He invited me to join him in on a trip to visit a mosque called 'The Retreat', in the city centre. We established that it's location is close to the Uniterian Chapel. This is a rather beautiful, if 'washed up in a green space', building, and has a lot of city history attached to it. Our mayor is said to be a congregant.
We discussed the meaning of Unitarianism. I explained that they don't believe in the 'Trinity', like Muslims we aggreed, but they are also universalists, believing that all worship is directed towards the same purpose. Now that's unlike Muslims we agreed. "Ok", says my colleague. "You come to 'The Retreat' with me, and I will join you at a destination of your choice." "The pub?" I offered.
But why-oh-why do we have to have the trinity? It causes so much confusion. As a young absorbent, mind, I was given the sun to think about, it's warmth and its light. Then try to fit that with 'God'. It's like doing mental gymnastics. Trying to describe the trinity to outsiders is like explaining why God has the head of an ox in Egyptian mythology. It's like some well worn national story, understood as fact by natives, but daft to outsiders. My German friends who live in Britain have alerted me to this phenomenom, with the weekly (sometimes daily) media presence of the British world war experience and British valour. Instead of the story fading with time, it grows and becomes a strong uniting force. And it's ridiculous.
But the trinity is vital to our understanding of the nature of God, and how we relate to God.
I understand it as the only way to solve the God paradox.
If we believe that God is perfect and just, how could s/he have created evil?
God creates evil to give us freedom. Freedom is the ability to choose. Not predestined choice, but a genuine free choice. Evil is present to be turned away from.
But what about heaven? I believe it will be the same, but the inclination to do wrong will not be there. So the inclination is stronger this time round? It is. But perhaps it's necessary as the training ground that ensure that things go better next time. Without it, we might not be up to it. I understand it as a systemic process. You might say, well what about the baby, who never experienced life, will they be up to it? 'Wrong doing' in the first place was not about 'me'. We all sin, it's about 'us'
So God puts on the clothes of human existance and pushes the plough, helps with the washing up, and stands up in the synagogue. This continues to the point where he is betrayed, tortured and killed. But being God, this is not the end. S/He knew we were set-up in the first place. S/He set us up! The price would be too high, so s/he did what s/he always intended to do, and paid the price. So we now get a taste of this heaven stuff now. God's presence continues with us, and it is only the inner certainty of this fact that means we have faith. It is 'heart focused', not just 'head focused' (mental images of the sun etc.) I am reminded of the man healed by Jesus in the story in John 9:25 He was asked what he thought was going on with Jesus, was he the messiah etc? (watch your answer mate because these people hate Jesus). He said, I don't know, all I can say is once I was blind, now I can see. John Newton said the say thing in his song Amazing Grace.
So which pub shall we go to?
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