Yes, I know what you mean.
But really, Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular is not actually illegal here. They have probably read CAF a few times and found the content rather benign. I also think sites in English do get a lot more leeway. I still get [English language Hong Kong] Google!
One can buy Bibles here, and a lot of Christians wear neck crosses to show their Faith
. …
I know the explanation, but I didn’t realize that was Saint Augustine, I thought the analogy was from Aquinas
Well, I am no expert on those two
To think that these forums are a bit of leaven in your part of the world! i suffer from vicious depression, but you`ve made my day.
A number of months ago, a poster put up some of Saint Thomas`s writings on the Trinity. They were awesome…if only i could find them! Contemplating His own Essence… etc.
A good book is Theology and Sanity by Frank Sheed, published by Ignatius Press. It devotes more than 30 pages to the Trinity, and has some great lines: eg:
“God, the infinite fullness of Existence, is wholly Himself in one infinite act of being, utterly fulfilled in infinite knowledge and infinite love, utterly simple, utterly single: yet not solitary. Mankind has always feared the solitary God. In flight from that terrifying idea, the Pagans imagined a multitude of Gods: it was the wrong answer … The Trinity was the right answer. God is one, but it is not the oneness of infinite solitude: it is the oneness of one infinite Godhead triply uttered: a communication of infinite truth and infinite love among three, infinite self-revelation, infinite self-donation, companionship at the level of divinity.” (Page 122)
I see all of these little analogies to be inadequate but necessary, which is in accord with the idea that we cannot really understand so we ask the imagination for help. As an Orthodox Christian I have my own problems with this analogy because it reinforces the concept of double-origin of the Holy Spirit, which is something we are better off staying clear of.
Yep. Each analogy lets us look at the one Truth from a different angle, and pick just a little bit more understanding.
This analogy does seem to have problems, but it fits OK when we look at Man made in God`s image and likeness … marriage and family life. The love between husband and wife is supposed to be a reflection of the inner life of the Trinity: in the case of marriage, the result is children. The love is from both directions. Same with God.
For newcomers only:
To go a step deeper than Father
s explanation, we can say that God the Son is God the Fathers Self-knowlwdge. The Father is spirit, utterly simple, and so, doesnt occupy space. He knows Himself totally. Everything that the Father is is contained in His Self-knowledge. Therefore, His Self-knowledge is literally God, but not a separate God because He relies on the Father for His existence: “…eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God, of one Being with the Father. Through Him all things were made.” (Nicene Creed). “In the beginning was the Word…”: Prelude to Saint John
s Gospel. The word "Word" means a thought or an idea...the Fathers Idea of Himself, the Thought in the “Mind” of the Thinker
The Father can
t exist without His Self-knowledge, so the Two are intimately, perfectly, infinitely, eternally united in that perfect, infinite, eternal Bond of love. An analogy would be: our own thoughts cant exist independently, but we can
t exist without thoughts; wed be either vegies or dead. The Father gives Himself in total Self-giving Love to the Son (generating His Self-knowledge) and the Son gives Himself to the Father in total Self-giving Love. So, the Holy Spirit (the Love) is the fullness of the Godhead.
He can
t exist without Them, and They cant exist without Him.
A woefully inadequite analogy, and in only one direction: we can daydream, and be happy in the company of our own thoughts.
