dr. pinkham cites gordon fee who “finds it ‘utterly tragic that most expressions of the protestant tradition have ended up being trinitarian in name only, but not in practice.’ fee refers here to the ignorance of the person and work of the Holy spirit that leads so much of the protestant church to be, practically, binitarians (acknowledging only two persons in the godhead). christian spirituality, however, cannot be undertaken without the aid of the holy spirit. . . . pinkham cites shivers who writes, ‘just as christ’s personhood is characterized by relationship with others through the power of the spirit, so human personhood must be characterised by the same.’ therefore, the recognition of the role of the holy spirit is integral to the person of christ himself, as well as the christian emulation of christ.”

pinkham refers to the term perichoretic communion which “best expresses the nature of the trinity. barth and t. E. Torrance contend that perichoresis is an ontological way of being that is based on the mutual indwelling of the father, son and spirit. . . . humans were made in god’s image, and therefore a greater understanding of the nature of god naturally results in a greater understanding of the nature of humanity. humans are relational persons, who are able to relate to god in their perichoretic personhood . . . . for T. F. Torrence, ‘the reformed doctrine of communion of the spirit’ is better understood as ‘union with christ through the communion of the spirit.’” (minds in communion, the title of this website) “the combination of ‘union with christ’ and ‘the communion of the spirit’ lies at the foundation of the church’s hope and forms the heart of its eschatology.”

Pinkham speaks to the personhood of god in these statements:

“. . . the person of god is relationally dynamic . . . the personhood of god is revealed in the life and character of the incarnATE CHRIST. TO EXPLORE THE PERSON OF JESUS IS TO EXPLORE THE TRINITY. UNDERSTANDING GOD IN THIS WAY ALLOWS US TO RECOGNIZE INTERPERSONal nature as a defining characteristic of the trinity, but also as an invitation into their dynamic relationship through christ himself. . . . the theological reality of the trinity requires that we see god as irreducibly relational, and thus lays the unbreakable foundation for human relationality.”

dr. pinkham refers to the holism of the trinity. I include these excerpts that will give definition to this description:

“the nature of the trinity is relational and holistic. the trinity focuses inward with the relationships between the three members. the trinity focuses outward with the inclusion of humaNITY. THE TRINITY FOCUSES UPWARD WITH THEIR SHARED SUMMIT OF GLORY. AND THE TRINITY FOCUSES DOWNWARD WITH THE OFFER OF SALVATION TO THE WORLD. . . . WE MUST LEARN TO THINK HOLISTICALLY ABOUT CHRISTIANITY AND ATTEMPT TO SEE THE INTERCONNECTEDNESS OF GOD’S DYNAMIC ACTIVITY IN HUMAN LIFE. FURTHER, WE MUST VIEW THE INTERCONNECTEDNESS AS BEING PERSONAL AND RELATIONAL, NOT JUST THEORETICAL.”

dickson is cited who “insists that ‘the spirit’s role has always been the medium of the communion between the father and the son and now also is the medium between christians and christ, drawing them into his presence and working in their lives to make them reflect god’s glory and dignity.’”

this is an interactive, bidirectional relationship that is active in our time. thanks to advances in neuroscience technology, we are becoming aware of the means by which this interaction takes place between the mind of god and the mind of man mediated by the holy spirit.

i am reading the latest book by dr. hugh ross, founder of the now global ministry, reasons to believe (www.reasons.org). its title is rescuing inerrancy: a scientific defense, RTB press, covina, ca, 2023. i wish to share excerpts from chapter 11 that are relevant to what i am sharing in my blog posts concerning the personal interaction between the holy spirit and the spirit and mind/soul of mankind:

“the 39 human writers of the bible’s 66 books understood that the holy spirit was the guiding voice behind everything they wrote. in many biblical passages, the human authors explicitly declared that what they were writing was inspired by god himself. the phrase ‘thus says the lord’ appears 427 times in the old testament. . . . the apostle paul assures the early christians, ‘all scripture is god-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness’ (2 timothy 3:16), and the apostle peter affirmed that ‘prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from god as they were carried along by the holy spirit’ (2 peter 1:21). . . . the bible’s redemptive theme is sustained by the record of nature. that god began his work of redemption before he created anything implies that all of nature is designed to make possible not only the existence but also the redemption of a vast host of humans. [the neural synaptic networks of the human brain have been so designed by god to provide a personal means for counsel and redemption.] . . . the holy spirit knows the meaning of what has been written and promises to guide us toward ever-deeper understanding. he uses genre and prayerfuly discerned interpretive principles to help us today [bold type added], just as he helped ancient peoples of the world and will help future generations.”

in the book of hebrews are verses which we can better understand as to process from the information presented in my books and in a number of my blogs:

the holy spirit also testifies to us about this. first he says: this is the covenant i will make with them after that time, says the lord. i will put my laws in their hearts, and i will write them on their minds. (heb 10:15-16)

it is my hope that i have presented compelling evidence for dualist interaction between the holy spirit and the human spirit and soul. the holy spirit has the power and will to establish neural codes within the human synaptic networks, manifested as “laws” in the “hearts” and “minds.” Yes, we can communicate directly with the Holy spirit via prayer, and we can also receive communications directly from him in our time, including those within the human conscience.

i have selected two topics from my more than 600 blog posts that i believe are vital for christians to understand, information, just completed, and the holy spirit to come. my blogs have addressed both topics extensively, but i hope that my posting these topics in a concentrated format will be helpful to the readers. it is unfortunate that too many churches fail to teach the holy spirit. it was my own experience in my early church years. it was the focus in my second book, the boundless love of god: a holy spirit story.

I am concluding my series of blog posts dealing with information and give credit to William A. Dembski for most of the content I have shared. I trust I have succeeded in explaining information, showing just how important it is to science, to theology and to our very existence. moreover, i trust that i have succeeded in identifying the ultimate source of all information that has been actualized in all of that which has been created and is sustained to this day, God. does the reader now understand better just how majestic, powerful, intelligent, rational, personal and loving the biblical god is? we must do our best to keep our concept of god from being too small!

Dembski argues in Chapter 20, “The Creation of Information,” that “intelligence is the ultimate source of information, . . . I come at this question as a Christian for whom God, as creator, is the ultimate source of all there is, and thus of all the information in the world. My model for information creation, therefore, cannot be bottom up, as in trying to reconstitute information from material processes, but rather must be top down, as in trying to understand the creation of information from the vantage of a creative intelligence (in particular, the Christian God).”