When thinking about God, a lot of things come to people’s mind. From the dawn of time, people have come up with theories to try explain the “otherness” that is tied to reality. This has formed religions and, naturally, has formed the rebellion or disbelief in the God associated with those religions evident through atheism. To try and stake a claim in this discussion is touchy, and quite frankly like dumping a cup of water into the ocean. But, I’ll do so anyway.
I’ve been raised a Christian, so naturally my worldview has adjusted to present itself within that framework. Although Christianity has an unGodly (ha ha…) amount of baggage tied to it, I do believe something about it is incredibly interesting, and that is the way God is perceived within it.
For those of you that aren’t familiar with Christian theology, God is understood as a “Three in One” being. There’s Son (Jesus), Holy Spirit (usually identified through an image of a dove), and the “father” or “other” figure. Christianity believes these are three separate things that are all collectively one within the understanding of God. Right… confusing. But this post is my attempt at relaying how I perceive this and to hopefully offer a new perspective that can subvert ones perception of Christianity in order for you to see how it can be life giving and beautiful. So, here it goes…
There are three words that are incredibly important to remember through this post… Existence, insistence, and persistence. I believe each one of these adjectives can describe one facet of the trinity, and, when perceived collectively, represent the character of God. My opinion of God, that is.
First, let me define these adjectives. Existence, as I understand it, is something that can objectively be proved to be real. For example, I know music exists not just from the record that it is on but also by the sound that that record makes. I know a record exists not just because I see it, but because I can feel it.
Insistence on the other hand simply requires one of our five senses to lead us to a place of understanding informing us that something more is going on. Or, stated differently, to some sort of transcendent experience. The sound of the music can insist me to recognize some sort of beauty or truth in a song through its melody or lyrics. In this sense, insistence is reliant upon existence, but insistence doesn’t necessarily exist itself, it is the recognition of higher order or meaning amidst all things.
Persistence is the push to try and get us to share the insistence of the objectively existent thing with those around us. There’s a persistent push inside of me when I hear a beautiful song telling me to share it with others so they can encounter the beauty as well.
Existence
Insistence
Persistence
When understanding God through the understanding of Christianity, we must see Jesus as the existent character. He was alive, had a pulse, and is our springboard to understanding the characteristics of God as…
Insistence. Jesus urged us to transform and renew our minds to see the heavenly realms before us. The insistence that we feel then when something beautiful happens is from an insistent God. This God is not orchestrating things somewhere else, but insisting through all things beautiful and life giving here on earth right before our eyes.
The Holy Spirit then, when viewed through the lens that the book of Acts gives us, is a persistent beckoning within us to share the good message of the insistence we’ve felt. This is accomplished through multiple means and can take many forms. Spanning from acts as simple as sharing the insistent reality to standing up to wrongdoing.
To review:
Jesus is the existent basis that provides the blueprint of what the insistent God is trying to get us to recognize and the Holy spirit is the persistent push in us to get others to recognize this insistence.
Simple enough, right?
This, at least to me, portrays what exactly the “Three in One” idea of Christianity means. The only part of God that is not “active” then, ironically, would be the existent part of God found through
Jesus.
Some people may have just raised some red flags to that comment. But I mean active in the sense that it is something we are constantly encountering when we recognize this reality. The interesting thing though is Jesus tells us that we will go on to do far greater things than him… So, perhaps it is on us to be the existent reality of God in our world today. If we do this, we in turn help people recognize, see, taste, and encounter this insistence. Which would then lead for more people to tap into the persistent push of the Holy Spirit urging us to stand up to injustice, help those who are sick, give to the poor, care for the environment, and other things. Which, in turn, would craft a very real Heaven on Earth here and now. A place of peace, prosperity, and overflowing love due to the recognition of the beauty all around, and the desire to bring hope to struggling situations.
For more on the Insitence of God, check out these works below:
The Divine Magician by Peter Rollins
The Insistence of God by John Caputo
For a song touching on the insistence of God (unconsciously at least) check out this song by The Decemberists
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