A History of Christian Doctrine #3 - Online Christian Library

Appendix D
erroneous statistics or the mythical decrease. In 1992
reported Easter attendance in the U.S. and Canada was
384,610, and total foreign constituency was
1,050,973. 342 In 1994 Easter attendance was 400,991,
and foreign constituency was 1,623,030. 343 The respective
growth rates for this two-year period are 4.3 percent
and 54.4 percent.
Numerous other errors exist in the booklet, but these will
suffice to demonstrate the extent of the problem. The research
is careless, to say the least. The booklet consistently uses outdated
and false information that puts Oneness Pentecostals in
an unfavorable light when accurate, current information is
readily available, thereby revealing that prejudice has significantly
compromised the scholarship. The seriousness of the
errors calls into question the integrity and trustworthiness of
the entire enterprise.
Faulty Presentation of Oneness Doctrine
The bulk of the booklet is devoted to three theological topics:
the doctrines of Christ, trinity, and salvation. It contains numerous
quotations from various Oneness authors, but never when it gives
the “basic statement of the Oneness position” on each topic
(pages 11, 25, and 51). In each case, it significantly distorts the
Oneness position and thus argues against a straw man.
On the doctrine of Christ, it reduces the Oneness teaching
concerning the relation of Jesus to the Father and Holy
Spirit as follows: “Jesus is the Father and the Holy Spirit.” On
the doctrine of God, the booklet represents Oneness believers
as saying “Jesus = the Father = the Holy Spirit.” As they stand,
these statements are simplistic, incomplete, out of context, and
therefore distortions. Here are more accurate statements, the
first one from the UPCI Articles of Faith:
Before the incarnation, this one true God manifested
Himself in divers ways. In the incarnation, He manifests
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