The Father incomprehensible, the Son Incomprehensible, the whole thing incomprehensible” (Dorothy Sayers)
Hi Fighter,
This coming Sunday is Trinity Sunday. It’s the only feast in the Christian calendar that celebrates a doctrine rather than a person, and it’s a doctrine that people have struggled with ever since its formulation.
The word ‘Trinity’ doesn’t appear in the Bible. Even so, by the early fourth century of our era, belief in the Holy Trinity had become the doctrinal bedrock of the church such that you couldn’t call yourself a Christian if you didn’t affirm it! The problem, of course, is that it’s hard to affirm something you don’t understand and, as Dorothy Sayers’ quote reminds us, most people find the whole thing incomprehensible.
“Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit. The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal. And yet they are not three eternals but one eternal. As also there are not three uncreated nor three incomprehensible, but one uncreated and one incomprehensible.” (from the creed of Saint Athanasius)
I remember my good friend, Sheikh Mansour Leghaei, saying to me that if only we could drop the Trinity doctrine, it would remove a lot of barriers between Christians and Muslims. That is no doubt true, and it would likewise bring us closer to Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Christadelphians, all of whom reject the doctrine. Why then do we hang on to this ancient formulation about God? Can’t we come up with a simpler concept, or perhaps just leave it to the individual believer to come up with their own concept of God?
Personally, I think there are good reasons for not only hanging on to the doctrine but for celebrating it as we do this Sunday, and a good starting point for recognising the importance of this doctrine (and of all church dogma) is to think about what it replaced. Prior to the birth of the church, religion didn’t have a lot to do with what you believed. That may sound ridiculous. Isn’t religion always about what you believe? Well … historically, no.
In the pre-Christian era, your religion was always something you were born into. It was a dimension of your tribal identity. If you were born Roman, your religion was Roman. If you were born Jewish, your religion was the religion of the Jews. Yes, there were variations within the different religions, such as the Pharisees and Sadducees within Judaism, and the worship of Mithras within the Roman cult. Even so, no one could actually change their religion without changing tribes. We might think of the ‘conversion’ of Ruth as spelled out in the book that bears her name.
“Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried.” (Ruth 1:16-17)
Changing religions was a big deal, and a voluntary change of religion could be seen as treasonous. Hence, when the Philippian jailor asks Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30), it is a desperate question, and I suspect he was expecting the Apostle to respond with either, “Sorry, but you are not a part of our tribe” or at least, “well … we have a process through which you can convert …”. The response of Paul and Silas though is extraordinary as it removes all the barriers.
“They answered, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”” (Acts 16:31)
All you have to do is believe! That’s extraordinary! You don’t need to be of any particular race or background or gender or anything. Just believe it and … you’re in!
The Gospel of the early Christians was an invitation to everyone with no real entry requirements beyond acknowledging the truth about Jesus, and at that time, when many of Jesus’ earthly companions were still alive, there probably would have been scant debate as to who Jesus was and what He was on about. Even so, as years passed and as the Apostles died off, the facts about Jesus and the interpretation of those facts became more hotly debated, to the point where church leaders had to step in an codify the facts in the form of doctrines.
The development of the doctrine of the Trinity is a great example of how the church handled this process. I’ve gone into detail of that process in other newsletters and sermons, so I won’t’ repeat myself here. Suffice it to say that the debate centred around whether Jesus could actually have been God, as some things He said suggested (John 15:30), or whether Jesus was very God-like but not equal to God, as some other things He had said suggested (John 14:28). Further, if Jesus was God, was He born God, or did He gradually turn into God over time?
These and similar questions inevitably arise from ambiguities grounded in the Biblical texts themselves, and the doctrine of the Trinity was the church’s attempt to stop all the speculation by coming up with something that everyone could agree on.
What they came up with was something paradoxical and complicated because it preserved all the ambiguities in the Biblical text. Rather than give a simple solution to the apparent contradictions in the Scriptures, our church fathers and mothers tried to come up with a formulation that affirmed everything the Scriptures said, even if at the expense of human logic. I see that as an outcome of real integrity!
So … as I see it, the doctrine of the Trinity was actually an attempt to keep us all together by ending speculation over who Jesus was, and allowing us to all move forward as one with a formulation that was true to the Scriptures, even if it seemed a little nonsensical. Inevitably though, people being people, the doctrine became a point of division as well as unity. The bulk of the church did unify around the Trinity doctrine, but others broke away and continue to break away.
It is ironic that the early church’s emphasis on belief, which potentially removed all the tribal barriers that divide us, eventually became a barrier itself, dividing us into believers and non-believers – the orthodox and the heretics!
We can’t go backwards, and I suspect that any move to abandon or even revise the doctrine of the Trinity would create more problems than it would solve. Perhaps the best thing we can do is to recognise that behind the church’s emphasis on dogma, and behind the Byzantine complexity of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, was a simple invitation to everyone, regardless of race or tribe or gender or status – all you have to do is believe!
Our Sunday Eucharist
It was a rather spectacular Sunday Eucharist last weekend, particular for those who are passionate about the situation in Israel/Palestine. A special thank you to our panelists, Susan Wahhab and Tom Toby, for sharing their both wisdom and their zeal for God and for the vulnerable. As per usual, I’ve pasted the two most popular shorts from last Sunday below, and you can see all the shorts on our Sunday Eucharist Instagram page or watch the entire broadcast on our YouTube channel.
This Sunday I’m looking forward to having Karyn Hemming and Andrew Logan join me on the panel. I do hope you can join us too. Bring your friends with you by referring them to the Facebook Event Page or to the Streamyard page. We broadcast, as usual, from noon (Sydney time) via TheSundayEucharist.com, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia or Streamyard.
I do look forward to sharing this Eucharist with you. 😊
Let me work your corner
If you’d like to see my work continue, please click here to make a one-off donation. If you can afford a monthly contribution, sign up at Patreon.com and choose either:
Middleweight – $10/month (community mentoring)
- Enrol in the Fighting Fit training program
- Access member-only training videos
- Engage in the members-only forum
Super-Middleweight $50/month (remote mentoring)
- All of the above +
- One-on-one mentoring via email, phone, or Skype
Heavyweight – $100/month (in-person mentoring)
- All of the above +
- Training with Father Dave’s Old School Boxing Academy
Superheavyweight – $200/month (intensive in-person mentoring)
- All of the above +
- One weekend per month at Binacrombi Bush Camp.
Every dollar helps keep the wheels turning – the websites, the newsletters, the broadcasts, the boxing club and the bush camp. Sign up at Patreon.com.
What’s On?
- Saturday, June 14th – Boxing @Legends Gym in Kensington from 2pm
- Sunday, June 15th – Our Eucharist from noon @ thesundayeucharist.com, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia or Streamyard)
- Tuesday, June 17th– Boxing at the Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm.
- Thursday, May 19th – Boxing at the Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm
It’s been a very emotional week for me. After returning from a long but fruitful long weekend at Binacrombi, I woke to find messages from friends, telling me that my dear brother, Dr Hassoun of Syria, who was imprisoned by the Jolani regime and tortured, had died from his wounds. I spent the day grieving and not knowing what to do. In the evening, I received news from someone in contact with his family, saying that he was still alive! Now I don’t know what to think.,
I’ve been talking with my good friend, Mimi (Syrian Girl), and we are strategizing as to how we can best campaign for his release. We’re thinking to broadcast a webinar in the next week or two through which we can stream tributes to the great man. Of course, this all assumes he really is still alive. I’ll let you know as soon as we can confirm the facts and put something together .
In the meantime, World War III seems to have begun, with Israel making a military strike on Iran and killing military figures and scientists, along with multiple civilians. I hope I’m wrong, but I can’t see any way now of avoiding a global conflict.
Iran didn’t respond at all to Israel’s last attack. I’ve just finished an interview with an Iranian TV station, and I don’t think the Iranian people will allow their government to sit on their hands again. Having said that, I believe Israel attacked because they want Iran to counter-attack, as this will pull the US directly into the conflict, and I think Netanyahu knows he can’t destroy Iran unless the US leads the charge.
Here’s how I see things playing out:
- Iran hits back as hard as they can, attempting to take out Israel’s nuclear facilities and possibly also damage the broader civilian infrastructure.
- Unless the Iranian strikes are extraordinarily successful, Israel may make a nuclear strike in response or, at the very least, they will counter-attack with the full force of US air force and navy behind them.
- This will trigger a full-scale military response from Iran which will include local Iranian cells in the US (and any other countries who join them) carrying out attacks in their respective homelands.
However things play out from there, the whole world will pay the price. Even if countries like Australia are wise enough to keep their distance militarily, the catastrophic rise in oil prices will wreak economic havoc around the globe. Not just transport, but the farming and industrial sectors will be thrown into chaos, potentially leading to massive unemployment, food shortages, riots, etc. If things do unfold this way, be sure to reserve enough fuel to get to Binacrombi where we can take refuge.
Forgive the apocalyptic tone of the preceding paragraphs but I don’t think we want to underestimate the seriousness of the moves currently being made by our political leadership. As Tom and Susan pointed out last Sunday, our world leaders are worshipping the wrong god and, as with the Tower of Babel, it can only end in chaos.
Let us redouble our prayers for our leaders. Perhaps even now they will turn towards the truth, or perhaps Mr Trump and Mr Netanyahu will both be crushed under the weight of their own hubris? The future is far from certain, yet I am confident that our God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – will have the final word.
Your brother in the Good Fight,
www.fatherdave.org
www.fatherdave.info
www.fightshop.biz
www.fatherdave.net
www.father-dave.org
www.fatherdave.com.au
www.binacrombi.com.au
www.savethesheikh.com
www.prayersforsyria.com
www.fighting-fathers.com
www.boxersforpeace.com
www.softwareresales.com
www.warriorweekends.com
www.israelandpalestine.org
www.thesundayeucharist.com
www.oldschoolboxing.academy
www.christiansandmuslims.com
www.christianswithdepression.com
P.S. About a dozen people expressed interest in having a mid-week Bible study, with the majority opting for a weekday morning. Let me check with a few more people and I’ll try to schedule something by the next newsletter.
About Father Dave Smith
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
