There have been some issues, about which I have written, in many small snigglet-sized thoughts, through many of my essays, but have never addressed directly.
The nature of the family is one such issue.
All human cultures have at their basic civil organization (a.k.a civilization), the family.
The “family” is, in my opinion, the government of humankind, in its most elemental form, and is designed to be so, by the Creator.
God has imbued the institution of “family” with His holy nature of union.
I am convinced that the family is a holy & symbolic representation of the relationship, which exists in Yahweh our God. You may recall that I have written about this in other essays in the past.
While many disciples are reticent to say this, my wife among them, I am comfortable in saying the Trinity represents all positions in a loving and functional family.
Holy Spirit, Father and Son, are symbolically represented by mom, dad, and child, respectively.
I hope to receive opposing opinions on this.
And to the opposing argument, I recognize that Holy Spirit is never referenced as “mother”.
I further recognize that Holy Spirit is always referenced by the use of the masculine pronoun, “he”.
However, I am not saying that God is anything physical.
“Religious” people who think it wise to rewrite the bible, and thus remove all gender from the scriptures, which references God, bemuse me.
However, to be fair, those who think that God is a physical man (“He”) also bewilder me.
I should be clear on what I am saying.
Jesus the Messiah was a physical man, but he is no longer a physical man. (If you have questions about this look at 1 Corinthians 15:35-58, specifically note verses 49 – 50; “49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. 50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.”)
If you are reading this, and you are reluctant to consider the notion that the “family” is a physical symbol, which represents the holy Spiritual relationship with and between the individuals who compose the Trinity of God, then imagine this scenario for a few minutes.
- The almighty Creator, who is made up of three separate and distinct individuals, determines that “He” wants to share & participate in love (Agapē) with a created being.
- However there are preexisting created beings, which are not invited to participate in this union between Creator and creation.
- These preexisting created beings are spiritual, but are not participants inside the holy union of the Spiritual Creator.
- As the Creator completes His plan for a new type of creation, which is not an exclusively spiritual nature, some of those beings, which were created before the new creation, become jealous about the interlopers, who are designed “in the image of the Creator” and for the purpose of union with the Creator.
- The chief executive officer (CEO) of the created spiritual beings is given a responsibility for the new creation and the divine reflections, which inhabit it. This “prosecutor/constable” is also given the power to imbibe the physical creation, however this power is available only through the consent and will of the corporeal beings.
- For an unknown price, a certain corporeal being agrees to grant the “constable” the use of its body and form, for the purpose of interacting directly with the divine copies.
- The jealousy of the spiritual CEO comes to culmination, as the constable/prosecutor of the created spiritual realm actually encourages the divine images to forsake their betrothal with the Creator. The constable engages in an act of legal “entrapment”.
- As the Man and Woman take the forbidden fruit, they fulfill the constables hope and dash the Creator’s great dream of a marriage between God and humanity, or more properly the Son of God and mankind.
- The Almighty God & Host of Heaven, Yahweh, has been thwarted by an unholy alliance between a created spirit, Satan, and created corporeal, the Serpent.
- All Humankind are dupes for the dope of the spiritual war that rages.
- The dope of the spiritual war, is pride. And Adam and Eve took it in. They breathed these fowl emanations into their hearts and minds before the fruit ever touched their lips, even before the fruit was plucked from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They doubted the love (Agapē) that was promised by the Creator.
- The Creator, however, knew everything before it ever happened. And, He had a plan for the renewal of the marriage vow between humanity and Himself. (THE CREATOR CANNOT BE THWARTED. Because, LOVE NEVER FAILS. ·
1 Corinthians 13:7,8: Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love will last forever,…
(TO BE CONTINUED)
God bless,
DSM
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Hey,
I think I understand where you’re coming from with comparing the Trinity to the family unit generally. But, I fail to see in your explaination how the Holy Spirit is like a mother.
I agree in the general idea of a family’s unity giving us a picture God’s Triunity but I would like to see a further expounding on this as I’m always trying to better understand the Trinity.
Also, I often have a hard time with saying that Christ is no longer considered a physical man. I go back and forth on this, but it would seem that the reconciliation of body and Spirit happened in Christ. Consider how the disciples were able to touch Christ’s glorified body. A glorified body but a body nevertheless. And, upon Christ’s return aren’t we expecting Him to return on the clouds in the same way He was taken up, in a glorified body? Does Christ exist now without that body but will ”put it back on” upon His second coming? However, I’m not sure how to take verses like 1 Corinthians 15:45: ”The first Adam became a living being and the last Adam (Christ) became a life-giving spirit” so it remains a mystery for me.
Thanks,
-Matt
I appreciate the comments.
I am not yet finished with the exposition. And, perhaps I will be able to address some of this with the concluding portion of the essay.
But, I do readily concede your point, that the Holy Spirit being represented by the mother/wife cannot be fully supported using the scriptural text alone.
But, on the other-hand, I am intrigued that you’re at least to a degree, opened to the argument, “I think I understand where you’re coming from with comparing the Trinity to the family unit generally.”
My question to one who is opened to “comparing the Trinity to the family unit generally”, yet only, if the Trinity were absent a mother and wife: How could a natural family “generally” represent this?
It is my opinion that mother and wife are necessity within a representative and functional “family.”
My two-part essay on Symbology discusses this to a lesser extent. In that essay I give many examples of God’s use of symbols. I was not all-inclusive, but we may see, just from the limited examples given in those postings, that God appears to use symbols in His dealings with humankind, much as a carpenter uses nails, screws, dowels, or biscuits in woodworking.
1. God’s use of the various symbols, work to conjoin a contiguous, but distinct group of individuals to a purpose/concept.
2. A carpenter uses the various joinery techniques to conjoin a contiguous, but distinct group of individual wood components to specific purpose/concept, e.g. house.
(Note that I will likely use much of this response in the continuation of the essay under discussion.)
With many symbolic ceremonies and icons given to the Hebrews, God tells His people explicitly, that the intended goal is to create teaching moments for all succeeding generations.
These lessons, which occur because of the questions about the symbol, will connect God’s people, to God, by the concept/thought that underlies the symbol. Exodus 12:26-27 is just one example. (Please file this concept/thought in your memory; it will be brought to bear again in a future essay.)
Nonetheless, it would be, in my opinion, irrational to say that ‘The “family unit” represents the Trinity, generally, however we must not consider the mother/wife as an integral and necessary part of the symbol.’
Either the claim “that the symbol exists” is wrong, which I concede is a valid possibility, or the symbol exists complete as is seen in the natural family unit.
To the point of, “the claim is wrong”, I might also add, that my very proposal ignores the position of “daughter” in a natural family.
(I will try to flesh out these thoughts in my continuation of the essay.)
The designed desire of man, to find and resolve mysteries, is something that I see being played out every day, e.g. mystery novels, movies, astronomy, biology, vanity license plates etc.
I believe that God placed this inquisitive nature in our heart, knowing that it would be necessary to draw humanity back from the adversary’s domain, while still allowing our freewill acceptance of the logical conclusion.
I will continue the thoughts later.
But, in the meantime, think about the function of the Holy Spirit that is stated by Jesus and His disciples in the New Testament. Do these works, reflect the function of mother and wife in a family? And if so, How?
Again, thanks Matt for the inquiry. I am glad to discuss my unique perspectives on God.
God bless,
DSM
hey ds just some thoughts:seems to me
Jesus can be what he wants to be such
as physical, Luke 24:39, or spiritual
(supernatural), John 20:19. And I think youare right on with the family
symbology. The Christian and Jewish
relationship with God and with the
church has always been masculine until the last forty years or so.(The
Bride of Christ,Christ being masculine the church being feminine
but ONLY in relationship to God etc.
Thanks for coming and commenting anonymous.
You are correct but one passage that you were very close to, but didn’t mention is John 20:17.
“Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.”
It is my opinion that something significant happens to Jesus at His ascension, which is not clear, but Paul speaks of the change, which will occur “in the twinkling of an eye.” This is from the passage in 1Corinthians 15 that I mentioned. When I read this passage and John 20:17, it is an issue that is not addressed clearly, by the Scriptures.
But, think about this too. His most intimate disciples are unable to recognize Him until He allows their recognition. Yes, He is physical but not the same, but He is also still not as He will be when ascended.
I will continue this thought later, because you are speaking about something that I want to elaborate on, in my next follow-up to the series.
God bless,
DSM
I tried leaving a comment a week or so ago on this blog entry, it didn’t make it. I forgot the point i was trying to make at the time. Hope you are having a great day!
ds CAN’T SEEM TO GET THROUGH
Hey ds, I whole-heartedly agree with your idea of the family as being representive of the God-Head, with the Father’s role as
provider/leader/dominant/protector/life-giver etc.,etc., etc., ad infinitum, and the role of the Son as doing the Will of the
Patriarch/Father as Heir Apparent to the patriarchy, and the role of the Holy Spirit as Mother/Comforter/Teacher(John 14:26) as
well as a constant Presence like that of a mother (at least in those days).One should not be confused by the uses of gender,
however, because God is always considered masculine in relation to mankind of His dominance, as the male is dominant in his
household and even the mother is dominant/masculine over her children until at least the male child becomes of age (usually around
twelve or so) then his mother takes a more feminine role in relation to him. She is even considered masculine in relation to her
servants/slaves, whether male or female, because of her dominance over them, for obvious reasons that a feminine/passive/submissive
role to the staff would not work, but would invite trouble(
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