The Trinity and Salvation

Why was the death of Christ necessary for our salvation?

No, I asked you first.

I don't have an answer, but I do know that there are many theories.  You can google them if you like.  I think Adam Hamilton reviews several of them in one of his books.

I was listening to a podcast "You Made it Weird" by Pete Holmes: he was interviewing Nadia Bolz-Weber.  I liked it, but I wouldn't recommend it if you are bothered by language.  Anyway, one of them was summing up one of the theories like this: God had one son, and he loved him very much. But we are so sinful - you are so sinful - that God had to kill his son in order to forgive our sins.  

That's an exaggeration of a theory, but it does reflect some of the thought around one of the theories of atonement.

Stop for a moment and think of the trinity.  God is Jesus.  Jesus is Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is God.  Jesus was incarnated as a human - but that means that God was incarnate.  God died.  God loved us so much that God died.

When you shine the light of the Trinity on the crucifixion, it changes the understanding of it, I think.

No, I still don't have the answer.  But do think about the question.

A hand to hold

When a mother walks down the street with a toddler, she holds out her hand and the child grasps it.  It is a connection.  I imagine the child knows the safety and security of holding on -- the balance it provides and the protection offered.  The hand is the way the child connects to the mother for those moments.

The mother is much more than the hand, but the hand offered and taken is the way the child grasps the mother.

God is beyond our understanding, and yet God provides us with ways to hold on -- to grasp him.

I know and believe that God is a triune God.  That God is creator, son and holy spirit -- all three in one, but I can't understand it.  God knows I can't understand it.

God gives me ways to grasp a part of himself.  Images of parts of what God is like -- God the father, Jesus, the son.  The presence of the Holy spirit.  These are my handholds.  These are ways I can relate, even though I know all are one, sometimes, the Spirit is the handhold I need to grasp God.

I don't have to understand, I just have to believe.

All things in Three

This evening I was reading this sermon by Songbird.

How do you think of the trinity?  It's a concept that is way too complicated to really understand, I think.  Of course its purpose is too describe a God who is much too complicated to understand or even imagine.

There is an aspect of it I have never really considered before.   There are times when we need a creator -- a father -- an almighty presence.  There are times when we need a brother -- a friend -- an advocate -- a savior.  There are times when we need a presence -- a shadow -- a guide.  Whatever our need, God can meet it for he is all of these.

The trinity describes a God who can be all things - whatever we need, whenever we need it.