Thoughts On the Doctrine of the Trinity
(On a more serious note, it seems that the concept of the Trinity is the major stumbling block between Christians, Jews and Muslims.)
Here is a thought about the concept of the Trinity. First of all we must dismiss the argument that the idea of the Trinity is absurd or illogical.
Pretend I am holding a dime in my hand. There is just one dime. Yet it also has a "heads" and a "tails" as well. One dime yet two surfaces. How can one dime be two different things? This would easily fit in with the Torah and Prophets who teach that God is present with us by the Holy Spirit. Clearly God cannot be present with us in his fullness lest be be destroyed, yet, by his Spirit, that which is truly God can indeed be "with us."
The coin is both heads and tails. But the coin has one more surface as well: its edge. How can one coin have three parts? Well, it is obvious that it does. If you remove any one of the parts you are left without a coin. The three parts are inseparable from the coin. As long as the coin has existed there have been these three parts. The "heads" is just as much the "coin" as is the "tails" and the "edge." Each part is fully and only composed of the unique essence of the coin.
Yet each of the three parts is unique and distinct from the other two parts.
This is what Christians mean when we say that we believe in One God in Three "Persons," Father, Son & Holy Spirit. The Father is God; the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God. Yet each is distinct in their own right.
The prophets teach us that "God is not a man." This means that God is not to be thought of as we would think of a person. God is somehow more than singleness. Genesis tells us that God created Man in the image of God...not "Man" in the sense of one person, but in the combined sense of "Male and Female God created them."
The word often used for God in Hebrew is "el" which is singular. "One God." But the word is also used in its plural form, "elohim," to describe God. Not that there are more than one God but that the very nature and substance of God is somehow plural.
Islam denies this. Christianity affirms it. We also affirm that the eternal person of God that we call "the Son" entered this world in human flesh ("incarnate") and, in his human form, suffered and died for our sins and rose again to life to demonstrate God's power over sin and death, assuring us those who believe that we, too, shall experience resurrection and the gift (not earned, but given) of eternal life.
Folks are free to reject the idea that God is a Trinity of Persons but it would be a clear mistake to insist that the concept is illogical or absurd. It is, in fact, more illogical and absurd to require that God's nature be, of necessity, a singularity in some anthropomorphic sense. The very nature of God is shrouded in mystery. We can only glimpse God as God chooses to reveal himself to us. Everything else is guessing.
Aloha
PS I am not debating or trying to prove anything here...just explaining.
Here is a thought about the concept of the Trinity. First of all we must dismiss the argument that the idea of the Trinity is absurd or illogical.
Pretend I am holding a dime in my hand. There is just one dime. Yet it also has a "heads" and a "tails" as well. One dime yet two surfaces. How can one dime be two different things? This would easily fit in with the Torah and Prophets who teach that God is present with us by the Holy Spirit. Clearly God cannot be present with us in his fullness lest be be destroyed, yet, by his Spirit, that which is truly God can indeed be "with us."
The coin is both heads and tails. But the coin has one more surface as well: its edge. How can one coin have three parts? Well, it is obvious that it does. If you remove any one of the parts you are left without a coin. The three parts are inseparable from the coin. As long as the coin has existed there have been these three parts. The "heads" is just as much the "coin" as is the "tails" and the "edge." Each part is fully and only composed of the unique essence of the coin.
Yet each of the three parts is unique and distinct from the other two parts.
This is what Christians mean when we say that we believe in One God in Three "Persons," Father, Son & Holy Spirit. The Father is God; the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God. Yet each is distinct in their own right.
The prophets teach us that "God is not a man." This means that God is not to be thought of as we would think of a person. God is somehow more than singleness. Genesis tells us that God created Man in the image of God...not "Man" in the sense of one person, but in the combined sense of "Male and Female God created them."
The word often used for God in Hebrew is "el" which is singular. "One God." But the word is also used in its plural form, "elohim," to describe God. Not that there are more than one God but that the very nature and substance of God is somehow plural.
Islam denies this. Christianity affirms it. We also affirm that the eternal person of God that we call "the Son" entered this world in human flesh ("incarnate") and, in his human form, suffered and died for our sins and rose again to life to demonstrate God's power over sin and death, assuring us those who believe that we, too, shall experience resurrection and the gift (not earned, but given) of eternal life.
Folks are free to reject the idea that God is a Trinity of Persons but it would be a clear mistake to insist that the concept is illogical or absurd. It is, in fact, more illogical and absurd to require that God's nature be, of necessity, a singularity in some anthropomorphic sense. The very nature of God is shrouded in mystery. We can only glimpse God as God chooses to reveal himself to us. Everything else is guessing.
Aloha
PS I am not debating or trying to prove anything here...just explaining.
posted by Bird of Paradise at 9:26 PM
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