The Trinity: Just Like H2O

As a Christian Family we believe and acknowledge the one true God, Yahweh, who offers peace to all people as a free gift.  This is the same God as shared by our Jewish brothers and sisters.  However, some can not feel the peace God offers because they see him only as a lawgiver and judge and do not want to "trouble" Him with their problems.  Others see God as a "Genie In A Bottle", they call on Him when they want something, but rely on themselves "until all else fails".  In my personal faith-walk, I see three aspects of one God that allow me to boldly approach him in heartfelt prayer regarding anything that may be touching my life.  I heard a pastor recently describe the three aspects of one God as being similar to the three states of H2O: solid, liquid, and gas.  Depending on the current conditions, we see H2O in one or more of these states.  The substance is always H2O, but different states meet different needs for us.   If some remote civilization was only able to know H2O in one of its three possible states, it would have very limited benefit for them, especially if it was in a state that did not meet their primary needs.

Similarly, I believe that God exists as three persons or "states" in one God.  Each person of God touches us under different conditions to meet our needs of that moment.  Ever since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, God the Father is seen as the lawgiver and one who is feared.  It was a pretty simple contract, "Do anything you want in this garden except for eating of the forbidden tree and you can live in paradise forever:  break the rule and you're out".  Ever since that day, man has been trying to get right with God, but continues to fail.  We couldn't do it when there was one rule, 10 rules, or 759 rules.  If that were the only view of God, existence would be pretty futile:  a never ending treadmill of trying and failing to be "good enough" to win God's favor.  This first part of God shows us that we need more than ourselves, we need a Savior.  But that's where the second person of God comes in, God the Savior.

In this second state, God "makes a way" for us to escape the "treadmill" of trying and failing by offering total and non-revocable forgiveness for our "law breaking".  Just as God provided for Abraham and his son Isaac on Mt. Moriah, or for Noah and his family, or for His people on the night of the Passover; He "makes a way" for us.  I recognize the "Savior" face of God as being Jesus Christ.  Although the New Testament (Volume II) describes Christ during his time on Earth, this second face of God has always been part of God' substance.  God the Savior was the face of God that took the life of an animal in order to clothe Adam and Eve, rather than to just strike them dead right on the spot for breaking the law.  That was the same part of God who continued to bless King David even after he committed adultery, deceit, and murder.

So how does a logical person accept all this and be able to see both God the Father and God the Savior?   The answer lies in the third face of God: God the Spirit.  This third person of the "Trinity" is that aspect of God that creates faith in the hearts of men.  It is like the air that our bodies naturally breathe.  Just like the air, the Spirit is all around us and ready to rush into the "lungs" of our soul.  However, just like Adam and Eve, who thought they knew better than God as to what was good for them, we tend to "hold our breath" against the Spirit and not let him into our lives.  We try to do it ourselves.  Of course, for those who only know the lawgiving face of God, "doing it ourselves" is the only logical result.  The irony here is that for those who "hold their breath" against God, they may never know the other faces He has to offer and by not knowing the other faces, they don't even know they are holding their breath.  Someone once told me that we can overcome this condition by trying this approach:  "Let Go, Let God".

- DTBR, July 2001

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