Ellen G. White and Her Critics

A Taunting Question Examined

Mrs. White repeatedly declares that she conversed with heavenly beings. To the critics it seems irrational and a proof of her fraudulence that she should have claimed such converse repeatedly through the years, and yet was so slow at times to make a clear pronouncement on some particular truth or to expose some particular error of teaching or facts. But what of the prophets of the Bible? EGWC 233.1

Infidels have sneeringly asked why the mighty Bible prophets did not speak out against slavery, and denounce it for what we today clearly see it to be—an outrageous violation of the God-given right of our fellow man. But all of us who believe the Bible to be the Word of God, see in an instance like this of slavery simply an illustration of the inscrutable wisdom of God in unfolding only slowly to men the full implications of holy living. Christ told His disciples that He had many things to tell them, but they could not bear them then. God deals with men in terms of the times in which they live and the patterns of thought that control them. What would it avail to give men suddenly a great burst of light if the effect would be to blind them? Their eyes must become slowly adapted to greater light if it is to benefit them. EGWC 233.2

It is only by this approach to the matter that we can answer the Bible critics on many questions concerning holy prophets of old. Why may we not, with equal propriety, use the same approach to explain why Mrs. White poured forth a prayer of blessing upon papers that were not wholly free from error of statement? EGWC 233.3