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A Subversive Trinity: Part One

Posted: 05/06/2007


Could it possibly be that the Trinity, the crowning achievement of Christendom, actually undermines some of the very values that the Empire itself holds dear? I wouldn't have thought so, but as I prepared over the weekend to talk about the Trinity at Space For God last night I realised just how wrong I was. On the contrary, I discovered that in stumbling upon the Trinity, Christendom would open up a Pandora's Box capable of shaking its very foundations.

I'm sure that many of you would be surprised to hear that I retain an avowedly Trinitarian faith. After all as some of you may argue, I've been tried and convicted of almost every heresy under the sun, so why would I bother to retain an article of faith so orthodox as the Trinity? Well, I can tell you that the Trinity now means simultaneously more and less than what it ever meant to me when I was an evangelical. I can't help but think that the Trinity is just manifestly absurd. It simply defies logic. And this is precisely the point. As someone who is naturally analytical and someone who craves intellectual discourse, the Trinity is a fairly humiliating article of faith in which to believe. However much I try to get my mind around the Trinity, I just can't - I am utterly defeated and brought down to the place where I need to be so that I may be ready to be taught by God. It is a mystery and it will always remain a mystery to me.

I believe that the Trinity is fundamentally subversive towards Christendom because it is a threat to all the elaborately constructed doctrinal frameworks that have been created through the years. These doctrines have served to empower the institution at the the expense of the believer. The believer is not encouraged to journey outside of parameters imposed by the Church, lest he or she wander too far and stumble upon a truth that may get him or her excommunicated. Indeed, this proved to be a significant barrier obstructing my own spiritual walk until such time as I came to realise that the God I worship does not dwell in a house made by human hands.

In contrast to the stifling and imprisoning environment of Christendom, the mystery of the Trinity helps us to draw closer to God with a sense of wonder and openness. We recognise that we worship a God who transcends all of our humanly constructed paradigms, a God who both precedes and supercedes Aristotelian logic. Our feeble propositions can only help us to see in the mirror dimly. We see only a shadow of God rather than His true essence. The true God is at the same time higher than our loftiest thoughts and closer than our most intimate experiences. To pursue the true God and not simply His shadow, we must follow deeper, further. We must travel beyond words, beyond logic, beyond symbols. Only then will we discover our true resting place.

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  • You are beginning to get it… Our GOD is NOT logical. It is only we who are limited in our perception of the truth. Just because we have not managed to quantify GOD does not mean that HE is not there. Just because we fail to hear does not mean that HE does not still speak. & Just because we fail to see all HIS miraculous works does not mean that HE has ceased to perform them (regardless of scale) to this very day. We breathe, yet we fail at times to acknowledge where it comes from.


        — Cameron Martin, Australia · May 30, 05:38 pm

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