defending EGW

[Dr. Waite]

I feel a need here to make a personal statement as to where I am in regard to Ellen White:

1) The SDA Church would not exist today, in form that it exists, if it were not for the ministry of EGW.

2) We are indebted to EGW for where we are in publishing, education and in health ministry.

3) EGW supported our global work in evangelism, however, without her we would still have become a global ministry.

4) We derived our major doctrines from study of the Bible and they did not originate in her.

5)God used EGW to guide the developing SDA Church administratively.

6) The Bible is the basis for our standard beliefs. EGW is not.

I agree with number 6

"The Word of God is to be our guide. Have you given heed to the Word? The Testimonies are not by any means to take the place of the Word. They are to bring you to that neglected Word, that you may eat the words of Christ, that you may feed upon them, that by living faith you may build up from that upon which you feed. If you live in obedience to Christ and His Word, you are eating the leaves of the tree of live, which are for the healing of the nations." - General Conference Bulletin, Apr. 3, 1901.

"But God will have a people upon the earth to maintain the Bible, and the Bible only, as the standard of all doctrines, and the basis of all reforms. The opinions of learned men, the deductions of science, the creeds or decisions of ecclesiastical councils, as numerous and discordant as are the churches which they represent, the voice of the majority,-- not one or all of these should be regarded as evidence for or against any point of religious faith. Before accepting any doctrine or precept, we should demand a plain "Thus saith the Lord" in its support." {GC88 595.1}

[LifeHiscost]

Quote:

I agree with number 6

"The Word of God is to be our guide. Have you given heed to the Word? The Testimonies are not by any means to take the place of the Word. They are to bring you to that neglected Word, that you may eat the words of Christ, that you may feed upon them, that by living faith you may build up from that upon which you feed. If you live in obedience to Christ and His Word, you are eating the leaves of the tree of live, which are for the healing of the nations." - General Conference Bulletin, Apr. 3, 1901.

"But God will have a people upon the earth to maintain the Bible, and the Bible only, as the standard of all doctrines, and the basis of all reforms. The opinions of learned men, the deductions of science, the creeds or decisions of ecclesiastical councils, as numerous and discordant as are the churches which they represent, the voice of the majority,-- not one or all of these should be regarded as evidence for or against any point of religious faith. Before accepting any doctrine or precept, we should demand a plain "Thus saith the Lord" in its support." {GC88 595.1}

God cares!

[LifeHiscost]

Quote:

In any case, the standards for membership are listed in the CHURCH MANUAL, and not in the document that you cite.

Not to be contrary but I've been a practicing member of the Seventh Day Adventist church for some 45 years, having agreed to all the listings on my baptismal certificate, and no one has ever asked me to leave the church. At least not openly, and true to form of one who practices the faith, anger has often been expressed in repeating scripture as a basis for Christian conduct.

I've no idea the motives for the anger save the possibility that true conviction speaks loudest to those who are not allowing the Spirit to make the necessary changes for optimum intimacy with Jesus.

I've never read the church manual or the 28 fundamental beliefs.

That is not counsel for others to do the same, just a reliance that in practicing the Word according to my best understanding, God's grace is sufficient to make up where I fall short.

"“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you."John 14:15-17 NASB

"“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."John:15:5 NKJV

God cares!

[JoeMo]

Quote:

After hearing so many times what you can't do, and what you are supposed to do....after a while she becomes a warden, or a hard taskmaster....and we begin to hate hearing her words...

I don't think it's her that is the hard taskmaster. It is those who use her as a club that are the hard taskmasters.

EGW wrote 2 ways. She wrote how things "should be" and how things really are. For example, she responded said that women "should" stay home with their children rather than work outside the home. Someone wrote to her complaining about mothers in Battle Creek working outside the home teaching the children of sanitarium workers. EGW responded that the reality of things was that, if these women weren't taking in these kids as students, who would teach them? Who would guide them? In her health message, she taught biblical health principles about not eating shellfish; yest, when she was in Boulder, CO, she talked about how much she missed either fresh oysters or clams (I can't remember which... Was she a hypocrite? NO! She was human - just like you and I. Did she have a true gift of prophecy, IMO yes! Was she the highest authority (like OT prophets) of end-time events and human morality and sin management? IMO, not necessarily. i don't doubt her visions for a moment. I do doubt some her her interpretations of her visions.

[JoeMo]

Quote:

Spiritual writers are just like anything else with spirituality. Its a matter of perspective and understanding. You can have a hundred Christian writers and they are going to disagree with each other, as their study, prayer and devotion has led them to different answers.

So true, MT. Do you have the same problem with various sects of paganism. I perceive that the culture of paganism allows people to have differing views without judging or condemning them.

[JoeMo]

Quote:

Another one that is overused and is bothersome to me is this one: "We are counseled" as in "Well, the spirit of prophecy COUNSELS us to do such and such."

Another one that kills me is when a preacher says "the pen of inspiration tells us...". Really? an SDA would interpret that as "EGW". A non-SDA would think "scripture"; go home and look it up; and find that the words used by the preacher weren't anywhere in the scripture' and write off the denomination as infidels. C'mon! If your gonna quote EGW, use her name instead of secret SDA jargon.