EGW Book by Andrews University Press

[Gregory Matthews]

See:

http://spectrummagazine.org/article/2017/02/14/educating-readers-about-ellen-whites-writing-process

[CoAspen]

Interesting article and informational. I do like one of the posters question, 'what does who wrote, copied, compiled or what ever have to do with salvation'! Sometimes we get too hung up on the process instead of the message.

[Tom Wetmore]

Interestingly enough, I think focusing on and understanding the "process" of inspiration is a stumbling block to many across wide spectrum of Adventists in particular, but Christianity in general. Although, I do think the more conservative/fundamentalist ones POV, the more difficult this sort of information and understanding becomes to reconcile with that POV.  As pointed out in the artiicle, the real crux of the matter is a verbal/mechanical view of inspiration that many in that camp tend to hold.  I believe that some of our harshest critics of EGW are those that are, or were, of that POV.  They simply could not reconcile the reality of a very human, or in reality, seemingly quite ordinary process of, writing/developing so much of EGW's written work.  Their view of inspiration has an almost inerrant, perfectionistic view of inspiration.it places a great burden on the prophet, an aura of being supernatural and not quite human.  So rather than reconsidering, modifying or rejecting that conservative/fundamentalist POV, they reject EGW entirely.  

I think it is important for us to get a clear view of what is behind the curtain. Demystifying ( removing the mystical) the prophetic gift to me is encouraging.  It enables one to reconcile the humanity of the one receiving the gift with the relentless effort of the Divine source of the inspiration to reach and get through to us despite our deeply flawed humanity. Maintaining  a cloak of secrecy today is impossible and imprudent anyway.   And it often results in the reaction that there is really something to hide so that people feel duped.   Not a perfect analogy, but to me it is like understanding a magician's tricks.  The understanding does not make me enjoy the magic any less, but increases the appreciation for the talent and skill  and creativity of the craft.  

[Kevin H]

20 hours ago, CoAspen said:

Interesting article and informational. I do like one of the posters question, 'what does who wrote, copied, compiled or what ever have to do with salvation'! Sometimes we get too hung up on the process instead of the message.

There are three ways it is related to salvation:
1.) Too many people give up Mrs. White and trade her in for an (abridged) version of Paul. They think that Paul surely must fit their view of what a prophet should be. They become focused on salvation as legal status (reading in later theologians thoughts into Paul's words) and reject the Sabbath. And while they use to clobber people with Ellen White they now clobber people with Paul.
2.) This popular but false view of inspiration affects how we see the whole Bible. Too many people base their faith not on the words of the Bible, but on the belief that the Bible is inerrant and completely perfect. As we face the crisis of the last days people are going to face the same problems in Paul and the rest of the Bible that they found with Mrs. White. Many are going to leave over this issue. Besides at the high point of this Satan will impersonate Christ and demons impersonate the Bible writers and Mrs. White and our precious loved ones, so why would they need this untrustworthy book when they can actually go to Jesus and Paul and Moses?

3.) It makes us miss the major themes. You end up giving each quote of Mrs. White equal weight and people latch on to parts by random. She writes things that superficial reading sounds like she is a very strict "Don't do this and Never ever do that" person. and we have a thread of Adventism who loves those quotes and builds their whole theology on this and love the gospel of the church going to hell in a hand basket as they see inconsistencies between us and their "Don't do" list. Others are completely turned off by that thread of Adventism and just rebel against it often leaving the church and completely misrepresent us to others. You have those who are trying to get the church to give up the trinity, which ends up destroying the very core of Mrs. White's theology, yet they have their favorite quotes. You have the last generation theology people who sees the difference between the last generation as one of quality of any that have gone before, while for Mrs. White the issue is not a different quality, but a different quantity of those who have come to totally trust in Christ or completely reject him, where there have only been a few who have reached those stages in other generations.

[JoeMo]

I woul

19 minutes ago, Kevin H said:

There are three ways it is related to salvation:

I would like to respectfully propose a 4th way: Some of us - admittedly using 20/20 hindsight - feel that Mrs. White was just plain mistaken in some of her prophetic interpretations.  For example:

1. Applying the "day for a year" principle to all prophecy rather than just the two instances where the Bible itself specifies it.

2. Related to the above, giving any credence to Christ's entrance into the Most Holy Place in October 1844; when Hebrews clearly and abundantly testifies that He entered it upon His ascension into heaven.

3. Taking a preterist/historical view of Daniel and revelation rather than afuturist view that these visions are for the "end of time" as stated 3 times in Daniel 8 and once in Daniel 11.

4. Issue 3 leads directly to SDA's insisting that the papacy and RCC are the antichrist/beast power of the end -times.

I understand that part of Mrs. White's interpretations are associated with the culture of her times; and I find her to be a very inspiring author.  I simply have problems with common SDA culture that her writings stand on equal (or near equal) par with scripture.