Ellen G. White and Her Critics

Remarkable Agreement by Critics

To sum up: Critics believe as firmly as does Mrs. White that our physical habits are interlocked with our spiritual life. They will agree that constant liquor drinking may cause a man to lose heaven, even though they admit that abstinence from drink gives him no guarantee of final residence there. They will agree that the man who knows the value of soap and water is presumptuous in praying to be saved from disease unless he comes to God literally with clean hands, even though they admit that bodily cleanliness does not assure such salvation. Nor will the critics hesitate to agree, in the light of modern medical findings on overweight, that a man may dig his grave with his teeth, even though they insist that he can never hope to eat his way into heaven by abstemiousness. And, consistently, they will also need to agree that a man who knows of the deleterious effects of overeating would be presumptuous in following up an enormous meal with a prayer to God for long life. EGWC 365.1

In short, the critics really believe that the kingdom of God does have a certain relation to “meat and drink” and “washings,” and that a man’s eternal life, to say nothing of his present life, may be vitally affected by his physical habits, including dietary habits. They are sure that obedience to physical laws will help us to “keep under” the body (1 Corinthians 9:27), and thus aid us on the heavenward journey, even though such obedience cannot, in itself, guarantee heaven to us. And in so believing they are not one whit the less believers in the prime truth that we are saved by grace and not by works. EGWC 365.2