Trinity Speak
I have to admit that when I was a kid, I had a very simplistic view of God and his place in the world. God was up there, and we were down here.
God was God. You didn't question that. It just was.
Jesus, the Holy Spirit, Mary, Jesus' mom, and all the saints were all players in this religious theater played out each Sunday in church, spoken and sung in a lovely language we couldn't understand, Latin.
The ones who had the difficult task of explaining the Trinity were the Nuns. They held us prisoner in Catechism and clicked their clickers, rapped their rulers against the desks and made us recite what we believed.
Sounds brutal, doesn't it? Maybe that's why so many parents today avoid talking about the Trinity at all. It is just too confusing for adults. To really get it, you need to have the imagination and wonder of a child.
In other words, I don't think we needed it drilled into us. We would have gotten it without all that.
Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn, from my mouth has gone forth in righteousness a word that shall not return: “To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.” - Isaiah 45:22-23
So, let's tackle the tough part first. Christians believe in one God.
There, I said it. You may not understand it, but it is true. We are called Christians, as followers of Christ (Messiah), but to be totally truthful, we don't see ourselves as Christians as much as we define ourselves by our denominations, Catholic, Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, etc.
If you ask any Christian or any denomination, "Who was Jesus?" you will probably get similar answers that define him according to our creed. It is an easy answer, but it doesn't help explain how we come to believe that Jesus could be a man and yet the very nature of God.
These days, that type of talk can get us in trouble, so we may choose not to talk about it at all, and that is a shame, because that type of talk has gotten believers in trouble all throughout history.
The belief in one God set people apart, so the belief in one God with three persons would probably have been more acceptable to the Greeks and Philistines than it is to Muslims and Jews.
The irony is many Christians don't see the makeup of God as a problem. God interacts with us in many ways, so what difference does it make if he chooses to be present in three bodies or forms or natures?
Just saying that five hundred years ago would have labeled me a heretic among Christians, so we have come a long way.
What is important, regardless of what we believe about God, or what form we believe he/she takes, is what we do with our faith.
We can believe God comes in different forms, and we can also believe our form is the best, the only one others should accept, the true way, etc. But if we fight each other over that, and fail to live and work in faith to help and love each other, we miss the point big time.
So, in my view, here is the sign that we have lost our way. We are killing each other in God's name. Do I need to explain why that is wrong? If I do, there is no point in trying to explain my faith to you.
Give me back my childhood, then, for that is when it all made sense, Nuns and all.
More to come...