The Holy Trinity Revisited.
Views on the nature of God.
Everybody with the possible exception of agnostics has a notion of God. One can argue that atheists who do not even believe in the existence of gods, cannot have a concept of God. But the belief in the nonexistence of something is a very definite idea. It is a similar concept to that of a void or a vacuum.
Try to imagine God holding the universe, like a faintly glowing marble, in the palm of his hand. At the same time, try to conceive of him as being a part of every atom and every subatomic particle in the cosmos. He is both outside and inside creation. He is unimaginably large and minutely small. This image combines pantheistic and theistic world views as he is described as being apart from the universe, and a part of nature, simultaneously.
Development of the doctrine of the Trinity
It seems that the Israelites were polytheists initially. They worshipped Canaanite gods like Baal, El, and the goddess Asherah, in addition to worshipping Yahweh. Yahweh later became the state god of the Kingdom of Israel. There is archeological evidence to indicate that at some stage Asherah was considered to be the consort of Yahweh.
The Torah was probably written, or final editing only took place, after the people of Judah were exiled to Babylon. By then the Jewish people had become strongly monotheistic.
The authors of the Old Testament documents tried to create the impression that Jews were monotheists from scratch, and to worship foreign gods was considered aberrant behavior rather than the norm. This was not the case at all.
The Romans worshipped a pantheon of gods. Jesus preached in Palestine and people started to follow him during the Greco-Roman period. The world view of the followers of Jesus, who later became the first Christians, was influenced by that of the Roman Empire.
The Romans believed that the god Mars was the father of the founders of Rome, Romulus, and Remus. Some Roman emperors were deified and made gods after they died. Notable examples are Julius Caesar and Caesar Augustus.
As time went by, just like Roman emperors, Jesus was considered to be divine. People started to worship him, said prayers to him, and invited him into their hearts.
Polytheism was resurrected! Instead of Yahweh being the only god, we now had two deities known as God the Father and God the Son.
The Torah taught that Yahweh was the only god worthy of worship and that the faithful were not supposed to worship other gods. Jesus confirmed the authority of the Torah in Matthews 5:17–20, including the commandment to serve only God in Matthew 4:10.
This caused a problem as Christians were worshipping Christ besides Yahweh. The solution to this conundrum was simply to deny that they worshipped more than one god.
During the third century, the Father and the Son together with the Holy Spirit were officially turned into a single godhead in an attempt to hammer polytheism into monotheism again.
It seems to me that nowadays Jesus has taken over from Jahweh as the head of the Christian pantheon. I suppose people find it easier to relate to a fellow human who walked the earth, was scared, became tired, and had to eat just like we do. We can relate to his suffering. On the other hand, the Father is seen as an old man with a long beard sitting on a throne in the sky.
Intellectually polytheistic monotheism is at best an uncomfortable concept to wrap your head around. It is also an anthropocentric idea that dates back to a time when the earth was still the center of the universe and the sun, moon and stars revolved around it. Humans were considered the crown of creation and Jesus had to die for our sins, the Father’s role was to supply in our needs and it was the Spirit’s duty to guide us. This is a rather arrogant world view. Everything revolves around mankind, or at least around the part of the world population who consider themselves to be Christians.
It is difficult to conceptualize the Spirit. Is it a person or an attribute of God describing his presence, love, or influence? Wisdom was considered to be female by Jews. In both the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament reference is made to the Spirit of Wisdom.
According to the Scriptures, Mary fell pregnant by the Spirit. Jesus was filled with the Spirit directly after he was baptized. At times reference is made to the Spirit as being of the Father and at other times as being of Jesus. After the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Spirit was poured out on his followers to support and guide them.
Concepts of God, before the First Council of Nicaea.
Up to the third and fourth centuries, there were many different ideas about the nature of God. Marcion considered the god of the Old Testament to be evil and felt that the loving God that Jesus proclaimed had to be a separate entity.
Arius taught that the Son has not always existed and was subordinate to the Father and was not of the same essence as the Father. Arius’ doctrine was condemned during the first council of Nicaea. Constantine ordered all writing by Arius to be burnt and disobeying this decree was punishable by death. This is the reason why we do not know what his teachings were exactly. All that remained were references to him made by early Church Fathers.
Over time, Trinitarianism became the only accepted doctrine about the divine. It stated that God consists of three individuals which can also be seen as different aspects of him. It claims that Jesus is of one essence and coeternal with the Father.
By the end of the fourth century, Christian beliefs have been codified and it became more and more difficult to hold views contrary to those held by the Church. Because of this Christianity became poorer as discussions about ideas regarding the nature of God were discouraged. (Fine-tuning the Trinity was still allowed up to a point.)
God as a Duality.
To follow is a different view of God which does not rely on the existence of separate entities that have to be combined to form a single individual.
As stated before there are different ways to view and perceive God. I have to admit that part of the following discussion is based on my personal opinion.
Instead of a Trinity, God can be seen as a Duality as it is possible to describe him as having two aspects.
The first cannot be adequately described by human reason and is impersonal. Although it is possible to be aware of this aspect of God, you cannot communicate with or be in a relationship with it.
The second facet of God is that of a personal god, who knows about our existence and with whom people can interact. This aspect of him can be seen as either a figure of authority like that of a ruler or a father or as a lover.
The Ineffable
The Merriam-Webster dictionary gives the following definition of the word ineffable: “incapable to be expressed in words.”
Synonyms for this word include indefinable, nameless, and beyond description.
This representation of God can be viewed as being without form or substance, like a deep rumbling in the engine room of the universe. This entity is unknowable and indescribable, and a person therefore cannot form a relationship with it. One can think of this manifestation of God as a force or principle like the Tao. This aspect of him can be experienced when you look up into the sky on a moonless night or in the awe, inspired by the beauty of a cascading waterfall in a lush green forest.
It is possible to argue that this view of God allows for a god who created the universe and then let it carry on developing and evolving on its own without interfering in any way. Such a deistic concept of a god that is not involved in his creation after bringing it into being would, however, preclude the possibility of a personal god like the one described in the next section.
In my view, God is not directly responsible for the movement of galaxies or weather conditions on earth. In spite of this, it is possible to connect with him.
The Parent.
This is the God of the Old Testament. The Israelites saw him as a just ruler. They were used to be governed by earthly monarchs and therefore depicted God as a king on steroids. He created the universe which consisted of the earth, the heavenly lights (sun, moon, and stars) as well as his abode in the sky. Just as kings could at times lose their temper and had some of their subjects executed, God sometimes became angry and wiped out whole communities.
Jesus perceived God as a heavenly Father, a parent who loves his children deeply. He is forgiving, knows what they need and he provides for them daily. He expects his subjects to obey his rules and to treat widows and orphans fairly and with compassion. Jesus believed that God is in control of the world and that not a single sparrow would fall to the ground if it was not the will of God.
The Intimate.
This aspect of God is probably not well known and to describe God as a lover will be considered blasphemous by some people.
God referred to Israel as his wife or bride. She might have been an unfaithful wife at times, but the man-woman relationship is unmistakable. Isaiah called God his beloved (Isaiah 5:1).
Song of Songs can be interpreted as a love song that merely deals with the bond between lovers, or it can be seen as a description of the loving relationship between God and those who believe in him.
Some, but not all, mystics describe the union with the divine in sexual terms. To them, it is a very intimate and almost sensual experience. It feels as if they become one with God.
In Conclusion.
There are two ways in which God can be seen as a duality. In the first instance, he is inside and outside creation. The other duality is found in the fact that God can be an entity people can relate to or something impossible to perceive or describe adequately.
One of the best arguments against the existence of God is that it’s inconceivable that the creator of the universe would take an interest in humanity, considering that there are billions of insignificantly small, short-lived individuals on earth. Numerous intelligent life forms may exist on other worlds, too. If that is the case, he probably cares about them as well, which would make his involvement with us, even more difficult to understand.
The wonder of God is not how big he is, but how small he can make himself. Small enough to care about puny humans.
