James
White claims that the Old Testament is, at least implicitly, Trinitarian, based
on Gen 19:24 and other texts. However,
to read into the Genesis passage the Trinity is eisegesis, as even Calvin
himself recognised (White's theological mentor), and White has been soundly
refuted on his abuse of Psa 110:1 (109:1, LXX) where he misreads the Hebrew as
saying "Yahweh said to Adonai" (see Jaco
van Zyl, "Psalm 110:1 and the Status of the Second Lord--Trinitarian
Arguments Challenged," in An E-Journal from The Radical Reformation: A Testimony to Biblical
Unitarianism, pp.
51-60; also cf. this
blog post responding to Michael Brown on Judges 6)
White
often poses this question to Roman Catholics on the latria/dulia distinction,
such as this
blog post where White writes the following:
Can you picture it? A man is caught bowing
down before a Baal in Moses’ day in his tent. He is brought before Moses, and
when asked for a reason for his idolatry, the man replies, “Oh, that wasn’t
idolatry. Don’t you know that someday, in a language that will come into broad
use in about 3,000 years, you will be able to argue for a less strict use of
the term?” I’m sure that would go over about as well as the, “Oh, I wasn’t
worshipping the idol by bowing down and lighting candles before it, I was
giving it dulia instead” excuse. Both excuses would go with the idolater under
a pile of rocks.
In
light of his claim that the Trinity is implicitly in the Old Testament, perhaps
we could rework this against White:
Can you picture it? A man is caught by fellow
Israelites in Moses’ day in an act of worshipping three gods
(Tritheism/idolatry). He is brought before Moses, and when asked for his
idolatry, the man replies, “Oh, that wasn’t idolatry. It is true that I was
worshipping three distinct persons who are equally ‘God,’ but while they are
three distinct persons, they are one ‘being,’ and in reality, numerically One
God, theological concepts that will not be dreamed up until a few thousand
years from now.” Such excuses would go with the idolater under a pile of rocks.
While I agree with White on the rejection of Second Nicea (787) on the veneration of images, his argument based on his hypothetical situation shows his theological inconsistency; Trinitarians, if they were transported back to Moses' time, would be stoned to death for idolatry, not embraced as brothers/sisters in the faith.
