[The Trinity] matters more than anything else in the world. The whole dance, or drama, or pattern of this three-Personal life is to be played out in each one of us: or (putting it the other way round) each one of us has got to enter that pattern, take his place in that dance. There is no other way to the happiness for which we were made. Good things as well as bad, you know, are caught by a kind of infection. If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire: if you want to be wet you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them.

Many people wonder what the significance of the Trinity really is. Both your thoughts and Lewis’ seem to suggest that it is significant in a much deeper and more personal way than we could ever really grasp, which leads us to awe and humility simultaneously.

@Sharon – There are a variety of opinions on this within Christian theology. Briefly, restrictivists would say that unless you have explicit knowledge of Jesus and confess him as Lord by name you cannot be saved, inclusivists suggest that someone who has never heard of Christ, yet who responds to the revelation God has provided them to the extent they can may be saved, but that this salvation is still only possible in Christ. Another view, which is less widely held in the conservative Christian community, is universalism, which comes in two strains. One strain suggests that all people will be saved regardless of their response to the revelation that receive in this life. The second strain, which some call biblical universalism, suggests that only all are offered salvation and will receive it unless they explicitly reject it. At least that’s how I’ve understood the term.

I have friends in all camps, though I disagree with some more than others. Where do I end up? I am more of an inclusivist than anything (see Romans 2:14-16), though this position certainly has weaknesses. For me, I always come back to an essential trust of God, who, in wisdom beyond anything we can imagine, is working out the issue of salvation in a way that we all will one day see as completely wise and good.

@Rick – Also Rick Hawley posted this comment on my Facebook page:

In so much as ALL the characteristics of humanity are part of the “natural” landscape, the sad fact is that the depravity of humanity is revealed in that canvas as well. For some, the balance is tilted to the negative and they have a hard time seeing the glory of Him. So, I’m glad that there are additional ways that God reveals himself.

It also seems to me that our mission is to help tilt the balance back to Him when we encounter people who are having a hard time seeing God in the natural landscape.

Didn’t the early Christians have more than the natural to see God? The miracles, healing, etc.?

1. We see God as the GREAT god, the creator of all. This is the God who inspires us with awe at the wonder of his work, he is so BIG, the transcendant God.
2. We also experience God through his movement on our own hearts and spirits. This is the small God that permeates and touches our souls, the immanent God.
3. But in real, practical terms, God appears to us in the person of his representatives, mostly people, sometimes angels, very definitely the personal God.

It is the ultimate personal God, Jesus, who crowns humans’ perceptions of God. Of course, Christian theologians systematized these three perceptions of the one true God into the Trinity. The Trinity is not at all about three Gods, but about our limited human ability to perceive God. We need three conceptions of God to help us approach an understanding of God. It is an approach to understanding, provided by God himself, but in no way a definitive understanding of God. But entirely sufficient for those sincere and humble enough to stand in awe, experience the intimacy and selflessly serve their fellows.