Posted on by Lori Cartmell

Trinitometry 101

The Shield of the Trinity, a traditional way of depicting that the three Persons of the Trinity are different and yet are co-equally God.

No, there’s not a typo in the title. I didn’t mean to write “Trigonometry.”

So don’t fear that we’ll be discussing math in this post!

I’m referring instead to the Trinity, a concept that can leave some people scratching their heads.

Do Christians worship three gods?

How does the “three-in-one” idea even work?

Over the centuries people have come up with different analogies to explain the idea that God exists in three distinct Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

St. Patrick famously employed a shamrock as a visual metaphor to explain the Trinity to the Irish. He used the shamrock’s three leaves growing from a single stem to illustrate how the three Persons of the Trinity are distinct yet one.

But here we risk leaving the impression that each member is only one third of God, instead of each being 100% God. So the luck of the Irish fails us in finding the perfect analogy in a shamrock.

Some compare the Trinity to an egg, which also has three parts. The shell, the white, and the yolk together make up one egg. But this analogy has its flaws, too, and leaves the concept rather scrambled.

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Posted on by Lori Cartmell · 2 Comments

The Wrong Yardstick

Image by Ariel from Pixabay

Do you have a friend who’s a bit of a screw-up?

No? You’ve got to get one!

Friends who make a shambles of things are amazing, because they make you feel so competent by comparison.

Your friend Sue might misplace one of her children, regularly set off the smoke detector when cooking, or accidentally rear-end a police car.

You roll your eyes smugly and think, “At least I’m not as bad as she is!”

In the same way, we like to justify ourselves before God by comparing our sins to those of others.

We think, “At least I’m not a bank robber or a serial killer. I’m not as bad as others. On the whole, I figure I’m a pretty decent person. I don’t think I really qualify as a ‘sinner.’ ”

The problem with this is that we’re using the wrong yardstick.

Instead of measuring ourselves against other people, we should be seeing whether we pass muster according to God’s standards.

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Posted on by Lori Cartmell

Accept No Substitutes

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

I have a special treat for visitors to The Faith Cafe today: a guest post by my dear friend Veronica Gerber. I’m sure you’ll be as impressed as I am with her Biblical insights and compassionate heart. Enjoy!

Yes, I’ll admit it. I’ve become a bit of a coffee snob since I first tasted the black gold that is the hallmark of the 90s: specialty coffee. It’s easy now to simply say “no thanks” to casual offers of coffee at a meeting or the local diner. Once you’ve tasted the real thing, the competition doesn’t even come close: it may look like coffee, perhaps even smell like coffee, but doesn’t quite pack the same punch…there’s simply no comparison.

Can I say the same about my spiritual palate? Psalm 34:8 declares, “O taste and see that the Lord is good.” Once we’ve tasted, as-it-were, the goodness of the Lord, dined at the King’s table, how can we feed again on the swill that darkly courses through the world’s troughs?

Take a reading of your own heart and mind. Are you consciously aware of what you’re drinking in day by day through the eye-gate and ear-gate? If you’re settling for the trough when you could be drinking deeply of the living water Jesus offers, stop.

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Posted on by Lori Cartmell

The Comparison Trap

Image by Sue Rickhuss from Pixabay

Around this time of year, an unwanted visitor makes its way into many a gardener’s life.

I’m not talking about weeds or pests, although we certainly have to contend with those.

Rather, I’m referring to garden envy.

It starts out when we’re visiting the gardens of friends or neighbours. At first, we admire their lush plantings and attractive landscaping.

If we’re not careful, however, this appreciation can morph into envy. We think, I wish I had roses as beautiful as hers. Or, if only I had room in my yard for a gazebo like he does.

This envy can then develop into disenchantment with what we have. Why am I stuck with so much shade in my yard? Why can’t we afford an inground pool?

We can even become resentful of our comparatively meagre gardens, when we should be grateful to have a garden at all: many people don’t.

Envy is something we need to nip in the bud, whether it relates to our gardens or our lives.

We get into trouble when we start comparing ourselves to others. This is true even in spiritual matters.

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