Walter
Martin on Ellen White
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"After reading the publications of the
Seventh-day Adventist denomination and almost all the writings of Ellen G.
White, including her Testimonies, the writer believes that Mrs.
White was truly a regenerate Christian woman who loved the Lord Jesus Christ
and dedicated herself unstintingly to the task of bearing witness for Him as
she felt led. It should be clearly understood that some tenets of Christian
theology as historically understood and the interpretations of Mrs. White do
not agree; indeed, they are at loggerheads. Nevertheless, Ellen G. White was
true to the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith regarding the salvation
of the soul and the believer's life in Christ. We must disagree with Mrs.
White's interpretation of the sanctuary, the investigative judgment, and the
scapegoat; we challenge her stress upon the Sabbath, health reform, the
unconscious state of the dead, and the final destruction of the wicked, etc. But
no one can dispute the fact that her writings conform to the basic principles
of the historic Gospel, for they most certainly do.... Many critics of
Seventh-day Adventism have assumed, mostly from the writings of professional
detractors, that Mrs. White was a fearsome ogre who devoured all who opposed
her, and they have never ceased making the false claim that Seventh-day
Adventists believe that Mrs. White is infallible, despite the often published
authoritative statement to the contrary. Although Seventh-day Adventists
do hold Mrs. White and her writings in great esteem, they maintain that the
Bible is their only 'rule of faith and practice.' Christians of all
denominations may heatedly disagree with th4e Seventh-day Adventist attitude
toward Mrs. White, but al that she wrote on such subjects as salvation or
Christian living characterizes her as a Christian in every sense of the
term... |