One of the most popular weight-loss programs available is The Weigh Down Workshop (presented in all fifty states, Canada, and Europe) founded by Gwen Shamblin, a registered dietitian who lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband and two children. Shamblin holds a master's degree in food and nutrition, was employed as a full-time faculty member at the University of Memphis for five years, and worked as a nutritionist for the state health department. She has focused her consulting practice in the area of weight control since 1980. After struggling off and on for some time with obesity, Gwen discovered that her relationship with food could be transferred to a relationship or heart for God and that physical fitness and healthy eating habits are related to spiritual fitness.

While The Weigh Down Workshops have produced credible results, some are questioning Shamblin's "philosophy of diet" and even more severely, her theological views, especially her understanding of the Trinity, her extreme view of lordship, a mixing of works and grace, and a "restoration of New Testament Christianity" mentality that relegates other beliefs as apostate.² The controversy generated by these problems has resulted in having Shamblin removed from Christianity Today's "Women of Faith" Web site, a number of evangelical churches around the country have dropped her program, some 35 employees have left her organization, and Thomas Nelson Publishers have canceled publication of her new book, Out of Egypt.

The purpose of this study is not to question the motives nor judge the heart of Gwen Shamblin. She has stated unequivocally that she has a passion for "helping people understand how God can change their hearts so that they can be delivered from the slavery of yielding to the world and its life-draining temptations".³ We believe that she is sincere and motivated for the right reasons. However, one may be earnestly sincere and have the right motives yet be aberrant or perhaps even heretical with regards to biblical doctrine. Such seems to be the case with Gwen Shamblin. Before we delve into the aforementioned problems, we freely admit it would be outside the scope of this study to speak authoritatively regarding the particulars of proper nutrition and the body. We will, therefore, defer our comments regarding Shamblin's nutritional views to others and focus on biblical passages used in support of her theological views.⁴

Most of Gwen Shamblin's theological views are found in her book(s),⁵ Student Guides,⁶ and tapes. However, she has also developed an attractive web site which includes various materials including a "General Overview of Seminars," "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQ) – which includes a "Mission Statement" - and, more recently, due to a barrage of negative responses regarding her view of the Trinity, she has published a position paper on the subject entitled "Statement Regarding the Trinity."

Mrs. Shamblin has stated no less than five times in her Mission Statement that her mission is 1) "...to call God's people back to full devotion and to examine themselves to make sure that they are not self-employed inside His Kingdom;" 2) "This ministry is driven by the fact that over the centuries, sin has continued to increase inside the church- a church that was intended to be a pure virgin or a holy priesthood (2 Cor. 11:2-4, 1 Peter 2:5);" 3) "The purpose of this ministry and those involved is to help warn the sheep and the shepherds of God's coming wrath;" 4) This ministry is trying to re-establish the plumbline of Jesus Christ, the cross, and holiness as a true foundation for a relationship with God..."; and, 5) "In summary, our mission is to establish and fight for more kingdom territory in the hearts of men for our Great king, so that His will will (her emphasis) be done on earth as it is in Heaven." Certainly she can't be faulted for these God-honoring objectives. Nor should she be faulted for calling the Church to holiness and the lordship of Christ.

Having said the above, it appears her zeal to reform the Church, has skewed her reading of Scripture on a number of points. For example, she cites 2 Corinthians 11: 2-4 above to support the contention that the Church is intended to be a pure virgin, yet the context of this passage is unrelated to sin in the Church or for that matter, personal sin. The context of 2 Corinthians 11 speaks to the Apostle Paul's concern for the Corinthian's devotion to Christ, engaged to Him as Lord and Savior, against the threat of those who would attempt to deceive and turn them away from their relationship with Him. And so Paul speaks of his presenting the Corinthian believers to Christ as a "chaste virgin."

As others have pointed out, Shamblin conveniently utilizes biblical passages having nothing to do with diet to spiritualize the use of food and pulls passages out of context that do pertain to food.⁷ Suffice it to say, many other passages could be cited to demonstrate her interpretation of the Bible where diet and nutrition is concerned, is unwarranted. While the Bible makes use of food imagery to illustrate a spiritual truth, it certainly is not a contemporary diet manual, as Shamblin would have us believe!⁸ Unfortunately, the further one reads the more evident the scripture twisting becomes. And while Shamblin's misapplication of Scripture is indicative of a lack of basic hermeneutical skills (rules of biblical interpretation), of even greater concern are her doctrinal deviations.

While Gwen Shamblin speaks of salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, she leaves the impression throughout her writings that one must (emphasis mine) do the will of God to be saved. This usually translates to mean unless one is committed to the Lordship of Christ, unwavering and in proper relationship with Him, one cannot be saved. Moreover, according to one writer, some women who have gone through the Weigh Down program were told by Shamblin that they weren't saved when they were overweight.⁹ This same article reports that Carney Hawkins (former Director of Counseling for Weigh Down) and others had strained relationships with Gwen over her interpretation of God's grace.¹⁰ Perhaps Gwen Shamblin's view of salvation has been greatly influenced by her Church of Christ background which explains her mixing of works and grace.

Soon after publishing her "Mission Statement," Shamblin was barraged by correspondence from cult apologists, biblical scholars, and numerous other Christians who were doing virtual cartwheels over her view of the Trinity.¹¹ It caused so much controversy that she was forced to make clear (or in her view, defend) her doctrine of God. As mentioned above, she did so by publishing her "Statement Regarding the Teaching of the Trinity." Unfortunately, her statement only served to stir the controversy even more.

It is not within the scope of this paper to present a full-on treatise of the doctrine of the Trinity. Scores of theological books have been published detailing the historic orthodox biblical view.¹² We will therefore examine Shamblin's statement on the Trinity and then offer an overview of the doctrine as it revealed in Scripture and developed in early Church history.¹³

We begin with the words of Gwen Shamblin herself when she states: "I believe that the Bible is infallible, and its description of God as the Father, Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of God can be understood even when read by a child." At first glance, these words seem quite innocuous. However, as the reader will later see, this statement is a prelude to a very distorted or misunderstood view of the doctrine of the Trinity. Shambling goes on: "My statements have brought up questions such as 'Do you believe in the Trinity?' "People have asked me and my staff to answer this with 'yes' or 'no.' This is not a 'yes' or 'no' question, because we do not know if the inquirer is asking if we believe in the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit; if this is the case, then the answer of course is 'YES'!"... "However, the inquirer may be asking if we believe in every word of the man-made teaching of the Trinitarian Creeds that were formed over 300 years past Christ and has been debated every since by many well-known theologians. I will make clear statements regarding this, using scriptures to support them."¹⁴

The above statements reveal Shamblin's mindset. One the one hand she affirms the doctrine of the Trinity (as she understands it), while on the other, she denies the doctrine as defined by the early creeds and confessions. Perhaps she is somewhat confused in that the creeds and confessions of the Church (from early to latter Christianity) serve to affirm the basic teaching of the Trinity! And while the creeds and confessions are human and not divinely inspired, from all indication they neither distort nor deny apostolic teaching but, in fact, clarify essential biblical doctrine!¹⁵ It seems, therefore, that Shamblin's position that pits Scripture against creeds is not a sound one to say the least.¹⁶

What, then, is Shamblin's view of the Trinity? In order to answer this, we again go to her "Statement Regarding the Teaching of the Trinity" where she states: "There is no reference in the Bible to the word 'Trinity,' and the only reason that I tell you this is simply because many people are not aware that this is not a Biblical term."¹⁷ While most Christians would concede this point (though qualified), the following confusing and at times heretical statements (directly from Shamblin's above "Statement") should cause concern for those who believe essential biblical doctrine must not be compromised:

"...the people confronting us are disagreeing with one another! Some believe that the Trinity teaches that God and Jesus are the same being, so that when you get to heaven, you will only see one being, not both Jesus and God, while some other Trinitarians are teaching that there are separate beings. So let's be careful about jumping to conclusions that someone discussing the Trinity is heretical or is not a Christian. The Bible is far too clear on what 'heresy' is. Heresy is someone who does not believe that Jesus is the Son of God."

"I believe that I do understand the words of God on this subject matter. From what we have seen in the e-mails and calls coming to our office, it seems that the Trinity tradition can create mysteries and misunderstandings about God and Jesus Christ."

"Others are calling me a cult because Jehovah's Witnesses teach that Jesus is the Son of God and that He is not the Father. In other words, one small portion of their teachings must parallel one small portion of my teaching, but I assure you that there are no other comparisons."

"The Churches of Christ denomination do not teach members about the Trinity and have removed the word 'Trinity' from the song books- but this does not make them a cult."

"They have done this by understanding the true picture of Jesus Christ- that He 'would not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but humbled Himself to death, even the death of the cross' (Phil. 2)"

"My experience has been that some of the Trinity teachings confuse some people on how we are to live like Jesus if Jesus and God are the same being. The Bible teaches us that the Son doesn't even know the day or the hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father...(Mark 13:32)...How could the same 'being' keep a secret from part of the Godhead if indeed there is one Head and not two separate beings? Because of the questions that these scriptures raise, I feel that it is proper for Christians to examine human traditions."

IS JESUS GOD?

"The Answer: I believe that Jesus and God are two separate beings. I believe that Jesus is our Lord (referenced hundreds of times) and our God (referenced approximately three times), but I believe that the God of Jesus is God the Father. Jesus is not God the Father."

"All citations in the Bible to God's Holy Spirit reference the word 'Spirit.' Therefore I believe that a child reading the Bible would easily understand what God is trying to get across to us- that God is the Father, Jesus is the Son of God, and God's Spirit is the spirit of God. God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are one in purpose, and yet, where Jesus' will does not line up with the Father's through sweatdrops of blood, Jesus submitted and said, 'Not my will, but yours be done' (Luke 22:42), indicating there are two separate beings."

"There is one God, and God the King has given His Son, Jesus Christ, all authority over heaven and earth; so if our God says to worship and bow down to His Son as well as Himself, we had best do it!"

"Just because God, through His inspired Word, called Jesus His Son, it does not negate Jesus' royalty, deity, position, power, authority- it does not make Him inferior. The approximately four references of the Jesus as 'God' does not force one to believe that Jesus not the 'Son of God' because again Jesus IS royalty and ALL authority has been given to Him by the Father and every knee will bow to ;our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ' (2 Peter 1:1). Therefore Jesus is my Lord, my Savior, and my God."

"With so many references listed, why does a man-made reaching want to make the Father and His only Son one being? This is twisted, and we should rethink this man-made tradition."

"The Bible does not use the words- 'Jesus is a created being.' Therefore, I will not add these words. However, Jesus is described over and over as the Son of God, begotten by God, from God, sent from God, firstborn, etc. Therefore, I believe- Jesus is from God and He is His Son!...I believe that God is the Source of all and that the Son 'was firstborn over all creation.' (Col. 1:15). They are one in purpose and all power and glory has been GIVEN to the Son."

DO YOU BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS EQUAL IN POWER AND GLORY?

"The answer: No. 'The head of Christ is God' (1 Cor. 11:3)."

"...and He [Jesus] was made our Lord and Savior by the Father, no scripture says that Jesus is the Father- but every scripture says that He is the Son of God and the Messiah (Christ)."

"...Jesus himself says that God the Father is His God- but no where does it say that Jesus is head of God or has given God anything."

"How could someone state that Jesus and God are equal in all things when Jesus Himself refers to God as 'His God.' God never refers to Jesus as 'His God.' I am afraid that most people are more familiar with catechisms than they are teaching a scriptural line of authority- not polytheism."

"Why would you not want to question a document made up by man that is claiming that Jesus is equal, when He Himself said that he did not consider equality with God something to be grasped (Phil 2:5-11)? Jesus stated that the Father was 'greater than I' (John 14:28), and when someone referred to Jesus as 'good teacher,' Jesus said, 'No one is good- except God alone (Luke 18:18)."

" This is an easy teaching: you bow down to the Father and His Son, to God and His Son- both being deity, but Jesus clearly under the authority of His Father. When Jesus is at the right hand side of God, why would someone want to endorse a teaching that says that Jesus is 'equal in glory'? If they were equal in glory, why does the Bible tell us over and over that we will see Jesus sitting at the right hand side of God? Why doesn't the Bible just say that Jesus and God would be sitting on two co-equal thrones?"

"Half of the Trinitarians say that they will bow down to both Jesus and God when they get to heaven, and the other half believes that there will be only one being- but they can never tell me which one will be missing: Jesus or God."

DO YOU BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS EQUAL IN SUBSTANCE?

"The answer: It depends upon what you mean by 'substance.' This picture of God as one being but transforming himself into three forms like water, ice, and steam, is confusing at best. If you want to argue that Jesus is equal in substance, what are you referring to? That He is deity? But of COURSE He is deity- He is the Son of God, and He has been given all authority over heaven and earth by the Father!"

"I do not believe that the Spirit of God is a Spirit, and that references to the Spirit of Christ refer to His Spirit. I do not believe that references to the Spirit of Christ mean there is a fourth person. I do not refer to God as a person."

"People who teach the Trinity argue that Jesus and God are one because they are trying to justify the teaching in the Trinity that says, 'these three are one God.' They also use the one and only passage that I can find that might remotely back up their teaching. John 1:1-2 says...However, this means that Jesus is deity- He is not the Father- for verse 2 says, 'He was with God in the beginning.' And then verse 13 says 'born of God.' Please do not take these verses out of context."

"Teachers of the Trinity teach that Jesus is Jehovah; they have no scriptures to back this up, and why don't they believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that Jehovah is Jehovah?"

"The Bible teaches us that Jesus is the firstborn over all creation (Colossians 1:15). This is the authority line: God- then Jesus the firstborn- then God through the Son made all of creation."

"We know what a son is- why do we want to make Jesus the Father and not the Son- I will never know. Jesus never taught anything that wasn't from the Father."

"I have talked to several defenders of the Trinity recently, and they cannot answer this one question clearly for me..."

"Here are some other questions that stump people teaching the Trinity..."

" We cannot argue that Jesus was only submissive when He was on earth- for Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8)."

"Please tell me why someone would want to insist that Jesus and the Father are the same exact being when God Himself says that Jesus is His Son, and Jesus Himself states that the Father is greater, and the whole New Testament demonstrates how Jesus was under God's authority."

"The Bible clearly teaches that when Jesus' will did not match God's, Jesus submitted by saying, 'Not my will but yours be done.'"

"God did not send Himself to death, but rather His Son."

"People who hold rigidly to the man-made Trinitarian doctrine say that the picture of God and Jesus and the Spirit is a mystery, that one is three and three is one, but there are no scripture references to back that up in the NIV."

"So again, no matter how you see or picture God the Father, Jesus His Son, and the Holy Spirit, the essential thing is to bow down in reverent submission to each."

Sorting it All Out

Based on the above quotes, it seems rather obvious that there is an awful lot of confusion on the part of Gwen Shamblin regarding the doctrine of the Trinity. And while she denies teaching the doctrines of the Jehovah's Witnesses, her statements and core arguments against the Trinity are essentially identical to those of the Jehovah's Witnesses.¹⁸ This, again, should cause concern for those following her teaching. As we have already seen, she does not seem to understand basic biblical principles of interpretation that, unfortunately, has lead her to faulty conclusions and misapplication of scripture on a number of points. It goes without saying, denial of the biblical doctrine of the Trinity will, in effect, undermine other foundational doctrines of historic biblical Christianity as well! Conversely, a denial of the biblical doctrines of the Incarnation, Substitutionary Atonement, or the Bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ will do the same!¹⁹ We should therefore, be very careful in how we articulate (and in particular, teach) God's Word (James 3:1)!

In one sense, we cannot fault Shamblin for her desire to protect the unity of God nor her wanting to worship and give glory to Him alone! This is monotheism at its core and has been the central feature of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity for many centuries. Having said that, what Shamblin fails to grasp is of these religions (including Jehovah's Witnesses, Unitarians, and others), Christianity, alone, affirms both monotheism²⁰ and Trinitarianism²¹ without fear of contradiction. In other words, these are not mutually exclusive terms as she would lead us to believe. All Bible-believing Christians desire, as does Shamblin, to worship God as the one true and living God and to give Him glory as He alone deserves. But in doing so, we need not compromise God's revelation of Himself in Scripture simply because we don't fully comprehend His nature nor agree with those in church history who helped in the development of Trinitarian doctrine.²² The truth of the matter is, if God has in fact revealed Himself in Trinitarian terms, then we must accept His self-disclosure, not reject it because it is too difficult to understand!

Having said the above, let's look briefly at a few of Shamblin's other arguments and determine whether they are in fact biblically sound. First, she correctly states the word "Trinity" doesn't appear anywhere in the Bible. As mentioned earlier, most Christians concur- she is correct on the point. However, let's be clear, while it may be said that "...Scripture does not contain a doctrine of the Trinity, it [certainly] bears witness to a God who demands to be understood in a Trinitarian manner."²³ Even a cursory study of the Bible reveals the Trinitarian nature of God. It stands to reason if the Bible reveals there is only one God (Deut. 4:35; 39; 32:39; 2 Sam. 22:32; Isa. 37:20; 43:10; 44:6-8; 45:5,14; 46:9; Rom. 3:30; 16:27; 1 Cor. 8:4; Gal. 3:20; Eph. 4:6; 1 Tim. 1:17; James 2:19; Jude v.25); and this one God is identified as God the Father (John 17:3; 1 Cor. 8:6; 2 Cor. 1:3; Eph. 1:3; 1 Pet. 1:3; Col. 1:2-3); God the Son (Isa. 9:6; John 1:1; 1:18; 5:17; 8:58; 10:30; 20:28; Acts 20:28; Rom. 9:5; Phil. 2:6; Titus 2:13; Col. 2:9; Heb. 1:8; 2 Pet. 1:1; 1 John 5:20); and, God the Holy Spirit (Gen. 1:2; John 14:16-17; 26; 15:26-27; 16:7-15; Acts 5:3-4; 13:2,; 28:25; Rom. 8:11; Eph. 4:30), these three are the one God! The reader will please note while each member of the Godhead is identified as God, they are identified as distinct Persons.²⁴ Therefore, Jesus is not the Father (as Shamblin accuses Trinitarians of believing), nor is He the Holy Spirit; the Father is not the Son or Holy Spirit; and neither is the Holy Spirit the Father or the Son. Misidentifying the Persons of the Trinity has resulted in numerous heresies both in the early church and in the many pseudo-Christian cults of our day!²⁵

Second, throughout her statement on the Trinity, Shamblin argues that Jesus couldn't be equal with God in that He (Jesus) is a.) the "firstborn" over all creation; b.) refers to the Father as "His God;" c.) He does not know the "day or hour;" d.) His Father is "greater" than He; and, e.) He did not consider "equality with God something to be grasped." The obvious implication, say's Shamblin, is Jesus' inequality and thus inferior status to the Father. However, even a first-year seminary student understands first, the context of these references must be examined in light of the whole of Scripture, and second, in view of Jesus' incarnation and voluntary subjection to the Father's will. The Bible teaches Jesus had two natures, human and divine. He was both God and Man and therefore exercised both his human will and his divine will. Being fully human Jesus could say His Father is "greater" than he- positionally, God the Father was greater, by comparison, than the "son of man." Being fully God, Jesus could say "I and the Father are one" (referring to His essential deity). As a man, Jesus subjected himself to the will of God yet on a number of occasions he exercising his divine prerogatives as God.

As far as Jesus being "firstborn over all creation," most commentaries or word studies indicate the word "firstborn" refers to "preeminence" or "source," not to a literal, physical or spiritual birth. Jesus is called "firstborn" in that he is preeminent over all creation simply because he is the Creator of all and first to rise from the dead, immortal ((John 1:3; Col. 1:16,17,18; 1 Cor. 15: 20-23). It would seem had Shamblin thoroughly examined these texts (and others) she would not make the assertions that she does. Unfortunately, most of her theological aberrations stem from her faulty exegesis of Scripture.

Third, in addressing the question of Christ's true nature, Shamblin on the one hand affirms his deity in that he is called God's Son, "possessing royalty, deity, position, power, and authority" yet, on the other, denies that he is Jehovah. Of course by referring to Jesus as "Jehovah" does not equate to calling him "the Father" as Shamblin wrongly assumes. By this we are simply ascribing to Jesus Christ, by virtue that he is God, incarnate, the "name" by which God, alone, is known.²⁶ Moreover, contrary to Shamblin's view of Jesus' true identity, the New Testament, on several occasions, identifies Jesus as Jehovah! ²⁷

While Shamblin affirms Christ's deity, it appears deity, by her definition, means Jesus "became" God's Son by birth with all the rights and privileges thereof whereas, deity, according to classical definition, means something quite different!²⁸ Again, she mistakenly equates economic or functional subordination²⁹ of the Son to the Father, with ontological³⁰ inequality. With this confusion in mind, it's no wonder Shamblin may address Jesus as "...my Lord, my Savior, and my God," and yet state "I believe Jesus and God are two separate beings. I believe that Jesus is our Lord and our God, but I believe that the God of Jesus is God the Father." This can only make sense, as we've stated before, with the Incarnation in view. One writer sums it up well: "The Father is Jesus' God by an act of grace, by virtue of Jesus becoming a man for the sake of redeeming man; the Father is our God by an act of creation, by virtue of his having brought us into existence."³¹

Conclusion

There's no doubt Gwen Shamblin has helped a lot of people lose weight through her Weigh Down workshops. She has given people hope and positive goals to achieve for themselves. Moreover, she has brought attention to sin and corruption in the Church and the need for believers to display obedience to the Lordship of Christ. For these things she ought to be commended. Unfortunately, the good that she does is overshadowed by her faulty exegesis of Scripture and her confusing and sometimes heretical views of basic Christian doctrine. Of special concern is her denial of the biblical doctrine of the Trinity. And while we concede no one can fully comprehend this teaching, to deny it on the grounds that she does is inexcusable- the evidence from Scripture, itself, provides amply reason for affirming it!

It's one thing to be so confused and simply unable to reasonably explain the doctrine of the Trinity, and quite another to deny it outright! By her own admission, Shamblin rejects the doctrine as articulated by tradition, and by its clear teaching in Scripture. Like it or not, her arguments against the Trinity directly parallel those anti-Trinitarian cults such as the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Christadelphians (to name a couple) and should therefore, be rejected.

Sadly, Shamblin's Weigh Down program with its Statement of Faith (at least in its present form), is a great example of how far a self-proclaimed evangelical organization may go without real theological oversight by qualified leadership. Concerned Christians need to pray for Gwen Shamblin and those who follow her teachings. Perhaps if she is teachable and open for correction through solid biblical counsel, she will, by God's grace, come back to the central truths of Scripture! Until then, we would not recommend participating in the Weigh Down Workshops nor lend financial support to her organization.

Rev. Dan R. Schlesinger
President, Institute for Biblical Apologetics, Inc.,
Adjunct Professor, San Jose Christian College