How Can There Be a Trinity?
This question was posed to Frank Turek during one of his live question and answer sessions: how can there be a Trinity if God is infinite? See below for his answer.
Response
God and the Trinity are both incomprehensible, but for different reasons. The human mind can't comprehend God because He is great beyond measure (like the ocean), but it can't comprehend the Trinity because it's logically invalid and undefined.
This is like the difference between thinking about infinity (God) and thinking about dividing a number by zero (the Trinity). We can define infinity (as an endless set of numbers) even while being completely unable to apprehend it any real way. However, while we cannot define an undefined logical contradiction, in addition we are incapable of apprehending it.
You can actually ponder infinity, but you cannot ponder dividing a number by zero. This is because your mind can grasp the idea of adding another number forever, but it cannot grasp the idea of dividing a number by zero. For example, ten divided by five equals two, so the answer (two) multiplied by five must equal ten. However, this operation doesn't work with zero; if ten divided by zero is some number, that number times zero must be ten, which is impossible. Because this operation cannot be replicated when dividing by zero, mathematicians say that dividing something by zero is undefined. You cannot place your faith in something that is undefined.
Being a mystery is not what makes God great; being great while being apprehensible is what makes God great.
1 comment:
Gentiles are commanded to know God. This is a positive aspect of the Noahide prohibition of idolatry, based on the Oral Torah rule "from the negative, one can infer the positive."
Specifically, Gentiles are commanded to know that God is one and totally incorporeal. As an ex-Christian, I find Numbers 23:19 particularly moving: "God is not a man that He should lie, nor is He a mortal that He should relent."
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