The debates have waged on for millennia: is God one, or three, or more? What are the implications of these positions? How important is it that we decide? Can we know? Well, enough with the rhetorical questions . . .
In the previous post (Does God Change?) we briefly addressed the issue of the infinitude of God. All attributes of God hang on this one issue. If God is not infinite, then there are only feeble explanations for our existence, and little hope to assure us as we look toward the future. On the other hand, if God is infinite, the whole story changes. Let’s start by examining infinitude.
Infinitude can be described as limitless, boundless, never beginning, and never ending. What’s more, there are at least three types of infinitude: magnitudinal, intricate, and dimensional. It may help to think of these types as outward, inward, and locational infinities. (For more on these infinities see Slices of God, chapter 2.06.) We will focus primarily on magnitudinal and dimensional infinitudes in this post.
If God is infinite, nothing is greater than God. God is all encompassing. Nothing can have attributes that God does not have. For instance, if God is infinite, it is impossible for me to be compassionate and God not be compassionate. Likewise, it is impossible for me to be more compassionate than God is. So what are the implications of this infinitude on the question at hand?
If God is comprised of three or more unique entities, then none of them is infinite. Why? If each of the entities has attributes or unique qualities the others do not have, then each of them is less than infinite, for infinitude is all encompassing. Furthermore, the summation of the parts does not add up to infinity, since infinitude is beyond the parts.
Here’s the bottom line: for God to be infinite, God must be one. Many religious texts concur. So, is that the end of the story? Obviously not, or I wouldn’t have asked the question. To continue we need to examine dimensional infinitude.
The best way to describe dimensional infinitude is to float off subject a bit, diving into aquarium maintenance. (Every pun intended!) For a more exhaustive journey, read Slices of God, chapter 3.12. To summarize here, think about sticking your fingers into the water in an aquarium. (If you have never done so, go for it!) If you view your fingers from the side of the aquarium, looking upward, you will see only the fingers and their reflection on the surface of the water. No hand will be visible: just the individual fingers. The phenomenon is due to the internal reflection of light when viewing the surface of the water at angles steeper than what’s called the critical angle. In other words, the surface of the water acts as a mirror, reflecting only the portion of the fingers that are submerged. You may be wondering, “What in God’s blue aqua does this have to do with God being one or more?”
Example of Internal Reflection: Bird-of-Paradise
Suppose, just for a moment, that we are the fish looking up at the fingers that feed us and maintain the aquarium. I can just hear the fish theologies swirling. “The maintenance God must be one!” “But, can’t you see the five finger-gods that care for us?” And so it goes . . .
God is dimensionally infinite, existing beyond our little aquarium. Has God ever entered our waters? Did the internal reflections cause us to believe that there were two or three or more independent entities? I believe so. After all, isn’t that what the name Immanuel means? Some scriptural texts refer to this “God with us” as the arm of God, submerged into our domain to set things right[1].
But, ultimately, behind some dimensional curtain or watery interface, God is one.
-Sam Augsburger
Slices of God: Strange, Dimensional, and Fractal Perspectives on God and the Cosmos
[1] Isaiah 53:1-12,
