The history of the Christian church is laced with those who would place the
most extreme interpretations on God's counsels and then define their fanaticism
as "faithfulness." A leaning toward extremism seems to be a
constituent part of fallen human nature. God has sought to correct that tendency
through His prophets.
Even though balance typified Ellen White's writings, it does not always
characterize those who read them. Ellen White had to deal with extremists
throughout her ministry. In 1894 she pointed out that "there is a class of
people who are always ready to go off on some tangent, who want to catch up
something strange and wonderful and new; but God would have all move calmly,
considerately, choosing our words in harmony with the solid truth for this time,
which requires to be presented to the mind as free from that which is emotional
as possible, while still bearing the intensity and solemnity that it is proper
it should bear. We must guard against creating extremes, guard against
encouraging those who would either be in the fire or in the water" (Testimonies
to Ministers, pp. 227, 228).
Nearly four decades earlier Mrs. White had written that she "saw that
many have taken advantage of what God has shown in regard to the sins and wrongs
of others. They have taken the extreme meaning of what has been shown in vision,
and then have pressed it until it has had a tendency to weaken the faith of many
in what God has shown" (Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p.
166).
Part of our task in reading Ellen White is to avoid extreme interpretations
and to understand her message in its proper balance. That in turn means that we
need to read the counsel from both ends of the spectrum on a given topic.
A case in point is her strong words about playing games. "In plunging
into amusements, match games, pugilistic performances," she wrote, the
students at Battle Creek College "declared to the world that Christ was not
their leader in any of these things. All this called forth the warning from God."
A powerful statement, it and others like it have led many to the conclusion that
God frowns on all games and ball playing. But here, as on all extreme
interpretations, one should use caution. After all, the very next
sentence reads: "Now that which burdens me is the danger of going into
extremes on the other side" (Fundamentals of Christian Education,
p. 378).
As the following statements demonstrate, Ellen White did not hold for either
extreme on the topic of ball playing and games. Speaking of parents and
teachers, she wrote: "If they would gather the children close to them, and
show that they love them, and would manifest an interest in all their efforts,
and even in their sports, sometimes even being a child among children, they
would make the children very happy, and would gain their love and win their
confidence" (ibid., p. 18).
As we noted in the preceding section, it is important to read the full
spectrum of what Ellen White wrote on a topic before arriving at conclusions.
That means taking into consideration what appear to be conflicting statements
that not only balance each other but may at times even appear to contradict each
other. Of course, as shown in the next two sections, the historical and literary
contexts generally hold the reason for Ellen White's extreme statements. When we
understand the reason she said something a certain way, we can see how what
appears to be contradictory bits of advice often balance each other out. With
those understandings in place we will be ready to examine the underlying
principles of the particular topic we are studying.
When we read the balancing and mediating passages on a topic, rather than
merely those polar ones that reinforce our own biases, we come closer to Ellen
White's true perspective. In order to avoid extreme interpretations, we need not
only to read widely regarding what Mrs. White said on a topic, but we need also
to come to grips with those statements that balance each other out at each end
of the spectrum on a given subject.