Dear People                       Whom God Loves,

Dear People Whom God Loves,

CHRISTIAN VISION OF GOD

Let us look at various beliefs about God and see how they compare to our Christian vision of God.

Atheism - the belief that God does not exist

Agnosticism -neither believing, nor not believing, in the existence of God

Deism - believing in God who is not personal and not involved with us

Theism - believing in a personal God who is involved with us

Polytheism - believing in a number of personal Gods

Monotheism -believing in one personal God

Pantheism -believing in the identity of God in nature

Panentheism -believing that God is in nature but nature is not identical to God

Trinity -This doctrine is the formulation used by Christians to express their belief in God.

Christians could be called monotheists because we believe in one God. The first Christians were also Jews and they worshipped the one God - Yahweh. They had a dilemma. They needed to cling to the worship of Yahweh. At the same time as they experienced the presence of Jesus as still with them, they experienced that - in some mysterious way - in Jesus, God had come into humanity and indeed all of creation...that God's presence in this world was a loving, healing, forgiving, redeeming presence. This one God they worshipped was not only other than them, but deep in them, all humans, and all creation. This mystical experience also included that this one God they worshipped was continually active in their lives bringing healing, forgiveness, comfort, challenge, support, enlightenment, courage, new vision, and much more.

Then came the slow, tedious task of putting this mystical experience into words. Remember, mystical experience can never be put adequately into words. The words can point to the experience, but they can't really describe it. These words will remain mostly words until we have a similar experience.

So gradually, the early Christians put this into the doctrine we call the Trinity: three persons, One God. (What we mean by person today does not well translate the Greek word the early Christians used.)

Let us be open and allow God to give us the mystical experience that the doctrine of the Trinity points to. Then Trinity will not be a dusty doctrine. That experience will change our lives.

Smile, God Loves You,

Father Clay

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