A mystery wrapped in an enigma
I believe in the Trinity. I know that is an unusual declaration these days. I am convinced the doctrine of the Trinity is consistent with what we know about God and what we know about the world. That's right the world.
One of the frequent arguments I hear against the doctrine is that "it does not make sense." This is a quick response that the purveyor does not really think through. What does it mean to say something" does not make sense?" The word "sense has to do with our physical ability to perceive reality to the five senses." A person who says that the Trinity does not make sense may be saying God is imperceptible to their five senses. But is reality limited to the perceptual or even the verifiable?
Another way something may not make sense is that it is a nonsequitor; in other words, the sequence of the logic falls apart. If one argues, for example that there is a problem with obesity in American, and that a large number of obese people eat a Mc Donald's. It would be a nonsequitor to conclude that eating at Mc Donald's causes obesity. It is a logical jump, one conclusion does not follow another. There are pieces of logic missing.
Another argument against the doctrine says it is "contradictory, " what all of these arguments do is discount the reality of mystery. To put it philosophically "A" cannot be "not A." at the same time. However the formula26 +31+ x= 127 can be true, whether we know the value of x or not. While the Bible clearly speaks of a divine plurality, it declares tha God is one in his essence. Before anyone says that is unscientific try reading 13 THINGS THAT DON'T MAKE SENSE:THE MOST BAFFLING SCIENTIFIC MYSTERIES OF OUR TIME, Michael Brooks, Doubleday, NY 2008. He describes 13 phenomena which must be true in the universe as we know it, but are unexplainable as we currently understand it. They are in his own words "mystery." They do not contradict the truth, they are just anomalies we are unable to fully understand. In fact, mystery is at the heart of modern science. It is what we do not know that drives us to discovery. John Webb is an astrophysicist at the University of New South Wales who has upset some of his colleagues with the suggestion that some of the laws of physics may actually change over long periods of time. It is a controversial theory indeed, he says:
"When we refer to the laws of nature what we are really talking about is a particular set of ideas that are striking in their simplicity that appear to be universal and have been verified by experiment. It is thus human beings who declare that a scientific theory is a law of nature, and human beings are quite often wrong."
The universe as we know it cannot exist without mystery, so why are we surprised when theologians affirm God's mystery.
Then there are those who assuming one the arguments above to discredit the trinity and recognizing that the Trinitarian formula came about primarily because of the way the New Testament expands on our understanding of God beyond the Old. Believing early Christians, to explain away contradictions, got together and formulated a doctrine to support what the church had been teaching. Quite the contrary was true. Councils were seldom called to justify a position, rather in a period of time with virtually no mass media. To discover and compare opinions scholars got together in councils. The councils where the Trinitarian doctrines were formulated, merely stated understanding that scholars had held mutually for several centuries, because they reflected what the scripture taught about God:
Scripture teaches that God is one:
"Hear Oh' Israel, The Lord Our God, the Lord is One (Deuteronomy 6:4).
Yet God is often spoken of in Plurality
"Then the Lord God [singularity] said "Let Us make man in Our image [speaking to a plural deity]. (Of course it must be understood that the plurality is not in itself a strong argument, as the Hebrew language has a plural noun form for majesty. That is a majestic or powerful being will often be referred to in plurality out of respect and to show its grandeur.)
God is referred to as the father (Ps 68:4 &5); he is referred to as Son (Psalm 10:12), the Ancient of Days (Daniel 7:9, 13, 22), the Angel of the Lord (Judges 6 and 13); and as the Spirit (Genesis 1:2). For those who think the Trinity is an invention of the New Testament. There is one reference in the Old Testament where the 3-Divine Characters appear in apposition, Isaiah 48:16 & 17. This is the clearest reference to a Trinitarian formula in the Old Testament. Notice this passage refers to the Sovereign Lord, then puts the titles "The Spirit... The Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel, The Lord your God in apposition, as if defining the one by the Three. This does not by any means settle the case. It does mean that the Trinitarian formula is consistent with what the Old Testament teaches about God.
From the Old Testament we discover that the doctrine of the Trinity. It was not an invention of those trying to harmonize the teaching of the New Testament with the Old. Rather is was an attempt to explain the Divine Enigma in a way that was consistent with both texts.
So I believe in the Trinity: A God who created me, A Son who redeemed me, and a Spirit who empowers me
Jn 7:37-39
On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
NIV
The doctrine of the Trinity makes my understanding of God relational. Because there is a Father, Son and Spirit; he becomes not just an ethereal idea. He is a person, living with me, directing me loving me.
One of the frequent arguments I hear against the doctrine is that "it does not make sense." This is a quick response that the purveyor does not really think through. What does it mean to say something" does not make sense?" The word "sense has to do with our physical ability to perceive reality to the five senses." A person who says that the Trinity does not make sense may be saying God is imperceptible to their five senses. But is reality limited to the perceptual or even the verifiable?
Another way something may not make sense is that it is a nonsequitor; in other words, the sequence of the logic falls apart. If one argues, for example that there is a problem with obesity in American, and that a large number of obese people eat a Mc Donald's. It would be a nonsequitor to conclude that eating at Mc Donald's causes obesity. It is a logical jump, one conclusion does not follow another. There are pieces of logic missing.
Another argument against the doctrine says it is "contradictory, " what all of these arguments do is discount the reality of mystery. To put it philosophically "A" cannot be "not A." at the same time. However the formula26 +31+ x= 127 can be true, whether we know the value of x or not. While the Bible clearly speaks of a divine plurality, it declares tha God is one in his essence. Before anyone says that is unscientific try reading 13 THINGS THAT DON'T MAKE SENSE:THE MOST BAFFLING SCIENTIFIC MYSTERIES OF OUR TIME, Michael Brooks, Doubleday, NY 2008. He describes 13 phenomena which must be true in the universe as we know it, but are unexplainable as we currently understand it. They are in his own words "mystery." They do not contradict the truth, they are just anomalies we are unable to fully understand. In fact, mystery is at the heart of modern science. It is what we do not know that drives us to discovery. John Webb is an astrophysicist at the University of New South Wales who has upset some of his colleagues with the suggestion that some of the laws of physics may actually change over long periods of time. It is a controversial theory indeed, he says:
"When we refer to the laws of nature what we are really talking about is a particular set of ideas that are striking in their simplicity that appear to be universal and have been verified by experiment. It is thus human beings who declare that a scientific theory is a law of nature, and human beings are quite often wrong."
The universe as we know it cannot exist without mystery, so why are we surprised when theologians affirm God's mystery.
Then there are those who assuming one the arguments above to discredit the trinity and recognizing that the Trinitarian formula came about primarily because of the way the New Testament expands on our understanding of God beyond the Old. Believing early Christians, to explain away contradictions, got together and formulated a doctrine to support what the church had been teaching. Quite the contrary was true. Councils were seldom called to justify a position, rather in a period of time with virtually no mass media. To discover and compare opinions scholars got together in councils. The councils where the Trinitarian doctrines were formulated, merely stated understanding that scholars had held mutually for several centuries, because they reflected what the scripture taught about God:
Scripture teaches that God is one:
"Hear Oh' Israel, The Lord Our God, the Lord is One (Deuteronomy 6:4).
Yet God is often spoken of in Plurality
"Then the Lord God [singularity] said "Let Us make man in Our image [speaking to a plural deity]. (Of course it must be understood that the plurality is not in itself a strong argument, as the Hebrew language has a plural noun form for majesty. That is a majestic or powerful being will often be referred to in plurality out of respect and to show its grandeur.)
God is referred to as the father (Ps 68:4 &5); he is referred to as Son (Psalm 10:12), the Ancient of Days (Daniel 7:9, 13, 22), the Angel of the Lord (Judges 6 and 13); and as the Spirit (Genesis 1:2). For those who think the Trinity is an invention of the New Testament. There is one reference in the Old Testament where the 3-Divine Characters appear in apposition, Isaiah 48:16 & 17. This is the clearest reference to a Trinitarian formula in the Old Testament. Notice this passage refers to the Sovereign Lord, then puts the titles "The Spirit... The Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel, The Lord your God in apposition, as if defining the one by the Three. This does not by any means settle the case. It does mean that the Trinitarian formula is consistent with what the Old Testament teaches about God.
From the Old Testament we discover that the doctrine of the Trinity. It was not an invention of those trying to harmonize the teaching of the New Testament with the Old. Rather is was an attempt to explain the Divine Enigma in a way that was consistent with both texts.
So I believe in the Trinity: A God who created me, A Son who redeemed me, and a Spirit who empowers me
Jn 7:37-39
On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
NIV
The doctrine of the Trinity makes my understanding of God relational. Because there is a Father, Son and Spirit; he becomes not just an ethereal idea. He is a person, living with me, directing me loving me.
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