Caught Off Guard

The Sabbaths have been clicking by, one by one!  Each one is a special blessing at the end of every week.  I tell you, we soooo look forward to the Sabbath days.  They have changed so much for us in the last several months.
Sabbaths for us, used to be to get up in the morning and prepare for church.  Go to church, participate in Sabbath school, listen to a sermon, listen to some songs sung from up front and sing along if we knew them, and then go home if there was to potluck.  If there was a potluck, we stayed for that and then went home to rest by taking a nap or a walk and watching some nature documentary or something like that. 
Now, Sabbaths are for real!  I mean, I think we spend them, now, how they were meant to be spent, and we gain such a rich blessing every week. 
You see, we are prepared on Friday with lots of good and nutritious food, the best and the tastiest!  Our lessons have been studied faithfully, using Youn*g Disciple lessons, throughout the week.  We get up Sabbath morning and are excited to meet our friends.  We meet at someone's house and sit comfortably in a homey atmosphere.  We Sing songs together, Study the Sabbath school lesson for about 11/2 hours and then spend about 20 -30 minutes in earnest prayer.  About that time, it is time for lunch and the feast is spread and enjoyed by all.  After lunch, we visit or go for a walk, only to return again and open our Bibles in afternoon study of the word again, this time, on the reasons why we believe what we do as an SDA.  Everything is Bible based and full to the brim with Bible verses.  It is interesting when we come to some disagreement amongst us, because then the pages of the Bible beginning turning, with every head bowed in concentration, looking for instruction from the word.  It is a blessing to see people diving deep in the word.

This last week took an interesting turn, however!  You remember that we've been challenged in our belief on the Trinity by a lady come up for about 6 months.  She doesn't believe in the Trinity Godhead nor does she believe that Jesus was/is/will be from eternity to eternity.  This, of course, caused quite a bit of discussion a few weeks ago.  When my husband and I left for home afterwards,  DVD's were brought out with very convincing sermons on the subject using Bible texts and quotes from some of the prominent founders of our church during a time when they had not yet fully explored the idea of a trinity Godhead (Later, the Biblical foundation of a Heavenly Trio/Godhead was established).

Well, we decided that the best thing to do after some angry feelings were brought up by some, that we should leave well enough alone until people studied it out for themselves or their feelings were spent.  In any case, that subject was dropped from Bible study for now, in the hopes of maintaining peace, friendship, and in the hopes for time to pray about it all.

Well, not this Sabbath!  lol
The "No Trinity" lady was not able to attend our Bible study this time.  We started on the afternoon study of the Great Controversy.  We studied about the fall of Lucifer in Heaven and the fall of man in the Garden, when one of my friends subtly said, "This verse in Genesis says, ""Let us make man..."" Does that "us" mean more then one? 
My eyes got big and I looked at her.  I knew where she was going with this.  I saw the mischief in her eyes and she winked at me.  Her daughter swung her head around and looked straight at her in surprise.  Again, a little smile and a wink.  Ok,  my husband tried to gently brush past her question with a quick and obvious answer, but the drop off was swift and we were in, again, up to our eyeballs. 
My other friend, who has just recently decided that she is convinced there is no trinity and that Jesus was born/begotten/or created from the Father quickly turned to Proverbs 8 and said, "This chapter answers that question!" 
Well, I had just finished thoroughly studying that chapter and while I didn't think it would answer the question posed at all, I felt put on the spot to explain what I had learned about Prov 8.  I was afraid of making enemies.  I was afraid of an argument instead of discussion.   My heart rate suddenly went up and I felt completely out of breath.  I became hot and nervous. 
Still, I began to explain, that what is found in Proverbs 8 does not in anyway indicate that Jesus was born from God the Father.  Instead, the one talking in this chapter are Wisdom and Understand personified.  They are character traits of God!  He had these traits from everlasting past,  He brought them forth to be used at his bidding,  He delighted in Wisdom and Understanding and they were with him always.   The interesting thing is that all of  the book of Proverbs talks a lot about wisdom and understanding in the same sort of way that it does about Character, law, and the commandments of God.  You see,  The character of God in written form is his law/commandments and it existed in the form of Wisdom and Understanding from Everlasting!  It was brought forth from the Heart of God and raised up to pre-eminence with God as his delight forever.

I finished my dissertation completely out of breath and totally embarrassed because of how nervous I was.  I could still see the mischief in my friends eyes though.  She asked, "Does that answer my question?" 
"No,  not at all!"  I said
"Then what is the answer?" 
My husband believed her to be innocently asking because she didn't know.  I knew better. 
Art said,  "Well, The Trinity is actually inferred in the old testament but not outright pointed out like it is in the New."
I asked everyone to turn to Isaiah 48:12,16.  Maybe I'm wrong but it seemed pretty clear to me here, even in the Old Testament that three separate entities were being referred to. 

All was quiet.  It was obvious the pot had been sufficiently stirred to get everyone thinking and studying for themselves once again.  That's good, I guess, at my expense!  lol

On the way home, 7:30 that evening, my husband said,  "I think she had some genuine questions she wanted to know." 
I rolled my eyes and laughed, "No, she just couldn't help herself, you should have seen that twinkle in her eye!"
Later my friend called and giggled at me.  "You got so nervous,  you were completely out of breath!" 
lol, "yes, thanks to you!"

Art, told me later, that I did a great job of explaining anyway!  Well, next time I'll know to be prepared for anything.  How do I do that?