"A god who is easy to understand," Michael began, "would not hold your attention very long. In some ways it is like good poetry. The poems which begin, 'Roses are red, violets are blue...' are utterly simple and easy to understand. They are, however, hardly worth studying for they have no depth. A good poem will capture your attention quickly and also have such depth that you will desire to return to it over and over again and never tire of reading it. This is the nature of the Most High. He is beautiful in his simplicity and mysterious in his depth. He can be understood as simply as a shamrock or he can be contemplated throughout all eternity and still remain a mystery. Even as he is better understood, he becomes ever further from being comprehended. The full mystery of his nature is far beyond your ability to comprehend."
"How about if you just help me comprehend it a bit better? I asked."
"Would you mind passing me your coffee?"
I was only slightly surprised. I assumed he did not desire it for its flavour nor need it for its caffeine. (I believe that angels don't get tired, although we never actually discussed this. Even if they did, I doubt caffeine would help keep them awake.) I passed him the cup. He set it directly in front of him and then looked around the room apparently checking if anyone was watching us. No one was. He put his right hand around the rim of the cup and his left around the bottom. Then he pulled to the right with his right hand and to the left with his left. I expected the cup to fall over. Instead, there were suddenly three cups, one in each hand, and the original standing alone in between. I sat, silent, staring.
"A lesson on the Trinity," he said. "Go ahead, try them."
I took a sip from each cup. They were exactly alike. "Are they the same?"
"The last one needs more sugar." I said. Michael didn't laugh, so I added, "No, they are the same."
"Are they?"
I back-tracked. "They taste the same."
"You are correct. They taste the same, absolutely, exactly the same. Down to the finest possible measurement you would find them the same, but are they exactly the same?"
"It depends on what you mean. If you are asking, are they comprised of the same substances. I suppose the answer is yes. If you are asking are the molecules in the one cup the identical ones which are in the other, I would say no. They can't be in two places at the same time."
"Take another sip from the first cup." I did as I was told.
"Now look at the other two cups."
I did as I was told, again. The last two cups, although I had not touched them, had gone down in volumn by the same amount as the first.
"In your frame of reference one thing cannot be in two places at the same time. In mine they can. In the frame of reference of the Most High, time and space provide no restrictions. You must keep that in mind to understand the Trinity. When you drink from the Father, you also drink from the Son and the Holy Spirit."
Michael rejoined the three cups as effortlessly as he had separated them, and then repeated his original action. Again there were three cups. This time, however, when I drank from them the first was ordinary black coffee, the second, though it looked black, tasted like there was cream in it. The third was black with sugar. Yet, when I drank from one of them, the same phenomenon occurred. The volume in all three cups went down with each sip.
"Are they the same?" Michael asked.
"Well, they are all coffee, made from the same cup but they taste different."
"And when you drank from one, what happened to the others?"
"They still went down, just like before."
"So they are the same cup of coffee, but they appear to be in three different places at once and taste differently as well."
"Yes, meaning the Trinity is one and three at the same time."
"Yes."
"That is an improvement on the shamrock but I suspect I cannot recreate this in my own living room."
"Unfortunately not."
"Could you explain how you did it?"
"Later, if we have the time. Let me note, however, that any analogy to the Trinity is only that, an analogy. There is no accurate way to explain the Trinity by example because the Trinity is a singularity. There is only one in all that is. You can compare an apple with another apple or a chair with a chair. You cannot compare the Trinity with another Trinity. There is only one."
Michael handed a reunited cup back to me. I took another drink, wondering whether I was supposed to speak next.
"How would you like to run the universe?" Michael hadn't paused long.
"You can't be serious," I answered, slouching into the seat, "I have trouble running a tour for more than ten people for a week!"
"True enough. Let's make it more simple. How about if we made you responsible for that cup of coffee for ten minutes."
"Now that, I think I can handle!" I sat up again.
"Can you?" By now I had learned the tell-tale signs of having spoken too soon. I scratched my head and said, "Probably not."
"If we remove the difficulty of having to hold the cup and its contents in being, then you would only need to keep the molecules, atoms and sub atomic particles relating to one another according to all the laws of the universe."
"But I don't know all the laws of the universe!"
"Nor does, nor can, any other human being. Still, let me show you what is involved. How many molecules do you think are in that cup?"
"Millions?"
"More."
"How much more?"
"A one with 23 zeros after it would get you close."
"So trillions of trillions," I said, picking the largest number I knew.
"You need work on your maths, but that is not the point. The point is that in this cup alone there a far more molecules than you could even count in your life-time, much less could you know where they all are in any given moment. However, even that is known by the Most High."
"...And I thought I was busy!" I said. "What a job description. Only
God could keep track of everything. Now I see what occupies him."
"Is that what you think keeps him occupied?"
I quickly realised that God could not have keeping molecules doing what they are supposed to be doing as his main occupation in life. "No," I answered, "I suppose he is more interested in caring for the human race."
"That is true, however, that still isn't his primary occupation. It cannot be. Running a finite universe and caring for a few billion people are not sufficient objects for his infinite knowledge nor his infinite love."
"Then what is?"
"You have now reached the key to understanding the Trinity."
"I have? I thought we had finished with the Trinity."
"We have hardly started."
"So what does keep the Most High occupied. What holds his attention if not this universe? Are there other universes? Other races? On other planets?" Again I hoped momentarily for a revelation from one who knows the answer to a question that captivates the minds of scientists. As one might expect, my question was not relevant to the point and received no answer.
"The Most High is infinite in his capacity to know and love. Other universes, no matter how vast, cannot do it. What can occupy his attention? Is he left simply with knowing and loving himself?"
"That would seem a bit self-centred to me."
"Yes, as well as lonely and solitary. It comes much closer to the truth about hell than heaven. The solution to such an unthinkable situation is found in the nature of the Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. What is the only object which could occupy an infinite mind?"
"Something else infinite, but surely, God doesn't just sit and think about infinity! What could be worse than working on an infinite math equation forever!"
"Quite right. The Father doesn't work on an infinite math problem or an infinite crossword puzzle just to keep his mind occupied."
"So what does he do?"
"He knows and loves the equally infinite Son. I am going to use a literary analogy to describe the Trinity. It is one of the more effective ways to explain why the Trinity has to be just as it is. Why there must be three and only three persons in the one true God. It is the analogy used in the fourth gospel."
"I'm all ears." I said. "I wish I was all brain." I thought.
In the fourth gospel John speaks of the relationship between the Father and the Son. He calls the Son the 'Logos' in Greek or 'the Word' in English. The Word of the Father is not a spoken word as we are speaking now because the Word exists outside time and space limitations. The Word is really the thought of the Father. It is the thought of the thinker. Now, because the Father has his existence in one act of being all that he thinks he thinks in this one act. All that he knows he knows at once. What is it that he knows? Not just what day you were born and where everything in the universe is located. This is all finite. One of the things he knows perfectly, is himself, the infinite being. The main substance of his one thought is infinite and perfect. This thought is called the Logos. Does that make sense?"
"I think so. The Father is all knowing. He exists in one act of being. His one thought in this one act includes all that is, including his own self awareness and he doesn't err. His thinking is perfect."
"Yes. What occupies his mind is this perfect and infinite thought. Now, for the critical point. Because the Father is perfect, lacking in nothing, this thought is infinite in its nature. It is complete. It also must lack nothing. In other words, the thought of the Father, or the Word of the Father, is the perfect and total reflection of the Father. For this thought to be complete and perfect it too must possess all and exactly the attributes of the Father. The Father is a person. Therefore the thought also must be a person. The thinker is divine in his nature, so the thought, in order to be perfect, must be divine in its nature. Thus the Father begets or produces the Son. The Son is of the exact same nature as the Father. He also would not exist without the Father, just as the thought does not exist without the thinker. They are one in being. However, just as the thinker is not the thought and the thought is not the thinker, so the Father is not the Son, nor is the Son the Father. The have the same nature but are distinguishable from one another. "
"And because the Son is an infinite and divine person the thing that occupies him is the other infinite and divine person, the Father."
"Yes, the occupation of the infinite Father is knowing and loving the infinite Son. The occupation of the infinite Son is knowing and loving the infinite Father."
"What about the Spirit? Why is it necessary that the Spirit exist? I would have thought from this that the Father and the Son are enough for each other."
"I must continue the literary analogy. I said the Son is the thought of the Father, or the thought of the thinker. If one constructs a simple sentence the Trinity gets reflected in that sentence. The sentence is, 'The thinker thinks the thought.' Now I will change it slightly, substituting love for think, because, as it is written in the First Letter of John, 'God is love.' The Father loves the Son or the lover loves the beloved. Because the Father is perfect and complete, his action is perfect and complete as well. Rephrasing the sentence to reflect that, it becomes, 'The perfect lover perfectly loves the perfect beloved. If the love that the Father and the Son have for each other is perfect and complete, it too must be infinite and personal. Nothing can be lacking in the way that the Father and the Son love one another. This love is the Holy Spirit. Once again the Spirit is of the exact same nature as the Father and the Son. It would not exist without the Father and the Son."
"So the Father and the Son exist in the unity of the Holy Spirit. The lover and the beloved are united by the love that exists between them. The lover loves the beloved."
"Exactly. They are one in being. They have the exact same nature, but
they are different persons."
"That explains why there are three persons in the one infinite God.
Why can't there be four or an infinite number? For example, why isn't the
third person the Father's love for the Son and the fourth person the Son's
love for the Father?"
"Put in simple terms it is because they would be the same person. The Father's love for the Son is exactly the same as the Son's love for the Father. There can be no difference. It is one and the same Holy Spirit. Or put slightly different, the Father thinks only one thought, the Son also thinks only one thought. This thought is one and the same. It is the Spirit. There is no other thought to be thought. It is one, perfect and complete."
"It makes sense. The Father's thought of all that is, is a perfect reflection of himself, lacking in nothing, and therefore not just a thought, but a person. His love for the Beloved is also a perfect reflection, lacking in nothing and therefore also a person. These three persons are one and self sufficient, just as a thinker, thinking a thought is one, and a complete sentence."
"Well done. Now it's time for more math. Let's see if you can follow a mathematical explanation of the Trinity."
Michael wrote + + = ? and said, "Now if stands for infinity how would you read that mathematical sentence?"
"Infinity plus infinity plus infinity, equals what."
"What is the answer?"
"Infinity."
"Not three infinities or three times infinity?"
"No. There cannot be three infinities. There can only be one."
"Unless?"
"Unless they are all the same. The three infinities would have to totally
overlap."
"And if they did overlap?"
"Then the three infinities would essentially be only one infinity. Infinity = infinity."
"This is one way to explain the Trinity. There can only be one infinity.
There can only be one true infinite being. All other infinities are not
total infinities. It is why there can only be one infinite being. That
is why all other 'gods' are false. They cannot also be infinite unless
they totally overlap, which of course is exactly what the Father, Son and
Holy Spirit do. But explaining that in detail would take more time than
we have."