Today is one of the days in the church’s calendar when my squishy-liberal friends start to squirm—Trinity Sunday. If they even mention Trinity on Sunday, it will probably be in passing, maybe at the first of the service, early enough for everyone to forget it was ever said. If they do talk about the Trinity, they sound like a girlfriend defending a jerk boyfriend: “He’s really sweet; he doesn’t mean what he says.” The Trinity—how unreasonable, how primitive, how backward! We want something sophisticated, something accepted by society!
Bleh. As I see it, there are two more preferable options. First, if you really feel this way, just own up to it. Stand up and say, “Despite the overwhelming weight of two thousand years of tradition, I do not believe in the Trinity.” Hey, at least you’re being honest, plus, that’s sure to be a memorable sermon. Then we can spend time discussing what you believe and why. That would provide space for us to determine that your “sophisticated” view just as fragile as our own, minus the weight of the aforementioned two-thousand-year percolation period our has had.
Second, perhaps Christians could *shocker* just own up to what they believe, embrace it, and be bold enough to tell others. Sure, I get that my view might seem weird, incompatible, incoherent. But such is life. I have good reasons for embracing this tradition.
Funny enough, many who deny the Trinity in an order to embrace something more responsible have a secondary goal—to make the religion more presentable to “reasonable” people. Turns out, if the church simply mirrors the world, the world cares even less about the church.
If you want to talk about the Trinity, I’m game. I enjoy the process. And I know lots of people who reject that doctrine, and the Christian faith more generally. But to pretend that one can concoct a Christian faith that bypasses the doctrine of the Trinity is…unreasonable.