| Author | Message | ||
| Nowisee Registered user Username: Nowisee Post Number: 1177 Registered: 5-2009 |
I went to a baby shower today, which was held in a nice mobile home community center. As I got in line for the food buffet (which was set up in the library), I had a moment of PTSD! There, right in front of me was a familiar-looking aqua hardcover book, "Conflict and Courage". I looked closer & sure enough: EG White printed on the front. I asked about the books & was told they were just donations, anyone could have them...so I brought it home. They also had two "The Great Hope" books on the give-away table in the foyer. Browsing through the C & C book, I found this in the forward (it's a compilation done by the White Estate in 1970): "The Word of God as it relates to the exploits, the failures, and the successes of men, often treats its characters but BRIEFLY. Twentieth-century printing presses have made easy the dissemination of FULLER and MORE DETAILED ACCOUNTS of these individuals as given to us by the inspired pen of Ellen G White. In a rare manner she catches & applies, with sensitive, divinely guided insight, relevant lessons from the lives of saints & sinners depicted in sacred history." It goes on to say that they couldn't reproduce all her full biographies of the characters d/t space constraint, and then refers the reader to her many other books. This is such a perfect example of the down-playing of the Scriptures and the up-lifting of EGW. We were hooked by her because she gave us "inside info" that the Bible never mentions--we were given "special truth" that God didn't bother putting in the Bible---we were special because we knew stuff other Christians didn't know. If we wanted to know what the Bible REALLY meant, she would tell us. Her's an example: "He (Adam) was more than twice as tall as men now living upon the earth, and was well-proportioned. His features were perfect and beautiful...Eve was not quite as tall as Adam. Her head reached a little above his shoulders. She, too, was noble, perfect in symmetry, and very beautiful." pg. 11, from "The Story of Redemption" by EGW. Here's more: "If Adam, at his creation, had not been endowed with TWENTY TIMES as much VITAL FORCE as men now have, the race, with their present habits of living in violation of natural law, would have become extinct..." pg. 21, from SDA Bible Commentary vol. 1, EGW comments on Genesis. | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 13914 Registered: 12-2003  |
Nowisee, those statements hugely impacted me as an Adventist. I learned them very early, and I felt quite a bit of loss as I began to realize they have no basis in Scripture or any other history. I had a picture of human and cosmic history that shaped my understanding of the future, of eternity, and of what I myself ought to be and would one day be. It was all nonsense. Thanks, once again, for picking up those books from their place of public temptation... Colleen |
