Re: OK - so I'll have a go at explaining the Trinity
Submitted by Ray on August 03 2000 22:02:02
In reply to OK - so I'll have a go at explaining the Trinity submitted by Forgiven on August 02 2000 18:46:01
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Jake & Forgiven, I'd like to try talking about my understanding of "Trinity." My background is Lutheran and it probably shows most in my lack of attention to sound doctrine and using the "right" words, but here goes ... GOD IS SPIRIT John 4:24a GOD IS LOVE 1 John 4:8b Maybe it helps to make the comparison that trying to understand "God" is about as difficult and subject to confusion as trying to understand "love"! To understand "God," the best way I know is to talk about Jesus, about the one whom Jesus called Father, and about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is known in the love between Father and Son and is active in the world today to: - call us to goodness, beauty, truth and love, - gather us into community, - enlighten us with understanding - and enable us to grow into the good persons we were born to be! As much as Jesus loved and forgave, we can see God in his life. Jesus prayed to the Father. Personally, I have trouble calling God or priest "Father," since I have had a father to whom I prefer to reserve the title. But in Jesus' prayers we get to know a bit of the character of the one he knew as "Father." (Actually, the New Testament Greek word is more like "Daddy.") It was a close intimate relationship, which tells us a bit about God! God as "Creator" is another dimension of the same God! People have told me that experiencing the birth of a baby is about the deepest experience of the complexities of nature! I wouldn't know about that! But I've had my own experiences of those complexities and I'm still learning to understand! I thought I knew about poison ivy, but these past two weeks proved I didn't! I'm very allergic! So what is the Trinity? A way of understanding love and life and the whole world! A way of defining spirit and love! A way for people who have had an experience of great love, joy and peace to talk about it! So Jake, when it comes to anti-christ and upside-down crosses, it seems to me maybe you're engaging in conversation with the wrong people to gain any kind of positive and useful understanding! Find someone who can teach you about love -- that would be someone who makes you feel loving and loveable! Then maybe it'll be easier to understand "Trinity"! Ray |
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