Guest post by Ryan “Da-Monk” Ethier

(Ryan is a friend from ministry school. He’s Canadian so easy eh? – Bob Howell)

I was up north with some friends a few weekends ago and when I woke up one morning I heard the words “If the doctrine of the trinity was removed from Christianity, 99% of our beliefs and practices would stay the same.”

This of course is very similar to what the German theologian Karl Rahner said in his day.

If we think about it. We as Christians only believe in the trinity in an abstract philosophical way because it’s part of the whole thing and we have to. But in practice, we all speak about a singular entity called “God”.. And He’s usually referenced as being in the sky. (We raise our hands, point up, call him “the big man upstairs”).

This mode of thinking denies true Father/Son/Spirit reality, and it turns our Christianity into an individual upward focused spirituality ie a “personal relationship with ‘God'”. Unfortunately, this sets the church running off in the wrong direction. We, in our imitation of our singular God (we are what we behold after all), seek to grow by ourselves, and individually seek this God. Personal devotions, quiet time, journaling, verbal prayer etc.. Notice they are all usually performed in solitude.

Truly believing in the trinity must change the way we think and act. Consider “Let us create man in OUR image”. All throughout the Old and New Testaments, “God” was a plural word in the Greek (and often feminine in nature). The reality of this “God” is that “He” is a family, others-focused, others-affirming and dancing. See how the Father and the Spirit are always pointing to Jesus and vice-versa.

“Father glorify your Son”

“I only do what I see my Father doing”

“As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you”

“Father let them be one, as we are one”

“Christ in you (corporately) the hope of glory”

True Christianity calls us to an others-focused salvation, much more than a personal subjective theism. We are saved to be brought back into our original design- ‘the great loving dance’ in the trinity and humanity. That’s why Jesus was both God and human. To gather us as a species and a race and as the human entity into the relationship of the trinity. Jesus became man, thus ‘man’ has been grafted into the trinity.

The implications of this will change everything. True salvation is to dance with one another. We have forever been joined together in the trinity, in each other, by Spirit and for love.

Is there a place for individual prayer and experience? Of course, because it changes our perception and ultimately points us to our fellow man. It causes us to lay down our lives in the power of the Spirit and seek the lifting up of one another in Jesus, in the Father.

Comments welcome!