Ellen G. White and Her Critics

How Should a Prophet Act in Vision?

What many people seem to forget is this: A prophet has the same physical and nervous system as all other people. Obviously, then, if a prophet has a vision, which is not a normal state, ought we not to expect that his physical and nervous systems will show some evidences of that nonnormal state, some “symptoms”? It is because this evident fact is ignored that Mrs. White can plausibly be described as suffering from a mental or psychic malady. We would like to ask: How should a prophet act in vision? EGWC 57.2

Can anyone picture a state of body and mind that would be different from the normal and yet simulate in no way the abnormal states of which doctors write, and to which critics so plausibly refer? Let us illustrate: If a prophet in vision were limp and oblivious to his surroundings, then a skeptic could quickly call attention to an instance of some person suffering a mental malady who displayed these symptoms. If the prophet were limp but aware of his surroundings, the skeptic could likewise find parallel symptoms in mental sufferers. If the prophet were rigid but aware of surroundings, the same would be true. If his face were strangely pale, or on the other hand markedly flushed; if his eyes were open or closed, then again would parallels be found. If he spoke while in vision, or if he remained stonily silent, parallels would be discovered. EGWC 57.3

And so, by the simple process of finding a parallel to this or that physical condition, it would be possible to rationalize away the phenomena of a prophet in vision, no matter what the state of body and mind might be. And by the same token it would be possible to diagnose his unusual state as any one of a number of maladies. EGWC 58.1