Holy Trinity and Symbolism!

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I’m looking for something created, either plant,animal,etc. that is a true symbolism of the Holy Trinity. IE, The egg is like a triad,I think, the yoke,whites,shell is three separate parts but make up the egg,however the yoke cannot be the shell. Is there something out there that God created that helps reveal this Union,or does this just give more proof to the Holy Trinity’s Uniqueness?
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                                                    Shalom, 
                                                               Randy
 
There is no symbol or analogy that perfectly represents the Trinity. Various analogies I have come across are:

shamrock - 3 leaves yet 1 leaf
triangle - 3 points yet 1 shape
3 people linking arms in a circle - 3 parts of 1 whole
cherry pie cut into 3 pieces - 3 parts of 1 whole, all of same essence
sun - ball of fire is God, light is Christ, heat is Holy Spirit, but they are all the sun

None of these is a perfect symbol or analogy; there is something inaccurate about each, but each can convey an idea of what the Trinity is.

The Trinity is a mystery, beyond our ability to full understand it. It reminds me of a story I read about Bishop Fulton Sheen. He had given a talk on the Trinity. Afterward, a woman told him that he did such a good job explaining it, she now understood the Trinity perfectly. He replied, “Then I have not explained it well enough.”
 
All these analogies when not done with caution, seem to be rather a bit embarrassing. I mean if we were to explain to some atheists God by comparing Him to a pie or a triangle its bringing the greatness of this mystery down to an almost childish level. However, I admit the theology of the Trinity is very complicated (to me anyway), and hardly understood by most Catholics.

Regardless whether what I said above is right or wrong, I think the analogies break down anyhow because of the fact that each of the divine Persons each possess fully the divine nature, not share it.

For example with the triangle analogy, (there is three lines but still one triangle), but each line or point is not fully a triangle is it.

Someone correct me if Im wrong here at all.
 
The Trinity is a mystery, beyond our ability to full understand it. It reminds me of a story I read about Bishop Fulton Sheen. He had given a talk on the Trinity. Afterward, a woman told him that he did such a good job explaining it, she now understood the Trinity perfectly. He replied, “Then I have not explained it well enough.”
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🙂 Yeah I heard this too, very well said wasnt it.
 
Randy_Fitzpatri said:
I’m looking for something created, either plant,animal,etc. that is a true symbolism of the Holy Trinity. IE, The egg is like a triad,I think, the yoke,whites,shell is three separate parts but make up the egg,however the yoke cannot be the shell. Is there something out there that God created that helps reveal this Union,or does this just give more proof to the Holy Trinity’s Uniqueness?
Code: 
                                                    Shalom, 
                                                               Randy
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I believe that St. Augustine goes into several analogies to the Trinity in his massive work De Trinitate, or, On the Trinity.

-Rob
 
MH84 said:
All these analogies when not done with caution, seem to be rather a bit embarrassing. I mean if we were to explain to some atheists God by comparing Him to a pie or a triangle its bringing the greatness of this mystery down to an almost childish level. However, I admit the theology of the Trinity is very complicated (to me anyway), and hardly understood by most Catholics.

Regardless whether what I said above is right or wrong, I think the analogies break down anyhow because of the fact that each of the divine Persons each possess fully the divine nature, not share it.

For example with the triangle analogy, (there is three lines but still one triangle), but each line or point is not fully a triangle is it.

Someone correct me if Im wrong here at all.
Click to expand...
I agree with you totally, that these analogies are simplistic to the point of confusing the issue. In fact, I brought up the pie analogy during a group discussion for the purpose of illustrating how 3 Persons can be of the same essence. But that just confused them on how 3 separate pieces can be 1 piece. So I then used the analogy of how one person (such as myself) can be at the same time a daughter, a mother, and a sister. That got the group back on track. But really, a good analogy for the Trinity just can’t be found. It might be better not to use an analogy at all.
 
Randy_Fitzpatri said:
I’m looking for something created, either plant,animal,etc. that is a true symbolism of the Holy Trinity. IE, The egg is like a triad,I think, the yoke,whites,shell is three separate parts but make up the egg,however the yoke cannot be the shell. Is there something out there that God created that helps reveal this Union,or does this just give more proof to the Holy Trinity’s Uniqueness?
Code: 
                                                    Shalom, 
                                                               Randy
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***Hi, Randy!

…as it was said before: complex topic… so take this in that vein… H2O! Just as the Trinity so simple yet so complex… water is the only substance that retains its properties as liquid, solid or gas… as far as I know (high school science) except for water everything and anything that is forced to lose its natural state iether acquires or loses some of its subatomic components thusly becoming a new substance.

As water, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit stays true to His Triune essence.

God Bless!

Angel
 
jpjd said:
I agree with you totally, that these analogies are simplistic to the point of confusing the issue. In fact, I brought up the pie analogy during a group discussion for the purpose of illustrating how 3 Persons can be of the same essence. But that just confused them on how 3 separate pieces can be 1 piece. So I then used the analogy of how **one person (such as myself) can be at the same time a daughter, a mother, and a sister. ** That got the group back on track. But really, a good analogy for the Trinity just can’t be found. It might be better not to use an analogy at all.
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Be careful with this analogy as God is three distinct persons and as I recall there once was a heresy that held a similar analogy; one person acting as Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit. Can’t at the moment recall what it was called, but it was condemned. 🙂
 
Randy_Fitzpatri said:
I’m looking for something created, either plant,animal,etc. that is a true symbolism of the Holy Trinity. IE, The egg is like a triad,I think, the yoke,whites,shell is three separate parts but make up the egg,however the yoke cannot be the shell. Is there something out there that God created that helps reveal this Union,or does this just give more proof to the Holy Trinity’s Uniqueness?
Code: 
                                                    Shalom, 
                                                               Randy
Click to expand...
I like the triple point of water

google.com/search?hl=en&q=triple+point+water
 
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