What is God’s most important commandment? When asked about this, Jesus replied,
“‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’” (Mark 12:29-30, NRSV)
Notice the last two elements with which we are to love God: mind and strength.
When was the last time you really exerted some serious mental effort towards understanding what the truth of the matter is about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? When was the last time you read a challenging, serious book on the subject, or compared scripture with scripture, or really wondered about why this isn’t a teaching of three gods, if indeed it isn’t? When was the last time you listened to someone’s story who converted from Christianity to Islam in part because the Trinity made no sense to him or her? Did you write down their objections, separate the serious from the superficial, and dig into scripture and tradition to find out how they should be answered? Have you looked deeply into past disputes between serious, informed, believing Christians about the meaning, truth, and biblical or creedal bases for belief in a tripersonal God?
If you’re like most Christians, you’ll say “No” to all of the above. The merely cultural Christian, the clueless pew-warmer, of course thinks little about any theological subject. But what is more startling is that serious, educated, thinking Christians often devote little thought to the Trinity. I have known many life-long Christian intellectuals who haven’t. Why?
One reason is fear. There’s an irrational dread that hangs over this topic, which causes people to pass around this little chestnut of “wisdom”:
The Trinity: Try to Understand It and You’ll Lose Your Mind.
Try to Deny It and You’ll LOSE YOUR SOUL!
Basically, you can’t understand it, and if you look into it, you risk coming to think it is false, in which case, you’ll go straight to Hell.
Really? This is a remarkable claim (or is it a threat?), one without parallel. It’s unclear who imagined that our sanity (“Lose Your Mind”) is at stake in this. But as to the threat of Hell, this is famously asserted by the baffling “Athanasian creed,” which starts with such a threat, gives a famously unclear summary of what “the Trinity” is all about, and then reiterates the threat, saying “He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity.” If the Trinity simply can’t be understood, and if disbelieving it results in loss of salvation, then people conclude that we should just unquestioningly believe it… whatever “it” is! It’s not clear, though, that this is real belief: mouthing some trinitarian words and thinking that one believes whatever it is that those words might mean.
Many Christian instinctively reject this. The confusing statements of the “Athanasian” creed just can’t be required for salvation. People are often baptized without any quiz on the contents of that creed. And sometimes children, the mentally handicapped, or the illiterate are saved, and it is not at all clear that they have signed onto the paradoxes of that creed. But many believers turn this insight into an excuse to not think about these matters. “If it’s not necessary for salvation,” they reason, “it’s not important for me to think about.” But this is terrible reasoning. Many, many things are important to think about, for various reasons, which are not required beliefs to be saved.
Simple human laziness too plays a role. And also: poorly done theology, often incorporating or inspired by poorly done philosophy. A good theorist entices the student further into the subject, making the confusing less confusing, and encouraging the enquirer to move farther along. 
The bad theorist piles confusion atop confusion in tottering heaps, and labels the whole monstrosity in learned, abstract jibber-jab, mystifying all who hear, and making them think that he, the bad theorist, is uttering profundities for which human language is inadequate. His very unclarity, in which he ostentatiously and shamelessly revels, is taken as a sign that he’s dealing in profound mysteries, and the student goes away discouraged, convinced that the subject lies forever shrouded in fog and darkness. Many theologians are bad theorists. It is an interesting question why, but here I merely observe a painful fact that is witnessed by dozens of books on my office shelves. If you’ve read some of these books, this may be why you have little to no interest in thinking hard about the Trinity. Is the subject impenetrable? Maybe. But maybe you’ve mostly heard from people who have no interest in penetrating it, as their image is better burnished by their repeating, riffing on, and reveling in confusions. Flee any theologian who is more interested in endlessly posing as the most humble, reverent, learned dealer in divine mysteries, than he is in helping you to clearly understand this subject. An infallible sign of such a bad theorist is gassing endlessly about how unique and important and wonderful and earth-changing this doctrine of the Trinity is, without clearly telling you just what that doctrine is and isn’t, and without giving you solid reasons for thinking it is true.
In my experience, most Christians are confused about this subject, and are stuck with unclear ideas and with jumping back and forth to different and incompatible ways of thinking about the Trinity. But we need to be reminded that God has self-revealed, that in the lives of Christians, singly and in groups, in dreams and visions, prophecies and inspired writings, he has instructed us on how to think about him. And he is not a mumbling trickster or a heartless inquisitor, eager to leave you baffled or to catch you out in a mistaken judgment. Nor is a he a bully who demands that you say you believe things which you in fact don’t believe. If you are a follower of Christ, “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people” (1 Peter 2:9, NRSV), and you are destined to rule the earth under Christ. (Revelation 2:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:2-3) Jesus has hidden none of the riches of his wisdom from you; “I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.” (John 15:15) Do you think Jesus is confused about the Trinity? If he’s not, and he’s left all his wisdom to his followers, why should we be mired in permanent confusion about the Trinity?
So, maybe the subject is impenetrable, but maybe God allows us to construct traditions which needlessly confuse and obscure, even while sufficient truth is available. As the wise king Solomon said,
It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.” (Pr. 25:2, NRSV)
You, Christian, are a brother or sister, and even a friend, of “the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.” (Hebrews 2:11; John 15:15; Revelation 1:5) It is not for you to be afraid of thinking hard about the God who is love, and who delights in self-revealing to those who seek him. It is for you to spend your mental strength gladly and expectantly. Leave behind the chickens on the shore and jump in with both feet.
I started listening to Michael Heisers’s podcast the “naked bible,” it’s quite good, I recommend it. I came across and episode dealing with acts 2:42-47,
The Father is “Energy” The Son is “Conscience”, The Holy Spirit is “Free Will”.
The opposite of absolute nothing (-) is absolute everything (+) that is good; and, absolute everything is “nature itself” as creation, whose subatomic (atom) composition is “energy, conscience, and free will (EC&FW)”. Our composition as energy (with innocence following reincarnation) begins with a commensurate earned healthy supply of energy, conscience, and free will as we are natures energy offspring; otherwise, when we lose conscience, we lose a commensurate amount of free will; without conscience we have no free will and we render ourselves as waste energy through our actions & inactions in the face of nature; one day, to be led by the hidden one as the deceiver, when natures own compatible offspring will inherit creation as a playground.
As good whole immortal energy, our father is nature, our mother is earth, and our human parents are simply surrogate parents. The sign of the cross (in the name of the father, the son, and holy spirit) was a way for our simple minds to accept the blessed trinity and to begin to understand that “we are energy, conscience, and free will”. In modern times the powerful symbol of faith set that we would later understand conscious, sentient, omnipotent, nature as all creation and our one and only true GOD. Jc told us he is the son of GOD (nature), and that we are all GODs children when we are good and whole by our own trinity nature (trinity: EC&FW) that is a mere fragment of nature itself as creation.
Evil, is anything and everything not born of “the love of nature” and consistent with it’s trinity qualities; evil is “physically and as energy detri”mental” towards the benefits of any and all nature (creation; including ourselves) that exists as one true “Good GOD,” through a “collective conscience” that is the foundation of all advanced intelligent life forms as positive good energy.
Atom’s to the naked eye are invisible “electric-like energy” cells with no physical walls”, there are ten kinds of atoms, and all ten are natures “very own building blocks” that manifest all physical creation throughout all the universes and galaxies. Our physical bodies are an organized collection of natures “living electric-like energy atoms” that can even house energy such as us. To be pure in nature, with nature, we must be selfless love; caring, sharing, giving, and taking respectfully; without expectations, and always without excess. When we as each our own energy, achieve a “conscious collective conscience” by nature, those of us with ample earned and saved conscience will be able to consciously ascend, and as a society of individuals (bearing natures perfect trinity of qualities) we will ascend together as a unique species of conscious energy’ that will inherit all creation as our playground. Nature exists to experience through us it’s energy, conscience and free will. Without conscience we lose proportionate free will to become natures rejects as (without brain) mindless rejects (sheeple) to be led away from natures life in shame.
Conscience, promotes intelligent energy
Brain, promotes indefinite reincarnations
We are energy, conscience, and free will
Energy without conscience voids free will
Don’t be a real freak to nature,
cherish conscience; honor free will
walter
Great article Dale. I really enjoyed reading this. Great choice of Scriptures too.
Here’s an interesting link on: “The Heresy of Clarity” concerning the Tri{3}nity doctrine. Having “Clarity”, or understanding, about the inter-relations concerning the Father, the Son and the holy spirit is considered a: “Heresy,”? What does that tell ya?
See here:
https://bennasmith.wordpress.com/2013/11/03/the-heresy-of-clarity-and-my-tentative-views-on-the-trinity/#_ftn1
And here:
https://bennasmith.wordpress.com/2013/11/05/the-heresy-of-clarity-is-god-the-trinity-or-is-god-the-father/
Glad you found my blog. To be “clear”, I think clarity is a good thing worth pursuing.
Why isn’t it rational, Dale, for most people to treat the Trinity the way they treat quantum mechanics? They trust the experts. Even the average academic knows that he/she doesn’t have the background to understand the details. The experts say that light is both a particle and a wave (or something close to that). Fine. The experts say that there are three persons in a monotheistic trinity. Fine. We all to do that to some degree or other.
Jeff – you are proving Dale’s point. Understanding quantum mechanics is not beyond the grasp of the average person (sure, a little math is needed). Like the trinity, there is the popular meme that QM is “a mystery” promoted by the academics. If someone wants to remain ignorant about the trinity or QM, fine. But, if you want to put in the effort, understanding is possible.
I don’t think we’re talking about quite the same thing, Tim. When I say ‘QM’, I don’t just mean learning to solve Schrodinger’s equation for textbook systems. I’m talking about understanding the quantum world, including nonlocality, entanglement, irreducible randomness, the measurement problem, and the rest. As Feynman said, “If you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don’t understand quantum mechanics.” That said, I think the analogy stands.
Quantum Mechanics has a Mathematical Foundation over which conceptual “understanding” is very difficult, so trusting the mathematics (or those that know the mathematics) dispite not having a conceptual understanding is fine and rational.
The problem With the Trinity is what are the Foundations for the theory of the Trinity? Is it scripture? Is it tradition? Is it theological reasoning from scripture and tradition?
Lets say it’s scripture, well, for those of us who know scripture we can examine it (just as a Mathematician or a phycisit could examine the mathematics underlying Quantum Mechanics), if it’s tradition we can examine the history of the tradition, or if it’s theological reasoning from a Source we can do that as well.
If you don’t have the time or Resources to examine these questions, then perhaps it is reasonable to just trust the “experts,” but if this is really important, you can examine it yourself, and frankly under examination, and without creedal presuppositions and constraints, the Trinity falls apart, under almost all measures.
I think that it can be rational, depending on the state of your evidence, at least, at the beginning, to trust what one takes to be expert opinion about the Trinity. But I have several concerns here, and there are not always parallels in the scientific cases. One is that wishing or intending to believe something (i.e. whatever those experts believe) is not the same as believing. https://trinities.org/blog/dealing-with-apparent-contradictions-part-6-restraint-implicit-belief-and-stalin/ But it has always been claimed by catholic tradition that the Trinity must be believed.
Another is that I think the ordinary believer has access to simple information which contradicts Trinity theories, and for which she has more evidence than the weakest link in an argument for a certain take on the Trinity. https://trinities.org/blog/how-trinity-theories-conflict-with-the-new-testament/
Another factor is disagreement of experts.
Not that I take this post to rule out any mysterian approach to the Trinity. I take it to be compatible with that. It is a kind of clarity, if we come up with principled reasons for thinking we’re only going to get so far. But I do in the end think these are defensive measures which will not give our minds a place to rest.
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