RE: Father, Son & Holy Ghost....3 gods.

[Nic Samojluk]

Overage asked:

“Nic; am I understanding you correctly here to say that there is no such thing as "The Holy Spirit;" and that Christians/Adventists are inventing this doctrine, based on just "one Bible text?"”

There is a Holy Spirit, but it is not what the Christian church invented several centuries after Jesus ascended to heaven. The Holy Spirit is Jesus living in us. This is what the Lord promised in John 14. He said that he would not leave his followers orphans. He would come back to them through his Spirit—in an invisible manner—to live not with them but in them.

Read John 6:63 and its context Jesus told those who were following him for the bread and fish—material things—that they needed to eat his flesh and to drink his blood. They interpreted this in a literal manner, and Jesus explained his figure of speech as follows:

“The words which I have spoken to you they are spirit and they are life.”

This is how Jesus lives in us: when we eat his words and they become an integral part of our daily life.

The Holy Spirit is not the third person of the Trinity. It is rather the power of God manifested by all the heavenly influences God has provided for our spiritual welfare, and this includes what Jesus had spoken—his words--and the influence of God’s angels, who are spirits sent for our care.

Consider the following. According to the Bible, prophecy was the result of the activity of the Holy Spirit. So let’s see who was the instrument God used to convey the most outstanding prophecies found in Scripture—Daniel and Revelation. Who revealed to Daniel and to John the predictions found in the books they wrote? It was the angel Gabriel.

This is patently evident in Dan. 10:21 where Gabriel apologizes for the three weeks delay in coming to Daniel’s assistance because he was busy lobbying in the courts of Medo-Persia. What does he say?

“No one supports me against them except Michael.”

Amazing! Gabriel is God’s instrument for revealing the future to Daniel—not the Holy Spirit—and admits that there is no one to assist him in this except Michael. My question: Where is the omnipresent Holy Spirit? Could not the Holy Spirit have taken over the revelatory task while Gabriel was busy in the courts of Medo-Persia for three weeks?

Go to Revelation 1:1! What is the chain of revelation stated there? It is God, Jesus, the angel, and John. How come the Holy Spirit is not even mentioned?

[Nic Samojluk]

John317 wrote:

“Here are a few quotes from two of our magazines that our pioneers wrote:

• Thus two persons of the Godhead witness to the human family. John 1:9 and Rom. 8:16. The psalmist stated that : "the heavens declare the glory of God" (Ps. 19:1); -• and Paul said that "He left not Himself without witness [even to the heathen], in that He did " good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness." Acts 14:17. Signs of the Times for 1912 - Vol. 39 - No. 01”

Whoops! What happened? I thought there was a trio! The reference is to “two persons.”

“[The Holy Spirit] is one with and sent by the Father, and the Son… He[the Holy Spirit] would make us know His personality, but ever IN LIVING CONNECTION with Christ… Let Him [the Spirit] make you know, beloved, how surprisingly beautiful are the BLENDED PERSONALITIES of our TRIUNE GOD manifested by the personal presence of the Holy Ghost.” “Blended Personalities”,Review and Herald, Vol. 77, April 3,1900.

The following paragraph was written by the editor of the Review and Herald in 1913, two years before Ellen G. White passed away. Bear in mind that shortly after he wrote this, Ellen White appointed F.M. Wilcox to the original board of the EGW Estate.

For the benefit of those who may desire to know more particularly the cardinal features of the faith held by this denomination, we shall state that Seventh-day Adventists believe,— 1. In the divine Trinity. This Trinity consists of the eternal Father, a personal, spiritual being, omnipotent, omniscient, infinite in power, wisdom, and love; of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the eternal Father, through whom all things were created, and through whom the salvation of the redeemed hosts will be accomplished; the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, the one regenerating agency in the work of redemption. F. M. Wilcox (editor of Review and Herald), *Review and Herald, October 9, 1913

Should we build our doctrine on tradition and the opinion of Ellen White or rather the Bible? Is this what Ellen White told us to do?

[Overaged]

Overage asked:

“Nic; am I understanding you correctly here to say that there is no such thing as "The Holy Spirit;" and that Christians/Adventists are inventing this doctrine, based on just "one Bible text?"”

There is a Holy Spirit, but it is not what the Christian church invented several centuries after Jesus ascended to heaven. The Holy Spirit is Jesus living in us. This is what the Lord promised in John 14. He said that he would not leave his followers orphans. He would come back to them through his Spirit—in an invisible manner—to live not with them but in them.

Read John 6:63 and its context Jesus told those who were following him for the bread and fish—material things—that they needed to eat his flesh and to drink his blood. They interpreted this in a literal manner, and Jesus explained his figure of speech as follows:

“The words which I have spoken to you they are spirit and they are life.”

This is how Jesus lives in us: when we eat his words and they become an integral part of our daily life.

The Holy Spirit is not the third person of the Trinity. It is rather the power of God manifested by all the heavenly influences God has provided for our spiritual welfare, and this includes what Jesus had spoken—his words--and the influence of God’s angels, who are spirits sent for our care.

Consider the following. According to the Bible, prophecy was the result of the activity of the Holy Spirit. So let’s see who was the instrument God used to convey the most outstanding prophecies found in Scripture—Daniel and Revelation. Who revealed to Daniel and to John the predictions found in the books they wrote? It was the angel Gabriel.

This is patently evident in Dan. 10:21 where Gabriel apologizes for the three weeks delay in coming to Daniel’s assistance because he was busy lobbying in the courts of Medo-Persia. What does he say?

“No one supports me against them except Michael.”

Amazing! Gabriel is God’s instrument for revealing the future to Daniel—not the Holy Spirit—and admits that there is no one to assist him in this except Michael. My question: Where is the omnipresent Holy Spirit? Could not the Holy Spirit have taken over the revelatory task while Gabriel was busy in the courts of Medo-Persia for three weeks?

Go to Revelation 1:1! What is the chain of revelation stated there? It is God, Jesus, the angel, and John. How come the Holy Spirit is not even mentioned?

[John317]

Here are a few quotes from two of our magazines that our pioneers wrote:

[The Holy Spirit] is one with and sent by the Father, and the Son He[the Holy Spirit] would make us know His personality, but ever IN LIVING CONNECTION with Christ Let Him [the Spirit] make you know, beloved, how surprisingly beautiful are the BLENDED PERSONALITIES of our TRIUNE GOD manifested by the personal presence of the Holy Ghost. Blended Personalities,Review and Herald, Vol. 77, April 3,1900.

The following paragraph was written by the editor of the Review and Herald in 1913, two years before Ellen G. White passed away. Bear in mind that shortly after he wrote this, Ellen White appointed F.M. Wilcox to the original board of the EGW Estate.

For the benefit of those who may desire to know more particularly the cardinal features of the faith held by this denomination, we shall state that Seventh-day Adventists believe,1. In the divine Trinity. This Trinity consists of the eternal Father, a personal, spiritual being, omnipotent, omniscient, infinite in power, wisdom, and love; of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the eternal Father, through whom all things were created, and through whom the salvation of the redeemed hosts will be accomplished; the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, the one regenerating agency in the work of redemption. F. M. Wilcox (editor of Review and Herald), *Review and Herald, October 9, 1913

Originally Posted By: Nic Samojluk

Should we build our doctrine on tradition and the opinion of Ellen White or rather the Bible? Is this what Ellen White told us to do?

No, we shouldn't build it on tradition. I am showing these quotes to demonstrate that the Trinity doctrine was in the SDA church before the death of Ellen White, and furthermore, that Ellen White did not oppose it. For those who have confidence in Ellen White as God's prophet, this is significant.

[Overaged]

Nic, that first quote, while specifically mentioning "two members of the Godhead;" was not saying that there is not a "third member.." You have not shown the context and references which would verify your point.

But yes, the Bible needs to be our guide here.

[John317]

The Holy Spirit is not the third person of the Trinity. It is rather the power of God manifested by all the heavenly influences God has provided for our spiritual welfare, ....

To believe this, you must first reject many Bible verses, to say nothing of rejecting many clear statements by Ellen G. White.

Acts 5: 3 and 4 plainly equates the Holy Spirit with God.

Jesus Himself said that He would send "another Helper of the same kind" as Christ. What kind of Helper [Gk paraklete] is Christ? He is a divine Being, and therefore we might reasonably expect that the Holy Spirit is a divine Being. Christ is a part of the Godhead, so we can reasonably believe that the Holy Spirit is a part of the Godhead. As it turns out, there's a good deal of biblical evidence that this is true.

If we say that the Holy Spirit is the power of God, then Luke 4: 15 makes no sense, because we would then need to read the verse as follows:

"And Jesus returned in the power of the power of God to Galilee,..."

And Acts 10: 38 would then read, "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the power of God and with power..."

Ellen White said, "The Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Godhead" (Special Testimonies, Series A, No. 10, page 37).

[John317]

Here are a few quotes from two of our magazines that our pioneers wrote:

Thus two persons of the Godhead witness to the human family. John 1:9 and Rom. 8:16. The psalmist stated that : "the heavens declare the glory of God" (Ps. 19:1); and Paul said that "He left not Himself without witness [even to the heathen], in that He did " good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness." Acts 14:17. Signs of the Times for 1912 - Vol. 39 - No.

Originally Posted By: Nic Samojluk

Whoops! What happened? I thought there was a trio! The reference is to two persons.

The quote is not denying that the Father is a part of the Godhead or that there are three Persons in the Godhead. It is saying that two Persons of the Godhead [Christ and the Holy Spirit] are referred to in John 1: 9 and Romans 8: 16.

John 1:9

The true light [Christ], which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

Romans 8:16

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

[doug yowell]

The Holy Spirit is not the third person of the Trinity. It is rather the power of God manifested by all the heavenly influences God has provided for our spiritual welfare, and this includes what Jesus had spoken—his words--and the influence of God’s angels, who are spirits sent for our care.

[Nic Samojluk]

John317 wrote:

“There was never a time when all the manuscripts of the Bible were in a single location so that anyone could destroy or change all of them.”

True! Nevertheless you must have read what Ellen White said about this: “When manuscripts of the Bible were few, some copyists attempted to clarify sone biblical texts and introduced errors into Scripture” [my paraphrase].

There were no printing presses nor computers then, and copying was made by hand. There were few libraries and history tells us that there was a concerted effort to destroy all the older documents. Have you ever wondered why older manuscripts go back only so far? They were destroyed and entire libraries were burned.

[Nic Samojluk]

John317 wrote:

“For one thing, the Scriptures refer to the Father as God, to the Son as God, and to the Holy Spirit as God.”

Where are the texts which state that the Holy Spirit is God?

”As for the biblical evidence for the Trinity, please study the whole of the following video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=7NIGgrntUzA”

John, I want to remind you that I am the product of Adventist education, from elementary school through college. I did work for the church for a decade, worked as a Bible instructor, I gave Bible studies and prepared candidates for baptism, and I taught Bible doctrines in academy. This means that I am familiar with most of the arguments we use to support the doctrine of the Trinity.

Some years ago, there was a Sabbath School teacher in Loma Linda who did not believe in our Trinity dogma, and I decided to help him understand what the Bible taught about this. I tried this for years, and guess who won? His argument prevailed, and I joined him.

[Overaged]

John317 wrote:

“There was never a time when all the manuscripts of the Bible were in a single location so that anyone could destroy or change all of them.”

True! Nevertheless you must have read what Ellen White said about this: “When manuscripts of the Bible were few, some copyists attempted to clarify sone biblical texts and introduced errors into Scripture” [my paraphrase].

There were no printing presses nor computers then, and copying was made by hand. There were few libraries and history tells us that there was a concerted effort to destroy all the older documents. Have you ever wondered why older manuscripts go back only so far? They were destroyed and entire libraries were burned.

Your "paraphrase" needs references.

[Overaged]

John, I want to remind you that I am the product of Adventist education, from elementary school through college. I did work for the church for a decade, worked as a Bible instructor, I gave Bible studies and prepared candidates for baptism, and I taught Bible doctrines in academy. This means that I am familiar with most of the arguments we use to support the doctrine of the Trinity.

Some years ago, there was a Sabbath School teacher in Loma Linda who did not believe in our Trinity dogma, and I decided to help him understand what the Bible taught about this. I tried this for years, and guess who won? His argument prevailed, and I joined him.

This proves nothing from the Bible at all.

[Nic Samojluk]

Dr. Waite wrote:

“Is the holy spirit a GOD? Do you worship the holy spirit?

Do you believe that the Son of God was "made" in the express image of the Father? (Hebrews chapter 1) If so, how could the Son of God have been made in the express image of the Father, it the Father did not exist first? Did the Son of God exist as the express image of the Father before He came to this earth?

EGW does not support the worship of the holy spirit as a third God different than the Father and Son.

EGW supports the truth that the Son of God existed as being made in the express image of the Father before He came to this earth.”

There are some additional problems with the doctrine of the Trinity: If the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, then how do we explain the fact that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was conceived by the Holy Spirit? Does this mean that Jesus was the Son—not of the Most High—but of the Holy Spirit? Notice how this event is described:

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” [Luke 1:35]

This verse clearly describes the identity of the Holy Spirit: It is the “Power of the Most High.” We need to believe the angel: Jesus was the “Son of the Most High” and not the Son of the Holy Spirit.

Said Power of the Most High was manifested in diverse ways throughout Scripture. In the book of Daniel we find the angel Gabriel exercising said Power of the Most High, The same is true in the book of Revelation [Rev. 1:1] where the chain of revelation includes only God, Jesus, God’s angel, and John. No reference to the H.S.

In Daniel 10:21 we find Gabriel apologizing to Daniel about his three weeks delay in coming to his assistance. And he adds the following: “No one helps me in this except Michael.”

How come the angel Gabriel claimed that there was nobody else to assist him? Doesn’t the Bible teach that revealing the future is the work of the Holy Spirit? If the Holy Spirit is a separate person in the Godhead, how come Gabriel claimed that there was no one to help him with what is supposed to be the Holy Spirit special task of revealing the future?

[Nic Samojluk]

John317 wrote:

“Let's bear in mind that the Bible refers to the Holy Spirit as "God" [Gk theos].”

Give me the actual biblical text!

”Jesus said that when He went back to the Father, they would send the Holy Spirit. Notice that Christ calls the Holy Spirit "another Comforter [Gk parakletos] of the same kind." Would you agree that the description, "another parakletos of the same kind," shows that the other parakletos is equal with Christ?”

You need to read what Jesus said in John 14 without the Trinity lenses:

16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will bec in you. 18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

What is Jesus saying here? He says: “for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

The passage is self explanatory. Who was physically living with the disciples? Jesus! Who would be living in them afterward? Jesus! Who would not leave them orphans? Jesus! Who would come back to them? Jesus!

There is no mystery here! Jesus would no longer live with them. He would be physically absent, but spiritually living in them. The Counselor would be Jesus in spiritual form.

”Do you see anything concerning the Holy Spirit in John 14 and 16 which shows that the Holy Spirit is inferior to Christ?””

No! How can Jesus be inferior to himself?

[Nic Samojluk]

TO ALL WHO ARE INTERESTED IN THIS TOPIC I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS THAT ANYONE CAN ANSWER:

1) WHEN JESUS CHRIST WAS HERE ON THIS EARTH DID HE TEACH THAT WE SHOULD WORSHIP ANYONE OTHER THAN HIS FATHER?

2) WHEN JESUS CHRIST WAS HERE ON THIS EARTH DID HE TEACH THAT WE SHOULD WORSHIP THE HOLY SPIRIT AS A DISTINCT PERSON FROM THE FATHER AND THE SON?

3) WHEN JESUS CHRIST WAS HERE ON THIS EARTH DID HE TEACH THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT IS ANOTHER GOD DISTINCT FROM THE FATHER AND THE SON?

Excellent questions!

[Nic Samojluk]

John317 wrote:

“Dr.Waite, Ellen White sang praises to the Holy Spirit, and she also said that when she prayed, she included the Holy Spirit.”

I thought that your mission was to prove the Trinity doctrine from the Bible!—Not Ellen White!

[Nic Samojluk]

John317 wrote:

“How does Ellen White define "the Godhead"?”

I see you heavily relying on the writings of Ellen White! It seems to me that we Adventists are lost without her as far as proving doctrine. Didn’t she advise us to go to the Bible for doctrine?

Would you still believe in the Trinity if we didn’t have Ellen’s red books?

[Nic Samojluk]

John317 wrote:

“Ellen White defines the "Godhead" as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, doesn't she? Do you agree with her?”

I beginning to wonder about our ability to defend the doctrine of the Trinity with the Bible only.

[Nic Samojluk]

Overaged wrote:

“Nic; I honestly say this respectfully, but when it comes to the Holy Spirit, you are teaching error; it is looking like pantheism.”

How can a simple and straightforward reading of Scripture be equivalent to teaching error? Did Jesus teach pantheism? Jesus simply stated to his disciples in John 14 that he would no longer live with them in bodily form but rather live in them:

16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will bec in you. 18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

Notice carefully what Jesus is saying here. He says: “he lives with you and will be in you.” Question: Who was living with them? Jesus! Who would live in them? Jesus! Who would not live them orphans? Jesus! And who would come back to live in them? Jesus!

“I am not sure how you can justify marching in all by yourself and correcting the entire "Christian Church" re the Trinity doctrine.”

We inherited our Trinity doctrine from the Reformers, and they inherited this from the Catholic Church. The Reformers inherited from Rome Sunday keeping as well, but we managed to get the Sabbath truth from the Bible. It is time for those willing to get the truth about the Holy Spirit from the Bible instead of tradition and the opinions of men.

I am not on a crusade regarding the Trinity. I believe that there are other truths which are 100 times more fundamental than the non-biblical view of the Trinity like our compromise on the issue of abortion. This is where my utmost concern for the Adventist Church is.

“Of course you have the right to decide what to believe and to express your views, but I do not see the difference between what you are teaching on the Holy Spirit, and the age old doctrine of pantheism; which of course, many Christians reject. Certainly, it is not a teaching of Seventh-day Adventists.”

It is not my teaching either! I don’t know where you get this erroneous idea that what I said is pantheistic. I believe in a personal God—not an impersonal force. The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal and independent force. It is simply God’s power manifested through God himself sometimes, through Jesus Christ, or through his angels.

“I am open to correction if I am seeing things wrong here.”

So do I! I always try to stick to a simple reading of the Bible—free from the trapping of human tradition and from human philosophical speculations.

[doug yowell]

“How does Ellen White define "the Godhead"?”

I see you heavily relying on the writings of Ellen White! It seems to me that we Adventists are lost without her as far as proving doctrine. Didn’t she advise us to go to the Bible for doctrine?

[Nic Samojluk]

John317 wrote:

“To believe this, you must first reject many Bible verses, to say nothing of rejecting many clear statements by Ellen G. White.”

I am not rejecting many biblical texts. Nevertheless, I am questioning the originality of the text found in Matthew 28:19. I have already explained the reasons. Eusebius performed a careful investigation and concluded that the threefold formula was not in the original manuscripts. He had access to older manuscripts which were destroyed when Trinitarians extremists burned several libraries. This is why we do not have the original manuscripts. You need to read the Britannica on this.

You are right on Ellen White. She was not anti-Trinitarian. Of course, she relied heavily on the writings of others, and we erroneusly believe that all that was the result of her visionary experience. She copied so much that it would have been a miracle if some of the thing she borrowed did not contain some errors.

I believe that she was used by God to build the Adventist movement, but I do not believe that she was infallible. She herself insisted that we need to go to the Bible for our study of doctrine. She was God’s instrument, but she was as human as Moses, Abraham, Jacob, King David, peter, Paul, and others. They were not free from errors.

“Acts 5: 3 and 4 plainly equates the Holy Spirit with God.”

Not so! God is Spirit, and is Holy. There you have it. Ananias did lie to God who is Holy and is Spirit. He is invisible.

“Jesus Himself said that He would send "another Helper of the same kind" as Christ.”

Read my previous comments about John 14:

16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

Jesus was talking about himself who was living with them and would come back in an invisible form to live in them.

“If we say that the Holy Spirit is the power of God, then Luke 4: 15 makes no sense, because we would then need to read the verse as follows:

"And Jesus returned in the power of the power of God to Galilee,..."

I did not say that the Holy Spirit is a power. What I said is that the Holy Spirit is God’s spiritual and invisible presence manifested through God himself, through Jesus Christ, or one of his angels.

“Ellen White said, "The Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Godhead" (Special Testimonies, Series A, No. 10, page 37).”

Yes. She did believe this, but I do not! I rely on the Bible. Ellen is not above the Bible, and she is not the final arbiter between truth and error. Her teachings must be tested by the Bible—not the other way!

[phkrause]

John317 wrote:

“There was never a time when all the manuscripts of the Bible were in a single location so that anyone could destroy or change all of them.”

True! Nevertheless you must have read what Ellen White said about this: “When manuscripts of the Bible were few, some copyists attempted to clarify sone biblical texts and introduced errors into Scripture” [my paraphrase].

There were no printing presses nor computers then, and copying was made by hand. There were few libraries and history tells us that there was a concerted effort to destroy all the older documents. Have you ever wondered why older manuscripts go back only so far? They were destroyed and entire libraries were burned.

Do you not have any Faith that God would keep the integrity of the Scriptures? That doesn't mean that there haven't been those that have tried to change the Scriptures. Throughout history many have tried destroying the Bible. Its still here by the way.

[Nic Samojluk]

doug yowell wrote:

“But if the HOly Spirit was a separate personage of the Godhead then why can't that power be the actuality of your statement?Why can't your influences include Jesus too? Your definition creates more problems than it solves.”

I will try to make my understanding of this a little bit clearer: God is Spirit, the Bible says, and God is Holy. There you have the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, God uses many representatives in order to accomplish his purposes.

Let me illustrate this as follows. King Nebuchadnezzar said: “Is not this the great Babylon I built?” My question: Did the king actually did the building? Of course not. He merely gave the order and his will was carried out by others.

This means that God, who is Holy and Spirit, does what he wants done either himself personally or else delegates this responsibility to any of his agents. Thus we see that both in the book of Daniel and in Revelation it was the angel Gabriel who carried out the task of revealing the future both to Daniel and to John.

If the Holy Spirit is a separate person, as we teach, then we need to conclude that Jesus was the Son of the Holy Spirit because Mary, the mother of Jesus, was impregnated by the H.S.

When Jesus talked about his Father, was he referring to the Holy Ghost? Of course not. He was referring to God the Father. Jesus was the Son of God the Father—not the Son of the Holy Spirit. There is no need to invent the doctrine of the Trinity.

[Nic Samojluk]

Originally Posted By: Nic Samojluk

John317 wrote:

“There was never a time when all the manuscripts of the Bible were in a single location so that anyone could destroy or change all of them.”

True! Nevertheless you must have read what Ellen White said about this: “When manuscripts of the Bible were few, some copyists attempted to clarify sone biblical texts and introduced errors into Scripture” [my paraphrase].

There were no printing presses nor computers then, and copying was made by hand. There were few libraries and history tells us that there was a concerted effort to destroy all the older documents. Have you ever wondered why older manuscripts go back only so far? They were destroyed and entire libraries were burned.

Your "paraphrase" needs references.

Here it is:

"I saw that God had especially guarded the Bible, yet learned men, when the copies were few, had changed the words in some instances, thinking that they were making it more plain, when they were mystifying that which was plain, in causing it to lean to their established. views, governed by tradition." {1SG 117.1}

[Nic Samojluk]

Originally Posted By: Nic Samojluk

John, I want to remind you that I am the product of Adventist education, from elementary school through college. I did work for the church for a decade, worked as a Bible instructor, I gave Bible studies and prepared candidates for baptism, and I taught Bible doctrines in academy. This means that I am familiar with most of the arguments we use to support the doctrine of the Trinity.

Some years ago, there was a Sabbath School teacher in Loma Linda who did not believe in our Trinity dogma, and I decided to help him understand what the Bible taught about this. I tried this for years, and guess who won? His argument prevailed, and I joined him.

This proves nothing from the Bible at all.

Of course not! The reason I cited this was to give some evidence that I am familiar with the Adventist doctrine of the Trinity. I was trying to make John’s work a little bit easier.