Lessons for Winter 2009

The lessons for January through March cover discussions concerning the Spirit of Prophecy. Just what are you going to do with this important issue/topic. It's been said that Jesus can not be a good man or a prophet. Because He claims to be the Son of God, He is the Son of God or a lunatic. The same can be said of Ellen White and the Spirit of Prophecy. She can not be a good woman. She claims to be a Prophetess. Either she is a Prophetess or she is a liar. If she is a prophetess then what will you do with her? We see a variety of actions:

• Some focus on her writings and use them almost exclusively.
• Some are embarrassed that we are different in having a Prophetess and treat her like a skeleton in the closet, hoping that nobody will find out.
• Some disavow what she has written totally and write her off as misguided.
• Some have had the experience of being clubbed by fellow members with her words.
• Some just ignore.

However we've treated her words and writings in the past, we hope to find some resolution about how we should treat her in the future. This site has many resources for further study http://www.whiteestate.org/

One issue that seems to constantly be a source of conflict is fellow believers who quote Ellen White. If someone quotes a passage from the bible, we can ask, " Where is that found ?" and then look it starting before and then reading past the text. In this way we are able to confirm that the quotation is accurate, get a broader picture, understand the nuances of the situation and not take the text out of context. With E.G. White's writings we seldom get this opportunity.

1. There is too much writing to carry it all around with you (You'd need a hand truck just to come to Sabbath School).
2. Many times the person making the quote can't tell you where they read the section.
3. The Church has created many books called "Compilations" which are paragraphs snipped from various writings and then grouped together to help explain her thoughts on a given subject. These compilations by their nature do not have the room to explain the context of each paragraph.

Luckily the writings of Ellen G White are available on line and in an easily searchable format. You can find them at this website http://egwdatabase.whiteestate.org/ . When you do a search enter the words you hope to find discussed. A list of documents will pop up. Some of these are compilations which mention the topic and some are the original full document. For me I find that the original document gives the most information concerning the broad picture of why this was written and it's context. I think that many will find that when you read the whole document a better understanding may bring the reader to a different conclusion thatn was previously held.

Picture of James and Ellen White.