101 Questions - About Ellen White and Her Writings

Question 64: Will only vegetarians be translated? (“Meat Eaters and Translation”)

I remember reading something years ago in the Spirit of Prophecy, possibly in Counsels on Diet and Foods, to the effect that meat eaters will not be translated. I am wondering if Mrs. White ever wrote such a statement. 101Q 142.1

There is no statement from Mrs. White that says meat eaters cannot be translated. Some people deduce it (wrongly, I believe) from the following statement, found in Counsels on Diet and Foods, pages 380, 381: 101Q 142.2

Among those who are waiting for the coming of the Lord, meat eating will eventually be done away; flesh will cease to form a part of their diet. We should ever keep this end in view, and endeavor to work steadily toward it. I cannot think that in the practice of flesh eating we are in harmony with the light which God has been pleased to give us. 101Q 142.3

Some people have turned Mrs. White’s description in the first sentence into a prescription—a will be into a have to. But notice the lack of any reference to translation. The underlying theme of the paragraph is how to be in harmony with the light God has given us and how to give the right example to others, which will please God. It is not about things you have to do if you want to be translated. The statement contains no assertion that those who are eating meat will have to die before Jesus comes. Rather, I believe, Mrs. White is saying that those preparing for the Lord’s coming will want to know what their Father’s will is, and it will be their aim to fashion their lives after His design. This emphasis is a little clearer in another place where some of the same material appears, but with an additional sentence of context before it: 101Q 142.4

Again and again I have been shown that God is trying to lead us back, step by step, to His original design—that man should subsist upon the natural products of the earth. Among those who are waiting for the coming of the Lord, meat eating will eventually be done away (Counsels on Health, 450). 101Q 142.5

See also the preceding question and answer. 101Q 143.1