Nature Of A Trinity

There are many who do not understand how a Godhead could exist in three forms which are one.  Is this concept any more difficult than God's omnipresence?  How can one be in all places and respond to all people at any given moment?

          God is represented in three forms, but all are the same person.  In a literal sense, this is impossible in our world, but not in God's.  God is not bound by the constraints of form.  What does a spirit look like?  "God is a spirit."  If there lacks physical form, the laws of nature need not apply.  Plurality and singularity, in God's world, can (apparently) coexist.
          The science of a trinity is nonsensical in this universe, but the concept ought not to be so foreign from our minds so as to elude comprehension, for there are elements of trinities woven into our world.

• Matter exists in three separate forms.  Gasses, solids, and liquids all behave in different manners and are used in different functions.  Water vapor is very dissimilar from ice, but they both consist of dihydrogen monoxide.  Each form of anything that has mass is unique from another, but all have one thing in common: they are all matter.  They are all one.  This, to a world of lower dimension, perhaps could be incomprehensible.
• There is a human trinity as well.  Every human has a physical, mental, and spiritual side (body, mind, spirit).  Though these are all part of the same being, there is a definite distinction made between them.
• Assume that a perfectly healthy man in all three aspects of his being accidentally stabs himself.  His physical being is in pain, but his mental and spiritual health are uninjured.  
• Now assume a perfectly healthy man has suddenly incurred a great debt and is informed that his wife is now pregnant.  While no physical or spiritual harm has come to him, stress will likely ravage his mind.
• Often is there a case of a man who is well in body and intellectually sound, but not well in spirit.  I have known a number of doctorate-holding professors who were healthy and as intelligent as one could hope to be, but very dissatisfied, unfulfilled people.  For all their learning, they have neglected to study into a third of their being, dismissing it under the pretense that if it is scientifically unclassifiable, it is inconsequential.

               I have also heard it stated that the trinity operates much like a human operates - one person officiating different roles.

The man who told me this said, "I am a citizen, a husband, and a teacher."
          Upon this predication, the three roles can be classified:

• Husband: Provides for wife and children in the areas of security, finance, and affection
• Teacher: Instructs students in a manner so as to facilitate learning and abides within the dictates of the principal and curriculum
• Citizen: Obeys laws and pays taxes

The trinity of God can be described in a similar way:

• Father:  Executes judgment, retains ultimate authority
• Peculiar honor: Considered higher than all things including the other two forms of God

• Son:  Mankind's lawyer/mediator, portal to God, witnesses of the Father, God's word, saves, mankind's sacrifice of atonement, extricates from evils
• Peculiar honor: Most recognized and worshiped by mankind because of His incarnation (and the only one given a human name: Jesus, which translates to Joshua)

• Holy Spirit/Ghost:  Endows with spiritual power, witnesses of the Father, comforts, unifies, sanctifies
• Peculiar honor:  Blasphemy of this form of God will not be forgiven (this is not the case with the other forms of God)

 All these roles are contained within the persona of one being who operates in three sub-capacities.  It is impossible to worship one without worshiping all, and it is impossible to exclude or despise one without excluding all.

Whenever one encounters aspects of the nature of God that challenge human comprehension, it should not deter belief, it should reinforce it.  A comprehensible God is to be doubted.

The Genius Of God's Design Of Prophecy (And Nature Of Time Travel)

    It has been before stated that God inhabits all of time simultaneously (everywhen is the false word used to describe this attribute).  Since God inhabits eternity, he sees the all-encompassing view of the entirety of time.  This does not necessitate the doctrine of destiny or predestination, because the fact that God can look at all events of history and the future, does not negate the fact that man has brought his circumstances to be as they are.

    Many people think that if God knows what we each will do, then we must be predestined to do it.  This is a fallacy of reasoning because none of the causation of our actions emanates from the will of God.  All that we will do, whether God has seen it or not, is solely by personal choice.

    But if God can indeed see all that we will do (as he is already there watching it from his time-free, still sea of eternity) then he is capable of prophecy.  Yet, there stands a reason why God cannot prophesy to men what will happen in the future.  God cannot do this because of the nature of time travel.

    The nature of the inconsistency of time travel in this dimension, succinctly put, is that whenever one views his future (where human volition plays a part), it changes.

  To illustrate this, consider the most common intention of time travel: to correct past mistakes.

•  If one were to travel back in time to warn oneself to avoid a situation or person, they would then change their past, rewriting a part of their life.  If they took their own advice, the situation would then cease to exist, thereby removing it from having been done in the history of the Earth.  If it had not been done, then when they reached the point at which they had traveled back in time to erase the event, they would no longer have any cognizance of the event and, thus, would also have erased the going back in time to prevent it.  Therefore the event would have retaken place in the past all over again.  This cycle would be unending, creating a loop of eternity within the realm of time, and since time itself is inextricable from the interrelations of humans, time would cease to progress.

    This is the nature of why time travel cannot work in our reality, why humans cannot know their future, and why, consequently, God cannot prophesy to man.  It would stop time and create a paradox that would tear a hole in the fabric of the universe.

Now we encounter a true paradox:

- God cannot give prophecy to man
                                                                                      BUT 

- God does prophesy to man

How does God circumvent this impossibility?

    The first guess would be that the nature of his prophecies do not concern the will of man but things that are out of man's control, such as grand acts of nature or of God.  But this explication is not the case.


    Rather, the answer lies in this: God obscures prophecy from man's understanding until after its fulfillment.


    This has been the case since the beginning of time.  It is God's insurance that man will not act contrary to what He has decreed must happen.  Since he (by his own law) cannot incur privation of the will of man, he must speak in terms that are only understood in retrospect.

    When the Messiah was prophesied, there were many ideas on what the prophecies meant.  Some believed that the Christ would be known by a grand military uprising, some believed he would be known when Elijah came to Earth again proclaiming his coming, and most had different ideas about where he would come from (Egypt, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Nazareth, Galilee, etc.).  It was only after it was all fulfilled that people put all the pieces of prophecy together perfectly and realized God's intricate design for it.

    The book of Revelation is a book of prophecy.  How dimly do we comprehend its dark sayings?  That which has past we understand.  Of that which has not there is great dispute.  For example, when symbolic nature is understood, it is clear (in retrospect) that some of the beasts of Revelation are rooted in Rome's history.  A dragon is described as having seven heads and ten horns.  Later another leopard-like beast is described as having seven heads and ten horns.  Viewing history, we do know of a society that came from a conglomeration of seven nations with ten positions of power, and that was Rome.  Being mentioned in the Bible, we must focus on the religious aspect of Rome and we find two main forms, just as there were two beasts.  Rome's two historical religions were Roman Paganism and Roman Papalism.

    It is possible that there are some who have perceived the true nature God's prophecies, but if there are, then they must be people to whom God gave this wisdom because they had either no means of altering the prophecy or no motive.

    This design of God, relative to his foretelling the future, is foolproof and a tribute to His master craftsmanship of events.  It is one reason why there can be no searching of His understanding.

The Supremacy Of Silence

Two things express the inexpressible: music and silence.  

Atheistically speaking, silence is the most powerful interrelational tool.  The greatest communicators are they which have learned not what to say, but rather what not to say.  If communication itself is to be made into an art, then it can be stated that the art of communication lies in the placing of silence.

The following are observations on the concept of silence.  Those which are not original are marked as such and highlighted.

• When you have accomplished nothing by speaking, you have erred in doing so
• Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt (Abraham Lincoln)
• Where silence is, there lacks shame
• How contrary is the case where verbosity reigns?
• A fool uttereth all  his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards (Solomon)
• Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding (Solomon)
• A dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a  fool's voice is known by multitude of words (Solomon)

• Activity of the mind increases as activity of the mouth decreases
• When words are no better than silence, it is best to remain silent (Kwai Chang Caine)
• The prudent will not explain a word further than what is asked
• A closed mouth gathers no foot (Anonymous)
• Words are merely the remission of silence
• Because the people of the world in their proper state should be silent

• The dignity of truth is lost with much protesting (Ben Johnson)

• There are two kinds of people.

1. Those who listen
2. Those who simply wait for their turn to speak

• As empty vessels make the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers (Plato)
• If anyone could have said it, it is best left unsaid
• The veracity of a matter does not negate the impropriety of its vocalization
• If no other quote is regarded, this one ought to be well understood and internalized
• In layman's terms: Just because it's true doesn't mean it's okay to say it

• Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak (James)
• The silent man is the one the world is disposed to hear
• Is it not so that when the timid suddenly speak with authority, those nearby are shocked with unmitigated interest in the words of him who was silent? 

• We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak (Epictetus)
• Prolixity is proportionate to age
• Brevity is the soul of wit (William Shakespeare)
• Stress is amassed through noise of the mind and distributed through noise of the mouth
• It is with words as it is with sunbeams - the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn (Robert Southey)
• Prudence is inversely proportionate to the disposition to speak
• When, in the course of human interactions, you don't know what to say, silence is the correct answer

Parallels Between Worlds (Metaphysical Parables)

           There are truly two worlds which coexist: The physical world and the spiritual world.  The physical world is the more natural of which to speak as it is more concrete in perception and definition, but the spiritual world is just as real and prevalent.  The spiritual world involves our emotions, feelings, and attitudes - basically, everything that is a part of us which cannot be perceived by the five senses.

           The spiritual world involves our relationships with other people, whether it be friendly, romantic, or familial, and our relationship to God.  The previous statement should be evident without having been stated, as relationships are not a visible substance, though they are an important factor of this world.

           The purpose of this discourse is to declare and provide examples of the following maxim that God set in motion about this world:

• Everything in the physical world teaches something about the spiritual world

 For example:

1. You can rub dirty off onto clean, but you can't rub clean off onto dirty.  Why is this the case?  In a literal sense, because dirt is a substance, and it is not sound to believe that a non-substance can rub off onto a substance.  Spiritually speaking, though, it shows the propensity of degradation.  There is a greater aptitude to sully one's own life and reputation than to polish it.  It takes work to maintain a spotless lifestyle.  Conversely it takes no work to destroy one's reputation or mar one's image.
2. It is easier to be lower than higher.  This is what gravity teaches us. Two people, equal in strength, are in a room with just a table.  One person is on the table, the other on the ground.  If both are wrestling with the same intensity to bring the other where he is, who will win?  The person on the ground will win because  he has the greater advantage.  He has gravity working with him to bring the other down.  The person on the table has to work twice as hard to bring the lower man higher.  All this is a physical example.  The spiritual reality is the same as it is more difficult to be good than bad.  (All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.)  Standing requires that certain muscles be flexed; all that is necessary to fall is to relax.
3. To appreciate something, you must earn it.  One man climbed a mountain.  Another man took a helicopter to the top.  Which one enjoyed the view?
4. Building up is only possible through breaking down.  The science of weightlifting is that by lifting weights, one tears his or her muscle.  It then begins to heal and build scar tissue around what was torn.  This causes the muscle to be enlarged.  Likewise, one gains the strength of the trial he overcomes.  After a broken heart, one learns how to handle it.  After criticism, one realizes where alterations must be made.  Through pain, one learns emotional fortitude.
5. Water erodes.  If this were to be transliterated to spiritual language, it would sound more like, "time heals all wounds."  It has previously been noted that time is compared to a river in our world.  As rivers erode all natural things endlessly, so time slowly brings an end to everything that is.  Time takes away all people, fades memories, and changes everything, be it feelings, governments, personal status, etc.  Time takes away the good and takes away the bad.  Just as a river deposits all materials someplace, so time also distributes good and distributes bad.

    Certainly there are limitless things and principles in this world, and all of them have, in essence, a double entendre.  These are parables from and about life.  They  are perceived and interpreted by anyone with enough interest and wisdom to see them.

God Of Injustice

           Operating under the assumption that there is a God, we encounter from time to time a question regarding God's providence, namely: why?  This question is continually asked.  In hard times, man questions why God has brought this upon him.  In good times, it is sometimes asked, "Why would a God who is self declared to be of tender mercies permit such chaos and ills as those that unceasingly afflict this world?"

Of the inability of Earth-bound man to comprehend the nature and intricacy of divine motive we have already spoken previously.  Yet, as this is such a common question, it demands further scrutiny.

            Having been personally asked this question, I illustrated the following scenario to help explain this particular aspect of God's design:

    - If you were able to create your own society of smaller humans with all power to control all of its aspects, would you create the attribute of pain in that society?

    - To this the individual answered no.

    - Would you make all things happy and bright with no rain, disease, or displeasure?

    - The individual assented.

    - After this I added my final question:  Would they thank you for it?

    - At this point, the person gave no answer, as it was most assuredly a resounding no.  For how can one show gratitude for something when one is not aware he possesses it?

        If there were no evil in the world, would we even know that we lived in a good world?  We would not.

• Light is a substance and so it has a name.  This is well.  Yet darkness is not a substance and it also has a name.  How is this possible?  Is it not astonishing that we recognize and name something that is physically non-existent!
• Heat is a substance, for it can be measured in a caloric fashion.  Cold cannot be measured because it is not a substance.  How, then, do we know of it?  Like darkness, only because of its opposite can we recognize what cold is.
• If all in the world were blind and were always blind from the beginning of time, would we have a word for sight?  We would certainly have no concept of it, nor ability to imagine what it would be like to see.  We would have no language to describe it.  But the clincher is that neither would we have a word for blindness, living in a state of blindness.  Having no recognition of sight, we could not either recognize what blindness is.

          How many terms might God have for us that equate to our words of blindness or deafness but refer to senses that He alone possesses and we cannot so much as fathom?  Perhaps the closest word along that line that we can conceive is "unholy."

          Upon this premise, I make the statement that if I were to create humanity, I would create sickness, so that by the remission of their pain, they might appreciate my desire for their welfare.  I might give them constant welfare because that is my will for them, but then they would not realize that they had constant welfare.  I would no doubt in their mind sink to the level of a mediocre god, but more relevant than that, they would not know the true nature of my goodness.  Certainly if I were to create my own people, I should expect them to know something about me!

1. If the true nature of my will was peace and goodness, then they would know nothing about me unless they could recognize peace and goodness.
2. For them to recognize these things, they would need to experience their opposite frequently.

This is the case in our cosmic situation.  To the end of our happiness, it was necessary for God to create a source of disturbance of that happiness.  We call him the Devil.  There is a very ironic truth about mankind concerning providence on this subject.

• God and the Devil are infamous enemies from the beginning of the world, more drastically and violently opposed than any tale of any superhero and villain.
• God's desire is for good, edification, and joy.  The Devil's desire is for evil, death, and ruination.
• Somehow, in spite of these known dispositions, every time a catastrophe on any scale occurs, mankind has always laid the blame at God's feet, never the Devil.

       What is the cause of such an egregious error?  Man's excuse is that since God is omnipotent, He could have stopped it and is therefore responsible for its occurrence.  This is a dangerous accusation for several reasons:

1. It never comes full circle to call the Devil on the carpet for his principal role.
2. It assumes that there was no purpose to the disaster beyond what the human mind can perceive.
3. It disregards God's limitations which consist only of one category: that by which He has bound Himself.  One of the ways in which God has bound himself is that he cannot (by His own decree) circumvent the will of man.  So, where the will of man comes into play, God has precluded himself from intervention.
4. It assumes that because God can do all things, He should do all things.  Simple contemplation for even a brief moment can discredit such an assertion, and once we have established that God SHOULD NOT do all things, we are obliged to humbly surrender the idea that we should choose for God what He ought to do.

There is one more aspect of God's graciousness along these lines that has yet to be stated: the fall of man.

             According to the story in Genesis, God actually did create a world with no death and no disease.  Willing to forsake the possibility that man could appreciate even that aspect of His goodness, He allowed man to live in perfect peace with only one way to end it, and that way He clearly marked.  So, in essence, it was truly man that brought evil and pain into the world, by means of the Devil.  God is the last one on whom culpability can be placed.

Taking in all these facts, it is clear that God has not operated according to the dictates of justice.  If God operated under the philosophy that "fair is fair," we would most certainly have been given less privileges, opportunities, and understanding of all that is good.  God has been unjust - in our favor.

Final thoughts:

• God never gives.
• God is the sole proprietor of the universe.  This means everything is eternally His.
• Everything we call our own is on loan from its true owner.  While a gift is made useful, God permits it to remain borrowed, but ultimately, He will reclaim it, though it be our most prized possessions, our family, or even our lives.  God is in the lending business; He never gives.

As a result of this truth, it is evident that any remission of good that we retained was only there in the first place because God allowed it.  Its repossession only took you out of debt.