Heresy

I believe in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord. I believe in the Holy Spirit. But I don't think the theological construct of the Holy Trinity is directly attributed to in scripture; it's more a theo-philosophical contraction probably created to arm the illiterate from the serious threat of gnosticism or other heretical beliefs that Jesus was either not God's son, or was not really human?-- a mystical vapour or something?
My biggest struggle with swallowing the idea of the Trinity, as postulated by systematic theologians in my conservative circles, is I keep choking on what the Bible reads. I have been trained to say that God is 3 in 1, like a shamrock, or the Presbyterian fish-overlapping-ring thingy... kinda like a sanctified Venn Diagram. That Jesus is equal to the Father who is equal to the Spirit who is equal to Jesus, which is fine for a mantra, but I'm not seeing that directly stated in scripture. That point was cinched when I was asked to memorize a "proof text" in theology class as evidence of it, yet the scripture only mentions the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; the synthesis is parabiblical.
To complicate things, I believe that God is Spirit, and that God is Holy... you could say that God is Holy Spirit. And I believe that this God is like a Father to us even today, opening wide His arms of love to adopt those who would repent (not wanting anyone to perish); a father TO whom Jesus, His only true son, submitted and prayed, "Not my will be done but Yours."
I believe that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, that he grew in stature and wisdom, and that he not only taught the way (prophet/teacher), but he provided the way (priest/sacrificial Lamb). Jesus was the man through whom the Holy Spirit entered our tactile, prehensile world. God walked among us in Jesus' footsteps, sinless, yet was differentiated enough from the Father that prayer with the Father was an earnest part of his daily life... even Jesus had to set aside time to be with God the Father... so how does that fit in boxed-in theology cubes?
Are there only 3 facets to reflect God to us? Why not 4 or 5... Creator, Ruler, etc...
So if you ask me, do I believe in the Trinity, let me simply reply, "Probably; what are YOU talking about?"

Halo3 and the Secret Weapon

About every decade I have a personal scavenger hunt; I try to find where I left my old copy of C. S. Lewis' book, The Screwtape Letters. The first time I read it was shortly after buying it during a high school discipleship group (late 70's); it was a little spooky, but mainly weird and less than relevant.
In college I read it and it was too relevant, and not weird enough, which was spooky. As a youth pastor fresh out of seminary, Lewis' work was entertaining but theologically tenuous... I was scary!
As a middle-aged, motorscooter-riding science teacher in a laptop-required high school, married to a technophilic graphic Artist, I'm looking again for my copy... I think I'm almost mature enough to appreciate it now! Somewhere buried in a box of books, abruptly translocated with the best intentions of painting the book shelves, is my old copy of the Letters. I don't remember too many of the specifics of the dialog between the demons, Uncle Screwtape and his apprentice, Wormwood, but I do remember one particular section of Lewis' fiction-- where Wormwood is told of the greatest weapon useful in defeating God's Kingdom. Distraction.
Yesterday I escorted the Artist to several computer stores where she was looking for various gizmos to upgrade her computer and integrate her new Mac. I'm already attention-deficit, but you put me in a store of plasma screens showing "Happy Feet" or "Planet Earth", I'm doomed to a standing coma, waiting for my cellphone (set to 'stun') to jumpstart my reentry into life as I left it a few minutes (hours) ago, dialed in by the Artist, who has now cleared the register and headed toward the door.
We are so absorbed by our technologies in today's world that we become oblivious to the world around us. We roll up our tinted windows of our SUVs, plug in the IPod, crank the AC and pick up the cell phone... and that's just to back down the driveway toward some tall guy on a scooter. (smile). Distracted.
It's almost entertaining to see students feverishly "taking notes" during lecture, or perhaps entering "data" into an ExCel spreadsheet, except when I call on them, they respond as if they just got the vibrating/loud cellphone call in the plasma screen section of CompUSA... blankly blinking at me as if I just queried them in Swahili. Surely they weren't gaming or checking MySpace? Distracted.
Now for those who are adequately ruffled because of where this is going, especially in light of the title, be at ease... I will not curse your gods by name--if I did, you might show me my own hypocrisy. Instead I will invite you to join me in considering what little time we have left in a day. I will not accuse, but simply confess... I traded my quiet time with God tonight for a football game.
Good night. Jim Kelley
(originally written Sept.30, 2007)