Essays on Religion

Topic 6: A Trinity of Errors

Tritheism, Or, The Muslim Argument

Muslims hold that Christians believe in three Gods. You would expect that all the “The LORD is One” type quotes in the Bible would preclude this, but Muslims think they have a very good reason for believing this.

You see, Christians profess a belief in One God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Let's see, counting...1...2...3! Aha! Pagans! Polytheists!

Right?

Or not. In an ideal world, you could just take our word that we believe in one God. It would be nice not to be second-guessed. But I understand that issue clearly. What separates a “person” from an “entity”?

That is to say, why can God have three persons and yet remain one entity? The heart of this particular heresy is assuming that the two correlate on a one-to-one scale. And I totally get why: Each human is one person and one entity.

If we scale that up to God, he's still one entity (as he hammers into our heads throughout the Old Testament) so he's clearly still one person. Ah, but doesn't every incorrect assertion about God stem from an attempt to make him like us? Basic in Muslim theology is the belief that Allah is unknowable. If he's unknowable, how do you know that his one entity is entirely contained in one person?

Atheists use this argument too, as part of a litany of things about Christianity which appear to make very little sense. I'm going to draw an example from the natural world, which—although imperfect—might help to analogize the trinity.

Take an amoeba. One entity, veeeeery little personhood. Mostly concerned with finding food. Very dimly capable of thought.

Now take a fish. One entity, more—but still relatively little—personhood. A fish is mostly survival-driven. Possibly they can form basic attachments, but not much else.

Now take a dog. One entity, almost a human personhood. Dogs are surprisingly close to people, perhaps not quite as complex, but certainly more than a fish or lizard.

Now take a human. One entity, one personhood. This should be self-explanatory.

Now take God. One entity...but by this trend, if you like, what should be the status of his personhood? Surely not one! That would mean he is as complex as a human. I don't think anyone believes that. No, we have to break what looks like the limit and go over one. And not just two, but three distinct persons.

Partialism, Or, The Mathematicians's Argument

Ever try evangelizing a mathematician? I have. I love mathematics, and it's taught me virtually everything I need to know about theology. The techniques are the same, surprisingly, and higher math is more mind-blowingly spiritual than you might think.

Thing is, when it comes to the trinity, a hard-sciences guy isn't going to like, “1+1+1=1.”

I mean to say, I cringed when I wrote that, and I'm a firm Trinitarian!

So what's up?

Well, some Christians have taken it upon themselves to re-define trinitarian doctrine as saying “each member of the trinity is one-third of God, and only the trinity itself is God.”

Ah. That feels good. Now I can say “1/3 + 1/3 + 1/3 = 1.” Huzzah.

Except, wait. What is a third of a God? This belief actually raises more issues than it solves. If the Father and the Son could join together, what would they be capable of doing as 2/3 of a God?

Partialism is really just polytheism with a common denominator.

But this heresy can be more subtle. Ever used the argument, “It's like an egg: You've got the yolk, the shell, and the white stuff. But only one egg.” Well, that's partialism. And it still raises the same problems.

The best way to get past partialism is, not surprisingly, to have a better knowledge of mathematics. After all, who said that simple integers best describe the almighty ground of all being? That's like trying to use a fourth grade chemistry textbook to teach yourself Quantum mechanics.

Let's say God is infinity. I like that, do you? Something appeals about representing God as the number that never ends and cannot be comprehended by the human brain.

What's infinity + infinity? Well, if you're up on your math, it's still infinity. Not 2 infinity. That would go against the definition of infinity.

Well, what's infinity + infinity + infinity? Yep. Infinity.

God + God + God = God. Not three Gods. That, too, would contradict the definition of God.

Modalism, Or, The Most Common Trinitarian Error

There are no “new” heresies, or so the old saying goes. Literally everything you can believe has already been believed, and modalism is the poster boy for this saying. It's about as old as Christianity, and STILL churches without a good grounding in theology will pass it off as a legitimate approach to the God.

Put in rather tongue-in-cheek terms, Modalism is the belief in God as the cosmic dress-up artist. In Act 1 I will be the father, in Act 2 I change my makeup and throw on a hat to be the Son, and then in Act 3 I put on this false mustache and become the Spirit.

You'd be surprised how wide-spread this belief is! Ever heard, “It's like how a man can be a father, a brother, and a husband at the same time.” Modalism.

How about, “It's like how H2O can be steam, vapor, or ice.” Modalism.

Why is modalism wrong? Well, it depends on how your using it. In the first example, where you think of one entity play-acting roles, this relegates each member of the Trinity to masks worn by some other God. In the second example, this denies that they are of one essence, which is heading back towards polytheism.

This is where atheists get their jokes about Jesus talking to himself. Indeed, prayer gets weird if you consider that God WAS Jesus at the time of the incarnation. Who was he talking to? Who exactly was present at the Baptism?

More problematically, if the Father is one mode, and the Son is one mode, could God appear as the Father and the Son? Is that one mode? It should be no problem to an almighty God.

How about as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Can God exist in that mode?

It's the question where any answer will take-down Modalism.

In the past, where I've disagreed with someone's presentation of the Trinity, they're usually quick to reply, “Oh, I know that God is three persons in one essence, but this false analogy helps me picture it.”

But merely professing to believe something is not the same as understanding it. If you're tempted to reach for these examples to explain or rationalize your faith in the Trinity, odds are, you don't quite understand it.

“But,” they complain. “Why does it matter what I use to think about it if I really believe in the Trinity?”

The Trinity is one of the biggest and most impressive mysteries in Christian doctrine. Nevertheless, there is a connection between what you believe with your brain and what you believe in your heart.

 Straighten the first out, and the second will follow.