St. Patrick's Bad Analogies

The problem with using analogies to explain the Holy Trinity is that you always end up confessing some ancient heresy.

Let the patron saint of the Irish show you what I'm talking about.

[OldTimeyDragon]

Hearing an Irishman with a cartoonishly thick accent say "giant robot samurai" will never get old. Ever.

[justanotherbaptistjew]

I just want you to know that this video is the only reason a whole lot of people can spot anti-trinitarian heresies.

[EphSBGGSO]

For folks like me who can't listen fast...."The Trinity is a mystery which cannot be comprehended by human reason but is understood only through faith and is best confessed in the words of the Athanasian Creed, which states that we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in unity, neither confusing the Persons nor dividing the substance, that we are compelled by the Christian truth to confess that each distinct Person is God and Lord, and that the deity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is one, equal in glory, coequal in majesty." Thanks Hans.

[anatwick]

"And who confesses the heresy of partialism?"

"The first season of the cartoon Voltron, where five robot-lion cars merge together to form one giant robot samurai, obviously!"

The very fact that most of the comments are theological arguments and not remarking on this brilliant piece of comedy saddens me.

[TheLutheranSatire]

There are very few opportunities in life to force a Voltron reference into the mouth of a grumpy, fictional 5th Irish peasant. Please don't take this away from me.

[sethspitzer]

My wife told me that one of the worship leaders we listen to believes God reveals himself in 3 different ways but is one person and my immediate response was “Dats Modalism Patrick!” In my best Irish peasant accent. She’s never seen this video so she didn’t appreciate how great of a moment this was for me.

[fayb]

We just had our Trinity Sunday "modalism/arayanism" sermon, and my mother and sister and I kept leaning over to each other and whispering "Oh, Patrick..."

[TheLutheranSatire]

Nope. The point of the vid wasn't to knock the teaching abilities of St. Patrick, who was an amazing dude, but to show that all Trinitarian analogies have problems.

[brookepan]

" I've never heard of Voltron"
"Of course you haven't it's not gonna exist for another 1, 500 years now PATRICK." "Yeah get with the program PATRICK"
MOOD

[shawnjnichols]

Here's a transcript if anyone needs it:

Donall and Conall with St. Patrick
Discussing the Trinity

Donall: OK, Patrick. Tell us a bit more about this Trinity thing.

Conall: Yea, Patrick. Tell us.

Donall: But remember that we’re simple people without your fancy education and books and learnin’ and we’re hearin’ about all of this for the first time. So, try to keep it simple. OK, Patrick?

Connal: Yeah, real simple, Patrick.

St. Patrick: Sure. There are, uhh, three persons of the Trinity – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Yet, there is only one God.

Donall: Don’t get what you’re sayin’ here, Patrick.

Conall: Not pickin’ up what you’re layin’ down here, Patrick.

Donall: Could you use an analogy, Patrick?

St. Patrick: Sure, uhh, Trinity is like, uhh, water and how you can find water in three different forms – liquid, and ice, and and vapor.

Donall: That’s modalism, Patrick!

St. Patrick: What?

Donall: Modalism – An ancient heresy confessed by a teacher such as Novatus and Sabellius which espouses that God is not three distinct persons but that he merely reveals himself in three different forms. This heresy was clearly condemned in Canon 1 at the First Council of Constantinople in 381 AD and those who confess it cannot rightly be considered a part of the church catholic. Come on, Patrick!

Conoll: Yeah, get it together, Patrick!

St. Patrick: OK, uhh, then the Trinity is like, uhh, the sun in the sky where you have the star, and the light, and the heat.

Donall: Oh, Patrick.

Conall: Come on, Patrick.

Donall: That’s Arianism, Patrick.

St. Patrick: Arianism?

Donall: Yes, Arianism, Patrick. A theology which states that Christ and the Holy Spirit are creations of the Father and not one in nature with Him. Exactly like how heat and light are not the star itself but are merely creations of the star. That’s a bad analogy, Patrick!

Conall: You’re the worst, Patrick!

St. Patrick: Alright, sorry. The Trinity is like this three-leaf clover here…

Donall: I’m gonna stop you right there, Patrick.

Conall: Yeah, hold your horses, Patrick.

Donall: You’re about to confess partialism.

St. Patrick: Partialism?

Donall: Yes, partialism. A heresy which asserts that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not distinct persons of the Godhead but are different parts of God, each composing 1/3 of the divine.

St. Patrick: And who confesses the heresy of partialism?

Donall: The first season of the cartoon program Voltron where five robot lion-cars merge together to form one giant robot samurai. Obviously!

St. Patrick: I’ve never heard of Voltron.

Donall: Of course you haven’t. It’s not gonna exist for another 1500 years now, Patrick.

Conall: Yeah, get with the program, Patrick.

Donall: I mean, really, Patrick.

Conall: I’m gonna stab you in the face, Patrick.

Donall: OK. That was probably a bit much.

St. Patrick: Alright. I’ll try again. Uhh, the Trinity is like how the same man can be a husband, and a father, and an employer.

Donall: Modalism again!

St. Patrick: Alright, then it’s like the three layers of an atom…

Donall: Partialism revisited.

St. Patrick: Fine! The Trinity is a mystery which cannot be comprehended by human reason but is understood only through faith and is best confessed in the words of the Athanasian Creed, which states that we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in unity, neither confusing the Persons nor dividing the substance, that we are compelled by the Christian truth to confess that each distinct Person is God and Lord, and that the deity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is one, equal in glory, coequal in majesty.

Donall: Well, why didn’t you just say that, Patrick?

Conall: Yeah, quit beatin’ around the bush, Patrick. Now let’s all put on some giant green foam hats, get riotously drunk, and vomit in the Chicago River to celebrate our conversion.

St. Patrick: So, what do you guys do for a living?

Donall: Well, we come from a long line of snake farmers, Patrick, but truth be told business has been real bad lately.

St. Patrick: Oh, yeah … about that….

[milktea]

"That's MODALISM, PATRICK!!"

[HannahScaer]

Apparently this is being used regularly in Gordon College's Christian Theology course to talk about the Trinity. Keep up the good work!

[jonathanclemens]

I've watched this an embarrassing amount of times and still laughing.

[ranzamaceanruig]

Just found this in Dec 2020. When I heard Donall's pause followed by "Oh, Patrick" as a response to the sun analogy I literally spat out my coffee onto my keyboard. I am not kidding. I will be forwarding you guys an invoice for a new keyboard. Aside from that, thanks! Brilliant stuff!

[josephflanigan]

First saw this in my doctrines class for my undergrad and now reading about the trinity for my masters. Had to come revisit this classic!

[Supahpowahnerd]

It's funny because all people really remember of St. Patrick is that the stuff with the three-leaf clover. He actually had a fairly hard life, considering the whole kidnapped and sold into indentured servitude in a place where people were Pagans while he was a Christian.

[hardwurkindaddy]

There's no way in 9 years only 21k people liked this video. I've re-liked it several times since it came out, and every time I return to watch it again my like is gone.

[TheExodvs]

My mom likes Chocolate Trinity ice cream, so I put a sticky note on it saying, "Chocolate Partialism, Patrick."

[Deppability]

Redeemed Zoomer sent me here. Was definitely worth it :D

[kielwhitehead]

day today whenever I heard one of my coworkers wish someone a “Happy St. Patrick’s Day” all I could think of was this video. 🤣