I called this blog "Trinity Part 1" because I fully expect and intend on revisiting this quite complex subject.
The Holy Trinity is a theology of great significance within the Christian religion. The mystery of the Trinity can be quite difficult to understand and many Christians have a different understanding of the Trinity. This article is a meager attempt at bringing some meaning to my understanding of the Trinity, cultured in and outside of class, and attempting to not be heretical to the Roman Catholic Church nor to Lutherans, Episcopalians, etc…
The Holy Trinity: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is truly one of the great mysteries within the Christian community. The understanding of the relationship between the three persons of the Trinity is confusing to people and has been studied and written about for over 2000 years. My understanding of the Trinity comes from the bottom up, from not knowing the meaning to coming to a fuller, yet forever insufficient understanding, of the Trinity. I say a forever insufficient understanding for the simple reason that I may read, believe and comprehend the tenets of the Trinity, but I, as a human, cannot fully understand this Mystery. This Mystery, as it is understood by the Roman Catholic Church, Lutheran, and many others is such: The Trinity is three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but still one God. As it says in the Nicene Creed, God from God, and the Holy Spirit is begotten from the Father and Son, not created, but begotten. Yet, these three natures are one. Are they three persons? Yes, and no. Is it three Gods? NO! It is one God, but with three natures all with one will. Confusing? Yes, and I hope I have gotten this part correct!
As I have struggled with my understanding I have tried to look at several issues surrounding the Trinity. God is the first person of the Trinity. There is not much to misunderstand about Him. He is God, from the beginning, now and forever will be. God created everything and continually creates everything according to his will. He is forever unchanging, it is humans who change in order to better understand the incomprehensible being of God. God is the Trinity as much as Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
There are many issues that I can look at in trying to understand the Trinity. For instance, Mary, mother of Jesus or mother of God? Both perhaps, as she was the human mother of Jesus, but since Jesus is part of the Holy Trinity, who is God, then understandably, from simple deduction, the term Mother of God fits her quite easily and nicely.
The Lutheran Augsburg Confession speaks of the Trinity and states in Article I,
"Our Churches, with common consent, do teach that the decree of the Council of Nicaea concerning the Unity of the Divine Essence and concerning the Three Persons, is true and to be believed without any doubting; 2] that is to say, there is one Divine Essence which is called and which is God: eternal, without body, without parts, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness, the Maker and Preserver of all things, visible and invisible; and 3] yet there are three Persons, of the same essence and power, who also are coeternal, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And the term "person" 4] they use as the Fathers have used it, to signify, not a part or quality in another, but that which subsists of itself."
The confession continues in Article III by stating about Jesus Christ,
“Also they teach that the Word, that is, the Son of God, did assume the human nature in 2] the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary, so that there are two natures, the divine and the human, inseparably enjoined in one Person, one Christ, true God and true man, who was born of the Virgin Mary, truly suffered, was crucified, dead, and 3] buried, that He might reconcile the Father unto us, and be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for all actual sins of men.”
As a Lutheran myself, with enormous respect for the Roman Catholic Church, I believe these two sections adequately describe the Holy Trinity, but does not help in the understanding of the Trinity.
Many Christians believe certain tenets of Christianity blindly, without question, but I want to understand why, while also believing. As the Augsburg Confession states the belief, which I recite and believe, I am forced to look further for a better understanding. Saint Augustine wrote an entire book trying to explain the mystery of the Trinity. At the end of his work, The Trinity, Saint Augustine wrote a prayer that stated,
“O Lord our God, we believe in you, Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Truth would not have said, Go and baptize the nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19), unless you were a triad. Nor would you have commanded us to be baptized, Lord God, in the name of any who is not Lord God. Nor would it have been said with divine authority, Hear O Israel, the Lord your God is one God (Dt 6:4), unless while being a triad you were still one Lord God. And if you, God and Father, were yourself also the Son your Word Jesus Christ, were yourself also your gift the Holy Spirit, we would not read in the documents of truth God sent his Son (Gal 4:4), nor would you, only-begotten one, have said of the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name (Jn14:26) and whom I will send you from the Father (Jn 15:26)”
This I thought is a beautiful expression of the Trinity, and Augustine’s own personal struggle to understand the mystery of the Holy Trinity.
The last couple of paragraphs were recitals of Luther’s confession and Saint Augustine’s understanding of the Trinity. This helps in my understanding of the Trinity, but I have not spoken much about scriptural basis for the Trinity. The Bible is riddled with references to the Trinity, but there are two sections I want to take a quick look at.
The first verse is John 3:31-35. It states,
“He who comes from above is above all others; he who is of the earth is earthly himself and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven bears witness to the things he has seen and heard, but his testimony is not accepted by anybody; though anyone who does accept his testimony is attesting that God is true, since he who God has sent speaks God’s own words, for God gives him the Spirit without reserve. The Father loves the Son and has entrusted everything to his hands.”
This scripture, as my meager understanding allows, is a perfect example of the Trinity being spoken of in scripture. This passage has all three persons of the Trinity. It seems quite complex, yet simple.
A second scriptural passage is also from John 4:21-24 Jesus said,
“Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know; for salvation comes from the Jews. But the hour is coming –indeed is already here—when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth: that is the kind of worshipper the Father seeks. God is spirit, and those who worship must worship in spirit and truth.”
Jesus spoke the truth, and is the Word of God. As this is a short article, I cannot go into the Old Testament and quote from it the Trinitarian passages, but there are many which has helped me to understand the Trinity.
I shall try to draw this article to a close, feeling that I have not adequately explained my journey in understanding the Trinity. I will try however to explain it again. The Trinity is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All three natures of the Trinity are working as one God, not three separate persons, but one person with three natures. God is God, Jesus is God with a human nature and the Holy Spirit works through the Father and Son in creation. Jesus has both Divine and human nature as only God can forgive human sins, but it was Jesus’ human nature that died on the cross for humanity as God cannot die as seen in Jesus’ resurrection. There is but one God, forever unchanging, and Jesus’ human body was born of the Virgin Mary, but he is also eternal.
As Saint Augustine did, let me end with my own prayer:
Father, please forgive my ignorance as I attempt to understand all of your mysteries and give me patience with myself as I work towards that understanding. I pray for your eternal guidance, your redemptive Son, and work through the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
What is life about?
Ecclesiasticus 27:30--Resentment and anger, these are foul things to, and a sinner is a master at them both.
Matthew 5:5--Blessed are those who mourn: they shall be comforted.
What is life about? In the past 6 months or so I have had a couple friends and a couple relatives pass away. That was the reason for my earlier blog about Death. But these deaths have also gotten me to think about life. What is it all about?
In the grand scheme of things, our life is very very short. If you are an evolutionist, our life is minuscule compared to the billions of years since the moment of creation. If you are a creationist, our life is still small since the moment of creation. Regardless, our time on this planet is short. And our time on this planet can end at any time.
So, what is life about? Ask anyone and they will have a different answer. Every religion has a different answer, and atheist have their own. This is my answer.
To be a good person. To live my life the best that I can. To grow. Be kind, not angry. To love anyone that comes into my life whether they deserve it or not. To love God. To follow the teachings of Jesus. To try to leave the world a better place as much as I can. Do no harm. Care for animals. Spread my faith. Care for friends. Honor my parents. Be a good brother, uncle, cousin, friend. Hopefully, be a good father one day. Say kind things even if kinds things are not said to me. Do kind things even if kind things are not done to me.
I do not think life is about accumulating wealth. It is not about being the first at everything. It is not who is best or who has the best stuff. It is about being the best person we possibly can.
Why should we be the best person we possibly can when this life is so short? It is not a fear of God. I do not want to do these things out of fear of going to hell, or purgatory. I want to do these things because it honors God. I am not perfect, I am flawed, but I also try to be humble. I do not want to do these things to earn God's Grace, or earn God's love. We already have these things, it is what we do with them is what matters. God loves us unconditionally and all that we do honors God. What if we do something bad? Then you are hurting God, but he still loves us. God never gives up on us, it is us who gives up on God.
That last sentence struck me as I wrote it. With the deaths recently, I never gave up on God. The more I write here the more I think that God knows I am hurting. I miss Cliff, David, Kerry and Gerald. I miss them all terribly. But I do know that all 4 of them are in a better place. Why do I continue to hurt, it is because I miss them. But I must remember that I have a good life. I have people in my life that do care for me, and I have people in my life that I do care about. I have hurt some in the past and recently, but it was not intentional. For that, I am sorry. And for those that have hurt me, I forgive you. I hope those that I have hurt can do the same.
The title of this blog is "Growing in my Christianity" so how does this relate to that title. Many year ago if this same rash of deaths would have occurred, I do not think I could have handled it. With my strengthening belief in God, I know that this is only a part of our life on this planet. We should be the best person we can be, and that is to follow Jesus Christ. If you are not a believer, just read his teachings and you will understand his message is not for just people 2000 years ago, it is a message that will echo forever.
I am not in the Christian camp that says God has a "plan". I do believe that God knows all and sees all. He is outside of our time. He is in the past, present and future, so naturally God knows what is going to happen before it happens. But, it is our choices, through the gift of Free-Will that only humans truly have, what we do. We make our own choices, our own decisions, God just knows about them ahead of time. He nudges us, gives us hints, gave us the Word made Flesh to follow and obey. We are to make the most of this world and be the best person we can possibly be.
James 1:20-God's saving justice is never served by human anger.
Matthew 18:34-35--And in his anger the master handed him over to the torturers till he should pay all his debt. And that is how my heavenly Father will deal with you unless you each forgive your brother from your heart.
Wisdom 15:1--But you, our God, are kind and true, slow to anger, governing the universe with mercy.
Peace
Dirk
Matthew 5:5--Blessed are those who mourn: they shall be comforted.
What is life about? In the past 6 months or so I have had a couple friends and a couple relatives pass away. That was the reason for my earlier blog about Death. But these deaths have also gotten me to think about life. What is it all about?
In the grand scheme of things, our life is very very short. If you are an evolutionist, our life is minuscule compared to the billions of years since the moment of creation. If you are a creationist, our life is still small since the moment of creation. Regardless, our time on this planet is short. And our time on this planet can end at any time.
So, what is life about? Ask anyone and they will have a different answer. Every religion has a different answer, and atheist have their own. This is my answer.
To be a good person. To live my life the best that I can. To grow. Be kind, not angry. To love anyone that comes into my life whether they deserve it or not. To love God. To follow the teachings of Jesus. To try to leave the world a better place as much as I can. Do no harm. Care for animals. Spread my faith. Care for friends. Honor my parents. Be a good brother, uncle, cousin, friend. Hopefully, be a good father one day. Say kind things even if kinds things are not said to me. Do kind things even if kind things are not done to me.
I do not think life is about accumulating wealth. It is not about being the first at everything. It is not who is best or who has the best stuff. It is about being the best person we possibly can.
Why should we be the best person we possibly can when this life is so short? It is not a fear of God. I do not want to do these things out of fear of going to hell, or purgatory. I want to do these things because it honors God. I am not perfect, I am flawed, but I also try to be humble. I do not want to do these things to earn God's Grace, or earn God's love. We already have these things, it is what we do with them is what matters. God loves us unconditionally and all that we do honors God. What if we do something bad? Then you are hurting God, but he still loves us. God never gives up on us, it is us who gives up on God.
That last sentence struck me as I wrote it. With the deaths recently, I never gave up on God. The more I write here the more I think that God knows I am hurting. I miss Cliff, David, Kerry and Gerald. I miss them all terribly. But I do know that all 4 of them are in a better place. Why do I continue to hurt, it is because I miss them. But I must remember that I have a good life. I have people in my life that do care for me, and I have people in my life that I do care about. I have hurt some in the past and recently, but it was not intentional. For that, I am sorry. And for those that have hurt me, I forgive you. I hope those that I have hurt can do the same.
The title of this blog is "Growing in my Christianity" so how does this relate to that title. Many year ago if this same rash of deaths would have occurred, I do not think I could have handled it. With my strengthening belief in God, I know that this is only a part of our life on this planet. We should be the best person we can be, and that is to follow Jesus Christ. If you are not a believer, just read his teachings and you will understand his message is not for just people 2000 years ago, it is a message that will echo forever.
I am not in the Christian camp that says God has a "plan". I do believe that God knows all and sees all. He is outside of our time. He is in the past, present and future, so naturally God knows what is going to happen before it happens. But, it is our choices, through the gift of Free-Will that only humans truly have, what we do. We make our own choices, our own decisions, God just knows about them ahead of time. He nudges us, gives us hints, gave us the Word made Flesh to follow and obey. We are to make the most of this world and be the best person we can possibly be.
James 1:20-God's saving justice is never served by human anger.
Matthew 18:34-35--And in his anger the master handed him over to the torturers till he should pay all his debt. And that is how my heavenly Father will deal with you unless you each forgive your brother from your heart.
Wisdom 15:1--But you, our God, are kind and true, slow to anger, governing the universe with mercy.
Peace
Dirk
Friday, January 15, 2010
Curse?
I have been thinking about the tragedy in Haiti, and the unfortunate remarks by Pat Robertson. For those that do not know, Pat Robertson said the people of Haiti made a pact with the devil and that is why they are suffering. Pat Robertson said the Haitians made that pact to get rid of the French.
Now, I do not know if this is true or not, but his comment is extremely unfortunate. I do not want to call them dumb, stupid, idiotic, etc...I will just say they were unfortunate and extremely un-Christian. There is no way Pat could know if that was the cause of the tragedy. Did God create the earthquake to punish the Haitian people? Possible. Why not? But, it is not for us to declare and especially not for Pat Robertson to declare. I say it is possible because God has been known to destroy cities. Right?
Our job, and Pat's job, is to mourn the losses and help our fellow man in need. We are to do whatever we can to ease the suffering of the living and respect the dead. We are not to lay blame on anyone, that is being judgmental of which we are not to be. I am not judging Pat, I am saying that his comments were unhelpful.
I did state that they were un-Christian because I do feel they were un-Christian. His comment did nothing to help the people, on the contrary it probably kept some people from donating their time or money. We are to help our fellow man, and his comments did far more harm that good because of his vast following.
This is not the only problem I have with his comments. The additional problem I have is with Pat Robertson himself. Yes, he professes he is a Christian, but the more I read about him he is missing one very fundamental aspect. We are to glorify God in all our actions, but Pat seems to want to glorify himself more than he does God. He says and does things to make himself look good. I just get a feeling that he does what he does to increase his wealth and status, but not working solely to glorify God. Yes, I think Joel Osteen falls in this category also. Please, disagree if you wish.
The more I learn the more I feel compelled to be humble. I profess my belief, I cherish my faith, but I do not feel compelled to gather vast wealth to spread my belief. I feel compelled to lead others to a greater understanding, but that is not for myself. It is something I would enjoy, seeing the great changes in a person as their faith blossoms as it has done within me. But that is only for God, not me.
I am sorry if it seems like I am angry at Robertson and Osteen, I am not. I am thankful that they do try to bring people closer to God, I just feel some of their actions have ulterior motives. I am still learning, and probably always will be.
I want to end with a prayer: Father, we pray for the suffering people of Haiti. Please guide them as they work towards rebuilding their lives and comfort the survivors as they mourn their losses. We pray for protection of the Haitians and special protection for all the aid workers now risking their lives to help their fellow man. Amen
Now, I do not know if this is true or not, but his comment is extremely unfortunate. I do not want to call them dumb, stupid, idiotic, etc...I will just say they were unfortunate and extremely un-Christian. There is no way Pat could know if that was the cause of the tragedy. Did God create the earthquake to punish the Haitian people? Possible. Why not? But, it is not for us to declare and especially not for Pat Robertson to declare. I say it is possible because God has been known to destroy cities. Right?
Our job, and Pat's job, is to mourn the losses and help our fellow man in need. We are to do whatever we can to ease the suffering of the living and respect the dead. We are not to lay blame on anyone, that is being judgmental of which we are not to be. I am not judging Pat, I am saying that his comments were unhelpful.
I did state that they were un-Christian because I do feel they were un-Christian. His comment did nothing to help the people, on the contrary it probably kept some people from donating their time or money. We are to help our fellow man, and his comments did far more harm that good because of his vast following.
This is not the only problem I have with his comments. The additional problem I have is with Pat Robertson himself. Yes, he professes he is a Christian, but the more I read about him he is missing one very fundamental aspect. We are to glorify God in all our actions, but Pat seems to want to glorify himself more than he does God. He says and does things to make himself look good. I just get a feeling that he does what he does to increase his wealth and status, but not working solely to glorify God. Yes, I think Joel Osteen falls in this category also. Please, disagree if you wish.
The more I learn the more I feel compelled to be humble. I profess my belief, I cherish my faith, but I do not feel compelled to gather vast wealth to spread my belief. I feel compelled to lead others to a greater understanding, but that is not for myself. It is something I would enjoy, seeing the great changes in a person as their faith blossoms as it has done within me. But that is only for God, not me.
I am sorry if it seems like I am angry at Robertson and Osteen, I am not. I am thankful that they do try to bring people closer to God, I just feel some of their actions have ulterior motives. I am still learning, and probably always will be.
I want to end with a prayer: Father, we pray for the suffering people of Haiti. Please guide them as they work towards rebuilding their lives and comfort the survivors as they mourn their losses. We pray for protection of the Haitians and special protection for all the aid workers now risking their lives to help their fellow man. Amen
Friday, January 1, 2010
Death
Not the most pleasant of subjects to be talking about, but I am forced to think about it quite frequently lately. I wonder what death means, what happens at the instant of death, and what the afterlife is like. It does not matter who you are, you will die. It is the only inescapable thing in this world. We can avoid many things in life, but death is the only constant that every living being must face. How we face death, whether it is our own, or a family member or friend, it defines us and how we are remembered.
What will I do, what will you do, at the moment of death? What is it like? I hope that I face death with dignity and without fear. I believe it was Martin Luther who said that we should not fear death as fear is the devil’s playground. Satan wants us to fear death because death is the avenue for our soul to become closer to and know God in a way we cannot know in the mortal world. That is exactly what Satan does not want us to be. Satan is forever working to keep fear of death within us because he does not want us to know God.
This does not mean we should seek death, such as suicide, or other means, but we should not fear death. If death means being closer to God why not seek death? Well, we are going to die no matter what, so why seek something that we already have. I am just saying we should not fear something that we cannot change. We should embrace this life and live it honoring God with good actions for every good action we do honors God.
What does death mean? That is really a question I think humans have been dealing with since humans existed. Atheists seem to think that we just cease to exist at the moment of death. Of course, as a Christian, I totally disagree with them. Death is the end of this life and the beginning of a new life with God (if he deems it so). Whether we live with God or not, is our choice. John Calvin got it very wrong in my opinion with his pre-destination theory. Calvin does not allow humans to have a choice in salvation as he believes that God has already chosen who will be in heaven. The problem is “chosen”. God knows all, and he is outside our understanding of time. He knows the past, present and future. God knows who will be in heaven, but it is our choices that bring us to God. We choose what we do because God gave us the gift of free-will. We are solely responsible for our actions, and the sacrifice made by Jesus Christ allows us to become closer to God in heaven. Yes, there is God’s “chosen” people, but that is something entirely different.
While God knows our choices before we make them, it is still our choice. To deny this is to deny God’s gift of free will that he did not give anything else in creation.
Then what is heaven? Heaven is God. It is neither a place nor a specific location as we know it. Heaven is a state of our soul being in total communion with God. Hell is the separation from God. I, for one, want to be in communion with God.
Now, if you do not read any other portion of this blog, I hope you read this portion. It is said that God wrote his laws on the human soul. Such as, thou shall not kill, commit adultery, and so on. I propose that there were other things that God wrote onto our souls for understanding. If you look in history, most cultures have some form of afterlife. Whether it is reincarnation, ghost, etc…there is a form of afterlife. Some people may say we want to believe in an afterlife out of selfish reason because we do not want to face an end to existing. I think that God wrote other things onto our souls and a belief in the afterlife is one of them. Am I supported by scripture? I have no idea, but the coincidence of a belief in something after death by so many cultures leads me to think that the afterlife was written onto our soul for us to believe.
Death is only the end of a mortal life, and the beginning of eternal life. Death, as with many other subjects, is an extremely complex philosophical and theological issue. While everyone will face death, it should not be something we dwell upon. Death is not something we should fear, nor seek, but embrace it when our time comes.
Peace
Dirk
What will I do, what will you do, at the moment of death? What is it like? I hope that I face death with dignity and without fear. I believe it was Martin Luther who said that we should not fear death as fear is the devil’s playground. Satan wants us to fear death because death is the avenue for our soul to become closer to and know God in a way we cannot know in the mortal world. That is exactly what Satan does not want us to be. Satan is forever working to keep fear of death within us because he does not want us to know God.
This does not mean we should seek death, such as suicide, or other means, but we should not fear death. If death means being closer to God why not seek death? Well, we are going to die no matter what, so why seek something that we already have. I am just saying we should not fear something that we cannot change. We should embrace this life and live it honoring God with good actions for every good action we do honors God.
What does death mean? That is really a question I think humans have been dealing with since humans existed. Atheists seem to think that we just cease to exist at the moment of death. Of course, as a Christian, I totally disagree with them. Death is the end of this life and the beginning of a new life with God (if he deems it so). Whether we live with God or not, is our choice. John Calvin got it very wrong in my opinion with his pre-destination theory. Calvin does not allow humans to have a choice in salvation as he believes that God has already chosen who will be in heaven. The problem is “chosen”. God knows all, and he is outside our understanding of time. He knows the past, present and future. God knows who will be in heaven, but it is our choices that bring us to God. We choose what we do because God gave us the gift of free-will. We are solely responsible for our actions, and the sacrifice made by Jesus Christ allows us to become closer to God in heaven. Yes, there is God’s “chosen” people, but that is something entirely different.
While God knows our choices before we make them, it is still our choice. To deny this is to deny God’s gift of free will that he did not give anything else in creation.
Then what is heaven? Heaven is God. It is neither a place nor a specific location as we know it. Heaven is a state of our soul being in total communion with God. Hell is the separation from God. I, for one, want to be in communion with God.
Now, if you do not read any other portion of this blog, I hope you read this portion. It is said that God wrote his laws on the human soul. Such as, thou shall not kill, commit adultery, and so on. I propose that there were other things that God wrote onto our souls for understanding. If you look in history, most cultures have some form of afterlife. Whether it is reincarnation, ghost, etc…there is a form of afterlife. Some people may say we want to believe in an afterlife out of selfish reason because we do not want to face an end to existing. I think that God wrote other things onto our souls and a belief in the afterlife is one of them. Am I supported by scripture? I have no idea, but the coincidence of a belief in something after death by so many cultures leads me to think that the afterlife was written onto our soul for us to believe.
Death is only the end of a mortal life, and the beginning of eternal life. Death, as with many other subjects, is an extremely complex philosophical and theological issue. While everyone will face death, it should not be something we dwell upon. Death is not something we should fear, nor seek, but embrace it when our time comes.
Peace
Dirk
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