B
Bubba_Switzler
Guest
I was thinkiing about the Mystery of the Trinity the other day. For me the Trinity is one of those Catholic dogmas that I have a hard time defending to non-Christians. It is a mystery, after all.
But here is one way to think about it: What would be the alternative?
Begin with the supposition that God sees a need to put in a personal appearance in his Creation. Throughout the Old Testament God appears as himself, to Moses, and in more indirect forms, what we Christians would call the Holy Spirit.
But to become a man and walk among men poses a unique challenge for God. If God were to merely appear to be human he would not really be a man among men. Similarly if God were empemeral like the Holy Spirit.
In particular, God becomes man, as Jesus, at least in part in order to model how men are supposed to behave, to dispel the idea that what God asks is impossible.
But what kind of model would Jesus be if he did not show us how to worship God. So Jesus prayed. To God.
Now, of course, God could become man as Jesus and simply put on a show for men but then God would be presenting a falsehood, a pretense. Pretending to pray to himself.
The only way to accomplish this in truth is for God to be not one but two persons.
I don’t know that this necessarily makes it any easier to understand the Trinity but it does explain why the Trinity is a necessity given God’s plan.
But here is one way to think about it: What would be the alternative?
Begin with the supposition that God sees a need to put in a personal appearance in his Creation. Throughout the Old Testament God appears as himself, to Moses, and in more indirect forms, what we Christians would call the Holy Spirit.
But to become a man and walk among men poses a unique challenge for God. If God were to merely appear to be human he would not really be a man among men. Similarly if God were empemeral like the Holy Spirit.
In particular, God becomes man, as Jesus, at least in part in order to model how men are supposed to behave, to dispel the idea that what God asks is impossible.
But what kind of model would Jesus be if he did not show us how to worship God. So Jesus prayed. To God.
Now, of course, God could become man as Jesus and simply put on a show for men but then God would be presenting a falsehood, a pretense. Pretending to pray to himself.
The only way to accomplish this in truth is for God to be not one but two persons.
I don’t know that this necessarily makes it any easier to understand the Trinity but it does explain why the Trinity is a necessity given God’s plan.