Bishop Barron on the Meaning of the Trinity

00:09:45
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l-Lv9tGQwI

Summary

TLDRThe video delves into the Christian understanding of the Trinity, particularly in connection with Trinity Sunday, which emphasizes the Triune nature of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The speaker challenges the notion that preaching about the Trinity is a 'nightmare' and underscores its fundamental importance in grasping God's nature and the concept of salvation. By exploring the universal phenomenon of communication and image-making, found in everything from rocks to subatomic particles, the speaker illustrates how these reflect the divine communication within the Trinity itself. At the heart of this mystery is love, the Holy Spirit, breathed between Father and Son. Sin, in this context, is a disruption of divine communication, and God's response to sin is the sending of His Son to restore this divine connectivity. Thus, understanding the Trinity is not merely an abstract theological exercise but a profound insight into the essence of reality and salvation. Every act of making the sign of the cross is a reminder of this deep theology.

Takeaways

  • 📜 Trinity is central to understanding God and salvation.
  • 🌍 The universe is filled with communication or image-making at all levels.
  • 💑 Love within the Trinity is the breath between Father and Son.
  • 💡 Sin disrupts divine communication, turning inward.
  • 👼 God's response to sin is through His Son's divine love.
  • 🔬 Image-making is evident even at subatomic levels.
  • 🌌 The cosmos reflects divine image-making and communication.
  • 🗣️ Human communication mirrors divine communicative nature.
  • 🛐 The Trinity is real, not an abstract concept.
  • ✝️ The sign of the cross invokes the Trinity's connection.

Timeline

  • 00:00:00 - 00:09:45

    The speaker begins by discussing Trinity Sunday, emphasizing its importance despite it being considered challenging for preachers. The Trinity is described as fundamental to understanding God and salvation. A concept of communication or image-making is explored, suggesting everything in existence tends to create images or communicate itself. Examples range from rocks imprinting shapes on earth, to plants reproducing through seeds, animals through offspring, and humans through speech and technology. Further, even at atomic and subatomic levels, entities communicate, demonstrated by phenomena like quantum entanglement. The universal nature of this communication prompts the question of its source, leading to the doctrine of the Trinity as an expression of divine image-making and love.

Mind Map

Video Q&A

  • What is the Trinity Sunday known as among preachers?

    Trinity Sunday is known as the "preacher's nightmare."

  • Why is the Trinity fundamental to understanding God?

    The Trinity is fundamental as it encapsulates God's essence and the act of Salvation.

  • How does the speaker relate communication to the concept of the Trinity?

    The speaker relates communication by highlighting the universe's tendency for entities to make images or communicate themselves, drawing a parallel to the divine communication within the Trinity.

  • How do plants demonstrate the concept of image-making?

    Plants make images of themselves through seeds that grow into near-replicas of the parent plant.

  • What example is given of image-making at the subatomic level?

    Subatomic particles, through quantum entanglement, communicate or influence each other even at great distances.

  • What role does the concept of love play in the Trinity?

    Love is the mutual breath or sigh between the Father and the Son, represented as the Holy Spirit in the Divine communication.

  • What is sin according to Saint Augustine in the context of communication?

    Sin is seen as an interruption in the divine flow of communication, where one becomes inwardly focused.

  • How does God respond to sin according to the video?

    God responds to sin by sending His Son to restore divine love and communication, inspired by John 3:16.

  • Why is the Trinity not considered an abstraction?

    The Trinity is not an abstraction because it is presented as the foundation of reality, creation, and salvation.

  • What does making the sign of the cross represent in the Trinity discussion?

    It represents invoking the Father, His image in the Son, and the love they share, the Holy Spirit.

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  • 00:00:02
    [Music]
  • 00:00:14
    well as I record these words it's right
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    uh before Trinity Sunday and uh Trinity
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    Sunday is known in Christian circles as
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    the preachers nightmare because what do
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    you say about the Trinity but I've
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    always resisted that I think um as I
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    used to tell my students every Sunday is
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    Trinity Sunday the Trinity names what is
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    most uh fundamental in our understanding
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    of God and our understanding of
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    Salvation so I think we shouldn't run
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    away from it we should enter into the
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    mystery of the Trinity and here's one
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    way I would
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    suggest look around the world at at
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    every level and you're going to find
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    something like
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    communication or to State the same thing
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    a little bit differently image making
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    things tend to make images of themselves
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    or communicate themselves so think of
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    something as basic as a rock or an
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    inanimate object think of a rock lying
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    there and then the rain comes and
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    softens the ground and The Rock will
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    make an image of itself in the ground
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    imperfect and and all that sure but
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    nevertheless the rock as it were
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    communicates
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    itself think of a little Pebble you pick
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    up and you throw it through a piece of
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    glass and it makes a kind of crude image
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    of itself in the glass now go a little
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    bit higher on the chain of being come to
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    things like like plants plants can make
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    an image of themselves in a much higher
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    more refined way so a plant can drop a
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    seed and the seed grows up into a
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    remarkable reproduction of of the
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    original plant right go higher go to the
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    realm of animals animals think of a of a
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    a mother of you know and and the and the
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    embryo forming in the in the womb of the
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    of the animal and then uh giving rise to
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    a remarkably accurate reproduction of
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    the parents it's an image making
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    capacity at an higher level now come to
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    human beings we can reproduce ourselves
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    at those lower levels but then we can do
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    so much more think of all the forms of
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    communication of speech and and
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    broadcast what I'm doing right now
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    whereby we make an image of our our
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    minds and we project them outward we
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    communicate to people around us now
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    you're not satisfied with that go all
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    the way down to the to the fundamental
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    structures of reality go down to or just
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    think of cells within a living organism
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    how much communication interaction there
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    is among cells go down even further go
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    to the atomic and subatomic level think
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    of of you know protons and and electrons
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    and so on related eting within the
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    structure of the atom go down again even
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    to that subatomic level and the
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    scientists talk about um this spooky
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    action at a distance they mean when
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    certain subatomic particles have come
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    into contact that even later when there
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    were they're a huge distance from one
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    another there's still this quantum
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    entanglement whereby there's a kind of
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    influence or communication across huge
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    amounts of space and time still not
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    satisfied go to the biggest the most
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    macroscopic level of things go to
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    planets planets and galaxies and so on
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    do you find
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    extraordinary communication image making
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    if you will sure these great planets and
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    and moons that that communicate through
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    what they call gravitons think of the
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    way a sun will draw the planets around
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    itself think of the way an entire galaxy
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    will draw other galaxies into its U
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    sphere of influence okay my point point
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    is everywhere you look around up down
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    big small you find this
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    extraordinary capacity to communicate or
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    produce an
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    image so the Curious mind wonders where
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    does that come from how do you explain
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    the universality of this
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    phenomena well every Sunday we Catholics
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    get up and we recite the opening lines
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    of the Creed I believe in one God the
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    Father Almighty creator of Heaven and
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    Earth of all things visible and
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    invisible God we say is the creative
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    source of all that is and if all that is
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    is marked in every nook and cranny by
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    this imag making communicating
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    capacity are we so surprised that within
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    the very Unity of God remember I believe
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    in one God within the unity of God
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    there's something like a plague
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    of
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    communication and image making and this
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    of course indeed is the faith of the
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    church we speak of the father this
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    primordial ground of divinity the father
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    is capable of
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    forming generating a perfect image of
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    himself this interior word that St
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    Augustine and St Thomas aquinus talk
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    about the sun stay with the idea image
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    for a second so I stand before a mirror
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    and the mirror produces a rather
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    remarkable image of me but it's an image
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    in the most superficial way it's a
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    two-dimensional reproduction of the
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    physical appearance of my body right
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    what's in the mirror doesn't have any
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    mind or will or or passion or
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    personality it's just a it's just an
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    image of my physical surface but now
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    consider God the Supreme reality the
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    father can produce an image that
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    is perfect a perfect reproduction of his
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    own being possessing the mind will
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    personality Freedom Power love
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    Simplicity of the father so indeed we
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    say in that same Creed that the
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    sun is God from God light from light
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    true God from true God the sun is an
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    utterly perfect imod
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    image of the father we say indeed
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    consubstantial with the father one in
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    being
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    okay now from all eternity the father
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    looks at the son the son looks back at
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    the father what do they see each sees
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    the utter
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    Perfection Beauty goodness and truth of
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    the other and so they
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    naturally necessarily automatically Ally
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    fall in love with each other to use Fon
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    Sheen's beautiful phrase
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    they they sigh their love for each other
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    that sigh that Holy breath we call the
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    spiritus sanus the holy breath the Holy
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    Spirit God is a communio a communion a
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    family of imag making and
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    communication all of creation
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    reflects is a is a mirror of if you want
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    this white hot intensity of the Divine
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    love father Son and Holy
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    Spirit okay take one more
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    step as as this spills over into
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    creation and and is is on display in
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    every aspect of creation but especially
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    in US human beings who are destined by
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    our nature to love in Imitation Of God
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    what sin what sin but precisely you
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    might say an interruption in this
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    process of communication and connection
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    so Augustine describes sin as being cvat
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    sini right caved in on oneself it's not
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    imitating the Divine
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    communication what's God's answer to
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    sin God so loved the world that he sent
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    his only son that all who believe in him
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    might have life in his name John 3:16
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    right God the Father here so loved the
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    world was so on fire with the love of
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    the holy spirit that he sent his son his
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    image so as to gather us back into the
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    Divine
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    love now you see my point here the
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    Trinity is not a
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    u a arid
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    abstraction simply of interest to
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    theological you know
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    wonks the Trinity names the ground of
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    reality the Trinity names the reason for
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    creation the Trinity names the means by
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    which God Saves the human race so think
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    about all that every time you make the
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    sign of the cross when we invoke the
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    father His Image the Son and the love
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    they share the Holy
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    [Music]
  • 00:09:43
    Spirit
Tags
  • Trinity
  • Christianity
  • Salvation
  • Communication
  • God
  • Image Making
  • Love
  • Sin
  • Holy Spirit
  • Faith