God Is Trinity
Today many people believe that religion is the problem! The problem is not religion, but wrong religion. When we get God wrong, we do terrible things – sincerely, with excellent intentions, but still terribly. This is true when Presbyterians get God wrong as for anyone else.
Australians today will say: “I am not religious!” They may believe in God, or be atheists or agnostics or have some other religious beliefs. What I have found that Australians mean when they say this, is that they do not belong to an organised religious group or church.
Western atheism has no official ‘church’. This is why the debate today on the place of religious belief in politics or the school or in society is so confused. Our forefathers limited the place of organised religion in politics, education, society. They refused to establish one Christian denomination as the Australian Church. They did not limit the place of religious belief – they legislated for religious education classes in public schools.
Today there is a double standard – many campaign for Christianity as religion to be banned from the public sphere, while atheism (the religious belief that there is no God) is to be promoted as fact or truth. The call for the removal of religious belief from the public sphere never seems to mean the removal of the religious beliefs of atheism, just the religious beliefs of everyone else!
Human religious beliefs can be summarised as:
God is one, God is unity:
- Monotheism (eg Unitarianism, Islam, modern Judaism, Jehovah Witnesses).
- Other forms of monism (eg Hinduism and Buddhism – the unity of all being, that’s why you meditate to be one with the universe/all being, to be nothing or no-thing. Anything individual is temporal and transitory.). The Force in the Star Wars movies is a modern western example of such a monism.
- I believe western atheism is a form of monism – the closest to the eternal is the civil state, the government, humanity corporate. The individual is transitory while the state continues on. National and International Socialist states of the 20th century are prime examples – i.e. nazism and communism. They gave the state total authority – godlike authority.
God is many: polytheism.
- Animism – belief in local spirits.
- The religions of the ancient world.
- The practical religion of many ordinary souls above.
God is Trinity: three persons – one divinity.
Another visual illustration of this doctrine is the illustration below:
The doctrine of the Trinity is the central Christian understanding of God. It is also central to understanding ourselves. Genesis 1:27 says: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Notice the singular and the plural – the individual and the corporate.)
We are two persons – one humanity! Male and female – one humanity! We together are His image.
God is three persons – one divinity! God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Biblical evidence for God as Trinity
I’m just going to give one passage at present – 2 Corinthians 3:1-4:6.
The special personal name of God as He gave it to Moses in Exodus 3 is “I AM”. From long before New Testament times, God’s people substituted the word LORD for God’s personal name, which they would never pronounce. In this passage, God the Creator is called LORD (3:16); Jesus is called LORD (4:5); and the Holy Spirit is called LORD (3:17)!
How has this doctrine influenced our civilisation for good?
The doctrine of the Trinity has had an important impact on the development of our governmental structure from the standpoint of the philosophy of government. The doctrine of the Trinity has been expressed philosophically as the equal ultimacy of both unity and diversity. This is important in understanding decision-making structures and their resultant relationships. Three persons living in unity, harmony and peace – the doctrine of God gives us knowledge, understanding and wisdom in the structuring of our own relationships. Monotheism, polytheism and God as Trinity give us three different models for structuring our relationships in family and society and church. When you se this, you can see clearly the tie between doctrine and governmental structure.
Triangle – MONOTHEISM
Belief that God is one, that what is ultimate or most important is ONE or UNITY. Unity is most important.
This produces hierarchical societies with ONE in charge – all decisions come under the control of the ONE at the top – often seen as God’s stand-in, or as with Stalin in communism, the ultimate authority. Diversity is only allowed under the total control of those at the top. No true diversity is possible.
Triangle – The Hierarchical Decision-Making’ Governmental Structure
One leader or chief at the top. All decisions come under his/her authority.
This structure allows for unity, but not diversity. One person has to give in all the time. This makes one a tyrant, and the other a slave. This structure very easily begins to operate on the basis of coercion. This structure works OK on the small-scale, but bogs down beyond the small.
Triangle – The Family Hierarchical Structure
In marriage, one of the couple is boss or chief at the top. All decisions come under his/her authority. This structure allows for unity, but not diversity. One person has to give in all the time. This makes one a tyrant, and the other a slave.
The Independent Decision-Making’ Governmental Structure
Polytheism – Belief that God is many. The major point is that what is ultimate or most important is the individual. Difference or individual liberty is most important. This produces anarchical societies with NO-ONE in charge – all decisions must be decided by the group. This works only for very small groups.
Independent Structure – Each person is equal in every decision-making situation. This structure allows for diversity, but not unity. What happens when both are adamantly for different proposals? You get war or a parting of the ways! A major drawback to this structure is seen in the rebellion of Boudicca of the Iceni against the Romans in AD 60. The major battle was fought between over 230,000 British warriors and 10,000 Roman troops. The British structure was more of the Independent structure. The warriors fought as individuals or under the command of individual chiefs. The Roman command structure was hierarchical – and they fought under a unified command. The 10,000 beat the 230,000!
The Independent Structure In Marriage. Each person is equal in every decision-making situation. This structure allows for diversity, but not unity. What happens when both are adamantly for different proposals?
The Trinitarian Decision Making/Governmental Structure
This structure is based on the belief that God is Trinity. The many and the one – the group and the individual are seen as equally important. Unity and Diversity are equally important! In the Trinity there is unity in diversity and diversity in unity.
This belief has produced societies that have both order and freedom. All levels of government are limited. Lower levels of government have areas of dominance – so co-operation is the go, not coercion. Total authority is only for God. Any human authority should be limited!
The Step-Pyramid diagram best represents this decision-making structure.
In Marriage, this structure has both husband and wife form one session or family council. Both are equally decision makers, with the husband as chairman. Both unity and diversity are catered for and given equal status and play. Both are equally ultimate, and there is a decision-making structure that allows progress with different voting. A chairman should only use his casting vote once or thrice in a life-time. He is not a chief but a chairman! This structure operates on co-operation rather than coercion.
The Kings of ancient Israel operated as a constitutional monarch, not like the pagan kings who were god on earth. Israel was more a federation of tribes. Land was owned by the individual in the name of his family clan, not by the state. This gave the ordinary ancient Israelites greater political power and pull to resist central government abuse of power, than we moderns.
