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By a “whistleblower” I mean someone raised in and long faithful to mainstream evangelicalism who to their surprise found that the Bible neither teaches that God is triune nor that Jesus is divine in the way the one God is divine. Instead of conforming to traditional creedal demands they now disagree with, they speak up, suffering significant social and sometimes also financial costs. They value fidelity to scripture more than their own status.
Whistleblower #1: Bill Schlegel is the author of this fine book. After candidly yet quietly confessing his biblical unitarian convictions he was basically forced out as a professor at the Master’s University extension in Israel, where he taught Hebrew and biblical geography. He tells the story here. And here is a brief post to friends, students, and former students and colleagues about the big change. In part he writes,
I can assure friends and former students that I have not “rejected our Lord”. My faith in God the Father and in His Son Jesus the Messiah is as strong, yea verily, stronger than it has ever been.
Now he’s lending his best efforts to support this issue of ongoing reformation. You can hear him in several episodes of the Restitutio podcast:
- Interview 46 Misunderstood Texts about Jesus 4 (Bill Schlegel) December 6, 2018
- Interview 45 Misunderstood Texts about Jesus 3 (Bill Schlegel) November 29, 2018
- Interview 44 Misunderstood Texts about Jesus 2 (Bill Schlegel) November 23, 2018
- Interview 43 Misunderstood Texts about Jesus 1 (Bill Schlegel) November 15, 2018
He reviews on Larry Hurtado’s book How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God? here. Check out all of his blog posts and Land and Bible here. I’m happy to say that Bill and his lovely family have recently moved here to middle Tennessee and attend my church.
Whistleblower #2 is Aaron Shelenberger. Originally from the Philippines, he served for 20 years in the US Navy, and now lives with his family in Florida. An evangelical who has long been interested in apologetics, he earned a Masters degree in Christian Apologetics from Southern Evangelical Seminary. I’m happy to say that he has been a long-time listener of the trinities podcast, and he’s also been active in the Facebook group. You’ll hear more about and from him in some upcoming episodes of the trinities podcast. Here’s his first YouTube video:
Whistleblower #3 is Seth Moore, who resigned from his job at Answers in Genesis.
I was raised in the Christian Church nondenomination, I joined a fundamentalist Bible Church in high school, I attended a conservative Presbyterian Church in college, and I landed at a Southern Baptist Church out here in Kentucky.
But his study of scripture forced him to make a change:
Answers in Genesis, like nearly all faith-based organizations, requires its members to affirm a certain set of doctrines outlined in their Statement of Faith. There is a degree of flexibility on most points, but I cannot rationalize my perspectives to align with what they require all employees to affirm… there are two doctrines in particular that I cannot convince myself to affirm… The more I dug into Scripture, the harder it was to reconcile what I was reading to my orthodox upbringing.
Read the whole thing here. I don’t agree with 100% of what he says, but I think he makes a lot of excellent points and correctly points out many plain and clear biblical texts that are, frankly, clearer than anything trinitarians can appeal to. You can read his other posts here at after Thine own heart.
How much would you sacrifice for honest fidelity to the teaching of Jesus and his apostles, as best as you can understand it? Would you walk away from a job or a career based on your convictions about biblical teaching? Are you willing to be kicked out of a church? Lose a boyfriend or girlfriend? Become uncool in certain circles, even Christian ones?
We need more whistleblowers. We need you.
Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. -John 17:5
I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. -John 17:11
Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”-Genesis 2:18
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
-Genesis 1:26
I came here not to challenge or debate but to interrupt, because we often surround and feed ourselves with the people and food that we like and that’s not necessarily a good thing- As I grew older and wiser I found that those that ‘shook’ my beliefs caused me to evaluate my foundation, and once that happened, it led to the realization as to why that foundation was so sure that I had trusted in, and yet had not fully understood. This in turn, led me to test the foundation- Was it sure, was it built by man or laid by God? What I found, was that it was God Himself, that was that Foundation Stone! So, was I trusting in the one who is’ Rock of Israel.’
I will proclaim the name of the LORD.
Oh, praise the greatness of our God!
He is the Rock, his works are perfect,
and all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,
upright and just is he. – Deuteronomy 32:3-4
and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. – I Corinthians 10:4
Isn’t it strange that the Trinitarian dogma has become the number one article of faith in many Christian organisations? If one believes 1+1+1=3 and not 1, one is cast out into the outer darkness. I’m sure many in mainstream Christianity would like to see prison or death as the punishment for believing the shema – Hear O Israel, the God our Lord is one. I’m also sure many of them would like to go through the Bible with a black, felt-tip pen to remove all passages smacking of Unitarianism. Why don’t they create a Trinitarian Bible will all offending passages left out?
Very true. Pretty much every Christian website has the Trinity as the number one item in their Statement of Faith. Bizarre considering any normal person could read the Bible for the first time cover-to-cover and NEVER even conceive of something remotely like the Trinity.
“Bizarre considering any normal person could read the Bible for the first time cover-to-cover and NEVER even conceive of something remotely like the Trinity.”
Really, what an opinionated statement with subjective bias. Once I was Born from above and started reading the scriptures, I was fascinated at how clearly the scriptures showed the deity of Jesus! My previous “trinitarian” influence was limited to the lines from the song ‘American Pie’ (“the three men I admired most…) Sadly, many who claim to be Christians, Believers, followers of Messiah… (whatever flag they fly under), have never learned how to study the scriptures in context with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Often, they simply eat food chewed by others and believe that studying scriptures means studying and reading what others teach that the scriptures say, or even worse, they study outside sources rather than the scriptures themselves and then they will not admit that this ‘truth’ they embrace came from a slource other than the scriptures. I’ve met theologians, professors… that had no concept of using just the Bible to study the scriptures.
I think it crazy that a person could think they were born from above or had a real relationship with God and could not clearly see who Jesus truly is- God the Son.- But, then again, I’m not ‘normal’ and I thank my LORD that I’m not.
“Once I was Born from above and started reading the scriptures, I was fascinated at how clearly the scriptures showed the deity of Jesus!”
Interestingly, Presbyterian William Kinkade did just that, i.e. he set out to determine correct doctrine by reading the Bible sans commentary. He was formally a Presbyterian because he felt that they were the most accurate in their views. He grew up poor, so much so that for some time he couldn’t even afford a Bible. He had a powerful yearning for God’s word, however, and finally took a hard-labor job which he worked for a week just to get a small, pocket-edition of the Bible, without references, from his employer. He comments that he was glad that the Bible contained no footnotes or references because he wanted to be led to his doctrinal convictions without the assistance of commentary.
Thus unassisted by orthodox “guidance” he came to reject the trinity. He did not feel that Jesus was “God the Son” but the Son of God, who existed in heaven as the arch-angel Michael before coming to earth as a man. He felt that ‘holy spirit’ was sometimes simply a reference to God himself (i.e. if troubles grieve your “spirit” they are grieving you; if God’s word refreshes your “spirit” it refreshes you; thus if we grieve God’s “spirit” we are grieving God), and sometimes a reference to the power of God.
See: https://archive.org/details/bibledoctrineofg00kink/page/n6
Thanks for the kind words, Dale. In each of our cases it is the word of God that was instrumental in changing our hearts and minds. Also, thanks for the book plug. The book is cheaper at the web page below. Plus a bit easier to access other resources that come with it. Blessings to all in the name of Jesus the Messiah, the firstborn from the dead. https://www.bibleplaces.com/satellite-bible-atlas-schlegel/
It’s not an easy thing to do in any case. I admire these guys.
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