I love the Trinity. That's how James White begins his book "The Forgotten Trinity." I am inclined to agree with him. Ravi Zacharias says that to him, the Trinity is one of the strongest arguments for the authenticity of Christianity. Francis Schaeffer says that without the Trinity, he might as well be an agnostic.

There is much theological talk about the Trinity and indeed, there has to be as this is the nature of God we are dealing with. However, I think too often we've pushed the debate to "God is a Trinity! God is not a Trinity!" God is a Trinity!" instead of saying one thing we should say. "I believe God exists in a Trinity. This is what that means to me as a person and a Christian."

The first thing I notice is unity in diversity. Ravi Zacharias has brought out this argument well. The ancient Greeks were marveled that they saw a diversity in creation around them but wondered, "Is there anything that unifies all of this together?" They came up with four essences. These were earth, fire, wind, and water. Someone smart though asked "Well what is the fifth essence that holds those four together? We're looking for one!" Ever wondered where the word "Quintessence" (Quint meaning fifth) comes from?

Take this over to America today. All of our coins say "E Pluribus Unum" on them. This means, "Out of the many, one." America is a melting pot of many diverse cultures after all. Our word "University" means "Finding unity in diversity." Ravi argues that the only way to explain this in the effect is if it exists in the first cause.

In this, I see the Trinity everywhere. I saw the diverse flowers on the altar at church tonight and thought of unity in diversity and saw the Trinity. I saw the pulpit shaped like a cross. All of those atoms coming together in a diverse form but uniting to form one solid object. Unity in diversity. Thus, whenever I see a flock of birds flying or a diverse group of people or nearly anything, I can think of the Trinity and how my God is a unity but is diverse as well.

The second thing is the nature of love. Love by nature is outwardly focused instead of inwardly focus. Oh you can love yourself and should but it doesn't end there. Otherwise, it's just self-contained emotion. I again refer to Ravi's argument to Muslims when he debates them. "So you think God is a monad eh? Well who was God loving before creation?"

I had a professor a few semesters ago who told our systematic theology class that God created man because he needed someone to love. Now the JWs and other arians might be able to say that but a Trinitarian has no need. I raised my hand and pointed out that God has relational love within himself within the Trinity and needs nothing. He loves out of abundance. My clincher was that if God needed my love, I could just hold him for ransom. The point is clear. God has love within himself. The ancient celtics pictured the Trinity as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in a dance of love together and mankind is invited to join into the dance.

That leads me to the last major point. God is relational at his core. This changes so much of how we view theology. I once preached a sermon in college on God identifying himself as "I AM." There were three worldviews that I said were dispatched by that name.

First off, I AM is a constant unchanging term. It shows his eternal existence in distinction to atheism. Atheism says "God isn't." God says "I AM." Next was pantheism which says God is equal to his creation and changing in his creation. This is a problem for "Pantheistic Trinities." because they are as much creation themselves entirely and are not righteous in anyway. Pantheism says "God will become." God says "I AM." (Unchanging.)

The last one is the most important one though. Deism was a movement that says "God is but is impersonal." God says "I AM the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Picture how he could have identified himself. Here are some ways he could have described himself.

"I AM......

The God who created everything out of nothing.

The God who flooded the world.

The God who scattered the nations at Babel

The God who gave Abraham a miracle birth.

The God who destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah."

All of these would be true and accurate but God didn't point to them. He pointed to his personal relationship with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Trinitarians can easily say God is relational because God has a constant relationship within himself within the Trinity. Man, created in his image, is then made to be relational as God is and we find no rest until our hearts trust in him.

This shows relationships matter to God. Heaven will be an eternal life with the manifest presence of God in every inch of the restored cosmos. Indeed, some virtues require relationship. How does one have perfect submission if there is none to submit to? Yet God is perfect in all virtues and has submission within himself as the Deity of Christ shows with the Son submitting to the Father. I am sure we can think of several others.

And think about excitement! Excitement comes from interaction but God has excitement within himself as he has interaction within himself. The ancient celtics were right. God has a dance of a perfect relationship within himself.

So come. Join in. Dance with our glorious Triune God.

Holy, holy, holy!

Lord God Almighty!

Early in the morning

Our song shall rise to Thee;

Holy, holy, holy,

Merciful and mighty!

God in three persons,

Blessed Trinity!

In Christ,

Nick