Trinity
A little word, not found in the Bible, yet capable of causing consternation in both the Christian and the secular world.
In ancient times, God was usually seen in plural - many gods to explain many unexplainable things. The Sun God, the Moon God, the Rain God, the Warrior God, etc. were all part of the panoply of divinity.
Along comes Abraham and Moses and those pesky Jews declaring that all the other gods were nothing at best and demons at worst and there was only One God and YHWH was His name. A concept which caught on, so to speak, and as late as the 20th century AD was the dominant view of the Godhead. Then, as if to add insult to injury, the Christians began to say, "Wait a minute! There is One God, but we know Him and experience Him in three "persons" - Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit. And since each concept needs a name, we will call it the Trinity. And thus was born one of the simplest and most complex of all terms to describe God.
What exactly are "persons" of the Trinity? Are there now three Gods? Is there one God with three faces? Are Christians tri-theists or mono-theists? And these are the easy questions!
For close to almost 20 centuries the church has sought to explain the unexplainable. It all began with an attempt to declare that Jesus Christ was both God and man. Jesus was definitely a human male but He claimed to be the same as God the Father. And then Jesus said He (and the Father) would send the Holy Spirit to the believers - the same Spirit of God hovering over the chaos of creation (Genesis 1). Jesus = Father and Jesus not = Father, became Jesus = Father = Spirit and Jesus not= Father not= Spirit. Or simply put, 1+1+1=1.
No, I have no better explanation for the Trinity than millenia of scholars, theologians, teachers, and philosophers have been unable to adequately describe. However, I do have two things to offer.
1. If you haven't tried the grilled salmon, don't tell me it tastes terrible.
I know there is a Holy Spirit and a person called Jesus Christ and a God who can be called Father because (1) the Bible tells me it is true, and millions before me have thought about it, accepted it, believed, it and died for it, and (2) because my experience has been the same.
God may be a philosophical concept to many, but to me He is a reality, as real as you sitting next to me. The whole created universe shouts for a creator. And Jesus is really who He says He was because not only did He die, but He also rose from the dead, and was witnessed by dozens of people willing to die for the truth of their experience. And the Holy Spirit, whom I came to know because of my experience with the Father and Jesus, is the "glue" (thank you Augustine of Hippo) which unites me to the Father and the Son and speaks to my heart and mind.
2. Who do we humans think we are? What arrogance to assume that we can grasp that which is infinite. Einstein and Hawking notwithstanding, the universe is so vast and complex that to think that one species on one small isolated planet at the edge of one less than spectacular galaxy can comprehend what it is all about is ludicrous. We may be so much more sophisticated that people of the 17th century, but how will people of the 24rd century look at us? Will they see that the 21st century was the time when we came to the end of our knowledge - that we finally came to know all there is to know? Or will they look at us and smile with the same condescension with which we look at those 300 years behinds us?
I propose that we all stop and listen to ourselves. Are we really that much more knowledgeable than our ancestors? Do we really believe we know that much more? Is it not true that we continue to learn more each day about the world on which we live and the space around us?
Maybe we can say the same about God. That as we continue to seek and try to understand, we can learn more that those who have gone before us. Or at least we can see the reality of God more clearly that before.
In any case, while the Trinity is an obscure concept to the non-believing person, to those of us who have experienced this 3 fold nature of God, it makes perfect sense.
Try the grilled salmon. I think you'll like it.
Charlie
A little word, not found in the Bible, yet capable of causing consternation in both the Christian and the secular world.
In ancient times, God was usually seen in plural - many gods to explain many unexplainable things. The Sun God, the Moon God, the Rain God, the Warrior God, etc. were all part of the panoply of divinity.
Along comes Abraham and Moses and those pesky Jews declaring that all the other gods were nothing at best and demons at worst and there was only One God and YHWH was His name. A concept which caught on, so to speak, and as late as the 20th century AD was the dominant view of the Godhead. Then, as if to add insult to injury, the Christians began to say, "Wait a minute! There is One God, but we know Him and experience Him in three "persons" - Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit. And since each concept needs a name, we will call it the Trinity. And thus was born one of the simplest and most complex of all terms to describe God.
What exactly are "persons" of the Trinity? Are there now three Gods? Is there one God with three faces? Are Christians tri-theists or mono-theists? And these are the easy questions!
For close to almost 20 centuries the church has sought to explain the unexplainable. It all began with an attempt to declare that Jesus Christ was both God and man. Jesus was definitely a human male but He claimed to be the same as God the Father. And then Jesus said He (and the Father) would send the Holy Spirit to the believers - the same Spirit of God hovering over the chaos of creation (Genesis 1). Jesus = Father and Jesus not = Father, became Jesus = Father = Spirit and Jesus not= Father not= Spirit. Or simply put, 1+1+1=1.
No, I have no better explanation for the Trinity than millenia of scholars, theologians, teachers, and philosophers have been unable to adequately describe. However, I do have two things to offer.
1. If you haven't tried the grilled salmon, don't tell me it tastes terrible.
I know there is a Holy Spirit and a person called Jesus Christ and a God who can be called Father because (1) the Bible tells me it is true, and millions before me have thought about it, accepted it, believed, it and died for it, and (2) because my experience has been the same.
God may be a philosophical concept to many, but to me He is a reality, as real as you sitting next to me. The whole created universe shouts for a creator. And Jesus is really who He says He was because not only did He die, but He also rose from the dead, and was witnessed by dozens of people willing to die for the truth of their experience. And the Holy Spirit, whom I came to know because of my experience with the Father and Jesus, is the "glue" (thank you Augustine of Hippo) which unites me to the Father and the Son and speaks to my heart and mind.
2. Who do we humans think we are? What arrogance to assume that we can grasp that which is infinite. Einstein and Hawking notwithstanding, the universe is so vast and complex that to think that one species on one small isolated planet at the edge of one less than spectacular galaxy can comprehend what it is all about is ludicrous. We may be so much more sophisticated that people of the 17th century, but how will people of the 24rd century look at us? Will they see that the 21st century was the time when we came to the end of our knowledge - that we finally came to know all there is to know? Or will they look at us and smile with the same condescension with which we look at those 300 years behinds us?
I propose that we all stop and listen to ourselves. Are we really that much more knowledgeable than our ancestors? Do we really believe we know that much more? Is it not true that we continue to learn more each day about the world on which we live and the space around us?
Maybe we can say the same about God. That as we continue to seek and try to understand, we can learn more that those who have gone before us. Or at least we can see the reality of God more clearly that before.
In any case, while the Trinity is an obscure concept to the non-believing person, to those of us who have experienced this 3 fold nature of God, it makes perfect sense.
Try the grilled salmon. I think you'll like it.
Charlie
posted by Charlie | 7:13 AM
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