The Trinity

The classic creeds of Christianity have all emphasized the fact that we believe in the Trinity; three Persons and one God. We do not believe in three gods nor do we believe that there is only one name for God and that name is Jesus or The Father.

With the world becoming a global village we in Christian America have seemed to get sloppy about our theology. We seem to place friendship and harmony above clarity and principle. Thus, when we read about or get to know folks from other religions or persuasions who have a very different theology we tend to reduce everything to what we call "love" but is really "like".

I have some good friends who are Muslims. In fact I worked among Muslims in Asia and I "liked" them quite a lot. I "liked" some of them better than I "liked" some of the Christians I knew. But, I did not agree with these Muslims theologically. I agreed to disagree with them and I did disagree in an agreeable manner.

One of our friends confided in my wife Karen that we were different from most Christians. "You will listen to my story and my beliefs but most Christians will not listen to me. They will only talk with me if they can preach about their beliefs." Karen and I listened respectfully to this lady and her colleagues. We continue to have faith in the saving grace of God through Jesus Christ. We do not agree with the Muslim's hyper-works approach to salvation.

My Muslim friends treated us with warmth, care, concern and respect. I laughed with them, ate with them and shared counseling ideas with them. But I disagree with them on theology, salvation and healing.

The last lines of my post about "Hiding the Resurrection" was a quote from Matthew 28 that told the story about the Jewish High Priests who tried to cover up the resurrection. They paid some soldiers to say that the Disciples of Jesus came and rolled the stone away and stole His lifeless body. Here is the kicker: "that story is still circulating today" says the Gospel. And, it is told by Muslim scholars and laity all over the world. This is why we must base our faith on truth not whether we like a person or not.

I read a news story recently about a Muslim student who was offended that his diploma from Trinity University had "Year of our Lord" printed on it. He wants it removed. I hope they do not remove that statement. Here is my question: "What does he think the term "TRINITY" means?