The Great Visions of Ellen G. White

The Importance of Balance

The writings of Ellen White are replete with contrasting categories: “bigotry,” “extremism,” “fanaticism,” “narrowness,” “smallness,” and “tangent,” on the one hand; and “balance,” “moderation,” “equilibrium,” and “common sense” on the other. GVEGW 20.8

In the area of dress she cautioned: “Shun extremes.” ¹⁴“There is a medium position in these things. Oh, that we all might wisely find that position and keep it.” ¹⁵ GVEGW 20.9

In the area of diet, she repeatedly urged, “Take the middle path, avoiding all extremes.” ¹⁶ GVEGW 20.10

In the area of educational theory and practice she pleaded: “God wants us all to have common sense, and He wants us to reason from common sense.” ¹⁷ GVEGW 20.11

Ellen White viewed many a vice as being a virtue that has been carried to an unwarranted extreme: “It is carrying that which is lawful to excess that makes it a grievous sin.” ¹⁸ Satan recognized that if he can get Christians into either the right-hand or the left-hand ditch of the road to heaven, they will make no forward advancement. Therefore, he seeks to change the metaphor—to get Christians into the “ice of indifference” or the “fire of fanaticism.” ¹⁹ Either will suit his purpose. GVEGW 21.1

And her lament for the church of her day is equally applicable to our own: GVEGW 21.2

“There is a class of people who are always ready to go off on some tangent, who want to catch up something strange and wonderful and new.” ²⁰ GVEGW 21.3

Her reasons for opposing extremists and urging moderate views are practical and not far to seek: GVEGW 21.4

1. They bring the church into “disrepute“: a few can discredit the entire body. ²¹ GVEGW 21.5

2. They “have greatly injured the cause of truth.” ²² GVEGW 21.6

3. They “make Christian duties ... burdensome.” ²³ GVEGW 21.7

4. They “raise a false standard and then endeavor to bring everybody [up] to it.” ²⁴ GVEGW 21.8

5. Their spiritual eyesight is “perverted.” ²⁵ GVEGW 21.9

6. Satan uses them “to cast contempt upon the work of the [Holy] Spirit.” ²⁶ GVEGW 21.10

At the heart of the philosophy of ancient Greece was the idea of not-too-much, not-too-little:” ‘Nothing to excess’ (Medan agan) was their central doctrine, ... which the Roman poet Horace later interpreted as ‘the golden mean.’” ²⁷ GVEGW 21.11

Ellen White interpreted it in her own characteristically inimitable way: “True temperance teaches us to dispense entirely”—total abstinence—“with everything hurtful and to use judiciously that which is healthful.” ²⁸ GVEGW 21.12

And to those who went to the ultimate extreme in “going overboard”—leaving the remnant church entirely—her warning to Dudley M. Canright (who did just that, in spite of her warnings) ²⁹ remains as a timely caution today. Whether from skepticism and doubt, or from going to extreme positions, the tragedy is the same: making “shipwreck” of faith (1 Timothy 1:19). ³⁰ GVEGW 21.13