It's In the Math

Don't get defensive because of the mathematics that I'm about to present. There is nothing technical about lines and triangles. They are all over the place. Bear with me for a short spell while I use simple geometry to explain nature and and the nature of God himself!

Engineers think of things differently than other people. In nature almost everything can be reduced to a triangle! It's easy to see that straight line objects consist of triangles. For instance things which are square in nature are merely two triangles with the same hypotenuse (the longer side of the triangle). However, let's even look at the face of a person. There is a triangle formed by the center of the mouth and the pupils of the eyes! That triangle is an equilateral triangle and it can be bisected by it's height, forming two right angle triangles.

If we look at the clouds, we see random order, but the surface we see can be divided into small squares and the area approximated using tiny tiny squares. Calculating the "area inside the curve" using infinitesimally small squares finds the area under the curve, or the size of the cloud. Each of these small squares can be cut in half with a diagonal (hypotenuse) and clouds can even be described as triangles! (If you think of the pixels on your TV, this is an example. The square pixels can be halved along the diagonal and many tiny triangles make up the screen).

Even the position of the earth, sun and moon can be described by one large triangle, as can even the orbit of electrons on the smallest atom! Why can't the nature of God, then, be described the same way? (For illustration purposes).

Everything in life is desired to be the shortest distance between two points (Figure #1). That's defined as a straight line!  If we play ball, we run from third to home. We try to keep it the shortest distance between the two to make it the fastest. There are things which make us deviate, such as trimming the corners in running, but in theory, we want to keep it short. 

Certainly if we want a romance, we want to meet (A) then bond (B). We want to do that without drama or playing games. That's the shortest distance between meeting and bonding. It's most easily done without confounds; things which get in the way, aka barriers. Another person wooing the girl causes that straight line to be longer than a suitor would want and it probably won't be the shortest distance to romance!

Figure #1: Shortest Distance between 2 points

When there are barriers the distance between two points gets longer. People waver in their path. That third person in the picture, when you're dating, makes the path to bonding so much longer. The wavering is drama and dissension. When a player is running to home from third, sometimes the catcher has the ball. The runner has drama with the catcher and the path wavers (Figure #2). The distance is no longer the shortest and neither is it a straight line!

Figure #2: Wavering Distance between 2 points

A longer distance between two points can also be line segments. In Figure #3 I show that although the shortest distance between A & B can be taken, sometimes the distance is divided up into two straight lines. If we're in the yard, we can walk straight 30 feet, then turn right 10 feet and get to point B. That can be done! 

Figure #3: Longer Distance between 2 points

 If we're in the city and want to drive from one block to the next on opposing corners, roads most often don't run from A to B. It's necessary to go down Milton Street to the corner of Main Street, then turn, to get to point B. Since road blocks are normally square, the streets from corner to corner are of equal distance, and looks like Figure #4. A person drives one block, then turns right and drives one block. They arrive at point B, but it's not the shortest way to get there. If they were in a helicopter they could fly directly the shortest route!

Figure #4: Even Another distance between 2 points

Most often in any situation, be it romance, traveling or planning; the shortest distance between two points is the best way to get from one place to another. The shortest way is the best way (Figure #5).

Figure #5: Best Way is shortest way

As you can see the shortest distance compared to two other indirect straight line distances forms a triangle. The "sides" of the triangle are "other ways" to get there using straight paths, but the hypotenuse is the shortest and best way! (Figure #6). The area inside the triangle is hatched and that area forms a plane. The other two paths are called "components" of the hypotenuse (shortest way) because those two together also get from point A to B, but it's a longer route.

Figure #6: Triangle formed by components

If we want to walk from A to B in the northwesterly direction we can walk due west then turn ninety degrees and walk due north. We still arrive at point B, but went west then north. These two directions are described as the "x" direction and the "y" direction. The hypotenuse "H" has "x" and "y" components running west and north respectively as shown in Figure #7.

Figure #7: Triangle formed by Best Way Vector

If these paths were made of plywood or some sold material, a triangular plane would be described. If a light was shined (Figure #8), there would be cast a shadow just like the original, but of a different size.  Points A and B would make a shadow A' and B', of different spacing. Shadows can be much smaller or much larger based on the distance form the light and the size of the light source and object.

Figure#8: Shadow of triangle

Now you ask "Why all this geometry?" It's my way of describing the Holy Trinity!  Trinity means "three in one". It's not that we have three God's, but that God has three dimensions, called "persons", but I favor the term "personalities" or better yet "components". While persons is defined as "human beings", personality is the traits of a "person" Components are all the ways to get from A to B, so I'll refer to the "components". They're still all about the triangle formed by the three!

Jesus, is the "hypotenuse"  component  (Figure #9). He is the shortest way and best way to get from point A to point B. Point A is where we are now (in this temporary life) to where we hope to be "eternal life", point B. Eternal life is "salvation". By our devotion from getting from A to B we have the "hope of salvation" (point B).

1 Thessalonians 5:8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

That "hope" is that "we shall be saved". That's point B and having that hope is point A!

 Matthew 10:22 "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved."

So the Christian's goal is to make it from point A to point B. Because a line is started doesn't mean it will be finished. It must follow a path. The shortest distance between two points is a path that remains unbroken and continuous.  The best and shortest path is an unwavering path as shown in the difference between Figure #1  and  Figure #2.

Colossians 2:5 "For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ."

"Unwavering" is being "steadfast in your faith" . It's as Figure #1. The directness of vector AB (line AB) is called perseverance. It's how straight the path is to get from A to B, or from here to heaven:

Ephesians 6:18 "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints..."

Not only are we to stay on the path, but we are to focus on the goal; point B:

 Philippians 3:14 "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

Point B is where the prize is! Now how to get there! It's through the "high calling of God in Christ"!

Look  closely at the hypotenuse in Figure #9. It's the best and shortest way. What way is that?

John 14:6  "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

The "truth" is that Jesus is the best way, and in fact "only way" to get to point B (eternal life where the Father is). "The life" is point B, the kingdom of God, and Jesus is the Way! There are no other components or paths to get there! "No man cometh to the Father, but by me".

But you say, "God", referred to by theologians as the "Godhead" is the triangle shown in Figure #9. His components are the hypotenuse (Jesus), the line in the X direction (the Father) and the line in the Y direction, the Holy Ghost. That is the Holy Trinity or God! Symbolically God is the triangle made up of Father, Son and Holy Ghost:

Matthew 28:19 "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost..."

People aren't being baptized in the name of three gods; not three persons, but the components of the One True God. Since Jesus is the Way and only way, that means the other components are not the Way!

Figure #9: Symbolism in Triangle

In the Old Testament, the Father, Jehovah God, was the obvious focus of attention. However, John Chapter 1 tells us that "The Word" was with God and that he became flesh (Jesus). Therefore, Jesus was still the hypotenuse (shortest and only distance) from life to heaven. Consequently, since by only one name is anybody saved, and the patriarchs were saved, it was by the name of Jesus! There never was a way to be saved through the Law; it was always by grace and through Jesus Christ!

You say "The patriarchs of old didn't know that!" I say "yes, they did because The Word who spoke with them was Jesus!" What would Jesus tell them about? Himself!

Acts 4:12 "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."

Acts 4:12 validates my claim. Even Old Testament Salvation was by faith in the coming Messiah and that he was to die to save mankind.

As such, all Old Testament scripture is a "shadow" of Jesus. You can see that A' and B' (Figure #10) are merely the shadow of A and B. Hence, in the Old Testament Jesus had not yet died for man's sins, but the stories told were all about Jesus!

Hebrews 1:1b "For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things..."

Of course this means that the Law (the Old Testament) is all about Jesus by being "a shadow of him, not the very image"!  This concept is demonstrated if Figure #10. God is the symbolized by the triangle.

Luke 2:21b "...his name (God's) was called Jesus, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb."

 Matthew 1:23 "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."

His name wasn't Jesus. It wasn't Emmanuel. It was and is "I AM". He was CALLED "God with us" and he was CALLED "Jesus"!

Figure #10: Shadow of Jesus

But does this imply that if a person believes in God, that point B can be attained? Not at all! The x-component of God (the triangle) is "the Father". As shown in Figure #11. Believing in the Father does not get a person to point B (eternal life). The shortest and only route we have learned is through Jesus because he's the one who died for our sins! Jews believe in "God the Father". That's not enough because the cornerstone is rejected:

Luke 20:17 "And he beheld them, and said, What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?"

That's Jesus who was rejected and the scripture is Isaiah 28:16.

Figure #11: Component of shortest way-Father

If we look at the second component "y", the Holy Ghost in Figure #12, we see that neither can God's spirit get a person to heaven, again because Jesus is not the focal point. Many Pentecostals put the emphasis on the Holy Ghost, but that's not enough. If too much emphasis is given to the "y" component of God, it takes the glory away from Jesus. The Holy Ghost is the component of God which nurtures us until Jesus returns. The Holy Spirit was the component of God who conceived the Son of Man, called Jesus.

John 14:26 "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."

Acts 2:38 "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

The Holy Ghost is not the way to salvation. He's Jesus's stand-in in his temporary absence. He reminds us of Jesus and the purpose Jesus had: to take sinners from point A to point B! As we become in unity with Jesus, we receive the Holy Ghost as a gift to help us and aid us in being righteous. Hence, the "y" component of God is the Holy Ghost, who does not save, but keeps us! He's necessary for sustenance, but not for saving.

Figure #12: Component y--Holy Ghost

Jesus is God:

Colossians 2:9 "For in him (Jesus) dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."

John 8:58 "Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am."

Jesus is filled with the Holy Ghost:

John 14:26 "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."

2 Corinthians 3:17 "Now the Lord(Jesus) is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

Summary:

The triangle analogy serves two purposes: First off, it figuratively represents God and explains the concept of the Trinity. There are not three Gods, but three components of God each serving a role. Jesus is represented as the shortest distance between A & B, and the shortest distance, according to scripture, is the only Way. Believing in either one of the other "components" of God is not sufficient to have eternal life. If a person believes in the Father, that's not enough. However, if one believes in Jesus that is enough!

John 14:9 "Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?"

What Jesus is saying "Look at the obvious, Philip. The shortest distance and in this case, the only distance, between two points is the straight line between two points. That's me. If you see me (the long side) you see the Father because the Father is a component of the Son! "

This seems extreme, but if you remember that Jesus IS God, then when you look at Jesus, you are not only seeing the shortest point to salvation, but you're seeing the entire triangle (Trinity) so to speak. When Jesus was born and he was God (Emmanuel) and then he received the Holy Ghost, God was complete in Jesus. It is Jesus who makes up the triangle, symbolically, although this entity is called "the Godhead".

Now, for the second concept: paths to heaven. There is but one path and that's through Jesus Christ. The x and y components of Jesus are not enough to get to point B from point A, although symbolically they are shown that way. Satan wants people to BELIEVE that the Father and his Holy Spirit is enough, but that rejects the blood spilled by Jesus... the human and total aspect of God.

Hebrews 9:22 "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission."

"Remission" of sins is taking everything we've done and covering them all by shedding the blood of God. It wasn't the Holy Ghost who shed blood, or the component of God called "the Father" (who is in heaven), but God in the flesh, Jesus Christ. When you look at that triangle with the focus on the hypotenuse, that focal point is Jesus, and if you see the shortest distance between A & B you're seeing the who triangle; the Godhead aka "the Trinity".

Jesus = AB,  the Father does not = AB; the Holy Ghost does not = AB, Father + Holy Ghost does not = AB! Jesus = AB is the truth and the Way to eternal life. The other routes are part of the equation, but insufficient. Although we adore the Father and the Holy Ghost, their role is not to save; they provide and comfort. Jesus saves and Jesus is God entirely!

Here's what's amazing: In Figure #9 rotate the triangle around axis AB, the hypotenuse, until the plane can no longer be seen. All that remains that can be seen is a straight line, as in Figure #1. The entire triangle is still there with all it's components, but only line AB can still be seen. The same symbolizes the Trinity. With the rotation of the Trinity from "shadow" of Jesus where he was somewhat hidden,  until his birth, all that was before is hidden, but Jesus alone remains. The Father and the Holy Spirit is still there, but in the gospel it's Jesus we see!