Seventh-day Adventists have always believed that all their teachings should be based on the Scriptures. Yet in the 1980 General Conference session at Dallas, Texas when they officially adopted the Trinity as a teaching of Adventism they stated,
“While no single Scripture passage states the doctrine of the Trinity, it is ASSUMED as a fact… ONLY BY FAITH can we accept the existence of the Trinity.” — (Adventist Review, Vol. 158, No. 31, p. 4)
There is no other doctrine that Adventists hold that they cannot prove from Scripture. The truth about the Godhead is that it is very clear who the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are. While there are areas that one cannot understand because the Lord has chosen not to reveal that information, who we are to worship is plainly shown in God’s Word. This is not a mystery.
There is one God the Father! There is one begotten Son, Jesus Christ who is the express image of the Father and possesses all the attributes of His Father. Jesus is the Divine Son of God. There is one Spirit, the shared Spirit of the Father and the Son. We see two Divine beings who share a common Spirit making them one in purpose, thought and action.
Adventists need to remember that to be a remnant, they must be like the original. The founders of Adventism were strong Bible students who took the word of God as it read. They did not spend their time trying to philosophise away the plain and simple teachings found in the Scripture. The Trinitarian view is confusing, nebulous and contradictory to Scripture.
1) The Trinitarian tells us that we must understand that when the term Son of God is used in talking of Christ prior to His birth in Bethlehem, this term is used only in the sense of pointing forward to the time He would be called the Son because of the incarnation. This would apply both to the Scriptures and to the Spirit of Prophecy. However, nowhere does the Bible or the Spirit of Prophecy make such a statement. This is pure supposition. The fact is that both speak plainly that Jesus is God’s very own Son and existed as such before He ever came to this earth.
2) The Trinitarian view asserts that it was not really God’s Son who came to die for you and me, but the member of the Godhead who was playing the role of the Son. However, the Scripture clearly says “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” John 3:16
3) The Trinitarian tells us that three persons make up one God and because each is God in their own right, each is worthy of praise and worship, and that each may be prayed to. However, the Scripture tells us there are only two beings worthy of worship and praise, the Father and the Son. It also tells us we are to pray to the Father through the Son.
4) The Trinitarian calls the Holy Spirit, “God the Spirit”, but Ellen White or the Scriptures nowhere use this terminology.
Have Adventists philosophised away the plain and simple teachings of the Scriptures and adopted in their place man’s ideas of what is right and wrong?
The Trinity has come into God’s Remnant Church gradually.
Today it is widely accepted to the point that when someone is confronted about its validity the response is always the same. They never even thought of questioning it.
Were the Adventist pioneers truly the remnant? If they were, then Adventists must believe that they had come out of Babylon in their teachings because that is the mark of the Remnant Church. They could not call others out of Babylon if they themselves were still in “confusion.”
