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    Debunking Terry Hill, An SDA Anti-Trinitarian Dissident

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    DERRICK D. GILLESPIE (Mr.)
    Discover how dissident SDA anti-Trinitarians, like Terry Hill, seek to mislead the public to think the Spear article of 1889, as supportively published by SDA pioneers after 1890, was a non-Trinitarian article, despite it was actually titled "The Bible Doctrine of the Trinity" by the SDA pioneers themselves. Self deception is common among the dissidents. Download this eye-opening assessment freely and share widely.

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    Debunking Terry Hill, An SDA Anti-Trinitarian Dissident

    Uploaded by

    DERRICK D. GILLESPIE (Mr.)
    796 views5 pages
    Discover how dissident SDA anti-Trinitarians, like Terry Hill, seek to mislead the public to think the Spear article of 1889, as supportively published by SDA pioneers after 1890, was a non-Trinitarian article, despite it was actually titled "The Bible Doctrine of the Trinity" by the SDA pioneers themselves. Self deception is common among the dissidents. Download this eye-opening assessment freely and share widely.

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    Discover how dissident SDA anti-Trinitarians, like Terry Hill, seek to mislead the public to think the Spear article of 1889, as supportively published by SDA pioneers after 1890, was a non-Trinitarian article, despite it was actually titled "The Bible Doctrine of the Trinity" by the SDA pioneers themselves. Self deception is common among the dissidents. Download this eye-opening assessment freely and share widely.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    796 views5 pages

    Debunking Terry Hill, An SDA Anti-Trinitarian Dissident

    Uploaded by

    DERRICK D. GILLESPIE (Mr.)
    Discover how dissident SDA anti-Trinitarians, like Terry Hill, seek to mislead the public to think the Spear article of 1889, as supportively published by SDA pioneers after 1890, was a non-Trinitarian article, despite it was actually titled "The Bible Doctrine of the Trinity" by the SDA pioneers themselves. Self deception is common among the dissidents. Download this eye-opening assessment freely and share widely.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
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    The key takeaways are that the article aims to prove that Samuel T. Spear, who wrote an article published in 1890 in the SDA Pioneers, was Trinitarian and had no issues with the doctrine of the Trinity. It also discusses Adventism's initial acceptance of basic Trinitarianism before 1915.

    The main arguments made are that Spear was an ordained Presbyterian minister, the language and references he uses are Trinitarian in nature, he sees no issue with classic Trinitarian proof texts like 2 Cor. 13:14, and he accepts the Father's primacy and Jesus' role as mediator.

    The author provides evidence such as Spear never having internal issues with his Trinitarian church, his use of Trinitarian language and references, and his acceptance of common Trinitarian proof texts.

    DEBUNKING TERRY HILL ON THE SPEARS TRINITY ARTICLE THE SDA

    PIONEERS SUPPORTIVELY PUBLISHED IN 1890. By Derrick Gillespie


    HOW CAN SOMEONE LOOK AT THE FOLLOWING QUOTE FROM THE SPEAR ARTICLE AND
    COME TO THE AMAZING CONCLUSION THAT THE AUTHOR WAS NEITHER TRINITARIAN, NOR
    SPEAKING OF THE TRINITY, AS YOU HAVE SADLY SAID AND DONE TERRY HILL?

    "To the Corinthians the apostle said: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
    and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.
    Amen. 2 Cor; 13:14. Who finds fault with the Trinity of the Godhead as
    set forth in this benedictive prayer? To the same church he also said: But
    to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in
    Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him. I
    Cor. 8:6. The phrase of whom are all things, and we in Him, as applied to
    the one God the Father, and the phrase by whom are all things, and we
    by Him, as applied to the one Lord Jesus Christ, differ from each other;
    and this difference in the preposition used implies a distinction between
    God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. God the Father appears in this
    language as the primal source, and Christ appears as the medium. So,
    also, the apostle said to the Ephesians And be ye kind one to another,
    tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christs sake hath
    forgiven you. Eph. 4:32. Here the forgiveness comes from God, who is one
    of the personalities of the Trinity, but it comes for Christs sake, and
    through Him, who is another personality in the same Trinity. Who has
    any objection to the doctrine as thus appearing? Who cavils with it when he
    asks the Father to forgive him for Christs sake?

    The truth is that God the Father in the primacy attached to Him in the
    Bible, and God the Son in the redeeming and saving work assigned to Him
    in the same Bible, and God the Holy Ghost in his office of regeneration
    and sanctification whether considered collectively as one God, or
    separately in the relation of each to human salvationare really
    omnipresent in, and belong to, the whole texture of the revealed plan for
    saving sinners. In this plan there is nothing superfluous, and nothing that is
    not adapted to the felt wants of man. The simple-minded Christian, when
    thinking of these wants, and contemplating the divine Trinity, as he finds it
    in the Bible, has no difficulty with the doctrine. It is a light to his thoughts,
    and a gracious power in his experience. Content with the revealed facts,
    and spiritually using them, he has no trouble with them. He does not
    attempt metaphysically to analyze the God he worships, but rather thinks of
    him as revealed in His word, and can always join in the following Doxology:
    Praise God, from whom all blessings flow!

    Praise Him, all creatures here below!

    Praise Him above, ye heavenly host!

    Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

    It is only when men speculate outside of the Bible and beyond it, and seek
    to be wiser than they can be, that difficulties arise; and then they do arise
    as the rebuke of their own folly. A glorious doctrine then becomes their
    perplexity, and ingulfs them in a confusion of their own creation. What they
    need is to believe more and speculate less."

    Samuel T. Spear, 1889

    PROOFS THAT THE AUTHOR WAS


    TRINITARIAN:

    1. Firstly, it must be observed that the author of the above quote was the
    famous writer Rev. Samuel T. Spear, who was a bona fide ordained
    minister of the Presbyterian Church in America for very many
    years. The Presbyterian Church was and has remained a
    Trinitarian Church. Spear never had any internal wrangling with his
    Church over an acceptance of what he terms "the divine" Trinity until
    the day he died. This is the first clue that the above quote is about
    nothing less than, according to the author, basic and unexplained
    Trinitarianism as it appears in the Bible; not according to the explained
    ontological Trinity of the Papacy. This is why this article was adopted
    by SD Adventism as THEN representative of what Adventism had
    come to believe in 1892 (despite it's staunch anti-Trinitarianism of the
    past), and hence Adventism even re-titled the article as "The Bible
    Doctrine of the Trinity". Rather telling isn't it? Thus the reason why 21
    years after this event in Adventism the chief editor of Adventism's
    Review and Herald declared in no uncertain terms that:

    "Seventh-day Adventists [now] believe in the divine Trinity..." - F.M.


    Wilcox, Oct. 1913

    2. Spear, the author in the above quote, even supportively quotes the
    words of a traditional Trinitarian song, which no TRUE anti-Trinitarian
    church would ever allow to be sung in it's worship services and said to
    be addressed to the Trinity or three divine persons!!"Praise God from
    whom all blessings flow, praise Him all creatures here below" is what
    the song announces. But which "God" is the "Him" in reference to that
    Spear has no problem with praising. "Praise Father, Son and Holy
    Ghost" is the answer in the same song!! Only Trinitarianism regards
    "God" as Father, Son and Holy Ghost together and proceeds to call all
    three "Him", and not "them"; just like how Man is generically and
    collectively called "him" despite distinct persons are involved (compare
    Psalm 8:4-8 with Gen. 3:22-24 and Gen. 5:1,2). Spear then goes on to
    freely use the traditional Trinitarian expressions "God, the Son", and
    "God, the Holy Ghost" as further proof he is a Trinitarian plain and
    simple (if even he prefers to not speculate about matters not revealed).
    Spear then capsules his FULL COMFORT with the three considered as
    the one God when he said:

    "The truth is that God the Father in the primacy attached to Him in the
    Bible, and God the Son in the redeeming and saving work assigned to Him
    in the same Bible, and God the Holy Ghost in his office of regeneration and
    sanctification whether considered collectively as one God, or separately
    in the relation of each to human salvationare really omnipresent in, and
    belong to, the whole texture of the revealed plan for saving sinners. In this
    plan there is nothing superfluous, and nothing that is not adapted to the felt
    wants of man."

    This is Trinitarianism plain and simple. Need I say more? But I will.

    3. 2 Cor. 13:14 has always been one of the prime 'proof text's used by
    Trinitarians to establish "a Trinity of the Godhead", and Samuel Spear
    asks who would ever object to this being a Trinitarian text? Obviously
    only one who does not believe it does indicate three persons in the one
    Godhead, or someone who is an anti-Trinitarian would object to its use
    this way. This is further proof that the author is IRREFUTABLY a
    Trinitarian who has no issue with the basic Biblical data that could be
    appealed to in order to establish "a Trinity of the Godhead" (as Spear
    puts it).

    4. The author then shows his full comfort in the fact that Jesus is
    subordinate to (i.e. led by and answerable to) the Father who holds a
    certain "primacy", with him being the "medium" of all the blessings
    coming from the Father as "Head". Trinitarianism, probably more than
    any other doctrine, has been attacked for preaching what is called
    subordinationism. Historical Trinitarians have always seen a certain
    "primacy" in the Father, despite equally accepting that Jesus is equal in
    nature to Him. No one who has properly studied historical documents on
    Trinitarianism would ever deny this. This is further proof that the author
    has no problems with the basic tenets of Trinitarianism.

    5. Finally, the author shows that his only objections to any teaching on
    what he deems the Biblical Trinity is to "METAPHYSICALLY
    speculate beyond what the Bible speaks about directly. This shows that
    Spear clearly believed that one can be a Trinitarian without of
    necessity accepting how the Papacy painstakingly explains the
    oneness of the Godhead, for instance. This does not in any way denies
    that the author accepts what he still calls "a Trinity of the Godhead". In
    fact in the article he defend biblical Trinitarians as not tri-
    theists, despite they believe in a triune God or a tri-personal
    God introduced under the titles of Father, Son and Holy Spirit!!
    That is no way a non-Trinitarian premise, as you seek to mislead your
    readers, Terry Hill; only one seeking to rescue the true Biblilcal Trinity
    from human speculation!!

    CONCLUSION:

    And remember, the leading above quote was just a very small portion of
    the whole article which wreaks all over with Trinitarian language and
    Trinitarian undertones. Was Samuel Spear a Trinitarian? You bet!!
    Only someone who dabbles in sophistry, or has painful issues he
    cannot bring himself to accept about Adventism's history of
    accepting basic Trinitarainism before 1915, would deny the MORE
    THAN OBVIOUS!! Like the Sabbath doctrine, Adventism initially
    used the writings of an outsider to be the starting point to help in
    establishing the Trinitarian teaching among it's ranks. That is the
    truth plain and simple. None can hold the truth captive to their puny
    surmisings for too long.

    Derrick Gillespie is a trained teacher in the Social Sciences, History, and Geography, and remains a
    member of the SDA Church in Jamaica and a lay evangelist for SDAs.
    (Contact Info: [email protected] OR https://www.facebook.com/derrick.gillespie

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