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GregBoyd
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Total Posts : 1818

Posted 7/31/2001 9:22 PM (GMT -6)

"As the Pythagoreasn say, the world and all that is in it is determined by the number three." Aristotle.

"we see in all these instances most undoubted trinities, because they are wrought in ourelves, or are in ourselves, when we remember, look at or desire these things."
Augustine, On the Trinity.

"God governs all things by threes… the things themselves are determined by threes." Marsilio Ficino, De Amore.

Well, another sleepless night when the brain won't shut off. And tonight, the brain's perseverating on THREENESS. I suppose its because I've been reading alot of Charles Pierce lately. He holds that all of reality is structured in threes. Interesting, because he wasn't consciously working out a trinitarian metaphysics. Indeed, so far I have only discovered one reference to the Trinity in his works, and that as a mildly curious passing note (along with the threefold god Shiva in Hinduism).

I, however, have for a long time held the conviction that, if we could see clearly, we'd see that the world and all in it has a threefold structure to it. I have, over time, collected what may be illustrations of this. One of my pet projects. Now, I'd like to do two things.

First, I'd like to get my threeness perseveration off my brain so I can sleep. Second, and more importantly, I'd like to enlist the help of all to add to my list of threeness.

I'll give a couple of postings sharing some of my observations. Then I'd like others to add to it. Note: I am not here trying to make any sense of the threeness, nor am I trying to evaluate how accurately it does or does not reflect the trinity. I'm just interested in THREES of any sort. Later in life I will try to break it down.

So, read this, if you're interested, and then throw out, even as wild guess, threeness you've observed or read about.

"Free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having." C.S.Lewis

GregBoyd
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Total Posts : 1818

Posted 7/31/2001 9:32 PM (GMT -6)

"As the Pythagoreasn say, the world and all that is in it is determined by the number three." Aristotle.

Threeness in Philosophical Systems
* As said above, Charles Peirce analyzed all reality in three categories: firstness, secondness and thirdness. First is datum, second is resistance, third is mediation. From this fundamental threeness he created an enormous architectonic philosophical system structured in threes.
* Hegel thought all of reality, and the flow of history, was structured by threes. (Thesis, antithesis and synthesis).
* Plato divided the soul into three parts.
* Middle and Neo-Platonists before and during the rise of Chrsitianity held to a sort of trinity: The One, the mind and the world-soul.
* many ancient philosophers held that life is divided into three parts: the theoretical, the practical and the pleasurable.

Threeness In the physical world.
* Three dimensions of space: line, plane, solid
* Three aspects of time: past, present and future
* Three degrees of comparison complete our knowledge of qualities (greater, less, equal).
* Three "kingdoms" of matter: mineral, vegetable and animal. [aren't there three primary chemicals in the chemical table? anyone?]
* All life proceeds in thirds, a male and female producing a child.
* There are three primary colors. All other colors are derivatives of these.

Threeness in Human Beings
* Three dimensions of humans: body, soul and Spirit
* Consciousness is constituted by a self, a self-image and a relationship between these two. We are self-aware. (I have taught for years that transformation is a process of having ourtrinunity reflect the perfect love of God's triunity as we come to identify our self-image IN CHRIST. This is the theological foundation of TNT, by the way). (:))
* Freud held that we have an "id", an "ego" and a "super-ego." There's something to it.
* Jean Piaget holds all humans develop in three distinct stages.
* Our inner constitution is encompassed by three things, according to Augustine: We will, we think and we feel.
* Three things necessary to complete a proposition: subject, predicate and copula.
* Three steps necessary to all logical reasoning: major premise, minor premise, conclusion.

More to follow.
Doc

"Free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having." C.S.Lewis

GregBoyd
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Posted 7/31/2001 9:41 PM (GMT -6)

[quote]

"As the Pythagoreasn say, the world and all that is in it is determined by the number three." Aristotle.

This one may be a stretch for some. But I have been facinated with the prevalence of threes in world religions and mythology. I suspect it at least shows that we have a triune structure to our mind. I am not here commenting on the rightness or wrongness of any of these beliefs or symbols. I'm just noticing them. It IS curious.

Threeness in Religious Symbols
* Three joined circles within a circle – claimed by some to be the most universal of religious symbols. The "Chintamani," sign of happiness on the Temple of Heaven in Beijing; appears on the Three Treasures o fTibet; the breast of Christ in Memling’s famous painting; the Madonna of Strasbourg; the shields of Crusaders and coat of arms of the Templars; on the swords ("Gurda") of Japanese nobility. It is found on many images of Gessar Khan and Rigdem Djapo; on the "Tamga" of Timurlane and on the coat of arms of the Popes. It appears on coat of arms of the city of Samarkand, on Ethiopian and Coptic antiquities, on the rock s of Mongolia, on Tibetian rigns, on Buddhist banners, on breast ornaments of all Himalayan countries, and even on pottery of the Neolithic age. Curious, isn't it?
* In pre-Christian celtic art, one often finds triads. Figures are grouped in threes, creatures have three heads, objects are repeated three times, a single head sometimes has three faces.
* oak, ash and thorn were called the faery triad of trees in Celtic religion (faeries – angelic type of beings – were said to live where these grow together).
* Celtic shamans believed that they traversed three worlds in their spiritual journeys.
* Celtic stories often involve people traveling in groups of threes.
* In ancient Greece, the trident spear (three arrows facing up on a pole) was held by Poseidon (later, in Latin, Neptunus), the God of the sea. It is also associated with the god Jambala in India. In the Christian tradition Satan or other demons are depicted as holding a threefold spear similar to this. (related, the upside down triangle [or some threefold shape] denoted something aberrant or evil in some ancient heiroglyphic systems. In summeria it denoted women -- which some suggest depicts their low view of women.)
* In Nordic mythology, there were three Norns, Wóden had two brothers.
* The symbol of three interlocking triangles was used to symbolize the power of Wóden in Theodish and Asatru circles.
* The Trefot – three lines coming together with a downward extension on the end of each – symbolized the god Wóden.
* The symbol of two overlapping triangles facing in opposite directions (forming a star) was known as King Solomons seal (or star) in the Occident and the seal of Vishnu in India.
* A triangle with a line threw it (forming two side by side triangles) was the symbol for "king" in the Hittites hieroglyphic system.

Threeness in Religions Systems
* Xenophanes, ancient Greek philosopher (died 324BC) held that the triangle was the symbol for God. Very curious.
* pre-Christian Celtic society worshiped a triune mother-goddess. The goddess Minerva (or latter, Brighde) is often depicted alongside two other male deities -- Mercry , Apollo, Vulcan, or Mars -- forming a sort of trinity of deities.
* Going back to Dionysius, Christian tradition depicts the heirarchy of angels in groups of threes occupying three orders: seraphim, cherubim, and thrones.
* Hinduism has three chief deities, and Shiva, the creator and destroyer of all, is depicted as a three headed deity.
* At the Horya-ji Temple in Naria Japan, there is a triple presentation ("the Shaka triad)of deities..
* Plutarch reports that Chaldeans acknowledged three gods, Ohrmazd, Mithra and Ahriman.
* IN ancient Greek mythology, there were three Fates, three Graces, and three goddesses (Aphrodite, Hera and Athena). Apollo’s Pythia was enthroned on a three legged throne and Cerberus was a three headed dog.
* Multiples of three can be seen in the nine Muses and the twelve Olympian gods.
* In the pre-historic Mediterranean world, a threefold Moon Goddess was worshipped.
* Most (some claim ALL) primitive religious rites of passage have a threefold structure to them: separation, initiation and return. Joseph Cambell argues this the essence of all myth.

Think on it, and add to it.
Doc

"Free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having." C.S.Lewis

GregBoyd
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Posted 7/31/2001 9:48 PM (GMT -6)

"God governs all things by threes… the things themselves are determined by threes." Marsilio Ficino, De Amore.

And then, of course, we have the Bible. Of cousre we have numerous references to the Trinity in the Bible. There are 65 passages that mention the Father, Son and Spirit alongside each other. (Take that Jehovah Witnesses!). But I'm interested in OTHER threes. I'm not saying they mean anything, though they might. I'm just observing.

Threeness in the Bible

* threefold temptation of Christ, with threefold reply, "It is written"
* tree blessings of Numb. 6:23-24. "the Lord bless, make his face, lift up his countenance…"
* spies brought back three things showing the goodness of the promised land. "Grapes, figs and pomegranates" (Num 13:23).
* the Temple had three parts, the court, the holy place and the inner Sanctuary. The Temple had three chambers around it. The mercy seat had a Cherubim on each side looking down at it.
* there are three great feasts (Duet 16:16), unleaven bread, feast of weeks, and feast of Tabernacles.
* Peter had a threefold vision (Acts 10:16)
* The Old Testament is divided into three sections, Law, prophets and pslams (Lk 24:44).
* Three chief attributes for humans: "faith, hope and love" (repeated five times in NT).
* The threefold nature of temptation (I Jn 2:16): lust of flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life.
* Three things the tree of knowledge of good and evil offered to Eve: "good for food, pleasant to the eyes" "desirable to make one wise" (Gen 3:6).
* three chief Patriarchs of Israel: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

I know theres a lot more. Indeed, I've recorded many more but can't locate them at 2:45 in the morning. But this may be enough to allow me to get back to sleep.

Please think on these and add to them. Remember, DON'T analyze the three, just notice it and feed it back.

Hoped this has been informative and perhaps peeked your curiousity. Thanks for your help.

Doc

PS. If I ever write this book (I've thought about calling it simply THREENESS: The triune Structure of REality) I'll be sure to give all the participants on this thread credit if I use their material.

"Free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having." C.S.Lewis

trosie
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Total Posts : 550

Posted 8/1/2001 1:05 AM (GMT -6)

Doc: "Please think on these and add to them. Remember, DON'T analyze the three, just notice it and feed it back."

Doc, I would enjoy responding to this topic because I think this is intriguing. I can think of things that are grouped into groups of THREES, groups of FOURS, and groups of TWOS.

First groups of threes to add to your list:
*liquids, gases, and solids
*the birthing process, life, and death
*day, twilight, night

~THEN~

Groups of fours:
*twilight, day, dusk, night
*summer, fall, winter, spring

~AND~

Things grouped into twos:
*sunrise and sunset
*the horizontal plane and the vertical plane
*the disciples were sent out in groups of twos
*Noah took two of every kind of animal

This is VERY interesting to think on!
trosie

Edited by - trosie on 08/01/2001 06:08:27 AM

Edited by - trosie on 08/01/2001 06:14:18 AM

chance
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Posted 8/1/2001 4:42 AM (GMT -6)

Has anyone else read E.W. Bullinger's book Number in Scripture? That would give plenty of examples of the occurence of threeness in the Bible as well as a listing of all the other numbers used in the Bible along with their significance.

chance

A God who has fixed every detail beforehand may retire or die --Markus Barth

GregBoyd
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Posted 8/1/2001 4:48 AM (GMT -6)

Thanks for the insights Trosie. It helped stimulate more thought, in the following ways:

Your "birth, life, death" tripled remined me that the primary way Aristotle thought the Pythagerean view on "the determination of three" was structured into reality was that every fact is constituted by a beginning, middle, and end. This also informed his critique of drama.

Also, your "twilight, day, dusk, and night grouping, while not seeming to contribute to the "Search for Threes" (I feel like the Count on Seseme Street!) reminded me of something else. ALL POLARITIES ARE ACTUALLY TRIADIC.

Think of the ying/yang symbol. You have light, dark, AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TWO (the movement of one into the other, symbolized by the curve on each side and the antithetic dot on the side of the other). "dusk" and "dawn" are simply our words for the movement of day to night and night to day. So too with "sunrise" and "sunset."

Also, note that a horizontal and verticle line or plane cannot be conceived of except as forming A TRIANGLE. There are the two opposing lines AND THE TRIADIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TWO.

And yes, Noah took two animals of every kind on the ark, but why? SO THEY COULD BIRTH A THIRD and keep the species going. And in every relationship between two people, there is a THIRD element: the relationship between them. The US is more than simply the presence of two: it is the RELATION of two.

Why, its as easy as ONE, TWO, THREE.

Pierce said something like this somewhere. Knowing reality is as easy as ONE,TWO,THREE. (But if you've ever tried to tackle his metaphysics, you see how incredibly complex one,two,three can be.)

I feel the inspiration of a poem coming on me, quite spontaneously. Mind of I give it a go?

"Why, please do" all replied.

Okay.

To know, one must find the key
to unlock reality
The insight that sets us free
Is that all things come down to three

"Ugh, stick to philosophizing Doc"

You're probably right.

"And get more sleep!"

Doc

Theres three of me, don't you see?
You ask, how can that be?
It's not hard to find
When applying your mind
To the threeness of reality.

Edited by - trosie on 08/01/2001 06:08:27 AM

Edited by - trosie on 08/01/2001 06:14:18 AM

"Free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having." C.S.Lewis

pia†desideria
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Posted 8/1/2001 4:52 AM (GMT -6)

Oh fun!

Here’s another religious three: Mary Daly wants to revive worship in the ancient three-fold Goddess: Maiden, Mother, Crone.

And an anthropological/psychological three: Kierkegaard describes the self as a relation that relates itself to itself and is established by a third.

pia

chambes
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Total Posts : 41

Posted 8/1/2001 5:07 AM (GMT -6)

Doc,

More threes, all in math and science.

Math:

On the number line there is positive, negative and zero.

There are three major non-real numbers: i, pi, and e, related by the equation e^(i*pi)=-1.

Here's an odd one. It is mathematically proven that buses tend to clump into groups of threes when driving the same route.

Science:

All stable material is made up of protons, neutrons and electrons.

In the standard model of particle physics, there are three types of particles: leptons, quarks and force carriers. There are three "generations" of quarks corresponding to three "generations" of leptons. There are three forces: strong, electroweak and gravity.

Protons and neutrons are each made up of three quarks.

The most important element to life is water, which is made up of three atoms.

There are three types of radiation: alpha, beta, and gamma.

That's all I can think of for now. Things in science coming in threes has always interested me, I'll post more as I think them up.

Also, Doc, I've never heard anything about three primary chemicals.

Chambes

trosie
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Total Posts : 550

Posted 8/1/2001 5:12 AM (GMT -6)

Doc, BUT what about the four seasons? (No, not the musical group

) There are FOUR not THREE seasons in the year -- what of that?

Nice rhymin' or should I say rap?
trosie

PotOnWheel
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Posted 8/1/2001 5:12 AM (GMT -6)

Numbers. I've got 2.

#1 OF 2
=======+

Sign, signifier, signified.

My wife studied Psycholinguistics in her Curric.&Instruction MA program, and in college. it was interesting to see who it exactly paralleled what I was discovering about how people learn in an interactive activity like drawing (this was while developeing a foundational drawing course for a department). Is Vgotski (sp?) one of the main guys?

Later I was VERY interested to learn that these building blocks didn't just pop into the 20th century. There was Augustine using "sign".....

It would be attractive reading to me to see charted out how different groups use these with respect to Chritianity. For instance, Sacramental churches notice that Baptists (following after Zwingli) talk about Communion as being JUST a Sign. But Matthew's nativity account has the angels saying "This shall be a sign unto you,: you shall find the babe..." They didn't say that the sheepherds would find a billboard in Bethlehem; but that the child was actually the sign. But that didn't keep Him from being more than just a symbol. Belengarius of Tours, Nominalist and Roman Catholic, claimed that Communion was only a symbol--beating Zwingli to the punch. The local council thought they were beating him when they declaired ONLY *real*; but they actually accepted half of what BT claimed--that the ONLY was necessary. Alexander Schmemmann, Orthodox, uses the phrase "_sacramental realism_" for the Eucharist, and other things too.

I think it is unexcapable that in addition to makeing lists that we are aware of how their members are related.

**********

#2 OF 2
=======+

Reasons for our using threes, or avoidance of fours, and our use of twos and threes in dealing with fours. A saga.

We usually think and refer in terms of a middle and two extremes. (This is a form of small/medium/large, but with the middle being the main character. a set of THREE.) A simple summary of the virtues and failings of the Council that split the EO from the OO over Monophysitism was that each geographically defined party had an enemy (running with the spatial metaphor now) on their own side of the fort. Each needed different ammunition. Eventually each thought the other shared things in common with their imminent enemy--and they were too far apart spatially to talk it through. That all (not ideas) affected their thinking. The actually history might be much more complicated--but that about exceeds the size of the intake portion of my brain, or fills my picnic plate. Anything else would fall on the floor.

Now...a generic but conceptual model of this.

If I am interested in something I might define it, by convention, as being "bigger than...and smaller than," or "cheeper...costlier", etc. THREE! The thing and its two defining "neighbors."

But what if there are four. There can be, and we will all accept it. It becomes a matter of apples and oranges. Say I'm trying to define my order at the fruit stand. If I compare my dull urge to three things I have four in total. I have to compare like-a-tart-apple to
like-a-sour-orange to like-a-sweeet-apple; and I can. But I can usually only do so one pair at a time (THREE: the two and "my urge"). Eventually I become familiar enough with everything AND their comparisons that I can think differently, more intuitively; and can then make a decision of a different sort.

(Women are naturally wired to be quick and accurate in this sort of thing. They are all either laughing at me right now, or have gone on to a different threat!!!! Evolutionists say that guys are native to the essoteric-ness of doing the intuitive with very little actually known--such as refusing to ask directions--and the hunter still finding his way home through paths never taken before. The woman--necessary caregiver to newborns--knows more details about the campsite than all the men put together ever will.) -Thus ends the great parenthesis-

So, we opperate by what might seem magical-in sets of threes, either for actual comparison reasons, or to give our selves the sense of sureness we desire. SOMETIMES WITH NO ORGANIC REQUIREMENT NATIVE TO WHAT WE ARE KNOWING! So we are funny.

(Anthropologically, some groups have a dozen terms for snow--a lot to hold in your head. Some call lots of things "red." For us, now, we call come color hues "green" that scientifically speaking belong to the hot-color zone; and I can show you a "green" that is actually mixed by adding bright orange and white. But that is how we need to organize -- "COUNT" -- our world.)

Thanks for all the things on this website that encourage multidisciplinary thinking, Doc.!!!!!!!!

PotOnWheel

Edited by - PotOnWheel on 08/01/2001 11:06:28 AM

chambes
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Posted 8/1/2001 5:29 AM (GMT -6)

Doc,

I know you're into chaos theory, so here's chaos and triangles coming together:

http://math.bu.edu/DYSYS/arcadia/sect2.html

Also, our solar system has planets, moons and a star.

Chambes

Edited by - chambes on 08/01/2001 10:35:56 AM

pia†desideria
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Posted 8/1/2001 5:32 AM (GMT -6)

Speaking of rhyming and threes, Dante went hog-wild with threes:

His Commedia is divided into three kingdoms: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.

Each canticle is divided into 33 canti (with one introductory canto).

The whole thing is written in a terza rima scheme: ABA BCB CDC, etc.

Shakespeare is also full of threes. For example:

The three daughters in King Lear (two evil, one good—btw, one third of the angels are said to have fallen, so apparently the spiritual realm is divided into threes).

The three caskets and three rings in Merchant of Venice. Freud has a very interesting interpretation of this play in which he comments on the significance of the number three, if I remember correctly.

The three “weird sisters” in Macbeth. Which reminds me, has anyone mentioned the three Fates of classical mythology?

Then of course fairy tales abound with threes.…

pia

Edited by - pia†desideria on 08/01/2001 10:43:31 AM

pia†desideria
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Posted 8/1/2001 5:39 AM (GMT -6)

More biblical threes:

How about the three dudes who showed up at the Transfiguration: Moses, Elijah, and Jesus.

And the three favorite disciples: Peter, James, and John.

Abraham’s three mysterious visitors at the Oak of Mamre.

pia

Edited by - pia†desideria on 08/01/2001 10:40:42 AM

pia†desideria
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Posted 8/1/2001 6:12 AM (GMT -6)

H2O. pia

GregBoyd
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Posted 8/1/2001 6:31 AM (GMT -6)

WOW, GREAT stuff. Thanks. I find this so interesting. A few responses to the postings so far:

Pia: "Kierkegaard describes the self as a relation that relates itself to itself and is established by a third."

Yes, that’s sort of what I was getting at with my "self, self-image, relation between the self and self-image." K’s point seems to be that we are created to have our self-relationship rooted in "the ground of our being." We relate to ourselves as we were created to only when our inner polarity is rooted in (synthesized by) a third – our Creator. And thanks for the reminder of the other threes in the Bible.

(anyone here up on the math of the tabernacle in the O.T.? There’s so much given to the precise measurements in the Bible I’ve always suspected there may be something metaphysical to it. )

Ps to Pia. I did mention the three Fates of classical mythology, as well as the three Graces and Three goddesses.

Chambes: I LOVE that math and science stuff. That’s exactly what I’m looking for. Thanks. I’ll check out the website. I know scientists have been looking for a way to reduce the three fundemantal forces (it used to be four) down to one, expressed in one thereom. If they do, I wonder if it will exempify a triadic equation.

Trosie: on the "four seasons." WE divided the years into fours for practical purposes, but in fact the rotation of the earth is a movement between two solstaces The summer (June 21) the winter (Dec 21) – and the movement between the two.

PotonWheel: Sign, signifier, and signified: This is very close to Pierces theory of signs. In his view, EVERYTHING is a sign that points beyond itself to an interpreter. One, two, three. And your welcome about the website. My pleasure.

Thanks folks. Keep thinking. Communal thinking is the one real thinking.

Doc

"Free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having." C.S.Lewis

PotOnWheel
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Posted 8/1/2001 6:35 AM (GMT -6)

Piggybacking on something from Pia...

quote:
How about the three dudes who showed up at the Transfiguration: Moses, Elijah, and Jesus.

The Eastern Orthodox tradition talks about this one in TWOs. Moses and Elijah have symbolic content; which, remember does not mean un-real--things can be both. The Law (Moses) and the Prophets (Elijah); which also get paired with Christoloty/historical and Pneumatological/exchatological. They also quite nicely represent the "living and the dead (the "quick" and the dead). Elijah caught a ride on that low-swinging chariot, coming for to carry him home! Moses died--though his body was never found.

These are TWOs. But they both POINT to Christ again. THREE! (Remember Sesame Street)

------------------
BTW--Doc, there is a site that has the words to "School House Rock" on it. (Doc is heard leaving this site to go look. Or, more likely, he already has it on his HD.)

PotOnWheel

GregBoyd
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Posted 8/1/2001 6:36 AM (GMT -6)

Pia, when you have time, could you give examples of how "threes abound in fairy tales." I'm totally unaquainted with fairy tales.

Doc

"Free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having." C.S.Lewis

chambes
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Total Posts : 41

Posted 8/1/2001 6:56 AM (GMT -6)

Doc, here's another math/science one.

One of the most fundamental concepts in physical reality, waves, can be completely defined by their amplitude, period and phase.

chambes

Edited by - chambes on 08/01/2001 11:56:49 AM

pia†desideria
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Posted 8/1/2001 7:00 AM (GMT -6)

More biblical threes:

Jesus was 33 when he died. His ministry lasted three years (according to the three synoptic gospels). He was dead for three days (just like Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days). There was darkness for three hours at his crucifixion. pia

Edited by - pia†desideria on 08/01/2001 2:55:32 PM

PotOnWheel
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Posted 8/1/2001 8:03 AM (GMT -6)

Three.

Ever been to a Messianic Jewish Passover Haggada? (sp?)

In the Passover, the unleven bread/matsos is broken into THREE pieces. (The question Messianic Jews like to ask is why the bread is "pierced" in "stripes"--but I don't know if that part proves anything.)

Then, the third piece is _wrapped_ in a cloth and _hidden_. It is taken out later in the meal and eaten in silence. It is THIS peice that Jesus raised and said, "This is my Body..."

****Ooooops! This needs editing****

More thinking hauls up the aspect that the three pieces of bread were (*I'd want to double check on the universiality of this--is it beyond Jews-For-Jesus to Conservative and Chasidic Jews...) called the "trinity." If so it is likely I heard the second piece refered to as the one wrapped and hidden. Happy researching.

PotOnWheel

Edited by - PotOnWheel on 08/01/2001 1:18:43 PM

trosie
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Posted 8/1/2001 10:08 AM (GMT -6)

Chance writes: "Has anyone else read E.W. Bullinger's book Number in Scripture? That would give plenty of examples of the occurence of threeness in the Bible as well as a listing of all the other numbers used in the Bible along with their significance."

Thanks for giving us the book reference! I am intrigued by the meaning and significance of numbers in the bible. I really like Pia's illustrations of Jesus having been 33 when he died. Jesus had his ministry for 3 years.... THIS IS INTERESTING STUFF!

Doc writes: "Pia, when you have time, could you give examples of how "threes abound in fairy tales." I'm totally unaquainted with fairy tales"

I hope you don't mind my putting in a few groups of threes that refer to Children's Fairy Tales and Children's Nursery Rhymes(?)I don't mean to bud in but I have read SO MUCH Children's Literature with my children that many of the stories and rhymes are etched on my brain.

In children's fairy tales there is the hero, the beloved, and the villian. In Cinderella there is the prince, Cinderella, and the wicked stepmother. In Sleeping Beauty is the prince, Sleeping Beauty, and the wicked queen. In Aladdin there is Aladdin, Princess Jasmine, and the evil Jafar. Please, do add to this list, Pia

As far as nursery rhymes and stories I keep thinking about The THREE Little Pigs; The THREE Men In The Tub; THREE Billy Goats Gruff; The THREE Little Kittens; THREE Blind Mice...

The number THREE seems to abound in Children's Literature

Hey, even Soap Operas are built upon the plot of triads

Thanks for allowing me to get that off my mind -- Ah, I feel much better now!

trosie

aranjuez
Registered Member

Date Joined Aug 2001
Total Posts : 18

Posted 8/1/2001 10:11 AM (GMT -6)

This is very intersting!!! I started thinking and, with a little help, this is what came to mind...

How about three's in anatomy??
*Layers of skin: epidermis, dermis, hypodermis

*covering of the spinal cord: dura mater, arachnoid, pia

*3 spaces surrounding the spinal cord: epidural, subdural, subarachnoid

*General venous circulation: systemic, pulmonary, portal

and we could continue for a while...

Three's in embriology??
*Germ layers: endoderm, mesoderm, ectoderm

*division of somites: sclerotone, dermatone, myotone

And we could go on....

Isn't God a wonderful creator??

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." (Psalm 139:14)

Aranjuez.

aranjuez
Registered Member

Date Joined Aug 2001
Total Posts : 18

Posted 8/1/2001 10:11 AM (GMT -6)

aranjuez
Registered Member

Date Joined Aug 2001
Total Posts : 18

Posted 8/1/2001 10:12 AM (GMT -6)

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