Sunday is Trinity Sunday. Understanding the concept of being three-in-one, but yet separate, is difficult to grasp.
How do you explain it to children — and to adults?
Sunday is Trinity Sunday. Understanding the concept of being three-in-one, but yet separate, is difficult to grasp.
How do you explain it to children — and to adults?
The Trinity isn't like water, steam, and ice; The Trinity is not like three players on one team, or Thre-In-One oil, or a toothpaste with three stripes. (I have heard and seen comparisons of the Trinity to all these.)
Any analogy for the Trinity ultimately fails. You cannot explain the Trinity. God's Triune nature ia a mystery. That is to say, we could never discover God's nature by our own logic (God Himself reveals it to us) and we can only believe in the Trinity through God's gift of faith (Luther: "not by my own will or reason...")
Therefore, let us be careful to name God by the name He has given us for Himself: Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and to use the traditional terms and pharses from scripture to describe our God, not our own words and thoughts.
[Perhaps it would be better to not seek webpage viewers' responses to questions that throw dogma/doctrine into doubt, but rather state eternal truths and allow viewers to comment on how those truths form and shape their faith and lives.]
I'm not sure how you can conclude that this question throws doctrine/dogma into doubt. While it is true that the Trinity is a mystery as opposed to a "problem" (as problems are meant to be solved while mysteries are what they are), we must have a way to describe such things, especially to those who may be new/skeptical to the faith.
I think the Trinity can be usefully explained if we talk about relationship between the persons and humanity.
That being said, I'm all for questions that throw doctrine and dogma into doubt, generally. We must not be afraid for dogma/doctrine to move and bend. Every bridge has some flex to it. If it does not, it breaks under the strain of its own function.
YOUNG CHILDREN? They are often willing to accept not knowing, since so much is mysterious to them. If a youngster asks about the Trinity, we can "tell" or "share" without having to "explain" in full.
For example, we might say that we know ONE God - with many names. Think of someone you call "Mommy" - and that's her name - she is Mommy. A friend calls her "Helen" - and she is. Daddy calls her "Sweetie" - and she is. Well, God IS "Jesus", and we also use other names like "Lord" or "Father" or "Spirit" or "Immanuel - God with us".
TEENS? Listen to what the teens say. They know that in the English Bible, God is called Father, Son, Holy Spirit. This ONE God is our Maker, our Savior, and our Friend. It's wonderful that God creates, that God lived on earth as Jesus, and that God stays with us always.
ADULT? We can listen and share as with teens (see above). Sometimes adults just wonder aloud, and sometimes we're seriously puzzled or searching. I find the water/ice/steam comparison to be helpful. There's also a book in our church library describing a single apple as 3-in-1 because of the skin/flesh/seeds.