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Seventh-day Adventists,The Trinity doctrine and the Plain of Dura

the glue that binds the churches

Index Chapter 1The Trinitywho or what we worship a side issue?

Chapter 2Questions on Doctrinesexamining the real issue

Chapter 3What is an orthodox Trinitarian doctrine anyways?

Chapter 4Present day praise from other denominations regarding the Adventist Trinity

Chapter 5The road to Tradition (unequivocal proof Greek philosophy and Roman Catholic dogma is within the Adventist Trinity

Chapter 6Seventh-day Adventism back to creedal Trinitarianism

Chapter 7Ellen White the Semi-Arian Ellen White the Trinitarian

The highlighted chapter above is the one you are currently reading Note: This book will interchangeably use the terms anti-Trinitarian and Semi-Arian to designate the same meaning.

Chapter 1

The Trinitywho or what we worship a side issue?

What this book seeks to accomplishThere are more than a few members within the Seventh-day church such as myself, who have dared to question the Biblical foundation of the SDA churchs current Trinity doctrine. More than naught, these queries are often times subdued with one of the following three common replies offered by loyal adherents of the aforementioned church, they are: 1. The Trinity topic is a side issue or a matter not pertaining to salvation and should not draw our attention away from the more important themes contained within the Bible.1. The Adventist Trinity is different from the Catholic Trinity; in fact its really more like the Heavenly Trio which Ellen White wrote about.1. That Ellen White became a Trinitarian later in her life as a result of her alleged growth in her understanding theologically speaking that is. Furthermore, it is then emphasized by many in the Adventist church that this changeover in Whites theology is what finally brought the SDA denomination to embrace its current Trinitarian position on God. This book was primarily written in order to reveal the complete inaccuracy of the first two concepts above. Specifically, regarding number one above it will be demonstrated that far from being an insignificant matter, the doctrine of God is in reality the most fundamental, central of all teachings contained within the Bible. Concerning number two above, it will be proven beyond a shadow of doubt that the Seventh-day Adventist church has indeed accepted THE orthodox Trinity god/doctrine of the Evangelicals and Catholic Church. In regards to reply number three seen above as well, Ellen Whites teachings on God will be fully treated in chapter seven of this book and will most likely consist of two parts. Moreover, in the same said chapter will be established that Ellen White not only taught the anti-Trinitarian doctrine of which Adventists held for many years, but also endorsed the aforesaid teaching with her visions. Then, it will be established that later on towards the end of the 19th century Mrs. White began contradicting her earlier Semi-Arian like teachings by mixing in strong Trinitarian sentiments into her writings. Understand that the ultimate purpose of going over all her statements on deity will be to demonstrate that Mrs. White had no more a privy knowledge on God than what the Bible itself reveals. Now for those of you who require a statement from an authoritative figure on the topic we are discussing, please read what Pastor Max Hatton wrote to me after graciously agreeing to read the chapter just mentioned which deals with Mrs. Whites writings on God. For those of you who do not know who Pastor Hatton is, he is the gentlemen who wrote the book Understanding the Trinity (sold at Adventist ABCs); he responded to me in part as seen in the following:At last Alan I can say that I have scanned through your attached paper as best I can. I was pleased that you were able to present it without malice or scorn. You have made your case calmly and clearly and well and my poor old eyes have not been able to find much fault with it. I am not an expert on Ellen White but I have wondered how much her secretaries may have contributed to the problem of contradictions? To my knowledge she used secretaries quite a lot. They may not have been up to date with Ellens current understanding of the Trinity doctrine as they cut and pasted bits from her pre 1897 writings into her current works? I may be off track but I understand that they helped with her writings like that often. This may be a possible answer to some of the contradictions at least? (An emailed response sent to me from Pastor Hatton) (Bold emphasis mine)Pastor Hatton then goes on in the above email to make several other thought provoking statements, including that he believes in the Bible and Bible only for doctrinal authority. He also believes that Mrs. White was allowed to change her mind later on etc. I must confess the reason as to why I placed Pastor Hattons above evaluation here and not in chapter seven, and that is because it obviously gives added weight to what you will read later on concerning Ellen WhiteI guess I let my ego get the best of me in this instance! I must also admit here as well, that I am personally sad that this book must even address Mrs. Whites statements on God, however, they need to be examined. The reason being is that her writings are quite often used as a type of battering ram by both non-Trinitarian and Trinitarian Adventists with the intent of coercing one side or the other into either believing or dis-believing the Trinity doctrine. This action is unfortunately done quite frequently, regardless of what the leaders or membership of the above-mentioned church state to the contrary. [1] It is my hope that chapter seven of this book will help this action to stop someday by clearly proving Mrs. White had no more knowledge about who God is other than what the Bible itself divulges. What the remainder of this chapter seeks to accomplishThe majority of this chapter will be spent examining the accuracy of the very first of the three standard replies listed above which asserts that the Trinity doctrine is a side issue or a matter of minor importance. Lets commence our investigation into the subject by listening to what Kenneth Richard Samples wrote regarding the topic. Mr Samples, who worked closely at one time with the late Walter Martin, [2] addressed the 2007 Questions on Doctrine 50th Anniversary Conference at Andrews University. The following passages are selected extracts from that talk which Samples entitled The recent truth about Seventh-day Adventism. In the first excerpt of his speech we will look at, he expresses to us the following view:unlike Mormonism, Christian Science, and Jehovahs Witnesses; the Adventist movement has shifted toward historic Christian and biblical orthodoxy. Some contemporary Seventh-day Adventists would no doubt be aghast to discover that their church was once widely considered a theological cult (at least in conservative evangelical circles). (Evangelical Reflections on Seventh-day Adventism: Yesterday and Today by Kenneth Richard Samples) Mr. Samples then goes on to explain in his speech why SDAs were widely-considered a theological cult seen below where he states:However, closer historical and theological examinations reveal that the beliefs that coalesced to form primitive Seventh-day Adventism, in the wake of the failed Millerite movement, were far from biblically orthodox. The theological views of the primitive Adventist movement (though hardy unified and systematic) reflected a non- or anti-Trinitarian view of God, a Semi-Arian Christology, a message of restorationism, and a strongly legalistic understanding of the gospel. (Ibid. Underlining added)

Next he continues on to reveal that SDA scholars have themselves documented that earlier Adventists did in fact hold these so called sub-Christian doctrinal views. And please keep in mind he is speaking at an Adventist institution!

From the standpoint of historic Christian or creedal orthodoxy, the primitive Adventist movement was a theologically cultic movement or a heretical sect in its basic theology. Several present Seventh-day Adventist scholars have clearly documented that these sub-Christian doctrinal views were present, if not prominent, at various stages within early Adventist history. (Ibid. Underlining added)Later on we will read a few statements from several of the scholars Samples is most likely referring to above. Now shortly after the above comments Mr Samples then begins to enlighten us as to what apparently brought the SDA church out of the theological cult category; he reveals this in the following passage:And yet, the next century saw Adventisms doctrinal views undergo analysis and change. Ellen G. White apparently played an important, if not critical, role in helping the Adventist church move toward theological orthodoxy. It has ultimately embraced a fully Trinitarian theology with an orthodox understanding of the person and nature of Christ and a belief that Christs righteousness in the atonement is granted to the believer through faith alone. This movement toward historic Christianity on the part of Ellen G. White and Seventh-day Adventism sets them apart from the heretical sects of the nineteenth century. Joseph Smith, Mary Baker Eddy, and Charles Russell were leaders of religious movements that repudiated historic Christianity. They desired to implement a heretical restorationism accompanied with a replacement prophet and often a new text of scripture. (Ibid. Underlining added)

Ken Samples indeed speaks the truth in the text above in regards to Ellen White, for in truth, SDAs do in fact use her later writings to justify their churchs course in later fully embracing the Trinity doctrine. It is in fact for this very reason that in chapter seven of this book as was previously stated, we must necessarily analyze in depth Mrs. Whites personal theology in regards to her views on God. Continuing on with Mr. Samples line of reasoning, in the following passages we are about to look at he finally arrives at the crux of his argument which is crucial for every SDA (and other Christians as well) to consider very, very carefully. In reality, I wrote this book hoping that in the very least it would help awaken Adventists to see exactly how significant the Trinity issue really is within the religious worldit is by no means a side issue as more than a few SDAs have labeled it. Please listen to what Samples now discloses below where he unequivocally drives home the point to his audience as to just how truly vital the Trinity doctrine subject really is:

Martins conviction remains my ownthat one cannot be a true Jehovahs Witness, Mormon, or Christian Scientist and be a practicing Christian in the biblical sense of the word. Those sects proclaim a different God, a different Christ, and a different gospel (2 Cor. 11:4; Gal. 1:6-9). (Ibid. Underlining added)

a different God, a different Christ Yet, as revealing as this utterance is, within the very last citation we will extract from Samples speech, could be contained an even more illuminating declaration for Adventists in particular to reflect upon. Please take special note as you read the following text that Samples (as well as most other Protestants) tolerates Adventisms unique doctrinesincluding the Sabbath! We will come back to this very idea in the next chapter, Samples concludes below that:

But it is possible to be a Seventh-day Adventist and a true follower of Jesus Christ despite certain distinctive Adventist doctrines that most evangelical Protestants respectfully consider to be unbiblical. (Ibid. Highlight added)

As we progress along in this book the reader will see that other Christian denominations were and are very willing to gloss over the so called landmark doctrines of Adventism, such as the Sabbath, the Sanctuary, the judgment, non-immortality of the soul etc. However, they would by no means overlook the SDA churchs distinctive teachings on Jesus Christ and in particular the non-Trinitarian stance the SDA church held for 110 to arguably 136 years! Now in a moment reader, we will continue examining many more important declarations similar in content to those we have just read. All of the statements of which you are about to read will continue to reveal the true importance that the doctrine of God holds for all Christians. In fact, these forthcoming testimonies will all come from not only well-known men within and without the SDA church, but also from the official doctrinal books of Adventism and Catholicism. However, before we examine these lets first briefly touch upon an important concept Samples previously pointed out above, namely, that Adventist scholars have themselves documented the sub Christian views (specifically, the anti-Trinitarian stance) that early SDAs held.

Adventist scholars have clearly documented these sub-Christian doctrinal views

The following statements are offered for several reasons. Firstly, because as was indicated they will continue to unfold how truly significant the doctrine of God/Trinity is to the religious world. Secondly, they contain within them certain evaluations made by SDA scholars of which we will return to and comment upon later on in this book. So where within the SDA scholarly community could we find such sentiments of which Samples previously referred to concerning the Adventist pioneers alleged sub-Christian beliefs regarding God? Lets begin our search by taking a look inside the official book which explains all the doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventist church, The Handbook of Seventh-day Adventist Theology, vol. 12 where we read the following comment regarding Arianism. We pursue the topic of Arianism here because it is so called Arianism that the pioneers are in reality accused of professing (or at least a form of itSemi-Arianism). The Handbook declares that:

Arianism, then, is the most severe distortion of the Trinitarian concept of God (The Doctrine of God, the Handbook of Seventh-day Adventist Theology, Vol. 12, pg. 143)We have just read above in an official book put out by the Seventh-day Adventist church, which explains her twenty eight doctrines, [3] that the pioneers position on God is labeled the most severe distortion of the Trinity doctrine. Wow, a declaration like that certainly wont endear too many modern SDAs to the early Adventists will it! Nevertheless, what say other prominent teachers in the same church regarding the pioneers beliefs? In relation to this topic we will hear an assessment upon the matter given by Professor Jerry Moon, Ph.D. of Andrews University who asserts the following:that the method by which early Adventists came to this position [to acceptance of the basic concept of one God in three divine persons, Ibid] was by disallowing ecclesiastical tradition from having any normative authority and insisting on Scripture alone as the basis for doctrine and tests of membership. This rejection of tradition led them initially to some heterodox views that received severe criticism from the broader Christian community. (THE ADVENTIST TRINITY DEBATE, Jerry A. Moon, Ph.D., Andrews University) (Underlining added)In sum, Pro Moon has just stated above that by, insisting on Scripture alone as the basis for doctrine and tests of membership they fell into trouble with the other churches! Moon furthermore claims above that, This rejection of tradition led them initially to some heterodox views which apparently as he states, landed the pioneers into trouble with the broader Christian community. As a side note the so called broader Christian community professor Moon is referring to above was once labelled Babylon by the SDA church! The very reason they were branded as such is due precisely to the doctrines that they teach. Yet more importantly we must ask if the SDA church has stayed faithful to the pioneers desire of maintaining a Scripture alone view on Godwe will give an unpopular response to this question later on in the book. Now after the above declarations, Professor Moon then continues on and makes several more revealing appraisals regarding the Adventist pioneers which are placed below:Fourth, the method by which the early Adventists sought to separate the biblical elements of trinitarianism from the elements derived from tradition was to completely disallow tradition as a basis for doctrine, and struggle through the long process of constructing their beliefs on the basis of Scripture alone. In doing so, they virtually retraced the steps of the NT church in first accepting the equality of Christ with the Father, and second, discovering Their equality and unity with the Holy Spirit as well. In the process, their theology showed temporary similarities to some of the historical heresies, particularly Arianism. Their repudiation of tradition as doctrinal authority was costly in terms of the ostracism they endured as perceived "heretics," but their dependence on Scripture brought them eventually to what they believe is a more biblical view of the Trinity. (Ibid. Underlining added)Although what I am about to express may be perceived by some as a harsh statement, nevertheless, it must be said anyways. I do indeed believe the Seventh-day Adventist church has (and is) retraced the steps of the NT church! In reality, the Church that Pro Moon refers to above is a Church that Seventh-day Adventists themselves once taught had become apostate shortly after the death of the disciples. And as we continue to move forward in this book, strong evidence will be provided (from even Pro Moon himself) that the SDA church has in fact turned to tradition and to creeds and not to the Bible in formulating her most important doctrine of whom or what we worship. Moreover, the evidence to be presented in especially the next chapter will indicate that it has been because of this turning to tradition and of the acceptance of the orthodox Trinity doctrine which has indeed helped propel Adventism upward in the religious world. In truth reader, one could search the history books of religion and be hard pressed to find another group that moved as fast and as high up on the corporate religious ladder as did the SDA church after she released her book Questions on Doctrines. [4] This period of time was an era in which Adventism took a major step forward in accepting the orthodox version of the Trinity doctrine. I utilize the phrase a major step forward because before the end of this book, you will see strong evidence suggesting that the acceptance of this doctrine has been a very gradual one. [5] Much more on this topic will be forthcoming in subsequent chapters, for now however, lets return to what we previously started and continue evaluating what some very well-known SDA theologians and scholars declare about the Trinity doctrine. Do these esteemed and educated gentlemen regard it as a side issue? What do Seventh-day Adventists scholars claim concerning the Trinity doctrine? The ensuing testimonials have all been gleaned from some very well-known Seventh-day Adventists theologians and scholars who in reality underscore how vital the doctrine of God is to any church. The first one comes to us from the Handbook of Seventh-day Adventist Theology, Doctrine of God and reads:

The doctrine of God is foundational to Christian theology, since God relates to everything and everything is related to Him. The doctrine determines the way theologians understand and formulate the entire corpus of Christian beliefs. (Handbook of Seventh-day Adventist Theology, Doctrine of God, vol. 12, p. 105) (Underlining added)

A doctrine of irrelevant matter, I really dont think so for as the Handbook states above, the doctrine of God determines the way theologians understand and formulate the entire corpus of Christian beliefs. Strongly echoing what the above excerpt teaches Professor Richard Rice, Theology Professor at Loma Linda University, offers the following analysis regarding the topic we are now covering:Though it has been relatively quiet, no development in Adventist history [Trinity] has greater theological significance, for nothing is more fundamental to any version of Christian faith than its understanding of God. (The Trinitarian Basis of Christian Community, Ministry Magazine, Richard Rice) (Underlining added)Rice continues on from his thoughts above once again affirming below how crucial a subject the doctrine of God is to Christians, he states:A trinitarian understanding of God has important implications for the entire range of beliefs, but its connection to the doctrine of the church is particularly significant. In fact, the Trinity and the church are intimately connected. It was the experience of God within the community of faith that gave rise to the trinitarian understanding of God. And a trinitarian understanding of God illuminates the origin and the nature of the church, as well as having important implications for the practical life of the Christian community. (Ibid. Underlining added)The above commentaries given by the SDA Handbook and from Mr. Rice are indeed very illuminating as is the following extract written by J.R. Spangler taken from the Review. Spangler, like Canale and Rice previous, reiterates below how intricately connected the doctrine of God is to all the other beliefs a church espouses. In addition, take note as well what Spanglers attitude is towards non-Trinitarians displayed when he utilizes the expression so called Christians (or those who do not believe in the Trinity), he declares:If Christ is fully God and the Holy Spirit is fully God, then the Godhead must be a trinity. Through the centuries untold numbers of minds have clashed over this point. Even today there are pockets of so-called Christians who will not accept the triune-God concept. Still this truth furnishes the key to all the essential doctrines of the Christian faith. (J.R. Spangler, I Believe In The Triune God, Review & Herald, October 21, 1971) (Underlining added)

Well Mr. Spangler, I am one of those so called Christians and reader, Seventh-day Adventists used to be part of those so called Christians as well, but now since finally embracing the Trinity they have become very well accepted among the Evangelical and Catholic Churches. In fact, in relation to all this it is because SDAs have indeed accepted the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity that Bailey Gillespie can state in a book published by the SDA church that:

Seventh-day Adventists are Christians. The topic of the Trinitybelief in a three-Person God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit)places Adventists at the center of the Christian world. (A Reason to Believe, By Chris Blake, p. 8)

When was the exact date in which Adventism was placed at the center of the Christian world? We will answer this query in the very next chapter. From the above announcement Gillespie then goes on to avow:

The majority of Christian denominations accept this personal three-in-one God. (Ibid)

It is interesting that in an attempt to persuade their audience in favor of the Trinity, more than a few Adventist scholars have used the majority of argument as seen employed in the text above by Mr. Gillespie. However, if the majority of argument is a good defense for the Trinity, each SDA might then want to reconsider his or her own position on the Sabbath. Why? Simply because reader 99.5% (or more) [6] of Christians reverence God on Sunday and it doesnt take too long for one, especially an SDA, to contemplate and agree that this type of argument cannot be based on solid Biblical grounds. In fact, in the Bible the majority are rarely ever found in the right! Yet unfortunately SDA scholar Raoul Dederen, professor emeritus of systematic theology at Andrews University, also utilizes the majority of line of reasoning as an argumentative persuasion tool as seen in the extract below. Dederen below, as Gillespie implied above, claims that large numbers of Christians believe in the Trinity as seen in the following selection:

From the days of Arius it has been a chosen scheme with his disciples to represent the doctrine of the Trinity as an artificial theological construct, and consequently unimportant. To a large number of Christians, however, it is a doctrine fundament to Christianity since it deals with a correct knowledge of God. Related to the divine Being, his nature and mode of being, this knowledge affects every man's understanding of God as the object of his worship, whether he regards him as one in essence and one in person, or admits that in the unity of the Deity there are three equally divine persons. It cannot be an irrelevant subject. (REFLECTIONS ON THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY, RAOUL DEDEREN, Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan) (Underlining and emboldened emphasis added)

Towards the end of this chapter we will touch more on the interesting concept of the so called divine being seen above. Then, continuing on from the above citation, Mr. Dederen next drives home to his readers as to how crucial the doctrine of God truly is. In fact, Dederen like Ken Samples did earlier, reveals below that to not worship the correct Biblical form of God is akin to committing idolatry!

If the doctrine of the Trinity is true, then those who deny it do not worship the God of the Scriptures. If it is false, the Trinitarians, by paying divine honor to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, are equally guilty of idolatry. The doctrine of the Trinity is not merely speculation, but lies at the root of every man's theology and affects his whole creed and practice. (Ibid. Underlining added)

Take note as well in the above lines that in addition to his admission of the Trinity being a vitally important issue, Mr Dederen also confesses that the doctrine of the Trinity is not merely speculation. Yet in doing so he admits it is speculation, or at least a portion of it is, but how much of it is speculation he does not confess. Moreover, Dederens comments above concerning the worship of Jesus and the Holy Spirit necessitate an immediate and proper response even at this early stage of the book. I must confess that there was indeed a period in my life after turning non-Trinitarian that I continued to believe that Jesus is every bit God. Yet, I knew however even at that point in in my life that this idea was an absolute contradiction to my newly established faith. For a careful reading of the Bible unequivocally states that there is one God and that this one God is the Father. Well, to say the least for quite some time dealing with a contradiction such as this continued to be an enigma for me to solve, because while I finally claimed to be a non-Trinitarian monotheist yet, at the same time I continued to confess at least two Gods! And as long as I continued to hold this viewpoint it lingered in the back of my mind that I had merely gone from being a Trinitarian to a Binitarian.

Now for quite some time the whole issue of how many Gods there really are puzzled me greatly and actually propelled me to return to the Bible and investigate the matter. There, I spent nine solid months of my life (nearly full-time) re-examining the whole Bible and paying special attention to the issue of worship. To sum up briefly what was in fact a long arduous journey and after writing a lengthy document dealing with the topic of God and of worship, [7] I came to a final conclusion. Specifically, that what the Bible clearly states is in fact correctthat there is only one DIVINE God and He is the Father. In addition to all this, my journey ultimately brought me to another conclusion as well namely, that it is without a doubt idolatry to divinely worship Jesus or the Holy Spirit or any other god for that matter.

You see reader in short, what western minded Biblical scholars either do not know or do not inform you of is that in the ancient east, the background in which the Bible was written, it was very customary to worship (really bow down to) kings and those in high positions. [8] But the worship mentioned in the Bible in regards to Jesus (and many other personalities as well) cannot be proven as a type of divine homage! Whats more, I wont even comment in regards to the worshipping of the Holy Spirit by modern Christians, for there is not one single verse or scintilla of evidence from Genesis to Revelation even implying it ever occurred! Lets now return to the topic at hand and terminate this section with three more revealing statements gleaned from the Adventist world, all of which will continue to cement the idea that the Trinity issue is of vital importance. The first one we will look at appeared in The Message published in January 1948, where former SDA General Conference President Robert Pierson reveals the historical conflicts and agitation the doctrine of God generated between various nations of times past, Pierson states:

Perhaps no other truth in all of Holy Scripture comes to us so marked with the blood of controversy as does the Bible doctrine of the Trinity. History records that ancient nations staked their very existence upon their conception of the Godhead. (Robert H. Pierson, The Message, January 1948, God the Father) (Underlining added)

Pierson then gives us some additional history and goes on to say that:

Three kingdoms, the Heruli, the Vandals, and the Ostrogoths, were blotted from existence during the latter part of the fifth and the early part of the sixth centuries because they refused to accept the orthodox teaching of the ruling church concerning this dogma. Clergymen have been persecuted, exiled, and slain as the tide of favor regarding certain aspects of this subject ebbed and flowed in the early church. (Ibid. Underlining added)Once again I ask the reader at this point to reconsider whether or not the Trinity subject is a side issue or rather a matter of vital importance! As already promised, in the next chapter we are going to dive deeply into the book Questions on Doctrine and discover what the real dispute was at the time the book was authored, or more specifically, what doctrine historically had separated the Evangelicals from the SDA church, (big hintit was not the nature of Christ as you have been told!). In fact, in our last few statements in this section, why dont we preview what we will study in chapter two and hear from two of the leading SDA gentlemen who were heavily engaged at the time in bringing to fruition the doctrinal book Questions on Doctrines. The following citation rolls off the pen of SDA church historian Leroy Froom from his epic book Movement of Destiny. He unambiguously comments in the following lines about what the true issue was of that time period (1956-57):The question of the eternal pre-existence and complete Deity of Christ, as the Second Person of the Eternal Godhead, or Trinity, had been the first of the great stumbling blocks in Evangelical circles to recognizing Adventists to be fellow Christians. (Movement of Destiny by LeRoy Froom, pg. 482) (Underlining added)Mr. Froom then continues on from above and informs us in the following of an additional stumbling block which had barred SDAs from receiving the hand of fellowship from the Evangelicals, he provides this information below: And along with this was the inseparable issue of the personality of the Holy Spirit, as the Third Person of the Eternal Godhead, or Trinity. (Ibid)Although Mr. Froom certainly was a very prominent player involved in the 1956-57 Evangelical conferences, so was his colleague Roy Allan Anderson. In an article Mr. Anderson wrote in the Advent Review in 1983 entitled Adventists and the Trinity, he reaffirms and echoes what Froom put forth above. See if you dont agree with this assertion after reading the next quotation where Anderson recollects below concerning his first meeting with certain Evangelicals in the mid-1950s, he states:

What do you folk believe about the Trinity?" was a question put to me some years ago by two gracious Christian gentlemen who came unannounced to the General Conference headquarters in Washington, D.C. It took only a minute to discover the purpose of their visitOur answer concerning the Godhead and the Trinity was crucial, for in some of the books they had read that Adventists were classed as Arians; that is, those who claim Christ was not one with the Father from all eternity, but was a created being. We reassured the visitors when we turned first to the Scriptures, then to the "Fundamental Beliefs" of Adventism. They discovered that we were in harmony with sound Biblical scholarship, not only on the Trinity but on every other cardinal doctrine of Christianity. (Adventists and the Trinity, Adventist Review General Organ of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Roy Allan Anderson, September 8, 1983) (Underlining added)Hopefully the readers gleaned from the above passages what was first and foremost on the Evangelical agenda at their initial encounter with Adventist leaders. They did not sit down and begin arguing the Sabbath/Sunday issue or the doctrine of the non-immortality of the soul, but instead their principal concern was pinned on the dogma of the Trinity! At this point, we now move our focus away from Seventh-day Adventist scholarly opinion and will now reflect on what the largest denomination within Christianity thinks about the doctrine of the Trinity, the Catholic Church.

Does the Catholic Church think the doctrine of God is a side issue?Having already heard from Ken Samples, a well-known teacher among the Evangelicals, we will now listen to what the Catholic Church claims relating to the significance of the doctrine of God. Below is a short excerpt from the Catholic Churchs own Handbook where we find the following concise, yet clear teaching:

Unless (people) keep this Faith whole and undefiled, without doubt (they) shall perish everlastingly. And the Catholic faith is this: we worship one God in Trinity. The mystery of the trinity is the central doctrine of Catholic faith. Upon it are based all the other teachings of the church. (Handbook for Todays Catholic, p.16) (Underlining added)

The above doctrine as expressed in the official Catholic Handbook is likewise reiterated in the following passage which is extracted from another official book authored by Catholicism entitled The Catechism Of The Catholic Church. There she testifies that:The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in himself. It is therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the "hierarchy of the truths of faith". The whole history of salvation is identical with the history of the way and the means by which the one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, reveals himself to men "and reconciles and unites with himself those who turn away from sin. The Trinity is a mystery of faith in the strict sense, one of the "mysteries that are hidden in God, which can never be known unless they are revealed by God". ( Paragraphs 234, 237 & 251 of the Latin Typical Edition Of The Catechism Of The Catholic Church, by an Interdicasterial Commission presided over by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (former Pope Benedict XVI) (1997)) (Underlining added)

Testimonials such as the above which you have already read, affirming the Trinity to indeed be an issue of critical consequence will not end here. As we move along in this book many more similar ones like it will be presented where appropriate. To be certain, there are many well-meaning Christians in the churches today who simply do not discern the real issue at hand when they label the Trinity matter an issue of minor significance. Or rather, it could be that they are simply throwing cold water on the subject in an attempt to keep the church boat from rocking, or so to speak. At this point lets consider all the statements we have just gone over, for in doing so I believe we can now fairly evaluate the accuracy of the first of the three standard answers which SDAs would offer me in their sincere attempt to render an intelligent reply to the Trinity questions I put forth to them some years ago. Just in case you did not read or do not remember the intro, seen listed below is the first of these replies which we have actually been evaluating in this chapter:1. The Trinity topic is a side issue or an insignificant matter and should not draw our attention away from the more important themes contained within the Bible.The statements that I have compiled over the past five years and placed in this chapter are very compelling testimonies are they not? All coming from the official SDA Handbook, from well-known SDA scholars, as well as one from a leading Protestant leader, and two from the Catholic Church. All of these clearly suggesting that the first response observed above is completely inaccurate. The truth in the whole matter is that which doctrine of God a church espouses is of critical consequence, just ask the Heruli, the Vandals, and the Ostrogothsif they were still in existence! At this point, I believe we can now move on and begin devoting our energies into considering the validity of second assertion seen below, which puts forth that there is in extant an Adventist Trinity.

1. The Adventist Trinity is different from the Catholic Trinity; in fact its really more like the Heavenly Trio which Ellen White allegedly wrote about.Is there any such thing as an Adventists Trinity?

Lets begin briefly touching upon the above question as to whether or not there is in truth an Adventist Trinity. By doing so in the next few paragraphs will help propel us into the next chapter where we will go in depth into the topic. To commence, lets compare several statements from The Catechism Of The Catholic Church as well as one from The Handbook of Seventh-day Adventist Theology, a book of which we have already read from. First off, please pay attention to the underscored portion in the following text which is in reality a continuation from the above citation we just examined from Catholicism. The Catechism Of The Catholic Church continues on from her above statement (previous page) and additionally instructs us below that:

To be sure, God has left traces of his Trinitarian being in his work of creation and in his Revelation throughout the Old Testament. But his inmost Being as Holy Trinity is a mystery that is inaccessible to reason alone or even to Israel's faith before the Incarnation of God's Son and the sending of the Holy Spirit. (Ibid. Words made bold mine)

If you glanced over the above passage too quickly please re-read it again and take special note of the bold words. I now ask the readers to compare the above emboldened words to the bold words seen below in The Handbook of Seventh-day Adventist Theology. Notice reader that the Handbook of Seventh-day Adventist Theology below uses the exact same wording and concept to describe God as the Catholics utilized and employed in their text above:In conclusion, the NT has not given extensive consideration to the doctrine of the trinity as a theological locus. On the other hand there is extensive evidence that the reality of the Trinitarian nature of the one Christian God is a biblical teaching. In Scripture God has revealed His Transcendent nature as Trinity, namely three distinct divine persons who act directly and historically in history and constitute the one divine Trinitarian Being. (Handbook of Seventh-day Adventist Theology, Vol. 12, Doctrine of God, p. 138) (Ibid. Words made bold and underlining added)

In reality, the teaching contained in the passage taken from the SDA Handbook above, actually takes the concept of the Trinity even a step further than the Catholics did in their Catechism book! That is, the SDA church becomes even more explicit in her teaching and specifies, His Transcendent nature as Trinity and the ONE divine Trinitarian Being. If the reader truly reflects upon the above message alone as supplied by the Handbook, it becomes clear that it is not referring to three separate Gods that are one in purpose as many older SDAs of my generation believe in (more akin to Tri-theism). That this is indeed a fact will become even clearer as we move further along in this book. Moreover, it is also evident from reading the Handbooks quote above that the SDA church of today is in essence teaching the exact same Trinity god that the Catholics and Protestants teach, with possibly a slight variance between them all. Please understand that the Trinitarian dogma each church espouses does not have to be worded verbatim to that of Catholicisms version in order to be considered orthodox. In fact, R.F. Cottrell, a first generation SDA, correctly observed this many years ago when he stated the following words of wisdom:

all of them [Trinity doctrines] orthodox, I suppose, as long as they nominally assent to the doctrine. (Review & Herald, R. F. Cottrell, June 1, 1869)

To sum up what we have gone over so far, the work you are presently reading was primarily written for the purpose of examining the three replies seen posted on page three. I believe abundant proof has already been offered strongly suggesting that response one listed there is completely inaccurate and that to the contrary, the Trinity god/doctrine is an issue of monumental importance! In addition to all this, we also briefly began to examine the accuracy of response number two (pg. three). Now in the next chapter, we will not only continue substantiating that the SDA church has fully and officially accepted the orthodox Trinity god of the other churches, but in the process of doing so, we will also open an incredibly revealing window to some past events which will clearly disclose to us what the true doctrinal agenda is of the Evangelical churches. In fact, why dont we turn the page now and see what was in fact first on their list of important dogmas. Try to guess at this point what you think it wasthe Sabbaththe human nature of Christthe Spirit of Prophecy, the state of the dead, the judgment? You may be very surprised

Chapter one end notes [1] The following is taken verbatim from Woodrow Whiddens book, The Trinity. Please pay close attention to the following; you will not pick up on this unless you read it s-l-o-w-l-y:

Was He not only the preexistent but also the self-existent Son of God about whom the bible assures us that there never was a time when He was not in close fellowship with the Eternal God (The Trinity, p. 12, Woodrow Whidden)

Just to let you know, this is not in the Bible! Professor Whidden cleverly states that the Bible assures us, but then instead of showing us where the Bible declares this, in its place he inserts a quote from EW who actually wrote it as seen in ST, August 29, 1900 par. 15. I challenge anyone out there to send me the verse in the bible that states this! I do not believe personally the above was done by accident and I can tell you forthrightly that most SDAs will not pick this technique up due to their heavy indoctrination of Whites writings. I could show you in the very least 9 other major examples where well-known SDA leaders use Ellen White as the Bible or an extension of it.

[2] Walter Martin played a key role in the 1955-57 evangelical conferences which took place between Walter Martin, Donald Barnhouse, George Cannon and a few other evangelicals along with a few leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church such as Leroy Froom and Roy Allan Anderson.

[3] In the Forward of the The Handbook of Seventh-day Adventist Theology is seen the following statement. The council authorized preparation of a volume to review carefully the principles undergirding the dynamic Adventist movement. This is that volume [The Handbook of Seventh-day Adventist Theology that is]. Under the direction of the Biblical Research Institute, the project has been more than 10 years in the making. As the editor notes in his preface, its purpose is to provide for both believers and inquirers a faith-centered, reasoned exploration of these truths as seen by Seventh-day Adventists. (The Handbook of Seventh-day Adventist Theology, Forward, pg. ix) (Underlining mine)

[4]Maybe the early Christian Church of the 4th century made a shrewder move up the religious ladder when she merged herself with the pagan religion and Constantines Government. A good book to read about this merger and some of the benefits the newly merged Church received is entitled Constantines Bible.

[5] Later on in this book we will compare all the official and unofficial statements of beliefs which have been printed over the years in the SDA church. There the reader will see that the acceptance of the orthodox Trinity doctrine has been a very gradual one as Mr. Samples clearly implied earlier.

[6] Note that this is not an exact number but certainly cannot be far from the truth!

[7]Please read my paper free on Scribed entitled, A unified and systematic Biblical non-Trinitarian doctrine of Godwith special consideration given to the Shema of Deuteronomy 6:4 as well as to the crucial issue of whom we are to worship. The book is currently being re-written and I hope to write my final copy posted on Scrbd in the summer of 2015.

[8] See Matt. 16:28; 1 Chronicles 29:20 for some brief and quick examples. Also see my paper listed in footnote [7] for an in depth view on all this.

Some extra proof regarding the importance the doctrine of God holds among ChristiansFor those of you that absolutely insist on reading a statement from Ellen White regarding the importance of the doctrine of God, the following is offered:This is the knowledge needed by all who are working for the uplifting of their fellow men. Transformation of character, purity of life, efficiency in service, adherence to correct principles, all depend upon a right knowledge of God. This knowledge is the essential preparation both for this life and for the life to come. She then quotes one of the fundamental verses in the Bible, John 17:3:

"This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." The knowledge of God and of Christ is the only knowledge which can lead to true and eternal happiness. This knowledge all may obtain; all may win the crown of glory, and the life which measures with the life of God. (Christ Our Hope, Ellen White)Merlin Burt who to the best of my findings is Associate Professor of Church History at Andrews University states the following regarding the doctrine of God: No Christian teaching is more fundamental than the doctrine of God. (Ellen White and the Personhood of the Holy Spirit Written by Merlin D. Burt)