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19 June 2011

The Trinity, The Shema and the Seven

I'm not a trinitarian. At most I'm a bi-nitarian. There is God-Sovereign-Saving-Spirit without form or shape who reflects and transcends gender and there is God-Incarnate-from-the-Virgin's-womb: Yeshua, Jesus. That's it. Just two.
For me, the descriptions of God in the scriptures are not mathematical equations. They each reveal God in part, yet God is more than the sum of them all.

God is: 
a warrior, 
a king, 
my shepherd, 
a righteous judge, 
my banner, 
peace, 
my rock, 
my fortress and my deliverer, 
a stronghold, 
my light and my salvation, 
my strength and my shield, 
a devouring fire.
God is not a man or the son of man who lies.
God is the rock who birthed me... and the God who writhed-in-labor with me.


And God is more than Three.
There are the Seven Spirits of God in the Revelation:

These are the words of the One who has the Seven Spirits of God and the seven stars...Coming from the throne are flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and in front of the throne burn seven flaming torches, which are the Seven Spirits of God...
Perhaps based on Isaiah 11:
The Spirit of the One God shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Holy One of Old. 




I have recently discovered the Game of Thrones series of books. In one of the realms of the books there is a religion based on the Seven: Mother, Father, Maid, Warrior, Crone, Smith and Stranger.
The Seven speak to me as a more complete metaphor for God than do the Three. 
The Many-Named God, is beloved as Three-in-One and One-in-Three. Whether embraced as the 1001 of the Hindu pantheon, the Trinity of post-biblical Christian tradition, the Seven Spirits of Isaiah and John, or a new vision, I can not say. The mystery of God is more than I can know or understand. But there is a verse that I chant on shabbat that promises resolution:

Zechariah 14:9 One day the Holy One of Old will become sovereign over all the earth; 
on that day the Holy One will be One and God's Name One. 

Hear O Israel - all you who call yourselves Israel or Israel's spiritual descendants -
the Holy One our God
The Holy One - whose Name may not be uttered
is One - singular, undivided, without peer, unique.
‎‏שמע ישראל יהוה אלהינו יהוה אחד



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