Also NNT, discussing the doctrine of the Trinity with Tyler Cowan, in reference to Taleb's book Skin In The Game. The reality of the Trinity is God's way of demonstrating that He has skin in the game WRT human beings. We don't believe those who stay aloof really care about us. Unitarians eventually become Deists. But those who have marched with us, endured with us, worked with us, suffered with us, eaten with us - those we believe and trust. Yet it is not merely a show for our benefit, that we might be moved to follow this god and not some other. It is in the very nature of God to have skin in the game.
I had trouble figuring out why is it that the Christian religion, we have that Trinity, which makes absolutely no sense to Muslims and makes no sense to anybody who’s not Christian. It makes so much sense to you if you are Christian.
Why is it that it makes so much sense to have a Trinity? Then the Christ, is he God? Well, he’s sort of like God, but he’s not God. Then you figure it out. If I go to the circus and I have a fellow walking on a tightrope with a parachute, I ask for my money back.
That’s not how it works. The Christ was sufficiently man to have skin in the game and sufficiently God to be God, so it worked. For that, we had to concoct a story that appears to be absurd, but is necessary. It kept coming back to the Trinity, no matter what they tried.
2 comments:
The Trinity as a concept is probably rooted in Greek philosophy of math. There's a whole account of how the very idea of 'one' implies something that is not part of the one -- 'not one' -- which gives you two; but in order for the concept of two to make sense, you need a third thing that serves to hold them together so that they can be compared as being two 'of a kind.' Thus, to have one you need three, and the concepts are distinct but inseparable. The Gospels were born into that world, and particularly by John we can see they are heavily influenced by it.
If you are coming from that world, too, it turns out the third thing -- the unifying thing, the concept of number or the number line, the Holy Spirit -- is powerfully different from the other two. Cf. Matthew 12:32.
Post a Comment