A Logical Explanation of the Trinity

Is there a logical explanation of the Trinity in Christianity?  If anyone examines what is considered as "orthodox" theology, there is no logical explanation.  There are three persons, and somehow these three persons are one Being. Since there is no logical explanation in orthodox theology, it is treated as a "mystery of faith."  And this definition of a trinity of three persons came rather late through centuries of convoluted debate: it is not there in original Christianity. Is there an answer? Yes there is.

Many theologians will define anything that disagrees with a definition of three persons as a heresy. Ironically, they might classify any monotheistic argument as a heresy which they will call "Modalism" or "Sabellianism" or "Monarchianism."  As to what these ancient so-called historical heresies taught is a bit unclear. But the orthodox theologians will persist in their definition, without ever exactly specifying the difference between a "person" or "being."  So in the end, the everyday person will have their thoughts fall into a belief of three gods, yet declare with the mouth that they are one. But in truth it is nothing other than tritheism: there is no difference, except it is called something that it is not.

The only logical answer to the Trinity as it is found in scripture is that we are not dealing with three persons at all here. We are dealing with three different aspects of the Divine Being. It is the emanation of the Divine, beginning with the unknowable invisible Divine, flowing downward through a human body that was made Divine, and from that Divine Human flowing to all humanity as a spirit. This came by means of revelation in the 18th century: it is simple, it is logical, easy to understand, and founded on scripture.  Nor is it necessarily the same as what was historically known as Modalism, Sabellianism, or Monarchianism. It is an emanation of the Divine, flowing through one Divine Being: it cannot be divided, and it has a logical philosophical foundation as well.

WHAT IS BEING?  IT IS END, CAUSE, EFFECT.

The logical and philosophical argument of the Trinity comes from the definition of "Being" itself. All that exists, or has being, is threefold.  This threefold aspect of any being is end, cause and effect.  Most are familiar with "cause and effect" from science.  But with living beings, being is threefold: every person or being will have a purpose, or an intent, or an end in all that they do. How one thinks to fulfill one's intent or purpose is the cause. When this cause is put into action, that is known as the effect.  How do we judge people's actions?  It is from their intent. This plays an everyday role in one's life and in dealing with others.  All actions and deeds of another person should be judged based upon their intent. One's intent or love will precede one's thought, and one's thought of how to fulfill one's intent will precede the action.

Being is in itself threefold.  Intent is one's inner love, one's thoughts surround one's love, and one's outer actions are based on one's thought.  Intent is prior, thought is the medium, action is the posterior.  But in ancient times they did not have such abstract concepts: that which is prior would  be called "father", that which is posterior or came afterward would be called "son."  In modern times, we have this figure of speech: "necessity is the mother of all invention."  The mother is one's purpose or intent based on need, from which one thoughts of invention are derived, from which proceeds the invention.

In philosophy, the study of purpose is known as teleology, or the study of final causes:

A telos (from the Greek τέλος for "end", "purpose", or "goal") is an end or purpose, in a fairly constrained sense used by philosophers such as Aristotle. It is the root of the term "teleology," roughly the study of purposiveness, or the study of objects with a view to their aims, purposes, or intentions. Teleology figures centrally in Aristotle's biology and in his theory of causes. It is central to nearly all philosophical theories of history, such as those of Hegel and Marx. One running debate in contemporary philosophy of biology is to what extent teleological language (as in the "purposes" of various organs or life-processes) is unavoidable, or is simply a shorthand for ideas that can ultimately be spelled out nonteleologically. Philosophy of action also makes essential use of teleological vocabulary: on Davidson's account, an action is just something an agent does with an intention--that is, looking forward to some end to be achieved by the action. In contrast to telos, techne is the rational method involved in producing an object or accomplishing a goal or objective; however, the two methods are not mutually exclusive in principle.

To clarify the above definition a bit, "telos" is purpose, and "techne" is the means by which the purpose is brought about. And how is this related to God? Logically, God is the final cause of everything.  As He is Being itself, naturally God will have the threefold nature of Being. This is not just a philosophical concept, it is also a spiritual concept that can be applied to everyday life:

"...successive things, which proceed and follow one another in their order, are still presented together in what are last — as for example, end, cause, and effect; the end is the first in order, the cause the second, and the effect the last. Thus they proceed successively, but still the cause is presented at the same time in the effect, which is last, and the end in the cause; wherefore, the effect is a filled containant, in which interior or prior things are also brought together and exist. 

"The case is the same with the willing, thinking, and doing in man; willing is the first, thinking second, and doing last; this last also is the effect in which things prior or interior exist together; for so far as a man's doing contains in it what man thinks and what he wills, so far interior things are held together in their form and connection. This is why it is declared in the Word that man will be judged according to his deeds, that is, according to his works, which means that he will be judged according to his thinking and willing, inasmuch as these are in his deeds even as the soul is in its body." (Heavenly Arcana, n. 9824.2-3)

Thus any theology, this says that one is justified by faith without works, is a dead faith.

THE FATHER IS THE DIVINE WILL

If Being exists in a trine of end, cause, and effect, or willing, thinking and doing, then this means that the "Father" in the Trinity is the Divine will.  Can this be supported from scripture?  Yes it can.  In fact, whenever God's will is mentioned in scripture, it is ALWAYS mentioned in regards to the Father.  You never see the phrase "will of the Son" or "will of the Holy Spirit." Always, always, there is a reference to the Father's will. For example, we have these passages:

Our Father...Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven (Matt. 6:9-10)

And this is the Father’s will... (John 6:39)

Our will must be put in alignment with the Father's will, it is not good enough to just believe:

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. (Matt. 7:21)

For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother. (Matt. 12:50)

Even Jesus stated that the Father's will should be done, and not his, while he was in a state of temptation:

Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. (Luke 22:42)

However, Jesus took it further.  When he was not in a state of temptation, he said we can do nothing except what he sees his Father doing. In other words, he had no independent will from the Father:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. (John 5:19)

I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. (John 5:30)

...the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do (John 5:36)

I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. (John 8:28)

For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. (John 12:49)

THE SON IS THE DIVINE THOUGHT OR DIVINE TRUTH

As the Father is the Divine Will, the Son is the Divine Thought or Divine Truth. In the physical sense this manifested in reality through the virgin birth. In scripture, before the incarnation, the Divine Truth was known as the "Word" or Logos. It is through the Word that all things were created: from the Divine Will, the Divine Thought created all that exists. We thus have end, cause and effect on a grand scale:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:1-3)

Note that the "Word" is not described as a person, but as an abstract concept - essentially an aspect of the one God.  When physicists and scientists discover laws concerning physics and the material universe, which cannot be altered, they are in fact discovering the Word, which must always be true. In the incarnation, the Divine Will descended as to the Divine thought to become incarnate in a human form. This can also be thought of as Divine Truth, the cause of all that exists.  This is why Jesus says, "I am the truth" in the following passage:

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)

The process by which God became incarnate in human form - the virgin birth - is the means by which the human form of Jehovah was "sent" into the world. Just as end, cause and effect proceed in order, so the Divine Will descended via Divine Thought to become incarnate. However in this process he inherited a sinful tendency from Mary - it is from this base human nature he could be tempted, and fight directly against hell from the Divine Truth. As the Divine Truth, no one can approach the Father except via Jesus, just as no one can know the Divine Will or God's love except by means of the truth. Thus Jesus says he is the light, for all are enlightened by means of the truth. It is for this reason that Jesus says all judgment is entrusted to him, for all judgment is entrusted to Divine Truth:

For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: (John 5:22) 

And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. (John 5:27)

Can those who believe in a trinity of three persons explain these passages of the Gospels? No they cannot. They cannot say why God's will is mentioned in the context of the Father, why Jesus is called the truth and the light, nor why judgment is entrusted to Jesus. This can only be understood in terms of two aspects of God: His will and His thought.

WILL AND THOUGHT ARE ONE AS SOUL AND BODY ARE ONE

When it is understood that the Father and Son are the Divine Will and the Divine Thought, which in Jesus are one as the soul and the body, many strange statements Jesus makes about himself become clear.  He makes it quite clear that the Father was inside of him, that he who knew him knew the Father. No one can come to the Father except through Jesus just as no one can approach the soul without first approaching the image of the soul, which is the body. So it makes absolutely no sense to treat them as distinct persons: standard orthodoxy utterly confuses the issue.  That Father and Son refer to the soul and body of Jesus is quite clear from the following:

Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also. (John 8:19) 

I and my Father are one. (John 10:30) 

...the Father is in me, and I in him. (John 10:38)

Two separate distinct persons cannot be inside one another, needless to say. But the soul is inside the body, and the body is inside the soul, for the two make one and cannot exist without each other. As the Father is the Divine will, so it directs everything that Jesus did. When Philip asks Jesus a question to show them the Father - as a separate distinct person - Jesus immediately corrects Philip:

If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. (John 14:7-10)

Most people think of a person or being as a single entity, not understanding that there are different discrete degrees to the human soul: there is the higher spiritual self, the mediate rational, and the lowest natural, the physical body. The human being is tripartite, and this tripartite being corresponds to end, cause and effect:

"To speak in the language of philosophy — these three are as end, cause, and effect. It is known that there can never be any effect unless there be a cause, and never any cause unless there be an end. Effect, cause, and end, are as distinct as exterior, interior, and inmost. Properly speaking, the sensual man, that is, he who thinks from sensual things, is the external man, and the spiritual and celestial man is the internal man; but the rational man is mediate between the two, and by this, or by what is rational, there is communication of the internal man with the external." (Heavenly Arcana, n. 978.3).

As each human being is tripartite in nature, so when Jehovah became incarnate in Jesus Christ he became tripartite in nature as well. This is what is known in Christianity as the Trinity. For what is tripartite in each human being, became infinitely so when the Divine came to dwell in human flesh. Thus the apostle Paul would call Jesus the image of the unseen God, just as the body is the image of the unseen soul in every person.

WHAT OF JESUS PRAYING TO THE FATHER?

Without understanding that within the human psyche there are multiple levels of being, people get confused when they see passages of Jesus praying to the Father. To those who believe in a trinity of three persons, this is the ultimate proof that those who believe that God can only be one being or person are incorrect. But it is they who are incorrect for not understanding that the Divine is one person, and dividing him into three creates a religious system of tritheism. For what is not understood that when Jehovah became incarnate, he did not just descend from the Divine Will into Divine Truth, but he went even lower than that: he became incarnate in a finite human body. And here is the part that most theologians, especially Catholics, miss out completely: by being born to a human mother, he had inherited sinful tendencies from the mother by which he could be tempted. A state of temptation can only occur in a state of apparent separation from the Divine, for the Divine itself cannot be tempted to do evil.

I put emphasis on this point: the Catholic theologians, who elevate Mary to worship, and state she was born Immaculate with no sin, completely miss how Jehovah saved humanity by being born as a human. For as a human with sinful tendencies, he could now fight directly against all of hell by resisting the temptation to commit a sin. Since they miss this point, like the Protestants they invented the doctrine of vicarious atonement, which also requires that there be three persons or beings.

It is in this lowered state of being that Jesus prays to his Father. For as a human, he had to progress back towards the Divine, from a base natural to the rational, from the rational to the spiritual, and from thence to becoming united to the Divine, to the point where even his human body became glorified and one with the Divine Will.  This progress of unification took a lifetime, and the various stages Jesus had to pass through are described in detail in Swedenborg's massive work, Heavenly Arcana. Thus Jesus makes these statements where he is less than the Father, or that only the Father knows the end time... but all this changes when he rises from the dead.  At this point he says all power on heaven and earth has been "given" to him. Not of one person giving all power to another person, but rather, his very body or human form had become one with the Divine.

Jesus had two states: one of humiliation and temptation, the other when he becomes one with Divine after the resurrection. Without understanding that he progressed towards unification to the Divine, one will not understand separate statements made by him or concerning him throughout the Gospels.

THE FINAL "EFFECT" - THE HOLY SPIRIT

As being itself proceed from end, cause and effect, so in each person there is the will, the thought, and the action.  The final act takes place through one's lowest natural body, which reflects the intent of one's soul.  Once Jesus completely glorified his body and made it one with the Divine, the final effect was the outflowing of the Holy Spirit.  For surrounding each body there is an "aura" - this is a sphere of one's spirit, which flows from the soul through the body.  And this is the reason why Jesus had to glorify his human body: for until he did that, the Holy Spirit was not available to others:

...for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:39)

Any theology that describes "three co-eternal persons" is at a complete loss in explaining the above passage. For the Holy Spirit did not exist until after the resurrection.  And for those who think Jesus was born perfect, they are also at a complete loss to explain this passage:

And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. (John 17:19)

The perfection of Jesus was that his soul would not concede to any temptation: thus in his body he endured horrible temptations, the likes of which no human ever saw. For all of hell conspired against him in temptation and to destroy him.  It was war between Jehovah and all of hell. Once he sanctified his human body by making it Divine, the effect was that the Holy Spirit could flow from his soul through his body to all humanity. This is available to anyone, who makes the simple commitment to follow him, and do so by doing his commandments.

One's spirit is simply an aura or sphere of influence extending from the soul: a spirit of a person is not another person.  As illogical as this sounds, this is exactly what orthodox theologians say when they insist on dividing the Divine into three persons. The truth of the matter, it is an emanation of the Divine: from the Divine itself, through the Divine Human, proceeding outward via the Holy Spirit.

Is Christianity logical and rational?  Yes, if you acknowledge that there is a hidden spiritual world that interacts with this material world.  And yes, only if you give up on some old false traditions that were invented centuries ago in an era of darkness.

WHY THE  INCARNATION?

For pure monotheists, they might see the incarnation as unnecessary, and not making sense, and superficially many may regard Jesus as just a teacher and miss the whole point of many public and private revelations. Islam may see it as worshiping something created as the Creator. But that last point is not true either: for Jesus kept his identity hidden, until he expelled the human from the mother, and transformed his body into a Divine Human that was derived from his own soul.  For this is what happened on the resurrection: the body was made Divine.  And this is the origin of the ritual of communion, or the Eucharist.

In most other monotheistic religions, there is one abstract God that cannot be imagined or fall into our own thought.  Any conjunction with the human race must take place through angelic beings, or abstract meditation.  But on planet earth, things had reached such a state where sin had utterly divorced mankind from heaven, where not only mankind was threatened but even the lower heavens as well.  Angels could no longer serve as mediate guides. And this is not known to most except by means of revelation. What is also not known to many is that our free will comes about from a balance between heaven and hell: this is the origin of good and evil within us. At that time hell had gained ascendency, and without the Divine becoming incarnate, contact between man and God would have been broken off. Not only has that contact been restored, but also the invisible God can now be understood in visible form.

This is Christianity, in its most logical and rational form.  Prayer is directed to Jesus, not another person or being. End, cause and effect is the trinity of Being, and is present in the soul, mind and body of every person, and this comes to fruition when intentional love through one's thought become good works.