The Trinity: Visualized

Over the past couple of months, there have been a series of changes that have caused me to seriously reconsider many aspects of my faith. Some of these changes were depressing, others solemn, and yet some were joyous and causes for celebration. I don't mean to get off topic, but only put this so that this change might be put into perspective. More and more, I've come to learn about glory, our chief end in this life, and what it means to be a part of Christ. It's like having a new set of eyes and ears by which the world looks and sounds totally different.

At any rate, during one of the times when discussing the trinity and trying to figure out exactly the trinity relates to in this world... something interesting caught my eye. It's no secret that things come in threes:

!/sites/nickvahalik.com/files/threes.png!

So we have the trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All three are clearly defined in the bible. Three in one. What else is like this? Genesis 1:3. God creates light.

What is light? More specifically, what is white light?

!/sites/nickvahalik.com/files/rgb.png!

From Wikipedia ("White":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White):

bq. White is a color, the perception which is evoked by light that stimulates all three types of color sensitive cone cells in the human eye in nearly equal amounts and with high brightness compared to the surroundings. A white visual stimulation will be void of hue and grayness.

The human eye has 3 types of cone receptors and 1 type of rod receptor ("Trichromacy":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichromatic_color_vision). Those 3 cone receptors are what give us the ability to perceive color by responding to "red, green, and blue (RGB)":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RGB_color_model light. In other words, every time we white light, we see a simultaneous trio of equal portions red, green, and blue light... a trinity if you will. Each plays it's own role in forming that white light. They are all required in order to produce it, too.

I believe in the same way that God made our eyes to take the three wavelengths of light so that we could see white light, He made our hearts receptive to the trinity so that we could see Him. Or at least, attempt to see Him. Staring too long at a bright light can make you go blind. :)

My point is this: Look no further than your own computer monitor to understand how three can make one. As you read this blog post, it is happening right in front of you. I pray that if you have a problem understanding the trinity, you will seek the word to know more and perhaps this illustration might be useful.