Mrs. White once wrote,
"If you lose confidence in the Testimonies you will drift away from Bible truth." [VOL. 5, P. 98 (1882).] {5T 674.2}.
I have lost confidence in her "Testimonies" as being inspired by God. Does this mean that I have drifted away from Bible truth? Adventists will undoubtedly respond in the affirmative. However, I think it comes down to a matter of interpretation. This is a powerful thing, interpretation. It actually shapes our understanding of life itself! Jesus understood the importance of interpretation when He was asked a question and He responded, "What is written in the law? how readest thou?" (Luke 10:26). He allowed people to explain to Him their understanding of what was written, and then He would comment on their understanding.
When I was an Adventist I read much of Ellen White's writings. I loved reading her, and so I immersed myself into her books. She was an inspired prophet after all! Unknowingly to me, though, I began to understand the Bible through her understanding that I absorbed through her writings. I marveled that the Bible "lined up" so neatly with Ellen White's books. However, since I have left Adventism I have ceased to read Ellen's writings religiously. Because of that, I have slowly been able to understand things differently from the Scriptures than I once did. I have also read other authors, that formerly would have been anathema for me to read and listen to, such as the Church Fathers. I have discovered that the understanding of Scripture they espouse is wholly and completely different from what she understood. Now, of course, I believe that the writings of the Fathers are much more biblical than those of Ellen White, even though they claimed no special prophetic inspiration.
So what was it that caused me to disregard Ellen White as a reliable source of Bible understanding? Well, I'd say that first it was the revelation of the Gospel that finally hit me. When that happened I was finally able to reject her counsel. Mrs. White taught Adventists how one ought to come to the Bible:
"I took the precious Bible and surrounded it with the several Testimonies for the Church, given for the people of God...I said further: As the word of God is walled in with these books and pamphlets, so has God walled you in with reproofs, counsel, warnings, and encouragements." {5T 664.3}; {5T 666.1}.
This, I believe, is dealing with how one understands the Bible. Clearly Mrs. White is telling us that in order to come to the bible, one must approach it through the Testimonies of her writings. As an Adventist, unwittingly, I was doing exactly this with all of my studying in her books. Her words and thoughts echoed in my mind, and whenever I read the Bible, my understanding would be colored by what she taught about it. This was so subtle to me that I did not even realize that this was what was happening. I honestly believed that my thoughts were my own, when in reality they were hers. After I learned the truth of the Gospel I was able to disregard her "rule", and started seeing the Bible from a different perspective.
In the end, it all has to do with interpretation I think. And one's interpretation will be ultimately shaped by which authority one holds them self to. For me, I have chosen to go by what the Christian Church has understood in all places at all times by everyone (the Vincentian canon). This rule embraces universality, antiquity, and consensus. To me, this is a much more reliable guide to understanding Scripture than simply my own judgment or that of another human being. Does this mean that I don't read the Scriptures for myself? No. It simply means that when I do study the Scriptures, I do not merely understand them in a vacuum by myself; or that I submit my judgment to that of another single individual. The Holy Spirit through the Church is my guide in its complete 2000 year life and experience.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
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3 comments:
Hi David,
What you describe is pretty much my experience with Ellen White's writings. You tend to read and understand the Bible through her writings. There were two instances in my own experience where this alarmed me when I first realized that I was missing what was before my eyes in the Bible.
The first instance was when someone pointed out to me that in the creation story, the seventh day is the only day lacking a reference to the evening and morning phrase. I always thought that phrase was present on the seventh day. I went and checked a couple versions and guess what...the phrase was not there. I thought that perhaps that could be my own fault, so when I was talking with a SDA friend of mine, I asked him if that phrase was there regarding the seventh day of creation. He quickly affirmed that it was. I told him to pick up his Bible and read the verse to. He did. He was speechless. My guess is that most SDAs believe that phrase is there regarding the seventh day of creation in Genesis. I could be wrong, and it might only be my friend and me who missed that...but I doubt it.
The second instance was when someone told me that Jesus received the wine vinegar on the cross. Being a good SDA I knew that Jesus would not drink alcohol for any reason and limit His drinking to grape juice and perhaps root beer:) But there it was in the gospel of John...Jesus received the wine vinegar when it was offered to Him on a branch of Hyssop. I later learned the meaning of all that, as well as other verses that point out that Jesus drank wine...real wine.
There have been other "discoveries" of my misreading scripture based on my Ellen White "eyes", but those two made the most profound impact on me. I told my wife that it must be some sort of demonic phenomenon. She just laughed. But to miss something so evidently clear in the Bible and arguing the point for years believing it to say something it actually doesn't bothered me greatly as to the reason.
It is a strange and even frightening phenomenom, and I don't necessarily rule out supernatural reasons behind it. Perhaps the reasons are merely psychological...but that opens a entirely new discussion doesn't it?
Mike
God bless all!!!
Hi Mike,
I hear exactly what you're saying. The "evening and morning" reference missing from the 7th-day of creation did not hit me until I was reading the early Christian writings and discovered that that was one of the reasons why the early Church understood the Sabbath as an eternal day, one that we are in right now!
There is an Orthodox gentlemen by the name of Matthew Gallatin. He was a Seventh-day Adventist as well, and he said in his testimony that he was finally able to give up the Sabbath as a requirement because of this very reason! Here is the link to his podcast page on Ancient Faith Radio:
http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/pilgrims
Regarding Jesus drinking real wine, I remember having a discussion with my Dad, who is a current SDA, about it and bringing up the passage where Jesus is accused of being a "drunkard" by the Pharisees. I told him that the charge wouldn't make any sense if Jesus never drank actual alcoholic wine. He told me that he had considered that himself, but still remained in his belief that Jesus never drank any alcohol. It just didn't make any sense to me.
For me, Jesus drank real wine. Why? Because the Bible tells me so! XD
Seriously though, I think I know the problem with this issue. Adventists, along with other fundamentalists in Protestantism, believe that drinking alcohol is akin to sin. That's why they can't have Jesus drinking a drop, because it would jeopardize His sinlessness. However, the Scriptures do not present this point of view. Bishops cannot have any wine, but deacons can have some. Why can't bishops have some grape juice?? Nah, that's wine man! The Adventist view just doesn't make sense to me.
You said, "It is a strange and even frightening phenomenom, and I don't necessarily rule out supernatural reasons behind it. Perhaps the reasons are merely psychological...but that opens a entirely new discussion doesn't it?"
Just because something is psychological doesn't mean that spirits aren't involved. Something to think about for sure...
God bless you my friend!
Mike, just to let you know, I now have links on my blog that will direct you to the early Christian writings. I remember you said that you wanted to start reading them. Well, happy reading!
Also, be sure to check out the videos I have on here for an Orthodox perspective on Church history. And I have also added some Orthodox resource links for yours and everyone else's benefit. Enjoy!
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