Let's talk about the Egg. Not only is the egg used as the maker of a good omelet, it is often used as a way to understand the difficult doctrine of the Triune God, or Trinity. It is an attempt to wrap our minds around an idea that really makes no sense. Let's break this egg idea down a bit. The egg yolk, sitting comfortably within the egg white surrounded securely by the hard shell makes an egg. It is said that this is like the Trinity because it is three parts, yet still one egg. This unfortunately breaks down, and therefore goes to prove that the idea of three in one is not a possibility. If there is a shell lying on the counter, left over from using both the yolk and the egg white to make a batch of cookies, would one look at that shell and refer to it as an egg? I don't think so. It is merely a shell, a part from both the yolk and the egg white it is not an egg at all, it is just a shell. The same is true with each of the three parts, apart from one another they are no longer an egg. How can it be then that Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Father are all one God when they are all separate entities? Jesus prays to the Father. Jesus is subject to the Fathers will. The Bible tells us the Holy Spirit pleads on our behalf to the Father. It is impossible, therefore, for three clearly separate beings to be one single God. Just as a shell apart from the yolk and the white is not an egg, it is merely a shell. I conjecture, therefore, that the monotheistic viewpoint of Christianity is simply impossible. Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Father are separate gods with separate character traits and responsibilities.
Apart from the clear illogic of a triune God let's look at the contextual argument as well. It is a well known accepted fact that this word "Trinity" appears nowhere in the Bible. If the doctrine of the Trinity is so important to the Christian faith then why doesn't God come out and speak about it directly? Why doesn't he ever use the word Trinity or explain the concept of a triune God explicitly. I understand the theory can be cobbled together from various verses plucked from obscure and otherwise unrelated passages within the Bible, but such a seemingly important doctrine shouldn't need such a wild goose chase. The doctrine of Grace is made abundantly clear as are the doctrines of original sin, the fallen-ness of man and many others I could continue to list. These are all clearly important doctrines and are made abundantly clear. Yet, the Trinity is suspiciously not. Thus, either God does not ultimately place the same importance on this doctrine as he does the others, or his explanations are simply arbitrary; either God doesn't care about the doctrine of the trinity, or the scripture is not actually divinely inspired.
That is a good analogy for the Trinity. Another example could be smores. It would not be a smore with out chocolate, a marshmallow and gram cracker. The same as the Trinity would not be called the Trinity if it was not made up of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this blog. Sometimes, it seems Christians put too much emphasis on the Trinity and I think this blog has a good point of if the Trinity is so important, why doesn't God come out and say it? I think the idea of the three in one is something we just have to admit we can't understand now. After all, we are finite beings and this is an infinite thing we are trying to understand.
ReplyDeleteI have to ask something:
ReplyDeleteWas the word "trinity" (or triunity)actually a word in Jesus' time and before? If it was, then I would think that Jesus would of used it in his teachings. It could of been helpful.
I also think that the egg is a good example to use for the trinity. There can also be some negative ways of using an egg to explain the Trinity. Since an egg has three different parts, do the three persons in the Trinity have different personalities? Well of course not!
Secondly, is the yoke of the egg useless? Sometimes people dont use the yoke for its purpose, so does God (or Jesus or the Holy Spirit) have no purpose? Of course not! They all have a purpose for us.
Thisi is an example i use to describe the Trinity. I think of a cherry pie cut into three, equal pieces. Its a whole pie, though with three separate parts. They are all made of the exact same thing, not one part is bigger than another. Yet its a whole pie. So God is made up of three parts (Father, Son, Holy Spirit), yet they all have a purpose, not one is stronger then the other, they all have the same personalities. Sure there's gonna be flaws (like the egg), but as you said, humans cant fully explain the Trinity.
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ReplyDeletei disagree with the statement "the clear illogic of a triune God" because it is not illogic for a god to be three in one. it is simply unlikey for it to happen. we have the neccessary items to make it logic and to logically back up the facts.
ReplyDeleteThat is a good analogy of the Trinity, but eggs can get rotten and the trinity can't. Although there is no completly accurate description of the trinity...this is a good one. Another one is water, It can be in the form of steam, ice, and regular water. Which is all the same thing exactly!
ReplyDeleteim not quite sure that this analogy fits into the idea of the Trinity. An egg cant really be split into 3 different parts, and still have the same purpose/function.When the yolk is seperated from the shell, it no longer is a whole egg, and cannot be put back together. A better example would need 3 different parts, that CAN function "seperatly," but they can be "put back together" to form one Godhead.
ReplyDeletedisagree with quentin. i think it is illogical that there is a three in one god, but just cause its illogical, doesnt mean it cant happen. because logic and reason are finite ways to understand our finite world and god is not finite, which is maybe why god didnt put it in the bible, because he didnt want to mess the truth up? like when we call the father son and holy spirit persons, which theyre not. and like the egg analogy, it doesnt make sense. i think its was considerate of god not to put this in the bible, the truth would have explosive!
ReplyDeleteI agree it is difficult to explain how three can be one, but you can still use the egg as an example to describe the three part, but not the three in one. If you think of the egg as a "something" then you see the yolk, shell, and the white layer are all seperate.
ReplyDeleteLike Isak said, the word Trinity was not around then, and I think that God did make it clear in the Bible. He talks about the three individual parts (Matthew 28:19) and the fact that there is only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4). There are other verses on this topic. Maybe the reason God didn't talk explicitly about the Trinity is because it is not necessary to understand it in order to be saved like grace. Also, God is beyond are understanding, so not everything about Him is going to be easily and simpily explained or understood.
ReplyDeletePart of the problem is we're talking about the nature of God. If we could fully understand it, then the whole idea that "your thoughts are higher than mine" the idea that "God is soooooooooooo far above us" would be completely meaningless.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I feel like we waste too much time trying fully understand something that just isn't uble to be understood.
I'm not saying that its bad to think about these things and have a good answer for people who ask us, but. . . I think we waste alot of time.
Using logic to try to prove or disprove God's nature is not a good idea. God is so far outside of our human (erred) logic and reasoning.
I agree! i really do think Christians put to much thought into the Trinity! if God wanted us to ponder it this much He would have put the word "trinity" in the bible.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that I'd go so far as to say that God doesn't care. In fact I think that it is an important part of the Bible. We not not be able to fully grasp it, but it is still important to look in to it and get the idea of it. For example, if Jesus was not God, than his sacrifice would be nothing because He wouldn't be perfect. It is also a good thing to be able to have an idea of it, because some atheist could come up to you and tell you that your "religion" has no logic do to the "doctrine of the trinity" which is completley sensless. But indeed, it should not be over stressed. Because we are only human, it is impossible for us to fully understand the idea of the trinity. Jesus once said (this is not a direct quote and might be taken out of context) `How can I tell you about Heavenly things when you do not even understand earthly things?'.
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