The Truth About The White Lie

This document was prepared by the staff of the Ellen G. White Estate in cooperation with the Biblical Research Institute and the Ministerial Association of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. First published August 1982. Revised January 1999.

1. Introduction	1
Christian beliefs are ridiculed:	1
Heaven is scoffed at:	1
Religion is deemed little more than a word game:	1
The ways God has dealt with His people are scorned:	2
2. Chapter 1—The Use Of Literary Sources	2
A glance at The White Lie reveals many pages of similarities between Mrs. White’s writings and the writings of others. How much did Ellen White borrow from other sources?	2
Would people in the nineteenth century have agreed with The White Lie’s judgment that Mrs. White’s literary borrowing constituted “wholesale” stealing?	2
It has been rumored that Ellen White was threatened with a lawsuit for her literary borrowing from Conybeare and Howson’s Life and Epistles of the Apostle Paul. What are the facts?	2
What about the structure and chapter titles of Ellen White’s Patriarchs and Prophets—Are they similar to Alfred Edersheim’s Old Testament Bible History?	3
What about the illustrations from Wylie’s History of Protestantism which the Pacific Press published without credit to the Cassell Company?	3
What about the use James and Ellen White made of the writings of J. N. Andrews and Uriah Smith?	3
Did Mrs. White make any attempt to conceal from Adventists her literary borrowing?	3
Did Mrs. White feel that it was permissible for her to paraphrase the language of others?	4
What about the statements where Mrs. White appears to claim an exclusive divine source for what she wrote?	4
How could it happen that Mrs. White, in describing what she was shown in a vision, employs the words of other authors?	4
Is the comparison between the use of literary sources in the Bible and Ellen White’s literary borrowing really valid?	5
3. Chapter 2—The Pioneers And The Prophet	5
What authority did Ellen White have for the pioneers of the Adventist Church? Did they believe in her inspiration?	5
Did Uriah Smith have some periods of doubt concerning Ellen White’s prophetic gift?	5
J. N. Andrews is said to have doubted Ellen White’s prophetic gift because he saw similarities between Milton’s epic poem, Paradise Lost, and Ellen White’s writings. Did Mrs. White borrow from Paradise Lost and did J. N. Andrews question the gift?	5
Apparently A. G. Daniells was criticized in his own time for not being a sufficiently strong supporter of Ellen G. White’s ministry. What was his attitude?	6
What was H. Camden Lacey’s role in the preparation of The Desire of Ages?	6
Was a failure to grasp the true nature of inspiration one reason why some persons in the past questioned the propriety of Ellen White’s use of literary sources and her reworking of her writings?	6
Where can one read a good sample of the pioneers’ views on Ellen White’s prophetic gift?	7
4. Chapter 3—Ellen White And The Bible	7
Do Seventh-day Adventists make Ellen White the final, infallible standard of all Adventist faith and practice?	7
Do Adventists consider Ellen White “canonical”?	7
Is Ellen White’s inspiration equal to that of the Bible?	7
5. Chapter 4—The Question Of Infallibility	8
Ellen White is said to have made a number of errors. Do we claim she was infallible?	8
6. Chapter 5—The Visions	9
Mrs. White suffered a head injury as a child and bouts with ill-health throughout her life. Could her visions have been related to her injuries or illness? Could they have been caused by hypnosis, mesmerism, or epilepsy?	9
What was the relationship of Ellen White’s earliest visions to those of William Foy and Hazen Foss?	9
Did Mrs. White promise to answer the questions of Drs. Stewart, Sadler, and others, and then, after she received the questions, “conveniently” have a vision instructing her not to do so?	9
7. Chapter 6—The Shut Door	10
For a time the pioneers believed that the door of mercy was shut in 1844. Was Ellen White specifically shown in vision that this was the case?	10
8. Chapter 7—The Literary Assistants	10
With more than a thousand books in her library at the time of her death, how could Mrs. White have read and borrowed from them all? Didn’t her literary assistants do some of the borrowing for her?	10
Ellen White died before Prophets and Kings was completed. Would not that book be an example of where literary assistants borrowed for her?	10
Did some of Ellen White’s literary assistants turn against her and criticize her?	10
Marian Davis was one of Mrs. White’s most important literary assistants. How did she view these matters?	12
What was the work of the literary assistants? Did they merely correct spelling and punctuation?	12
9. Chapter 8—White Estate Research Policies	12
The White Lie is replete with criticism of the restrictive research policies of the Ellen White Estate. What is the White Estate doing to facilitate research, and what restrictions are imposed?	12
Why hasn’t Donald McAdams’ study of the Huss manuscript been released? What about Ron Graybill’s similar study of material Mrs. White wrote on Martin Luther?	12
It is alleged that the White Estate and the church have been trying to “cover up” Mrs. White’s literary borrowing. Just what has been known in the past about this topic, and what has been shared with the church?	13
10. Chapter 9—The Basic Issues	13
How should a person decide whether to believe The White Lie or to accept Ellen G. White as a genuine recipient of the prophetic gift?	13
What evidence is there of Ellen White’s inspiration?	13
What motivated Ellen White to serve as God’s messenger? Was it wealth or fame?	13
What of Ellen White’s literary productions, their quality and fruitage?	14
What of Ellen White’s public ministry?	14
What of Ellen White as a much-sought-after counselor?	14
11. Chapter 10—The Choice Is Ours	14
12. Chapter 11—For Further Study	14