Saturday, July 9, 2016

Another example of Trinitarian Inconsistency

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.

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