In which I dive into a surprising amount of Theology.
So, we were talking about the Confessions of St. Augustine in my human nature class today, and while I didn't particularly catch anything interesting in the confessions themselves, the prof mentioned something which tossed me off on a fun tangent which I developed into the little idea you're about to read below. Namely, he mentioned the Christian Holy Trinity.
Now, the Holy Trinity has been rather interesting to me for quite a while now, because I once drew an interesting analogy between what I see as the three different characterizations of God in the Bible and the branches of the Trinity. Today, though, I wound up expanding that and connecting it to what I see as God's message to us concerning how God wants us to live.
Okay, the first branch of the Trinity is God the Father. Father is sort of an unfair characterization because what with it stemming from the classical conception of God as male, which is kinda silly, but whatever, it's what people are familiar with. Now, to me, God the Father represents the God of the Old Testament Israelites. During this time, God spoke to God's chosen people through the prophets, and God guided God's people through the Law. Of course, the Israelites weren't perfect, and God spent rather a lot of time in the Old Testament laying the righteous smackdown on them for breaking some law or other. And that's sorta the key point. God the Father represents the Law. That's the first aspect of how God wants us to live. God's Law is God telling us how to lead a good life. Of course, the well-known problem with God's Law is that it's impossible to follow it completely. God's Law demands perfection, and we're imperfect humans, so we're never going to get there. So why the crap does God lay down a law we can't possibly live up to? My theory is that God doesn't want or expect us to really live up to God's Law. What God expects us to do is to always try to get closer to living God's Law. Since God's Law is perfect and we're not and can never be perfect, that basically means that no matter what, we'll always have something to strive for. And that's what God really wants. God wants us to always, no matter how good we think we're doing, to be looking for ways in which we could better live in the Light of God, because there's always something. God wants to motivate us to improve ourselves, no matter how little improvement we may think we need.
The second branch of the Trinity is Jesus Christ, God the Son. When Jesus was cruising around the Holy Land with his band of Hippies, he focused on one thing above all others, and that was Grace. God the Son is God the Grace. Jesus was constantly telling us both that God happily offers us forgiveness for our shortcomings if we're willing to accept it. Jesus was also pretty big on us forgiving one another, because hey, if it's good enough for God, it's good enough for those created in God's image. Jesus' whole purpose was to let us know that God understands that God set an impossible standard for us, and it's okay if we don't make it because God reaches out across the gap between us and God, the gap we can never cross under our own power, and offers us a bridge. God doesn't want us to stop trying to improve ourselves, and Jesus still makes that very clear, but at the same time, God wants us to know that we're safe, because God doesn't want us desperately reaching for perfectino as a means to save ourselves. God wants us joyfully striving to live in God's image because understand the Love and the Glory and the Light.
And hey, wow, actually, without really meaning to I just set up a really nice segue into God the Holy Spirit. Fun fact for people playing the home game: the Holy Spirit was often referred to in the feminine in Hebrew texts. Think about it. Anyways, so yeah, the Holy Spirit is, I think, the way we experience God today. God gave us the Law, and God gave us Grace, and after that was done God's role in our development changed. Humanity graduated high school and moved out to go to college. We can still write home and get some extra cash when we need it, but God lets us be independent and find our own path these days. God the Holy Spirit represents the pure Joy that comes with growing into our own understanding of God and the world around us. If we keep the holy spirit in our lives, through our day-to-day living and our outlook, then we open ourselves to the pure kickassery of God. It's not about codifying God's Law anymore, and it's not about understanding our need for and our capacity for Grace, those lessons have been taught. What remains for us is to seek and understand the pure essence of God's existence, to find God in our own way, to express it in everything we do in life, and to be a conduit for God's Love and Joy to spread through the whole world.
Kinda neat, if I do say so myself...
And yeah, I definitely have major problems with all three of these key concepts. I'm very, very far from perfect, and I have challenges and obstacles to overcome in order to improve. I'm trying, first, to get a better handle on those obstacles, and get help in understanding them and what I need to do to surpass them, and I think that's what God would want me to do. I have these rare moments of semi-clarity where I can look over everything I've gone through and am going through and actually be able to see the influence of God in my life, holding my head above water and always nudging me forward. I see God in my family, I see God in my friends. I have trouble seeing God in myself, and that's what I want to work on first. My hope is that, if I can learn to see the Joy of God that exists within my own heart, then I can let it transform me into the person God wants me to be, because I want to be that person too. And once I do that, well, then hopefully my path in life will be clearer, and I can set down it secure in the knowledge that I'm walking with God.
...Huh, that was surprisingly frank and spiritual for me. At least, that's what it feels like. Anyways, yeah, that felt good.
Now, the Holy Trinity has been rather interesting to me for quite a while now, because I once drew an interesting analogy between what I see as the three different characterizations of God in the Bible and the branches of the Trinity. Today, though, I wound up expanding that and connecting it to what I see as God's message to us concerning how God wants us to live.
Okay, the first branch of the Trinity is God the Father. Father is sort of an unfair characterization because what with it stemming from the classical conception of God as male, which is kinda silly, but whatever, it's what people are familiar with. Now, to me, God the Father represents the God of the Old Testament Israelites. During this time, God spoke to God's chosen people through the prophets, and God guided God's people through the Law. Of course, the Israelites weren't perfect, and God spent rather a lot of time in the Old Testament laying the righteous smackdown on them for breaking some law or other. And that's sorta the key point. God the Father represents the Law. That's the first aspect of how God wants us to live. God's Law is God telling us how to lead a good life. Of course, the well-known problem with God's Law is that it's impossible to follow it completely. God's Law demands perfection, and we're imperfect humans, so we're never going to get there. So why the crap does God lay down a law we can't possibly live up to? My theory is that God doesn't want or expect us to really live up to God's Law. What God expects us to do is to always try to get closer to living God's Law. Since God's Law is perfect and we're not and can never be perfect, that basically means that no matter what, we'll always have something to strive for. And that's what God really wants. God wants us to always, no matter how good we think we're doing, to be looking for ways in which we could better live in the Light of God, because there's always something. God wants to motivate us to improve ourselves, no matter how little improvement we may think we need.
The second branch of the Trinity is Jesus Christ, God the Son. When Jesus was cruising around the Holy Land with his band of Hippies, he focused on one thing above all others, and that was Grace. God the Son is God the Grace. Jesus was constantly telling us both that God happily offers us forgiveness for our shortcomings if we're willing to accept it. Jesus was also pretty big on us forgiving one another, because hey, if it's good enough for God, it's good enough for those created in God's image. Jesus' whole purpose was to let us know that God understands that God set an impossible standard for us, and it's okay if we don't make it because God reaches out across the gap between us and God, the gap we can never cross under our own power, and offers us a bridge. God doesn't want us to stop trying to improve ourselves, and Jesus still makes that very clear, but at the same time, God wants us to know that we're safe, because God doesn't want us desperately reaching for perfectino as a means to save ourselves. God wants us joyfully striving to live in God's image because understand the Love and the Glory and the Light.
And hey, wow, actually, without really meaning to I just set up a really nice segue into God the Holy Spirit. Fun fact for people playing the home game: the Holy Spirit was often referred to in the feminine in Hebrew texts. Think about it. Anyways, so yeah, the Holy Spirit is, I think, the way we experience God today. God gave us the Law, and God gave us Grace, and after that was done God's role in our development changed. Humanity graduated high school and moved out to go to college. We can still write home and get some extra cash when we need it, but God lets us be independent and find our own path these days. God the Holy Spirit represents the pure Joy that comes with growing into our own understanding of God and the world around us. If we keep the holy spirit in our lives, through our day-to-day living and our outlook, then we open ourselves to the pure kickassery of God. It's not about codifying God's Law anymore, and it's not about understanding our need for and our capacity for Grace, those lessons have been taught. What remains for us is to seek and understand the pure essence of God's existence, to find God in our own way, to express it in everything we do in life, and to be a conduit for God's Love and Joy to spread through the whole world.
Kinda neat, if I do say so myself...
And yeah, I definitely have major problems with all three of these key concepts. I'm very, very far from perfect, and I have challenges and obstacles to overcome in order to improve. I'm trying, first, to get a better handle on those obstacles, and get help in understanding them and what I need to do to surpass them, and I think that's what God would want me to do. I have these rare moments of semi-clarity where I can look over everything I've gone through and am going through and actually be able to see the influence of God in my life, holding my head above water and always nudging me forward. I see God in my family, I see God in my friends. I have trouble seeing God in myself, and that's what I want to work on first. My hope is that, if I can learn to see the Joy of God that exists within my own heart, then I can let it transform me into the person God wants me to be, because I want to be that person too. And once I do that, well, then hopefully my path in life will be clearer, and I can set down it secure in the knowledge that I'm walking with God.
...Huh, that was surprisingly frank and spiritual for me. At least, that's what it feels like. Anyways, yeah, that felt good.