This is the question that Adventist pastors and denominational leaders will do everything that they can to squirm out of:
"Do you believe that Ellen White is the infallible interpreter of Holy Scripture for the Seventh-day Adventist denomination?"
They will often respond with something like:
- We do not believe that the writings of Ellen White are an addition to the canon of sacred Scripture.
- We do not believe that the writings of Ellen White function as the foundation and final authority of Christian faith in Scripture.
- We do not believe that the writings of Ellen White may be used as the basis of doctrine.
- We do not believe that the study of the writings of Ellen White may be used to replace the study of Scripture.
- We do not believe that Scripture can be understood only through the writings of Ellen White.
Another way that Adventists "weasel" around this question is with the following answer:
To be the "infallible interpreter of Scripture" requires two things--that she be "infallible" and that she interpret enough of the Scriptures that she can be considered the "interpreter of Scripture." We could say she is the interpreter of some Scripture, but she is by no means the "oracle" of Scripture.
The obvious rebate to this "escape" tactic is to ask, "How much Scripture do you consider to be enough? What if she is used to interpret less Scripture than that? Is she somehow no interpreting Scripture?" Do you see how dealing with Adventists is so different from dealing with Christians. If you ask a Christian a question they will do their best to answer it in a way that is spiritually edifying. Ask an Adventist the same question, and you get a chameleon-like mishmash of paradoxical obfuscation. It is virtually impossible to get a straight answer from them. The statement above is a perfect example.
They will do everything that they possibly can to avoid answering this question honestly. Why? Because the truthful answer is "yes". Seventh-day Adventism does indeed use the teachings of Ellen White as the "final court of appeal" for doctrinal differences between her teachings and the Scriptures.
Notice this incredibly arrogant statement by Ellen White.
We are not to receive the words of those who come with a message that contradicts the special points of our faith. They gather together a mass of Scripture, and pile it as proof around their asserted theories. This has been done over and over again during the past fifty years. And while the Scriptures are God's word, and are to be respected, the application of them, if such application moves one pillar from the foundation that God has sustained these fifty years, is a great mistake. He who makes such an application knows not the wonderful demonstration of the Holy Spirit that gave power and force to the past messages that have come to the people of God.
Letter 329, 1905 (Selected Messages, Vol 1, page 160-161).
Here is what she says:
- The Scriptures are to be respected
- Special points of our faith
- not one piller to be moved
- we are not to receive
- the words of those who come with a message that contradicts it
- a mass of Scripture piled it as proof around their asserted theories
- person who contradicts
- knows not
- the wonderful demonstration of the Holy Spirit that gave
... to the past messages that have come to the people of God.
- given with power and force by the Holy Spirit
- sustained by God these 50 years
- come to the people of God
It is clear from this, and many other statements that Ellen White places her own writings above the Scriptures. As long as God's Holy Scriptures are "respected", she considers that to be enough. The most important thing is that, in spite of all the Scriptural evidence any sound principle of Biblical interpretation might produce to the contrary (such as lack of any Biblical support for 1844, the Investigative Judgment, and certain aspects of just about every Seventh-day Adventist Fundamental Belief), no "piller" of her special extra-Biblical "truth" is to be moved. Ellen White sets her own writings up as the final court of appeal by which to judge the Scriptures!
For many additional similar statements by Ellen White please see
Since Adventists do not usually want to openly acknowledge that they do indeed use Ellen White's writings to intepret the Bible, they will launch into a shockingly agressive and unanticipated attempt to tear down the inneracy of the Scriptures. Unless you are expecting this, it would be the last thing that most "transitioning Adventists" would expect from the spiritual leaders that they previously trusted for salvational guidance. This is a point where it is critical that the "transitioning Adventist" be firmly grounded in a sound Evangelical understanding of Biblical inspiration and inerrancy.
Shocking examples of how Adventist leaders we trust will undermine the Scriptures to build support for the doctrinal errors in Ellen White's writings can be found at
Adventist pastors will suggest concern for "saving your soul". Unlike Christian faiths, they will do everything that they can to destroy your faith God's Word unless you agree to the cultic teachings of Adventism. They teach that salvation is not found outside of Adventism. If you leave Adventism you have "aposticized".
On the surface pastors and denominational leaders need the deceive the laity into thinking that the Seventh-day Adventist "belief system" is based on the Bible. The reality is that it is based on the teachings of Ellen White, and certain Bible texts are "cherry-picked" to give the false illusion of Biblical support. |