father did not share in that suffering (Patripassianism).

Despite the terminology adopted at the First Council of Nicea in 325 AD, such as homoousianism, and the three hypostases formula from the First Council of Constantinople in 381 AD, the essence of trinitarian theology is sometimes perceived as a subtle polytheism. Critics argue that trinitarian theology seems to hide the acknowledgment of three distinct Gods beneath layers of semantic intricacies. The claim to monotheism is challenged as merely an assertion without substantial evidence.

The Athanasian Creed underscores the acknowledgment of each person as God and Lord while rejecting the notion of three Gods or Lords. However, critics point to the Shield of the Trinity, a widely used visual representation, as demonstrating three distinct Gods while using the term "God" only once. This, they argue, is a subtle form of polytheism, with the shield's structure implying that each member is distinct, similar to comparing different fruits under the broader category of "fruit."

Furthermore, the comparison with modalistic Christians and genuinely monotheistic Christian sects, like Socinians, reveals contrasting views. Modalists see the Father and the Son as interchangeable manifestations of one God, while Socinians affirm one God and explicitly reject two Gods within the trinity. This diversity within Christian perspectives raises questions about the consistent application of monotheism and leads some critics to label trinitarian Christians as polytheists.

 

[techsamatar]

Apple is not pear, pear is not apple, apple is not banana, etc. Apple is fruit, pear is fruit, banana is fruit. How many fruits are there, one or three?

That's the semantic gymnastics. The doctrine of the trinity affirms God the father, God the son, and God the holy spirit. Each distinctly an fully God, none being the other. It can never amount to anything but polytheism. Is each of the three (3) persons God or not?

The trinity actually comes from pagan/polytheistic religions.

Adoration of the Ram: Five Hymns to Amun-Re from Hibis Temple by David Klotz

So did you establish your throne in Ankhtawy,
As Amun-Re, Ba Lord of the firmament,
These (both) mean: your form in the initial moment,
When you arose as Amun-Re-Ptah.

This is another example of a "three-tier" world or, more appropriately, of a trinity. These three deities appear together at Hibis as recipients of a Maat-Offering scene.

Ancient Egyptian Wisdom Readings by Wim van den Dungen

All gods are three: Amun, Re, Ptah, without equal.
His identity is Hidden as Amun,
he is Re in appearance,
and his body is Ptah.

Monotheism and Polytheism Jan Assmann

We read in an Egyptian text (Papyrus Leiden 1.350), which moreover states that these three gods are just aspects of one god:

All gods are three:
AMUN, RE, and PTAH, whom none equals.
He who hides his name as Amun,
he appears to the face as Re,
his body is PTAH.

We easily discern here the three “dimensions” of polytheistic theology: name, cosmic appearance, and cubic “embodiment” in a statue, dwelling in a temple,ruling a city. These three dimensions, however, are encompassed and transcended by a god who is referred to as only “He.” Amun is just a name screening the true and hidden name of this god, of whom another hymn states:

People fall down immediately for fear
if his name is uttered knowingly or unknowingly.
There is no god able to call him by it

In Egypt, this concept of a Supreme Being comprising in his essence the whole pantheon goes back to the Ramesside period (13th century bce) and seems to be a reaction to Akhenaten’s monotheistic revolution. It stresses the oneness of god while retaining the multiplicity of the divine. In the last instance, all gods are but One, the immanent manifold manifestation and diversification of a hidden and transcendent unity.

 

[Zkr]

Nope. Christians believe Jesus and the Holy Spirit are variations of God. For example Christians believe God put himself into Jesus’s body. The Holy Spirit is a confusing topic.

 

[techsamatar]

Nope. Christians believe Jesus and the Holy Spirit are variations of God. For example Christians believe God put himself into Jesus’s body. The Holy Spirit is a confusing topic.

Their belief in the trinity asserts that each person within it is distinct, not the same as the others, with individual thoughts and personas. This perspective, despite any mental gymnastics employed, is viewed as polytheism. The fact that individual Christians pray to each specific godhead of the trinity, rather than to all three simultaneously, reinforces this perception of polytheism in one form or another.

 

[Zkr]

Their belief in the trinity asserts that each person within it is distinct, not the same as the others, with individual thoughts and personas. This perspective, despite any mental gymnastics employed, is viewed as polytheism. The fact that individual Christians pray to each specific godhead of the trinity, rather than to all three simultaneously, reinforces this perception of polytheism in one form or another.

They are distinct but they all make up one God. It is tough to explain and even they cannot explain this however but they all agree that the Holy Spirit and Jesus are variations of God and that there is only one God.

 

[Internet Nomad]

How could jesus be god if he doesn’t know when the second coming is?

Speaking of His second coming, Jesus said, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Matthew 24:36; cf. Mark 13:32).

An omniscient being should be able to know.

Or do they think he is part god and part man?

You cant be part god or your not god. Well at least the islamic or jewish idea of god.