Email 
Bookmark 
Print Understanding the Trinity
by Helen Armstrong as told to Muriel Larson
I grew up in a church, which believes in the Fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man, the leadership of Jesus Christ, and salvation by character. So I never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. To me He was just a man--not God.
The first time I ever heard about the Holy Spirit was just before Reginald and I got married. During our wedding rehearsal I heard the minister say "the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost."
I've heard of the Father and Son, I pondered, but who is "the Holy Ghost"?
I came face-to-face with this problem again when I sought to join my husband's church. "Have you been baptized?" the minister asked me. I told him I had been baptized in the Unitarian church.
"Well then," he said, "you are not a Christian, because that church doesn't believe in the Holy Trinity and you were not baptized in the Trinity."
I stared at him in surprise but began studying the catechism in order to take confirmation to join the church. As I studied, I encountered "the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost" again.
"What is the Holy Ghost?" I asked the minister.
"The Holy Ghost is part of the Trinity," he answered.
There was that Trinity again! Troubled by that mysterious doctrine, I told the minister a week later, "I don't understand how God can be three things--Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. It is beyond my comprehension. So I don't think I am ready for confirmation."
"Well," he answered, "water has three parts--H2O. So three parts make a whole in the Godhead. Just accept it and take confirmation, and I will see that you continue to grow in knowledge." So I was confirmed, even though I wasn't a Christian and didn't profess Christ as my Savior.
Good Lost Religious people
Every week we said the Apostle's Creed in church. Since I didn't want to lie, when it came to saying I believed in the Holy Ghost, I wouldn't. I also kept quiet on other parts I didn't believe.
"Helen, why don't you recite the whole Apostles' Creed?" Reg asked me one Sunday.
"Reg, how can you say those things in the creed?" I countered. "Do you really believe them? Do you believe in the Trinity? Do you believe Christ descended into hell and on the third day rose again and ascended into heaven?"
"I don't know," he said. "I've always said the creed since I was a child. I never thought about it."
But Reg and I became very religious people, because we wanted our son Stan to get a Christian education. Reg served as a vestryman and I was made the chairman of the women's guild and was very active in its work. Yes, for most of our lives we were the most religious lost persons you ever saw--outside of the Pharisees.
Brand New Son
Then something happened to our son Stan after his first year at Brown University. Stan went to a Christian retreat for young people. When we picked him up, I discovered we had a brand new son. Looking into his eyes, I saw a pure, beautiful light shining in them, such as I had never seen before.
"Son, what has happened to you?" I asked.
"Mother, I have found the Lord," he answered happily. "I have found Jesus Christ!"
"What does that mean?"
"It means that He is my Savior, and I am now a dedicated Christian. I have a long path to follow, but I am determined to walk it. From now on, I'm going to live for Jesus Christ!"
"All right, dear," I said, "that's great." I was glad if he was happy.
After that Stan talked to me often about Christ and kept urging me to read the Bible. To satisfy him, I skimmed through John and some other Scriptures he suggested. But I wasn't really interested. It didn't reach me. I was too busy in my bridge club and other social activities.
Time went by. Stan graduated from Brown as a physicist, went on to Yale and Harvard for graduate work, became a metaphysics, theology, and philosophy profession in a Canadian university.
Glamorous Life-but Something is Missing
My husband had climbed the career ladder fast and had become a high-ranking executive. I traveled abroad with him on business and led a glamorous life. Yet it bored me at times. I have everything anyone could want, I thought, but something is missing. What is it?
Reg retired and we moved to a swanky resort town in North Carolina--the "Golf Center of the World." Even though playing golf was one of my strong interests and I had many high-class friends in the golfing world, still I was unhappy in this "golfer's heaven." Something was troubling me; I didn't know it might be the Holy Spirit convicting me!
Son Visits-Light Dawns
One day Stan called me long distance; and he sensed my misery. It seemed to him that the Lord was telling him to fly down to me, so he did. I was delighted to see him.
Stan wouldn't go to my church with me though. He scanned the phone book for another church and called the pastor. Then he invited me to attend it with him. I did.
That was the first church I had ever attended in all my 66 years where Jesus Christ was lifted up and I heard the gospel! Feeling the beauty and joy in that service and church, I started crying. Me, crying! I had hardly ever cried in my life before, let along in church!
Stan stayed for two weeks and I attended every meeting of that church with him. Reg and I continued after Stan left. Then one Sunday the Holy Spirit's convicting power moved me. I found myself down at the altar, kneeling humbly before the Lord, acknowledging myself a sinner, and giving my heart to the Lord who had died on the cross for my sins!
And my dear husband was kneeling beside me, doing the same thing. Can you imagine two sophisticated religious people in their mid-60s finally finding the Way, the Truth, and the Life? We are two miraculous evidences of Christ's saving power, the Spirit's transforming power.
That day when I received Christ, I finally believed in the Trinity--God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. My spiritual eyes were opened. I believe in Jesus Christ crucified, risen, and coming again. I know that the Holy Spirit caused me to be born again spiritually, and through His presence in me, God the Father and God the Son are also in me. The Spirit comforts and guides me. I believe in salvation by faith along; God saved me!
Ever since that glorious day Reg and I have been growing in the Lord and delighting in the ministries of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in our personal lives.
Do you know about Jesus? He is God’s Son and my hope. God sacrificed his Son on the cross for our sins because he loves us. All the times we lied, stole, hated, cheated—we are no long guilty because Jesus died on the cross and paid the penalty for us. He rose after three days and continues to live today. If you believe in him and accept him as your Savior, you accept his gift of grace and can come to a personal relationship with God. He has a perfect plan for your life and he has a place for you in heaven.
You can receive Christ right now by faith through prayer. Praying is simply talking to God. God knows your heart and is not so concerned with your words as he is with the attitude of your heart. Here's a suggested prayer:
Lord Jesus, I want to know you personally. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life to you and ask you to come in as my Savior and Lord. Take control of my life. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Make me the kind of person you want me to be.
Dr. Muriel Larson, author of many books and thousands of published writings and songs, is a professional Christian writer, counselor and speaker, and has taught at writers' conferences across the United States. She serves as an E-Mail counselor with Truthmedia. Her web site, "Advice From God's Word," lists many helpful articles alphabetically by their descriptive titles: http://advicedrmuriel.blogspot.com
