I love a good mystery

I was a big fan of mystery novels when I was growing up.  I think I started off with the Bobsey Twins and then moved onto the Hardy Boys and  Nancy Drew.  Good ole Nancy was my favorite, I thought she was so cool.  I have since become a fan of Brother Cadfael who is a monk in a medieval monastery in England.  In fact, there are several murder mysteries set in medieval monasteries on the market today.  It's amazing how many people die under suspicious circumstances in or at a monastery in the middle of nowhere in these stories.

Why do I bring up mysteries?  Because every year when we celebrate Trinity Sunday, it reminds me of the great mysteries of our faith.  I went to Google Images and typed in "Trinity" to see what would pop up.  Try it, it is rather interesting.  There are a lot of triangular images and a woman wearing black leather appears rather frequently...I had no idea what THAT connection was so I had to click on it to see where it would take me.  When I saw the MATRIX, I realized it was that movie I had heard about that came out a few years ago.  (I never did see it, don't know if I ever will)

They offer semester long classes in seminaries and tomes have been written over the centuries to try and make sense of it.  If I were to take such a class I am pretty sure that after it was all said and done the most I would be able to say is, "It's a great mystery."

Three persons in ONE God?

Come on, that makes NO sense logically if you really think about it.  But what about God IS logical?  

We have the luxury of living with 'defined' doctrine about the Trinity because of those church councils that hashed all that out in the 4th and 5th centuries.   So in one sense all I have to do is sit back, accept it and not worry about it.

However, last year I had a niece ask me, "Where in the Bible does it mention the Trinity?"  She asked this because she was contemplating becoming Mormon and apparently that is an argument a Mormon will bring up.  I had never really thought about it before so I was a little stunned by the question.    

My first thought was "You silly child", but my actual response was, "It's all over the place, just because it isn't formally defined in scripture doesn't mean that the Trinity doesn't exist."  

Our beloved John is really a great Trinitarian Gospel writer even though he probably didn't know it at the time.   He talks about the Father and the Spirit a lot, especially in the Last Discourse during the Last Supper.  I especially like this from John 14:16-17:

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—  the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

I don't believe I'll try and wrestle with trying to understand the Trinity beyond the above scripture passage.  Why mess with what already works?!   :)