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I would like fellow Catholics to help me out here. It has been said constantly that the concept of the trinity is not explainable. It is beyond our minds to grasp. However, I feel like I have come to a basic explanation.
God, being who he is, is a being that is beyond our imagination. We cannot possible comprehend God. To comprehend God would make us God ourselves. God is infinite. Human beings, however, are not. While we have a basic understanding of the term infinite, we can never be infinite or experience infinity the way God can. God was, is, and always will be. God's form is such that while we can grasp the concept of it, we can never fully comprehend, 100%.
In order for God to join us on our world, God would have to take the form of something that we COULD understand. That we could easily wrap our minds around. That is why through the holy spirit, God impregnated Mary with the Son, who while being God, is a separate but same entity. In this form, human beings are able to grasp on a level the divinity of God through Jesus, the Son.
Have I at least touched on it? What am I missing? Am I completely off?
I would like fellow Catholics to help me out here. It has been said constantly that the concept of the trinity is not explainable. It is beyond our minds to grasp. However, I feel like I have come to a basic explanation.
God, being who he is, is a being that is beyond our imagination. We cannot possible comprehend God. To comprehend God would make us God ourselves. God is infinite. Human beings, however, are not. While we have a basic understanding of the term infinite, we can never be infinite or experience infinity the way God can. God was, is, and always will be. God's form is such that while we can grasp the concept of it, we can never fully comprehend, 100%.
In order for God to join us on our world, God would have to take the form of something that we COULD understand. That we could easily wrap our minds around. That is why through the holy spirit, God impregnated Mary with the Son, who while being God, is a separate but same entity. In this form, human beings are able to grasp on a level the divinity of God through Jesus, the Son.
Have I at least touched on it? What am I missing? Am I completely off?
Repped.
Picture a diamond, with so many different facets...
Picture a diamond, with so many different facets...
Thanks. I don't think a diamond could ever quite cover it. A diamond is very complicated, yes. But it is comprehensible. How could we ever comprehend or fully understand God? That is the purpose for the existence of Jesus, because we CAN'T comprehend God. We would have to be divine in order to comprehend God.
Thanks. I don't think a diamond could ever quite cover it. A diamond is very complicated, yes. But it is comprehensible. How could we ever comprehend or fully understand God? That is the purpose for the existence of Jesus, because we CAN'T comprehend God. We would have to be divine in order to comprehend God.
I agree - I wasn't comparing God to a diamond, just the concept of having so many different sides and angles that to gaze straight forward would be to miss so much of the Whole.
I agree - I wasn't comparing God to a diamond, just the concept of having so many different sides and angles that to gaze straight forward would be to miss so much of the Whole.
I would like fellow Catholics to help me out here. It has been said constantly that the concept of the trinity is not explainable. It is beyond our minds to grasp. However, I feel like I have come to a basic explanation.
God, being who he is, is a being that is beyond our imagination. We cannot possible comprehend God. To comprehend God would make us God ourselves. God is infinite. Human beings, however, are not. While we have a basic understanding of the term infinite, we can never be infinite or experience infinity the way God can. God was, is, and always will be. God's form is such that while we can grasp the concept of it, we can never fully comprehend, 100%.
In order for God to join us on our world, God would have to take the form of something that we COULD understand. That we could easily wrap our minds around. That is why through the holy spirit, God impregnated Mary with the Son, who while being God, is a separate but same entity. In this form, human beings are able to grasp on a level the divinity of God through Jesus, the Son.
Have I at least touched on it? What am I missing? Am I completely off?
I'm not Catholic, but I am Christian and I believe you are not off, you are correct.
I would like fellow Catholics to help me out here. It has been said constantly that the concept of the trinity is not explainable. It is beyond our minds to grasp. However, I feel like I have come to a basic explanation.
God, being who he is, is a being that is beyond our imagination. We cannot possible comprehend God. To comprehend God would make us God ourselves. God is infinite. Human beings, however, are not. While we have a basic understanding of the term infinite, we can never be infinite or experience infinity the way God can. God was, is, and always will be. God's form is such that while we can grasp the concept of it, we can never fully comprehend, 100%.
I've heard lots of comparisons over the years. St. Patrick supposedly used the clover to explain it -- three lobes on one leaf. I once heard a preacher use the example of water. Water, ice, and steam are all essentially the same matter in different states. But all still H20.
Those are all good examples, but you've hit the essential already: The totality of God is beyond human comprehension. We are finite beings. God is infinite.
The only thing I might quibble with a tad is this bit:
Quote:
Originally Posted by AaronK
In order for God to join us on our world, God would have to take the form of something that we COULD understand. That we could easily wrap our minds around. That is why through the holy spirit, God impregnated Mary with the Son, who while being God, is a separate but same entity. In this form, human beings are able to grasp on a level the divinity of God through Jesus, the Son.
Two things:
I don't know that God is Trinity "in order to join us on our world." God is, was, and ever shall be Trinity. Long before there were humans, God was Trinity. God did not become the Son in Mary. He always was Father, Son, and Spirit. God is Trinity because God is. How? Why? Well, that's part of the great Mystery. We can come up with comparisons to help us wrap our heads around it, but in the end, they're all imperfect in some way. Why is God Trinity? Well, why is water wet? Because that is it's nature.
And honestly, I find the incarnation just as mind-boggling as the Trinity, if not moreso. It's no easier. At least not for me. How infinite, eternal, omnipotent, omniscient Creator could fully become creature ... that just blows my mind. I do believe it. But I'm not sure I completely understand it. Makes my brain spin.
Even Jesus' original disciples were constantly baffled by Him. How does the Bible put it? For now, we see as though through a glass darkly. That's it. Our understanding gets the basic picture, but it is far from perfect.
Honestly though, the Mystery is most of the fun. Things we fully understand get kinda boring after a while. If there's always something new to discover, if we are constantly realizing that the things we thought we understood, we really only understood a part ... well, that's fun. It's like a symphony where every time you hear it, you get the whole. It's familiar. But you also get something new every time.
I would like fellow Catholics to help me out here. It has been said constantly that the concept of the trinity is not explainable. It is beyond our minds to grasp. However, I feel like I have come to a basic explanation.
God, being who he is, is a being that is beyond our imagination. We cannot possible comprehend God. To comprehend God would make us God ourselves. God is infinite. Human beings, however, are not. While we have a basic understanding of the term infinite, we can never be infinite or experience infinity the way God can. God was, is, and always will be. God's form is such that while we can grasp the concept of it, we can never fully comprehend, 100%.
In order for God to join us on our world, God would have to take the form of something that we COULD understand. That we could easily wrap our minds around. That is why through the holy spirit, God impregnated Mary with the Son, who while being God, is a separate but same entity. In this form, human beings are able to grasp on a level the divinity of God through Jesus, the Son.
Have I at least touched on it? What am I missing? Am I completely off?
Not a Catholic (), but I think you nailed it, at least insomuch as it is possible for us to do so. I kind of look at it like this: picture God as a human - the brain is the Father, the heart is the Son, the lungs are the Holy Spirit. It's elementary and probaby not sound theology, but it helps me.
Just ask anyone what one is. God is one of what? One man has two of this, that and ten toes.
I don't know how these people consider how rational they are when the very thing embedded in the concept is a man mad irrational concept of one.
Even a good atheist existentialist like Sartre knew this.
"It is evident that non-being always appears within the limits of a human expectation."
In other words we create objects with our conscience by relegating the rest to nothingness but it is a nothingness of our expectations.
That is why God had to tell the dim whit naked monkeys that "he is" or "I am."
Hope this will at least give a glimpse of the Trinity... One Government in three distinct Branches. The Legislative is distinct, the Judiciary is distinct as well as the Executive is distinct... but all have the same sovereign powers with distinct functions. We don't say three governments but One government. One cannot live exist without the other.
The Father is the Legislator - He personally wrote the 10 Commandments... (Inventor of the Law)
The Son is the Judge - He personally came to save the lost and judge the judgmental - John 5:22 "The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son" (Interpreter of the Law)
The Holy Spirit is the Executive Person - who personally came on the day of Pentecost to execute what the Father and the Son accomplished. (Implementer of the Law)
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), but I think you nailed it, at least insomuch as it is possible for us to do so. I kind of look at it like this: picture God as a human - the brain is the Father, the heart is the Son, the lungs are the Holy Spirit. It's elementary and probaby not sound theology, but it helps me.