18 Person in the Godhead: A Model

Remember! When I refer to person in the Godhead in any blog, I am referring either to singular person (one-of-three) or to the collective person (three-in-one) of the Triune.

Back to my spiritual odyssey. Where was I? Oh, yes—ready to return to the idea of the invisible self we began in Blog #15.

Hmmmmmm. Looks conclusive to me.

The invisible self, vital orb, epicenter of being, whatever you most like to call it (I’m going to use the term invisible self a lot from now on, though), plays a huge part in the separate or united being of person in the Godhead, don’t you agree? And the mind, though certainly not in a stand-alone way, is a grand power feature of that Godhead person or persons and the platform for His/their being and doing.

Okay then, granting that God’s mind is really something special, perfectly crafted to perform mental gymnastics for His consciousness when empowered by His Spirit to do so, let’s further expand our understanding of the fullness of person in the Godhead.

Did I hear someone say, “Go for it!”? I believe I did. So . . .

Back to Elohim! A thumbnail review reminds us that in Elohim, we have 3 separate persons in the Trinity collectively forming one invisible self, the Godhead. Let’s compare that one invisible self of the Godhead to something we know well—the sun and sunshine. Have you ever noticed the grand statement the sun makes in the sky occasionally when atmospheric conditions are just right and great broad rays can be seen streaming out of that golden globe? It is an awesome sight to see, isn’t it? Well, that’s how I see the Godhead, and the persons of the Trinity emanating separately from it. The Godhead is like the sun and the persons of the Triune are like 3 proceeding rays of the sun.

I cherish this mental picture. It combines what I think of as the most piercingly beautiful sight in the world—that sun and the streaming rays of light proceeding from it, with what I also consider to be the most majestic crowning actuality in life—the Godhead and its proceeding Triune.

And just as sun rays are separate and apart from the sun but always of the sun, so too the persons of the Godhead are separate and apart from the Godhead but always of the Godhead! Are you with me on this, my valued reader? Just checking.

To continue. To amplify our review, as I have said often enough before, each person of the Triune is capable of being one invisible self or, in reverse, of being one 3-in-one person. In other words, each invisible self is capable of separate and/or joint interplay—just like the rays of the sun we just visualized. Obviously, it was time for me, if not for you, to see a model of person in the Godhead, a model based on the sun and sun rays, of course. So, of course, paper and pencil in hand I feverishly put together another sketch. And there above to your right is the final result—a great illustration of my sun and sun rays idea. Thank you, Holy Spirit!

But the Godhead and triune exceed the limitations of the example of sunrays and sun by the very grandeur of their nature. The Godhead is life. The Godhead is volitional being. The Godhead is the overarching, the pinnacle reality of existence and experience. Consider how each invisible self of the Godhead is capable of intimate interaction! Consider how each is capable of communication and association with the other! Consider the power the Godhead possesses—unlimited! Have I made my point? I hope so because, guess what! The Godhead, The Triune is one valid and grand way to describe the pattern of God’s existence, the terrain of His being—an invisible self, capable of one-mind with other selves, being-and-doing separately and in relationships. With works to follow! Let's hear cries of awe and wonder! Don’t you agree?

To be continued . . .

Moments of Joy

I must interrupt my spiritual odyssey to share 3 moments of joy which have recently become mine, and if you love Adele and Brett as we do, recently became yours, too:

The first moment was when I found out that Adele was pregnant. The second moment was when I found out that Nurse Sheilah had told Adele that she could be confidently pregnant. The third moment was when I found out that Adele carries 2 babies on her and Brett's journey of pregnancy. I am decidedly overwhelmed with joy for Adele and Brett both, and for those fortunate babies, those 2 little beings, who are blessed to have Adele and Brett as their sweet parents. I will joyfully and regularly remember to remember them all in my prayers, always asking God that He remember them, be in charge of them--all.

And there is another moment of joy to share, gentle readers, on a different subject:

Friday night, Richard and I went to the Earl of Sandwich at Downtown Disney for dinner. They have great everything there but really great chocolate chunk brownies! It was crowded. It was, after all, Friday evening. Fortunately, I got us a great table inside, though it could easily seat 5 and I hated hogging all that space for just us. So I offered to share the table with first one couple, who declined with thanks because they were a party of 6, then with a second couple who gratefully accepted my offer.

Richard was in line getting our food and the husband sat down with me, as he got around with a tripod aluminum cane, while his wife went for the food.

I asked the gentleman where they were from and he said, Israel . . . Jerusalem. I asked him what his work was and he replied that he was a scientist, working on developing a model of photosynthesis at university in Jerusalem. I quickly appreciated that if he could develop such a thing what a remarkable application for new energy resources that would be. And his eyes lit up with gladness that I understood. Then his face sobered and he reminded me that it was a tedious process and most likely to take a long time.

Then both Richard and Joy (his wife's name, or one of them. I cannot pronounce his or her other first names, or their last name for that matter. And I did not write them down.) came back to the table and they wished us good appetite, we asked God to bless our food (as we ALWAYS do) and we all settled down enjoyably over Full Montagues and Meatball Subs and BROWNIES.

Both Joy and her husband were so interesting. Both are so concerned for Israel, tiny, world power Israel. They lamented that when people think of Israel, they seem to always think first about what a world power Israel is, somehow overlooking the issue of how tiny Israel is. They compared it to Rhode Island in size and expressed regret that peace in the mid-east meant, seemingly to one and all, constantly nibbling away at tiny Israel.

Richard and I, of course, soundly objected to endorsing, no, we roundly denounced any "nibbling away" at Israel. God gave Israel to the Jews. And, to us, that is that. We practice always deferring to God. We are obligated to support what God ordains and are overjoyed to do so.

Somewhat surprised by our response, they responded that they wished more Jews felt that way and said that ironically the most orthodox Jews supported giving pieces of Israel away because the Messiah to come would reinstate them. Then they confided that they did not believe that rigid application of religion and law would ever save them from their situation.

Richard related to them how the Catholic Church threw off centuries of intricate legalism with Vatican II, calling the faithful to renew their love for God and embrace an awakening of a new heart for God. He then asked if there were any figure in Judaism of comparable position to the pope, someone who could call Israel to renew their heart for God, as David did. After pondering this question a moment they replied that no there was not. And yet, and yet, we could tell these two very intelligent people were profoundly caught by the idea, even intrigued by the thought. I certainly was and still am!

Anyway, the noise level in the Earl of Sandwich was off the charts. You would think it would have been impossible to talk, much less think. But talk and think and share . . . and eat . . . we did. And later parted company with regret. But then, they were only visiting from Israel and had a non-stop itinerary planned.

I had to share this prolonged moment of joy. I won't ever forget it. Jew and Christian, our history and destiny are forever entwined, an we are so fortunate if we understand to always value, encourage and support each other.

P.S. I had been wanting "Earl" Brownies all day. Do you think God was up to something? Hmmm, I do! Bless Him!

Until later . . .

17 It All Works Something Like This!

Again, remember! When I refer to person in the Godhead in any blog, I am referring either to singular person (one-of-three) or to the collective person (three-in-one) of the Triune.

Well I know, gentle reader, you must be ready to pull you hair out wondering when but when am I going to share a little perspective on this exquisite matter of Person in the Godhead. The answer is soon. But please, bear with me a little longer, because at the time the Holy Spirit and I collaborated on this pursuit of the person of God, I was feeling just the way I imagine you feel at this moment. But feeling driven for answers didn’t give them to me. What came out of this drive did, though it took some time to come by.

Imagine me feverishly looking for a fresh piece of paper and a pencil to rough in a preliminary sketch. Imagine a lot of scribbles balled up and thrown away because that is exactly what happened. I fell to making one after another of my, by now, famous little drawings. None of which pleased me for a long, long time. But finally I came up with the picture below— the polished result of my multiple rudimentary attempts. I really like this illustration. It is so simple and yet it tells it all. And all these things about the Person of the Godhead we have discussed, well, it all works something like this!

Illustration #1: Dynamics of Person in the Godhead

16 Person in the Godhead: Being and Doing

Yoohoo! Remember! When I refer to person in the Godhead in any blog, I am referring either to singular person (one-of-three) or to the collective person (three-in-one) of the Triune.

Let’s get into being and doing in the Godhead.

It can authoritatively be derived from scripture that being and doing makes a person in the Godhead and that the principle source of being and doing in the Triune person is the soul. Further, it can similarly be derived that the principle machine of being and doing in the soul of the Triune person is the mind (evidence to that fact in later blogs).

But, oops, who can really know the mind of God? you should ask me. Scripture asks this question, too, rhetorically—implying that one cannot know the mind of God. And God Himself says that His ways are not our ways. And what scripture says is right!

Yet, I realized (and perhaps, conscientious reader, you can agree with me here) that there are basic features that form the terrain, so to speak, of God’s person. And this terrain, these features, can be explored, and much can be observed in the process and derived to our gain. For example, I note here that there is more to the soul of the Godhead than just the mind. In addition to the mind, scripture speaks of emotion, will, personality and life as components of soul in the Triune. And from this understanding I derived that these components compose the Power Features of the soul necessary for all Soul Processes in the Triune (you’ll see the evidence for this understanding in later blogs).

The idea of Soul Processes in the Triune is not just mine. And it’s not just I who proposes their existence. Without creating an outline to hand over to us, scripture speaks repeatedly of soul processes, giving examples that display their activity (specifics about this in later blogs). The principal soul processes alluded to include faculty, operations and product, and the interaction of all these components gives meaning and dimension and credibility to what I think of as Soul Power in the Triune.

To enlarge on this idea of mine (derived from scripture), consider that scriptural and word study reveals that the Soul Processes associated with the Power Features of the Triune can be defined by the aforementioned three parts of faculty, operations and product. First, Soul Processes can be defined as internal structure and organization which I call faculty. Secondly, Soul Processes can be defined as activities which produce structure and organize the invisible self and I call that operations. Both faculties and operations together give rise to the third Soul Process which I call product, or the outgrowth of faculties and operations. These dynamics, all combined, I thus term Soul Processes, or alternately, Power Functions. Rest assured, my exploration of these terms eventually took me much further back and deeper (C.S.Lewis) and I will relay these explorations in later blogs.

But let’s stick to the subject at hand, right now. I want you to note, dear reader, another glimpse of truth I noted from my first two diagrams. From the models in Blog#14, 15 and this one, it quickly became obvious to me that mind in the Godhead could never stand alone. Was never meant to stand alone. Without consciousness to captain the collective power features of the soul—specifically, without consciousness to captain the mind; without emotion, will, personality and life to complement, color, direct, diversify and dramatically enrich the mind, the mind was an empty opportunity.

The same truth held true for the remaining aspects of person in the Godhead. Spirit, name and works absolutely, but absolutely stood out in my mind as imperative components, of (and I say again) absolute necessity to map the terrain of person in the Godhead. Without them, without spirit to empower the mind’s processes; without name or character to anchor the mind’s abilities; without works to highlight its existence—the mind was truly, truly, truly an empty opportunity. All these things together were a must and a do to define Person in the Godhead: being and doing and are terms that have historically been used for thousands of years and are more than fair to use today, also.

To be continued . . .

15 Consciousness: That & More

Picking right up where I left off in Blog #14, and feeling extremely pleased with my lead-off aspect of consciousness in the Godhead, I then put together the other aspects of person in the Godhead I had seen consistently and which readily jumped back out at me when I went in search of them. In both The Torah and The Bible the spirit-mind connection is referred to again and again by a specific set of terms (I now call them the Salient 6 Aspects of Person in the Godhead and remind you that their existence can be determined by you, me or anybody else, simply by sifting through the scriptures with an eye toward finding them. As God promised, I could look for answers and I would find them. You can too!).

The 6 terms are consciousness, mind, soul (heart), spirit (life/power), name (reputation) and works (internal and external. In my spiritual odyssey I have found that these terms form not only the concept of the intangible spiritual reality but that and more. They also form the dynamics of “being and doing” in the Godhead (but more on that in the next blog). It should be noted that the use of any one of the terms in the scriptures is frequently interchangeable with or may be combined with any of the other stipulated terms.

At that point I wanted another diagram so I drew (on my computer) diagram #2 depicting the 6 aspects of person and revealing how I saw all these components nest together, one within the other, in the person (another glimpse of truth!). In this model, consciousness is seated in the mind, which is seated in the soul, which is seated in the spirit, which is seated in name, which is seated in works.

components nest together, one within the other, in the person (another glimpse of truth!). In this model, consciousness is seated in the mind, which is seated in the soul, which is seated in the spirit, which is seated in name, which is seated in works.

Explain that, please! I can hear you crying.

I can best explain that diagram by saying that, without a moment’s hesitation between drawing that diagram and my next thought, I at once abandoned it, as useful as it was as a preliminary idea, and then proceeded (this time visualizing in my mind and using my imagination) to instead weave these aspects together and see them form a matrix of being for the Godhead, an arrangement of energies that create what I came to call a vital orb, a center and nexus, or better yet the term I used above—the epicenter, of invisible self. This picture defied drawing! So, try to imagine these intangible lines of being spun together as an elastic, electromagnetic, bundled force-field, a force-field coursing with life and demonstrating works!

It’s worth a try! Do it!

Hope that helped.

Anyway . . .

To be continued. . .

14 Person in the Godhead: A Glimpse

Hello again, dear readers. Sorry I've been gone so long, but I took sick leave. I had the allergy-with-piggy-back-virus-and-secondary-infection-with-antibiotics sort of thing. Yuk. But that aside, there is something else I want to say.

I can’t get on with the blog without saying, no, without pointing out that all, but all, of this spiritual odyssey has been undertaken with beaucoup prayer. That means that the Holy Spirit steadied me through all of this and elucidated all my thinking. The credit for this sort-out goes all to Him. Any blame goes all to me.

Also please note: When I refer to person in the Godhead in any blog, I am referring either to singular person (one-of-three) or to the collective person (three-in-one) of the Triune.

Now, I shared with you in the last blog how I found through research that zoe or the spirit-mind connection resides in the non-corporeal form (and later in the corporeal form, also) of person in the Triune, whether as one-of-three or three-in-one. And how I found that person can be defined generally as “an individual of specified character”. To me, these were tremendously encouraging insights at this point in my spiritual odyssey! My pursuit of knowing God was giving me something that immediately resonated deeply with me.

I see now that probably to any onlooker these discoveries were simple things, but to me each came with a halo effect (is the best way I can describe it). Each insight came with an extra energy that emanated from each, emanated with an energy that stayed and stayed and still stays with me to this day—a supernatural energy. Explain that, if you can, I cannot, except to say that sometimes, from the corner of my eye, I get glimpses of the truth and this is one of them—God in each case allowed and transmitted staying power to accompany each insight. After years of questioning this effect, I now accept it as truth and I live and function and daily prosper in it—in fact, cherish the halo effect. But even then, though unclear why, I at the very least enjoyed the effect! So, on with the story.

I was now interested in what was the specified character or what were the specific aspects of person in the Godhead. And, on my own, I couldn’t think of any. And feeling profoundly clueless at that point, I prayed for guidance then restlessly fished around in my mind for some sort of sign from God as to where-to-next.

Gratifyingly enough, I immediately recalled an “aha” moment from a while past when I had happened to notice, though just in passing (during one of my many read-throughs of the Bible), that Biblical terms referring to God had an ongoing and consistent pattern of repetition to them throughout Old and New Testament. Unfortunately, just exactly what were those most oft-used terms did not also spring to mind. But, in general, I felt sure that I was remembering rightly that Hebrew thought as recorded in God-breathed scripture saw the spirit-mind of God as a site of very specific intangible aspects and spoke of them repeatedly. So I decided to try to pull together a sample of those aspects and see what they looked like. Here is the gist of what I found once I started looking!

My perusal produced an amazing harvest actually!

But what riveted me first and foremost was the idea of consciousness and the Godhead, which persistently kept reappearing (specifics about this in later blogs). It was as if God was telling me things about Himself and this is what He wanted me to know and know first. What fascinated me most was that I had never really grasped how frequent or significant a claim this consciousness was that scripture made —that is that the Godhead demonstrates consciousness. Where had my head been all these years, I wondered? (Answer, dear reader, in a beauty salon under a hair dryer, of course!) Yes, what stood out most to me as I pursued my review of scripture was how chief among the several aspects I found consciousness to be—a person of the Godhead was consistently pictured as first, last, and always a conscious being.

Actually, scripture pictured consciousness as the epicenter (as I call it) of person in the Godhead. Scripture also described repeatedly how this epicenter of person in the Godhead exists independent of any material construct (such as a computer, or a brain). That’s a big thought! Toss that one around a bit. I did!

So I followed where the Spirit led and right then and there chose consciousness as the primary aspect of the character of God! Then I drew a simple diagram of this epicenter idea using a circle (also a symbol for eternity) occupied by a starburst to represent the consciousness. And I liked my little drawing. P.S. I still love this diagram! To me, it conveys so much. And I consider it a precious glimpse of person in the Godhead.

To be continued . . .

13 Zoe and the Spirit-Mind Connection

Starting from where I left off yesterday, here I was in my sixties, brimming over with 16 years worth of foraging in the forests of the spirit-filled life; fresh from my encounter with the Hebrew word Elohim and its lessons about the Godhead and its invisible nature (Romans 1:20); blooming with a nascent belief system soundly oriented to and based on the precedents of research, knowledge, historical fact, and sound witnesses; and standing solidly on my own choice consciously made, I see now that I was fully primed for something.

So, what something? you may well ask, curious reader.

Keeping in mind that God, Elohim, is a plural description for the godhead (Blog #11) and God has an invisible nature (Blog #12), I began to consider how a plural Godhead exists in an invisible way. Worth pursuing, don’t you think?

I found insight in this area from extensive delving into the musings of C.S. Lewis, a life-long favorite of mine. As I understand Mr. Lewis, God’s “invisible nature” is first of all as a spiritual being (Greek, zoe) without a body or organic brain (Greek, bios—that comes later), BUT WITH A MIND. (David C. Downing, Into the Wardrobe: C.S. Lewis and the Narnia Chronicles, Chapter 3: The Spiritual Vision of the Narnia Chronicles).

But the truth doesn’t stop there—the Godhead’s image is zoe and more.

Consider this. I repeat, the largest image of God for Judeo-Christians is the triune God, 3-in-one. But three what? one absolutely must ask. For this answer I cast about in various places. The great hymn "Holy, Holy, Holy" gave me a real heads-up one Sunday in worship service. It says, “God in three persons (God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit), Blessed Trinity”! Not that I had not heard or sung this hymn an infinite number or times before, I had, but this was the first time, the first time I heard it as a jubilant secret breathed to me on the exalted lyrics of this hymn of praise.

From Wikipedia free encyclopedia I include this quote with links. "Holy, Holy, Holy" is a Christian hymn written by Reginald Heber (1783-1826).^[1][2][3] Its lyrics speak specifically on the Trinity.^[2][3] It was written specifically for the use on Trinity Sunday.^[3] John Bacchus Dykes composed the tune Nicaea specifically for this hymn in 1861.^[3] The name is a tribute to the First Council of Nicaea which formalized the doctrine of the trinity in 325.^[2][3]”

Collecting my gems of information gathered so far, let’s see where they lead. I found that C.S. Lewis has just told me that the spiritual being of the Godhead exists with a mind and then I found that the hymn Holy, Holy, Holy told me that the Godhead, specifically each person of the Godhead, each member of the triune, is first and foremost a person. Then my American Heritage Dictionary defined person as “an individual of specified character.”

Next, I discovered what the phrase Godhead-of-three-persons means. Genesis 1:26-28 addresses the Godhead when it discusses the likeness (or image) of God! Listen to what Larry Christenson, B.A., B.Th., has to say about the Godhead in Kingdom Dynamics, The Spirit-Filled Life Bible (c.1991, by Thomas Nelson, Inc.)

“These verses introduce a phrase that is the cornerstone of the biblical understanding of man: image of God. The image of God is presented first and foremost in relation to a unique social or community concept of God. . .one God, yet a community of persons.”

Pondering that statement, I recalled a statement by William Lane Craig, a man many call Christianity’s current and greatest Apologist. In a Sunday School class Richard and I attended, (Dr. Craig was teaching at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, Georgia) he explained the Godhead (and I paraphrase, though faithfully, I hope) as a center of 3 distinct personalities in a functional hierarchy. What a gem of insight!

Well, that substantiated what I just quoted Larry Christenson as saying—the Godhead as a community of persons.

To this I added the studied belief of other apologists that I had providentially tucked away for just such a moment. As I have described before, until the incarnation of the Word, the persons of the trinity are singly and collectively purely soul-spirit beings.(Beyond Death: Exploring the Evidence for Immortality, Gary R. Habermas and J.P. Moreland, 1998).

All this left me wondering, how then does this 3-in-1 Godhead work? Though my understanding was making great progress it still had quite a way to go. I was ready to consider what I had thus come to think of, rather progressed to think of, as the spirit-mind connection.

Note here, valued reader, how this spiritual odyssey is reshaping the thinking of the airhead debutante in me. This effect proves why I have told you to choose carefully what and whom you believe, because both profoundly influence your thinking.

To be continued . . .

12 My Choice

To carry on, it matters whether or not I believe in a plural, triune God.

If scriptural evidence supports these claims of God to be God; if reason supports them; if the experience and testimony of many qualified people such as first hand witnesses, historians, great thinkers—better people than I— the 12 apostles (Judas excluded. Paul included.), Emperor Constantine of Rome (300 A.D.), Joan of Arc, C.S. Lewis (a former atheist), my Grandfather, and more—all believers to the grave, some at great sacrifice--supports them; then I bow to the body of evidence in gratitude for the contributions of all concerned and embrace the Judeo-Christian concept of God.

My choice! (Note: Choice is a POWER WORD, more about that later.)

From a study of Apologetics (The practice of arguing and defending the Faith.), I discovered that the scriptural texts of the Torah and the Bible are the oldest, most authenticated ancient writings on earth.

In fact, no other writings compare.

In fact, the texts have been preserved over the years with scrupulous care by both Jew and Christian alike.

In fact, there is no legitimate contest to their veracity (many misunderstandings, but no genuine indisputable contradictions to the Word).

In fact, the Bible (as a whole!) is recorded history with eyewitnesses and corroboration from external sources, such as Herodotus, the Roman historian, contemporary of Jesus.

In fact, confidence in Judaism and Christianity is both objectively and subjectively well-founded. If not exhaustive, the scriptures are accurate throughout. When one book speaks in one way about a subject and another speaks differently, the TWO (or more) TOGETHER complement each other and build a larger picture. Some choose to say they conflict, undermine each other. A choice. Remember, choice is a power word.

You have choice—power, and I have choice—power. But consider, a 3-dimensional sculpture conveys a different understanding from a 2-dimensional picture, neither one of them is wrong. But one is incomplete. The same with scripture. More scripture means more viewpoints, means more understanding. And you build understanding the same way you build a relationship with God—fitting substance together one piece at a time, over time, until what you started with far exceeds that with which you began.

Moving on, a great body of Biblical evidence further identifies Elohim’s existence and works, and furthermore substantiates Elohim’s triune nature as invisible. Romans 1:20 states, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” (NKJV) And, yes, I believe that, too. God is invisible and real. My choice.

How could I not believe it, I ask you my fair-minded reader? With my life-as-too-fine-an-idea-to-be-accidental kind of thinking, it is a must. I miss the meaning of life if I do not.

The upshot? My new attitude of entering exclusively into the Word and being open-minded to it for all the right reasons experienced its first major deployment. And I discovered that God as my organizing principle is clearly a pertinent and relevant choice for me to make for sorting things out. And that led my odyssey to now take on a whole new dimension. Besides a journey of discovery it was a journey of meaning all in itself.

To be continued . . .