Have you ever noticed how prevalent is the number 3 in religious history? The children of Israel wander without water for three days under their leader Moses upon their freedom from bondage to the Egyptians. The nation later interprets the event to mean one should go no more than three days without reading the Torah. 

One Gospel writer depicts a rooster crowing three times, once for every denial of Christ by Peter. And we all know the Christian assertion that Christ rose on the third day. Symbols of three abound. Jewish rabbis usually had an inner circle of three, so Jesus, in like manner, had Peter, James, and John.  Small wonder, then, that major Christian concepts also seem to be bunched in threes. "Faith, hope, and love, these three abide," uttered Paul. And what would Christianity be…