Shema Israel...The LORD is One

  • Thread starter Thread starter scapularkid8
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
S

scapularkid8

Guest
I’m having trouble sorting this into the mix of the Trinity. I’m confused! How can there be Three Divine Persons, yet One God still? How can God take a human form (Christ)? I thought He was God and could never have the body of a man? And how does it work that nobody in the Old Testament was allowed to see God and live (i.e. Levi’s sons who entered the Tent of Dwelling in Exodus) and Christ is now the Face of God?
 
scapularkid8 said:
I’m having trouble sorting this into the mix of the Trinity. I’m confused! How can there be Three Divine Persons, yet One God still? How can God take a human form (Christ)? I thought He was God and could never have the body of a man? And how does it work that nobody in the Old Testament was allowed to see God and live (i.e. Levi’s sons who entered the Tent of Dwelling in Exodus) and Christ is now the Face of God?
Click to expand...
Well, the best way that was explained to me was to realize that we are made in the image of God. And what are we?

Body
Soul
Spirit.

So it is with God

Body = Jesus
Soul = The Father
Spirit = The Holy Spirit

A good book on the subject, “Theology for Beginners,” by Frank Sheed.

Jim
 
JimR-OCDS said:
Well, the best way that was explained to me was to realize that we are made in the image of God. And what are we?

Body
Soul
Spirit.

So it is with God

Body = Jesus
Soul = The Father
Spirit = The Holy Spirit

A good book on the subject, “Theology for Beginners,” by Frank Sheed.
Jim
Click to expand...
Actually, we’re composed of just body and soul - the spirit being “part of” the soul - not sure if that terminology is accurate. (Similar perhaps to the way we speak of body and blood, but the blood is really part of the body.)

There’s a good section in the Catechism on the soul - CCC 362-368.
Some quotes:

#363 "In Sacred Scripture the term “soul” often refers to human life or the entire human person. But “soul” also refers to the innermost aspect of man, that which is of greatest value in him, that by which he is most especially in God’s image: “soul” signifies the spiritual principle in man.

#367 “Sometimes the soul is distinguished from the spirit: St. Paul for instance prays that God may sanctify his people “wholly,” with “spirit and soul and body” kept sound and blameless at the Lord’s coming. The Church teaches that this distinction does not introduce a duality into the soul. …”

In other words, the spirit is not a separate entity from the soul.

Nita
 
Another way to understand the Trinity is the way St. Patrick taught about it. Look at a 3 leaf clover. Three separate leaves but one clover.

Jim
 
Nita said:
Actually, we’re composed of just body and soul - the spirit being “part of” the soul - not sure if that
Nita
Click to expand...
Until we die, and are resurrected, then we will be three.

Perhaps the reason why Jesus said, if I do no ascend to the Father, the Paraclete can not come.

BTW, this is a bit of my own thinking here, and not necessarily how the Church teaches it.

Jim
 
scapularkid8 said:
And how does it work that nobody in the Old Testament was allowed to see God and live (i.e. Levi’s sons who entered the Tent of Dwelling in Exodus) and Christ is now the Face of God?
Click to expand...
I think of it in this way- no one in the OT could look upon the face of God and live, just as no one was supposed to make a graven image of God- because God as the Incarnation hadn’t come to Earth yet. Before the Incarnation of the Second Person in the Trinity, the only thing to look upon was the Beautific Vision, which, by its very nature, would end the earthly life of a person (how could we return to our mundane, Earthly lives after viewing the Totality of God?)

Now that the Word has been made flesh, we not only are able to look upon Him, but are also free to make artistic representations of Him (though, of course, not as an object of worship, I feel I should add).
 
scapularkid8 said:
I’m having trouble sorting this into the mix of the Trinity. I’m confused! How can there be Three Divine Persons, yet One God still? How can God take a human form (Christ)? I thought He was God and could never have the body of a man? And how does it work that nobody in the Old Testament was allowed to see God and live (i.e. Levi’s sons who entered the Tent of Dwelling in Exodus) and Christ is now the Face of God?
Click to expand...
**How can there be Three Divine Persons, yet One God still? **

The church officially views this as one of the great mysteries of the faith. The difficulty of understanding this has been the very reason for many heretical movements, and yet everytime the church discussed this at council the church has reaffirmed her teaching on the trinity. (Personaly, I don’t think we’re capable of understanding it)

How can God take a human form (Christ)?

First of all. He is God! Secondly, this was prophesized many many times in the OT and so His revealing of himself to us in human form was his way of relating to us on our level…think of whenever you have to talk to a little kid - one of the first things that most of us do is we get down on a knee and lower ourselves to that kid’s level in order to get their full attention.

And how does it work that nobody in the Old Testament was allowed to see God and live (i.e. Levi’s sons who entered the Tent of Dwelling in Exodus) and Christ is now the Face of God?

When Jesus died on the cross the earth quaked and the veil that separated the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. God made a new convenant with man (the New Testament) and we were granted access to God’s most holy places no longer by sacrificing animals, but now from the sacrificial Lamb of God (Christ Himself).

Matthew Chatper 27, verses 50/51:
But Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, and gave up his spirit. And behold, the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom.

God bless you I think it’s great that you’re asking these questions at such a young age. May I suggest that you read Ephesians 3:14-21 - write it out, memorize it, pray on it. Jesus wants to dwell in our hearts by faith, we can have the strength to comprehend, and he is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine 🙂

Kevin
 
scapularkid8 said:
I’m having trouble sorting this into the mix of the Trinity. I’m confused! How can there be Three Divine Persons, yet One God still? How can God take a human form (Christ)? I thought He was God and could never have the body of a man? And how does it work that nobody in the Old Testament was allowed to see God and live (i.e. Levi’s sons who entered the Tent of Dwelling in Exodus) and Christ is now the Face of God?
Click to expand...
I used to be a video games programmer. Quite a lot of video games have “characters” which are controlled by the players. The screen only shows what the characters could see.
However a natural thing to do would be to enter my world and have a character who is me. However since I am also the programmer, I can easily put in lots of back doors to give my character special powers, like a laser weapon that kills anyone else with one zap. What you can’t do is see me the programmer. The computer fundamentally doesn’t have the capacity to contain a physical object like a human being, it can onyl show digitised representations of people.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top