Both science and theology
use evidence to formulate models of what we think the world is like and what we
think God is like. Often what the evidence shows us is that nature and God are
beyond our comprehension! The evidence leads to mysteries that we cannot fully
comprehend; many times reality must be described in a way that doesn’t make
sense. In theology, the trinity and the dual nature of Christ are both
paradoxes that cannot be totally understood by our human mind. In science,
quantum mechanics and the nature of light have the same issues of mental
obscurity.
The Doctrine of the
Trinity teaches that one God is three persons.
This is not illogical nor is it contradictory; but it certainly is a
paradox! God is three “whos” and one “what”; this is not a logical
contradiction. It is stated well in the Athanasian Creed from the fourth
century.
Whosoever
will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic
faith. Which faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt
he shall perish everlastingly. And the catholic faith is this: That we worship
one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the persons, nor
dividing the substance.
For there is
one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit.
But the godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is all one,
the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal.[1]
Our minds cannot
comprehend the Trinity, but this is what is described by the writers of the
eyewitness accounts of what Jesus taught. This evidence leads us to the
conclusion that one God is also three persons. The Trinity may be above reason, but it is not against reason.
Evidence from the
Apostolic Writings also lead us to the conclusion that Jesus was God and a
human at the same time. Comprehending this
doctrine is a bit easier than the trinity, but still a mystery! How can something be two different things at
once? Here is a description from the
Council of Chalcedon:
We, then, following the holy
Fathers, all with one consent, teach men to confess one and the same Son, our
Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood;
truly God and truly man, of a reasonable soul and body; consubstantial with us
according to the manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin; begotten
before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter
days, for us and for our salvation, born of the virgin Mary, the mother of God,
according to the manhood; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, to
be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly,
inseparably; the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the
union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring
in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but
one and the same Son, and only begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ,
as the prophets from the beginning have declared concerning him, and the Lord
Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the Creed of the holy Fathers has handed
down to us.[2]
These mysteries are not
limited to Christianity! Paradoxes also
are forced by the evidence when studying the natural world. Take light and
electrons for example. Under one set of
conditions they will do exactly the same thing as water waves and sound
waves. Change the situation and they
will act as if they are little tiny baseballs.
Try to come up with a mental picture of that! Light and electrons acting as if they are both
particles and waves is a paradox, but is a major doctrine of science.
Paradoxes abound in the world
of the very small. We must use quantum mechanics to describe really tiny
things. The evidence forces us to
believe realities like an electron can be anywhere in the universe at any given
moment and can even go back in time. Richard
Feynman, who definitely understood quantum mechanics better than almost anyone on
the planet during his lifetime, remarked, “I think I can safely say
that nobody understands quantum mechanics.” Quantum mechanics and light may both
be above reason, but they are not against reason.
In order to understand
and explain reality we need to compare our theories, models, and explanations
with something familiar. Since we don’t
have much experience with God or with very tiny things, so we have a tough time
imagining what they are like! The data
we have on God and much of the data we get about light and sub-atomic particles
is unlike anything we have ever experienced before!
The difficulty
really is psychological and exists in the perpetual torment that results from
your saying to yourself, "But how can it be like that?" which is a
reflection of uncontrolled but utterly vain desire to see it in terms of
something familiar. [3]
The same
difficulty occurs when attempting to understand God.
Objections to the Trinity break down in the fact that
they insist on interpreting the Creator in terms of the creature.[4]
One
attempt to explain quantum mechanics is the Many World’s Interpretation. On this explanation, every time a decision is
made, the universe actually “splits” into both possibilities. This creates an almost infinite number of
“parallel” universes with every possible world represented. This is similar to how we explain the
theology of God’s Middle Knowledge. In
this view, God can know all possible worlds; He knows all future possibilities
and knows how we would respond (choose) given any set of circumstances. In our attempt to understand reality, we must
resort to the use of descriptions and explanations that often sound impossible;
this happens when trying to understand both the natural world and when trying
to understand God.
It should be expected
that God and nature are both a
mystery. Since God created the universe,
we should not be surprised that we see a reflection of the creator when we
study nature. Light is two things
that are one. God is three things that are one. No one truly understands
quantum mechanics. No one truly understands the nature of God. God’s creation
and revelation are both hard to understand fully, but neither are illogical.
If Christianity was something we were
making up, of course we could
make
it easier. But it is not. We cannot compete, in simplicity, with people who are
inventing religions. How could we? We are dealing with Fact. Of course anyone
can be simple if he has no facts to bother about.[5]
