Question: How are the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit one Being?

One of the fundamental questions of the faith: How can the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be three yet one? Doesn't the Bible say there is only 1 God? Didn't Jesus pray to the Father? Following the resurrection, doesn't the Son sit at the right hand of the Father? Is not the Holy Spirit sent by the Father and the Son? How does all that work?

It's a great question! Addressing this topic really requires a very large book. I will attempt to just scratch the surface in this blog.

The word "trinity" is a Latin word used to describe the concept of 3 in 1 (tri-unity). The historic definition goes something like this: God is 3 Persons of 1 Essence. This basically means that God exists as a unity of 3 distinct Persons: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. So the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father. There is distinction. This is why the Son could pray to the Father, and why the Father and Son could send the Holy Spirit, etc.

Now, "person" is a difficult word because the meaning today has changed quite a bit from its original meaning. Today we think of physical individuals who exist completely separate from other individuals. This is not the idea as pertains to the nature of God. "Person," in its original definition, just means individuality and self-awareness. Maybe another word we could use is "subsistence." This simply means something that has real existence. So we must be careful to define our terms to avoid misunderstandings.

1 God / 3 Subsistences we call Persons

So in this 1 Essence that we call God, exists the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And there is no contradiction here. In fact, this is perfectly logical. A contradiction would be to say there are 3 Gods and only 1 God...or there are 3 Persons and only 1 Person. That is not what historic Christianity holds.

Here are some parallels that are good (I stress good because any finite example of the Divine is still finite).

Consider the following analogies:

- the Universe: composed of time, space and matter, but still 1 universe; and none of these can be separated without destroying the whole

- Time: made up of the past, present, and future; and none of these can exist without the others

- Space: length, depth and width. These can be thought of separately but cannot be actually separated and still have space

- The Triple Point of Water: Pour an amount of water in an empty cylinder and apply 230 mm of gas pressure on it while inside a zero degree environment, water will simultaneously exist as solid, liquid, and gas and yet can be identified as water (H2O) in it's basic nature.

Ultimately, whenever we talk about the infinite God, especially His nature, our understanding will fall somewhat short. If this were not the case, we would be God. To understand every facet of the Divine is to be Divine. Consider the holiness of God. Who fully understands that?! Or what about the fact that He has always existed - the uncaused Cause? Who can wrap their minds around that one?! So when it comes to this issue, the tri-unity within the Godhead, we must adhere to the clear self-revelation that God has given concerning Himself in Scripture.

Question: Why Don't We See Miracles Anymore?

This is a great question and I have spent quite a bit of time thinking about it over the years. Here is what I have come to...

Let me begin by saying that, obviously, we see miracles all the time - the sun rising, a baby being born, waking up in the morning, etc. I know we also see of plenty of miracles that are difficult to substantiate by the naked eye, i.e. healings from relatively non serious sickness, release from an inner turmoil or trauma, etc. These are all definite miracles, but what I am centering more on in this blog are those miracles like the ones seen in biblical times. I am talking about the blind seeing, the crippled walking, the withered limb growing back in front of everyone, someone jumping out of their casket at a funeral... That is what I want to see!

First of all, we must understand the purpose of miracles. If you go through the New Testament and mark everywhere Jesus or the apostles did a miracle you will notice something they all have in common. They all had a greater purpose than just healing the person afflicted. The ultimate purpose was to validate the truth of who Christ was and is to a people who did not believe. Never has there been a miracle done just because. So if this was/is the case, we can expect to see miracles where the Good News of salvation through Christ is being boldly proclaimed to unbelievers.

Another reason might be our lack of expectation and motivation. I often talk a lot about wanting to see God move in amazing ways but my actions pretty much contradict my words. I mean really, most of the miracles I hear about today are the result of God's moving after insane amounts of time and energy are spent seeking Him. So it's a weird place we're in... We say we want desperately to see God move but not desperately enough to persist in prayer, per say. Why would God move where His moving is taken for granted? Jim Cymbala sums it up well when he says, "God will manifest Himself in direct proportion to the passion of the people seeking Him."

Pastor Eric Falk had a theory that I liked. He thought that several giftings given by the Holy Spirit were not being manifested much because of a lack of teaching on them. That is simple and makes good sense. Maybe that's a part of it...

I most often hear of great miracles happening overseas in areas like Africa, China, Afghanistan, etc. And because many of these are 1st hand reports from people in whom I place great trust, I believe them. So this begs the question: what is the difference between us and them? The main answer that pops to mind is the utter desparation for God to move there vs. obvious spiritual apathy that has set in in America. This difference alone is pretty serious. Through Scripture we learn what typically attracts God to intervene and what absolutely repels Him... Apathy and pride are two He does not, and will not, deal with.

In the end, we believe that God is active in His creation. I would be very curious to see what would happen if those who profess the name of Christ had a throw back to the early years of the church...when sharing the good, yet offensive, news of Christ was proclaimed even when it was not culturally accepted or appreciated. I wonder what would happen if we spent more time seeking God and less time being entertained. I bet we might begin to glimpse some amazing things...!

What Do You Believe?

What do you believe? That's a great question... And I think that most people, if asked, do not really know what they believe. Oh sure, we can all spout out some stuff we've been taught, or regurgitate some one else's ideas or stances on an issue. In the church those are known as "Sunday School answers." In fact, one of the youth in our group (a large and personable football player - giving no names) throws out the answer, "Jesus," to every single question I ask - and he's often right! But that doesn't really tell me what he, or anyone, really believes, does it? But we all have a set of beliefs...even if we don't realize it. So how do we know what we believe?

It's really quite simple: our actions reveal our beliefs. So if you want to know what you believe about something, just look at what you do. If I woke up tomorrow and fully believed that I was the Tooth fairy, how would I begin my day? Well, I would wake up and look for my little tutu. I would grab my fairy's wand. I might brush my teeth and eat a little fairy breakfast. And then I would try to fly around to other people's houses looking for teeth under their pillows. I would be laughed at and arrested, but I would do those things because of my firm belief in who I was.

When we realize that actions stem from our beliefs, what does that say about what we believe? How are your grades? What do you believe about school? Is it important or just a waste of time? How do you treat your family and friends? Do you really love them like you say you do? How often do you converse with God about stuff or dig in to His word? What does that say about your beliefs? Who do you really believe you are? Scripture says that those in Christ are kings, priests, joint-heirs with Christ, friends of God, saints, ministers of reconciliation, sons of God...need I go on? What would our lives look like if we really believed this?!

I remember when I was really slammed with this question several months back. I asked myself how much I believed that God listened and answered prayer. I realized that if I really believed what I typically said I did, I probably would be talking to God more...much more, but I wasn't. Do I really want God to protect my wife and daughter? Do I really want my friends and family, who are not submitted to Christ, to have a great awakening? Do I really want Him to use me to do something amazing here and now for the glory of Christ? I would say yes...and yet the only One who could do any of that was not being talked to... It doesn't make sense, does it? Inconsistent.

This is a hard question to wrestle with. It is constantly showing me areas where my vocalized beliefs are not matching up with my actual beliefs.

So that's me...what about you? What do you believe?