Paper 104
GROWTH THE TRINITY CONCEPT
1. The Trinity concept of revealed religion must not be confused with the triad beliefs of evolutionary religions ...Aside from certain natural couplets, such as past and present, day and night, hot and cold, and male and female, man generally tends to think in triads: yesterday, today, and tomorrow; sunrise, noon, and sunset; father, mother, and child.
2. The first Urantian revelation leading to the comprehension of the Paradise Trinity was made by the staff of Prince Caligastia about one‑half million years ago...The second presentation of the Trinity was made by Adam and Eve in the first and second gardens...The third presentation of the Trinity was made by Machiventa Melchizedek, and this doctrine was symbolized by the three concentric circles which the sage of Salem wore on his breast plate.
3. Among the Hindus the trinitarian concept took root as Being, Intelligence, and Joy. (A later Indian conception was Brahma, Siva, and Vishnu.)...The Buddhist faith developed two doctrines of a trinitarian nature: The earlier was Teacher, Law, and Brotherhood ...The later idea ...embraced Supreme Lord, Holy Spirit, and Incarnate Savior.
4. The Hebrew mind could not reconcile the trinitarian concept with the monotheistic belief in the One Lord, the God of Israel.
The followers of the Islamic faith likewise failed to grasp the idea of the Trinity. ..The trinity idea takes best hold of those religions which have a firm monotheistic tradition coupled with doctrinal elasticity.
5. The Christian concept of the Trinity, which began to gain recognition near the close of the first century after Christ, was comprised of the Universal Father, the Creator Son of Nebadon, and the Divine Minister of Salvington...Not since the times of Jesus has the factual identity of the Paradise Trinity been known on Urantia (except by a few individuals to whom it was especially revealed) until its presentation in these revelatory disclosures.
6. Trinitarianism grows out of the experiential protest against the impossibility of conceiving the oneness of a deanthropomorphized solitary Deity of unrelated universe significance. Given a sufficient time, philosophy tends to abstract the personal qualities from the Deity concept of pure monotheism, thus reducing this idea of an unrelated God to the status of a pantheistic Absolute ...Personality in Deity demands that such Deity exist in relation to other and equal personal Deity.
7. The Trinity is a supersummative Deity reality eventuating out of the conjoining of the three Paradise Deities. The qualities, characteristics, and functions of the Trinity are not the simple sum of the attributes of the three Paradise Deities; Trinity functions are something unique, original, and not wholly predictable from an analysis of the attributes of Father, Son, and Spirit.
8. While reason demands a monotheistic unity of cosmic reality, finite experience requires the postulate of plural Absolutes and of their co‑ordination in cosmic relationships.
9. The First Source and Center, who is Father to the Eternal Son, is also Pattern to the Paradise Isle. He is personality unqualified in the Son but personality potentialized in the Deity Absolute. The Father is energy revealed in Paradise‑Havona and at the same time energy concealed in the Unqualified Absolute. The Infinite is ever disclosed in the ceaseless acts of the Conjoint Actor while he is eternally functioning in the compensating but enshrouded activities of the Universal Absolute. Thus is the Father related to the six co‑ordinate Absolutes, and thus do all seven encompass the circle of infinity throughout the endless cycles of eternity.
10. It would seem that triunity of absolute relationships is inevitable...And the association of the three Paradise personalities eternalizes the first triunity...For when these three persons, as persons, conjoin for united function, they thereby constitute a triunity of functional unity, not a trinity—an organic entity.
11. In attempting the description of seven triunities, attention is directed to the fact that the Universal Father is the primal member of each…The nature and meaning of the seven triunities may be suggested as:
The First Triunity—the personal-purposive triunity.
1. The Universal Father
2. The Eternal Son.
3. The Infinite Spirit.
The Second Triunity—the power-pattern triunity.
1. The Father-Son.
2. The Paradise Isle.
3. The Conjoint Actor.
The Third Triunity—the spirit-evolutional triunity.
1. The Universal Father.
2. The Son-Spirit.
3. The Deity Absolute.
The Fourth Trinity—the triunity of energy infinity.
1. The Father-Spirit
2. The Paradise Isle.
3. The Unqualified Absolute.
The Fifth Triunity—the triunity of reactive infinity.
1. The Universal Father.
2. The Universal Absolute.
3. The Unqualified Absolute.
1. The Universal Father.
2. The Deity Absolute.
3. The Universal Absolute.
The Seventh Triunity—the triunity of infinite unity.
1. The Universal Father.
2. The Conjoint Actor.
3. The Universal Absolute.
12. While we do not deem it wise to attempt any further elaboration, we may state that there are fifteen triune associations of the First Source and Center, eight of which are unrevealed in these papers. These unrevealed associations are concerned with realities, actualities, and potentialities which are beyond the experiential level of supremacy.
13. The triunities are the functional balance wheel of infinity, the unification of the uniqueness of the Seven Infinity Absolutes. It is the existential presence of the triunities that enables the Father‑I AM to experience functional infinity unity despite the diversification of infinity into seven Absolutes. The First Source and Center is the unifying member of all triunities; in him all things have their unqualified beginnings, eternal existences, and infinite destinies—"In him all things consist."
14. There are certain other triune relationships which are non‑Father in constitution...
The Triodity of Actuality. This triodity consists in the interrelationship of the three absolute actuals:
1. The Eternal Son.
2. The Paradise Isle.
3. The Conjoint Actor...
The Triodity of Potentiality. This triodity consists in the association of the three Absolutes of potentiality:
1. The Deity Absolute.
2. The Universal Absolute.
3. The Unqualified Absolute.
15. As the triunities are primarily concerned with the functional unification of infinity, so are triodities involved in the cosmic appearance of experiential Deities.....Supreme, Ultimate, and Absolute. They appear in the emerging power‑personality synthesis of the Supreme Being. And to the time creatures of space the Supreme Being is a revelation of the unity of the I AM.
U.B. 104:1143‑1151- Melchizedek
1. Why do Christians believe that Jesus was the second person of the Paradise Trinity?
2. Is theTrinity’s character as an entity of nonpersonal function, as in justice, a new concept in Christianity?
3. How do the triumities help us understand the functional unification of infinity?
4. How is the Triodity of Actuality involved in the actualization of the experiential Deities?
5. Why did the revelators include a description of the triumities and the triodities in this paper?
6. What practical illustrations or analogies can we use to make Trinity concepts more understandable?
7. How will the Urantia Papers effect the development of theology in the future?