Messenger of the Lord

Danger of Blind Obedience

However, it is one thing to acknowledge and accept this prevailing principle, it is another to answer the question as to how this principle is applied and understood in the breadth of her counsel in numerous areas of thought. Confidence in Ellen White is essential, but blind confidence should not be substituted for careful thinking when it comes to what she means today. MOL 373.9

In understanding her writings it is helpful to note again how revelation-inspiration works as revealed in Biblical writings. ⁸ The comparison between one’s understanding of Biblical writers and Ellen White can be seen in such areas as reader’s attitude, thought or verbal inspiration, infallibility, the meaning of sola scriptura, the use of common sources, and the difference between the sacred and the common. What we know about how Bible writers were inspired is helpful to our study of Mrs. White’s writings, and what we know about how God spoke through Ellen White can help us understand how God spoke through prophets in ancient times. MOL 373.10

For Ellen White, the Bible is best understood by those who accept it as the Word of God: “I take the Bible just as it is, as the Inspired Word.” When anyone finds it necessary to “define that which is inspired and that which is not, they have stepped before Jesus to show Him a better way than He has led us.” ⁹ She believed that “the Bible was given for practical purposes” ¹⁰ and that “no one need be lost for want of knowledge, unless he is willfully blind.” ¹¹ MOL 374.1