The Trinity: God

One of the greatest disadvantages we put ourselves and others at in the church is the assumption everyone knows the Bible. We assume as Christians people know what we know, or assume they know more than they do. A friend of mine in Bible college had not been a Christian her entire life, in fact she had been a Christian for less than two full years and had never read more than a handful of stories. Our professors would often say (not just one but the lot of them) “well you know how it goes” or “you know the story”.

Not every Christian was born and raised in a Christian home. There are many who did not go to Sunday school or Christian camps. Others forget the stories they have heard. It has become rare in my experience to find a Christian outside of my immediate circle who has even read the Bible through completely. I have friends who are ‘mature’ Christians who have not read the Bible through.

We assume people know because we do, because we have had the privilege to know or have forced ourselves to read. So I want to make sure I include the basics in this blog. While I hope some posts challenge those who already know God and who need another step in faith, I also want my blog to be a place where those who do not know learn.

I never want to assume anyone knows the stories in the Bible, even though sometimes I am guilty of it. As a kid, growing up in the church, reading the Bible every day after supper, always praying before bed, I have been blessed in my education of God’s Word and going to Bible college, I have been able to further my factual basis on my belief.

Now before starting and delving into the Trinity, it is important to say there are things about Christianity that do in fact take faith. It would not be a faith-system if there were not some kind of requirement to believe. However, I do not believe Christianity is blind faith. Blind faith is trusting someone you just met, or trying a new food you assume you will not be allergic to.

I know enough about the Bible, God, and the ‘facts’ to understand on a factual basis that Creation and its Creator is more likely than the idea of evolution. We are going to discuss some of the building blocks to basic ‘faith’ and fact.

The Trinity has always been a very obscure concept for some people. Trying to explain to children is always a fun part! Whereas some religions have multiple Gods, we have a God which to many seems to have multiple personalities. Yet, it is three parts, one God. There are hundreds of different ways to explain on a basic basis. A fidget spinner normally has three branches but it spins to create one. An egg has the shell, the white, and the yolk. An apple has an outer skin, the flesh, and a core.

My favourite explanation of the Trinity is the idea that I can be one person, but have many aspects of me. Yes, I am Ashley. A sister, a daughter, a writer, a friend, an adult, a human, and yet all of these things are me. It does not make me another person, only different aspects of who I am.

It is the same with the Trinity and God, although due to the fact He is bigger than us in the existential sense, He has different manifestations of Himself. A physical – Jesus. A spiritual – the Holy Ghost (Spirit). An in between – God. God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

This has never been something I have struggled with because I do not see a reason to find it strange one large God may divide Himself accordingly. It is simplest to me to understand when you look at the Bible as the whole. God, Creator and in Heaven, was trying to reach His children. At first He walked with them in Spirit, then sin came in and He left the earth because sin could not be in the same place as Him.

So He continued to reach for them, trying to communicate but their communication no longer matched up. The same tactics were no longer working. Prophets were dwindling. People were moving away from God. Then the four hundred year silence began between the last book of the Old Testament and Jesus’ birth.

Jesus is the translator. He came in the flesh, to be in complete union with humans, to speak for God on His behalf. When He died and ascended, God said He would leave His ‘Helper’. The Holy Spirit. A permanent ‘translator’ within ourselves as a direct connection between us and God. As Jesus in the Mediator, the Holy Spirit is the guider.

Now, done with that introduction to this small mini-series. Let’s start into the discussion of God.

 

So the debate begins. Theism vs atheism. Monotheism vs Polytheism.

The beginning of the universe is where it all begins obviously. If you do not know what the Bible says, read Genesis. It literally means origin. Christianity claims and puts forward the concept of a six-day creation. Six twenty-four hour days. I made a blog post about Creation as well.

People will argue this is not possible, but with an Almighty God nothing is impossible.

Atheists claim the universe came from nothing. A sudden compound created a big bang and materialization of all the planets and universe begin. They say nothing came from nothing. My biggest problem with this THEORY being that something needs to exist for existence itself to exist. (Yes this blog post is going to have a lot of sentences like that.)

We take that from deductive reasoning. Goggle the cosmological argument, causation, anything along those lines and you will find this popular idea. (I will note now under proper citation I am taking a lot of this from William Lane Craig and his works, including other websites and literary works.)

“Whatever begins to exist has a cause.

The Universe began to exist.

Therefore, the Universe has a cause.”

or this variation

“Everything which has a beginning has a cause.

The universe has a beginning.

Therefore the universe has a cause.”

Now here comes the question. If everything has a beginning and thus has a cause, what caused God? Where did God come from? Who created God?

The only way to have a Cause is to have an Uncaused Cause cause the Caused.

Still with me?

The basis of the problem of asking where God came from or how He was created is the assumption God had or has a beginning. Now we as humans cannot comprehend the idea of something not having a beginning or cause. We are so tethered to the reality and flesh we are in.

Yet, it is completely logical when you realize our entire knowledgeable basis is put into the frame of ‘time’. A concept created by God for us. God created day and night on the earth. He placed time into existence itself. We are confined by the prospect of time as we have seen but He is not.

God has existed forever and yet how long is forever? We cannot know. See God did not have to exist ‘forever’ if time never existed. I know that totally blows our minds but think about it. We cannot put a time or beginning or creation on God if time does not exist because then there would be no matter of ‘how long’ He existed before us.

We try to put the finite on an infinite God.

God has to be the Uncaused cause. He had no beginning and thus does not require a cause to exist.

There are arguments against it I am sure, and I do honestly suggest you seek answers yourself. Read from all sides the ideas of creation and life itself. It is important to know where you stand.

In my research, I honestly believe as others it would take more faith to be an atheist than a theist. Lee Strobel, author of Case for Christ, has said many times, in podcast, books, tweets, that it would have taken more faith for him to remain an atheist than it would take for him to be a believer.

I do not want to take this down the road of creation or the moral argument or finitude, but I wanted a basis both Biblical and factual for God, because some people do wonder. Kids have asked me who created God at camp.

So why Christianity? Why a singular God?

Well I honestly believe it would take an Almighty God to create this earth. Omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. I do not serve a gathering of little gods who fight and argue and create destruction (Greek mythology, Roman mythology, Norse mythology, everything like that).

Monotheism is the only thing that makes sense to me in researching, and obviously that is something you can do on your own time because this is going to take wayyyyy too long.

So who is God? Why the Trinity? Why the Bible?

Well what I know from the Bible is not entirely physical but is not invisible as it were. The garden mentions His ability to walk. (Exodus 33:18-20) We see Moses ask to ‘see’ God and He is forced to turn away so he does not basically melt. Moses face would glow after spending time with God. From Revelations, we can see He does have a throne which insinuates He has a butt of some kind. (I know, I know, this is supposed to be an academic read but c’mon I work with kids and you’ve got to add some comedic relief so the poor eight years old don’t have brains melting out of their ears.)

We know we were created in the image of God. Meaning not only the physical attributes but our personality traits. Nurturing, strong, just, kind, loving, witty, and guess what? Even funny. I do truly believe God has a sense of humour.

Also while talking about being made in the image of Him, let’s talk about the gender thing, because my kids have asked me about it. If we were all created in the image of God, why are there men and women? Does that mean God is neither or both?

God is not gender-fluid. He is characterized always as a man in the bible, referred to as ish the Hebrew equivalent of man or male. So where do women come from if we are also created in the image of God? It is important to point out that our characteristics all come from Christ, we just put a label on which are considered feminine and masculine. God is said to be like a mother hen with her chicks. Protective. Like women. Strong like a warrior, prevalently male.

It is another one of those ‘God is greater than us’. Just as He is not confined to time, He also created the sexes and really what people are asking when they are asking whether God could be both is whether He has the reproductive organs of a male or female. Do I believe God has a penis? I seriously doubt it considering He would have absolutely no reason to possess one. (I am not someone who gets flustered easily but I’m internally apologizing to God for bringing this one up.)

It’s important to address though. God is He in the Bible. He is Father. Do with that as you may.

We know God is love. He is called so in the Bible multiple times. Slow to anger. Abounding in love and mercy. Just. Jealous. God’s characteristics are endless because He is.

God is called by many names as you would know if you read my blogs or the Bible. Jehovah Jireh, El Roi, Elohim, Jehovah Yahweh, Adonai. None of these names of God refer to different gods, but different parts of Him. Hebrew culture really is very different than us, or used to be. They often had multiple names, like nicknames, but with greater significance. Like Kings and Queens sometimes got. Jeremy the Wise, Elizabeth the Great.

God is the Creator of it all. An all-encompassing force. He created us and the world. Not only that but He created a physical manifestation of Himself (God the Father and Jesus the Son in the flesh) to atone for the sins of His people because the only thing that can make up for blood, is blood.

There’s a bunch more stuff I could say but I think that about covers the bases of who God is.

Now on the idea of the Trinity. I have heard some explain the Trinity as a triangle, one laid down or put into a hierarchy. I am not exactly sure if there is a hierarchy within the Trinity. One more important than the other. I doubt it, I will leave that up to you to decide.

If you have any other questions go ahead, shoot me an email, put a comment down below, or if you think I missed anything on the person of God, I would love to hear it because I’m pulling a blank.

Oh also, part of this is based off the Bible. So where does the Bible get it from? Well that’s an entire different other blog post, buttttt the Bible has undergone extreme fact-checking and it was approved from a council of eye witnesses not to mention oral conveying over the years and while you can argue how word of mouth is barely reliable you also need to understand your opinion comes from living in a world based on technology and gossip and that was not the case when they used cave walls and stone tablets.

If your entire ancestry has to be based off your own records, you will keep pretty straight and detailed records. The Hebrews made no joke about this.

That is where I am going to leave it off today.

God, thank you that despite being the All-Powerful Creator of the universe you search for each of us as if we were the only child in your roster. You love us and fight and encompass all of us like a Father should. Thank you for pursuing me. For loving me. It is incredible to consider that in the grand scheme of things, someone as incredible as you would choose to love me. Even as you see my heart, my thoughts, and everything I possess.

God I pray you would lead your children into knowledge. Not useless knowledge but the kind that serves your kingdom. Help me to grow your kingdom and spread it in your name.

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen.

God bless!

~ Ashley

P.S. William Lane Craig is one of my favourite apologists. One of my favourite sites is Creation Ministries. It is an organization of many different scientists and apologists who are believers. Obviously they are biased, but isn’t all information? If all information is biased, isn’t it better to hear every bias before forming an opinion? Just saying it is worth using the brilliant brain God put into you to research and know more about this world we are on and Him.