The Trinity

At Sonlight Student Forums, we were discussing the Trinity with each other and two unbelievers. Those two didn’t understand how one being could be three, all at the same time. Really, it’s HARD to understand the Trinity, and I think it is more important to ACCEPT it than to understand it, because we are required to accept God for life, but not to fully understand him, because he is beyond human understanding. To them, the whole Trinity thing must have sounded crazy!
I mean, can you imagine? You’re on a internet chat room, surrounded by Christian teens that are – gulp – homeschooled! YIKES!
I described the Trinity something like this (except for the fact that my interests have changed, so I have replaced them with the following). I am Melissa. I’m a fashion guru, but I’m also a writer, tree-hugger, animal-rights activist, Narnia geek. I’m a semi-vegetarian but I can’t resist BBQ ribs. Am I no longer Melissa? No. I’m Melissa, with different personalities. They liked that example.
But the other day, when I was supposed to be absorbed in algebra, my mind started wandering from fractions and x’s and o’s to one of those several hundred rabbit trails I tour every once in a while. Couldn’t I come up with a better example? IS there a better example? Or, if not better, at least another, to make it really clear? And why does Maddy refuse to accept that I hate hot dogs? All these things I smelled along the trail, and then I finally found the bunny.
I’m Melissa. Like you (hopefully!), I have eyes, a right arm, and a nose (a very talented one at that – but that’s another story). I use my eyes for seeing. That is their purpose. I use my right arm for drawing and lifting things and for pressing the semi-colon on the keyboard. That is my right arm’s purpose. I use my nose for smelling – the roses, burnt toast, the barn, my brother’s bathroom, my dog who will get a desperately needed bath for Christmas. My eyes, right arm, and nose – these are all parts of me. They are not separate – there is only one me. These are just different parts of me used for different purposes.
God has 3 different parts. God the Father, used for creating and commanding and sorting things out. The Holy Spirit, giving people peace and such. Jesus the Son, the earthly part of God – how he appears on earth, with a human body that went through real exhaustion, starvation, dehydration, and immense pain. Each part is part of God, but each part has a different purpose.
I hope that made it a little easier for you to understand. Remember that God does not require you to understand him completely, but to simply believe.