God is a Reality
that transcends man's capacity of understanding. Though we can not say what God is, we can most
certainly say what He is not: God is not our peer, yet alone our inferior. We can have no
direct relationship with Almighty God.The dogma of the trinity is set forth in the Nicene Creed and, especially, in the Athanasian Creed. Essentially, the belief is in three persons of one God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.
A "person" is defined as "a human being." Jesus taught that God is a spirit (not a person,) so this belief starts off on a bad footing. Further, simple math demonstrates that 1+1+1=3 (not one) which renders these creeds totally incoherent.
To an outside observer, the trinity doctrine appears to be either dishonest monotheism or penitent polytheism. Augustine wrote the first apology for the trinity - 23 volumes. This work of fifteen years didn't satisfy Hilary, who wrote a further 12 volumes. Though incomprehensible, the trinity doctrine is a perennial selling point for Christianity amongst the credulous, as with Tertullian who wrote: "I believe because it is impossible."
Jesus didn't teach the trinity dogma, nor is the word found in the Bible. Historical research showing the fourth century post-Apostolic origins of the trinity doctrine are vast and well documented, so there is no need to recount them here. The fact remains that hundreds of millions of otherwise intelligent Christians actually subscribe to the belief. And though reality is not discovered by holding popularity contests, the pervasiveness of the belief warrants consideration of the possibility that there is some foundation to the trinity doctrine.
The essential difficulty in making sense of this doctrine is that it's three components remain undefined. It is further complicated by an apparent inability of Christian theologians to articulate the true nature of man himself. Given the importance of this question we must first clarify our terms:
God is a Reality
that transcends man's capacity of understanding. Though we can not say what God is, we can most
certainly say what He is not: God is not our peer, yet alone our inferior. We can have no
direct relationship with Almighty God.
The Son of God
is His annointed One, Christ - Manifested in the personality of Jesus some 2,000 years ago. The
only knowledge we can acquire of God is by observation of the qualities of the Persons of the
Manifestation of God - the most noble of humanity. Our relationship with Christ is historical
and personal.
Christ has ever called
mankind to heights of virtue. Such a calling would be meaningless if there was not, in man, a
capacity for ethical greatness. Justice, knowledge, wisdom, love, grace, bounty, power,
patience, and self-sacrifice are a few of these truly human qualities. Each of these qualities
can be seen to be aspects of one common reality, just as colours are diffusions or spectrums of
pure light. We will call this pure reality the Holy Spirit - goodness itself. Our
relationship with the Holy Spirit is intimate and essential to our true nature.
Man is an animal
possessing supernatural intelligence, and a capacity for heavenly virtue - a capacity that
distinguishes us from the animal and which must be regarded as our true nature. Our rational
soul (our spiritual nature) is created in the image of God. The human spirit is thus a sign of
God and a proof that God desires us to know the Manifestation of His Perfections.
Having clarified our terminologies we can easily produce an analogy to briefly demonstrate the truth of the trinity: God is as the sun, Christ is as a perfect mirror placed in the light of the sun, and the Holy Spirit is like the light of the sun. Man, turning from the shadows to face the mirror, sees in the mirror the image of the sun and receives from it the sun's radiance.
There is no need to elucidate all the implications of this analogy, as any seeker will see it's truth with his own eyes. We will, however, take a quick look at how the holy words of Christ are understandable in light of the analogy:
I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me,which is like saying that the mirror is in the sun's light, and the image of the sun is reflected in the mirror. The sun doesn't actually descend (incarnate) and burn within the mineral elements that comprise the mirror.
whosoever has seen Me has seen the Father,which is like saying that whoever looks at the mirror has seen the sun - it does not indicate that the mirror is the sun.
In this explanation we have resolution to that part of the Nicene Creed asserting that the Holy Spirit emanates from both God and His Christ. This is no different from saying that light emanates from the sun directly, and from the mirror by reflection. In this perspective, the truth that the Holy Spirit is an essential emanation of God is undisturbed - just as radiant light being an essential emanation of the sun is axiomatic.
Given the definitions and analogy noted above, many sayings of Jesus are perfectly
understandable. For example: Jesus said, Whoever blasphemes against
the Father will be forgiven, and whoever blasphemes against the Son will be forgiven, but
whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven either on earth or in
heaven.
(Gospel of Thomas, 44.) Disrespect shown to the Transcendent Being is
forgiven because God is completely unknowable. Blasphemy against God's Manifestation on earth
is forgiven because He, being the most perfect and noble of humanity, is the Gracious, the
Ever-Forgiving. But if man hates goodness itself - something he is not only capable of knowing,
but which is the essential nature of his being - he sins against his own soul. You can throw
rocks at the sun and only look foolish, but if you pound your head with one there is no escape
from the certain harm you will cause yourself.
If one can not accept the above noted definitions of God, His Manifestation, the Holy Spirit, and man, then the analogy used herein to explain the trinity is not useful and you must revert to the discredited orthodox dogma and abandon any attempt to understand it. The thing to note about the trinity doctrine is that the position of man in the equation is always ignored. Also, it is critical to recognize that Pauline theology assumes that man's nature is evil; if there is anything in all the foregoing that will not sit well with the indoctrinated it is the assertion that man has a noble nature. It will therefore be useful to take another more detailed look at our definitions - especially as regards the nature of man.
Man's mind and intellect is the most highly structured force in the known universe. Man has the potential of encompassing within his mind all the forces of nature. Constantly advancing, this intellect has been shown capable of understanding, harnessing, manipulating and reproducing natural forces from subatomic to cosmic levels. Further, man has produced unnatural elements and created energy forms (e.g.: coherent light) that nature will never accidentally mimic. It is for these reasons that we said that "Man is an animal possessing supernatural intelligence."
The second law of thermodynamics shows that chaos is likely and order is improbable. Given a large pile of bricks, man could - in short order - construct a nice cottage. Nature could never accomplish such order. Nature likely will - given a brick cottage - reduce said building to a pile of bricks (chaos) over a period of time. Man (in particular man's rational faculty) is therefore the least likely thing in the universe to have been created by chance.
Professor W.S. Hatcher wrote, in The Science of Religion:
...one well-known feature of the human organism is its
self-awareness. Furthermore, scientific investigation has confirmed what man has always
suspected: he did not create himself... Rather man awoke to his self-awareness and his
subjectivity... Is it more reasonable to assume that a force capable of producing an effect
(man) which is endowed with subjectivity and intelligence has also such characteristics, or is
it more reasonable to assume that this force is deprived of such features? It is clearly more
reasonable to suppose that such a force is at least as subtle as the effect that it has
produced... Moreover, this force has produced other effects that man cannot produce (namely, it
has produced man as well as the universe). Thus we are inevitably led to hypothesize that this
force is, in fact, even more subtle thin man himself... we call this force
God...
This data shows the universe was likely created by a God that transcends man's capacity of understanding. If man could comprehend the nature of God, he would be in a position to harness, manipulate and reproduce his Creator, and the Creator of all. Having seen that we can not understand God, we may nevertheless find something to say of Him. We could look at our weaknesses and assert that: as man was created, God is The Un-Created; as man is mortal, God is The Eternal; as man is many, God is The One. We could also look at our strengths and affirm that: as man is capable of knowledge, God is Omniscient; as man is capable of dominion over nature, God is the Omnipotent Lord of the universe of His creation, etcetera.
When we speak of the virtues of man, we are not referring to every man, or even to
exceptional men. We speak of perfect Man - the archetype of humanity. Nevertheless, every man
has spiritual capacity - a capacity that distinguishes us from the animal and which must be
regarded as our true nature. Our rational soul, our spiritual nature, is created in the image
of God. It is this spirit within us that is capable of recognizing and worshiping God. Jesus
said God is a Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit
and truth.
Our animal bodies were not fashioned in His image; we can not see God
with our eyes, nor can we hear His voice with our ears. Our bodies are not much different than
those of apes and - if our bodies were created in God's image - it could be said that God looks
like an ape. The human spirit is a sign of God and proof that He desires us to know the
Manifestation of His Perfections.
Jesus did not say that man was created evil. Paul (who never met or learned from Jesus) said it. In fact, Jesus said that we are children of God, and called us His brothers. We just have to decide who we are going to believe - Jesus or Paul. Evil, like darkness, does not exist substantially. Just as darkness is simply the absence of light (which has a substantial existence) so is the absence of virtue (where it should be found) called evil. Further, if we are to believe scripture, God created everything, and saw that His creation was good.
Given the reasonableness of the concept of a transcendent and unapproachable God, and that
man's nature is to know and worship Him, we are led to ask the question: "how would God
reveal to us His will and nature?" Given the previous data - that mankind is (potentially)
the crown of creation - it seems obvious that God would select a human being to act as the
Messenger of His Word and Manifestation of His attributes. Peter
taught that He... is called the true
Prophet,
who alone can enlighten the souls of men, so that their eyes may plainly see the way, for
otherwise it is impossible to get knowledge of divine and eternal things, unless one learns of
that true Prophet.
As to the validity of the concept of God's incarnation, we have previously shown that the
sun can "appear" in the mirror without actually descending into it. The Proclamation
of Peter recounts this dialogue: Our Lord
neither asserted that there were gods except the Creator of all, nor did He proclaim Himself to
be God, but He with reason pronounced blessed him [Peter] who called Him the Son of that God
who has arranged the universe. And Simon answered: Does it not seem to you, then, that he who
comes from God is God? And Peter said: Tell us how this is possible, for we cannot affirm this,
as we did not hear it from Him.
This dialogue continues with
...it is the peculiarity of the Father not to have
been begotten, but of the Son to have been begotten; but what is begotten cannot be compared
with that which is unbegotten...' And Simon said: 'Is it not the same on account of its
origin?' And Peter said: 'He who is not the same in all respects as someone, cannot have all
the same appellations applied to him as that person" ... "Learn this also: The bodies
of men have immortal souls, which have been clothed with the breath of God; and having come
forth from God, they are of the same substance, but they are not gods.
The trinity might be summarized thus: God is analogous to the sun, His Manifestation akin to perfect mirror, and His Holy Spirit like the light of the sun reflected in the mirror. The One True God is transcendent and supreme over His creation. In His love for mankind, He periodically chooses from amongst us sanctified Beings to manifest in the world of creation His will and to reflect in the perfect mirrors of Their souls the Holy Spirit which is the essential and defining attribute of the peerless Lord of the universe.
Author - John Roncalio. © 2003, John Roncalio.
The views expressed herein are those of the author who is solely responsible for their
contents.