Some have charged that Ellen White wrote in 1864 (and republished in
1870) that humans once cohabited with animals and that their offspring produced
certain races that exist today. The statement reads: "But if there was one sin
above another which called for the destruction of the race by the flood, it was
the base crime of amalgamation of man and beast which defaced the image of God,
and caused confusion everywhere. God purposed to destroy by a flood that
powerful, long-lived race that had corrupted their ways before Him."
[1]
No dictionary has ever used "amalgamation" to describe the cohabitation
of man with beast. The primary use of the word describes the fusion of metals,
the union of different elements such as in making tooth cements.
Nineteenth-century usage included the mixing of diverse races.
Granted, her statement could appear ambiguous: Does she mean
"amalgamation of man with beast" or "amalgamation of man and of beast"? Often,
repetition of the preposition is omitted in similar construction.
[2]
On other occasions, when Mrs. White used the word "amalgamation," she
used it metaphorically, comparing faithful believers and worldlings.
[3] She also used it to
describe the origin of poisonous plants and other irregularities in the
biological world: "Christ never planted the seeds of death in the system. Satan
planted these seeds when he tempted Adam to eat of the tree of knowledge which
meant disobedience to God. Not one noxious plant was placed in the Lord's great
garden, but after Adam and Eve sinned, poisonous herbs sprang up. . . . All
tares are sown by the evil one. Every noxious herb is of his sowing, and by his
ingenious methods of amalgamation he has corrupted the earth with tares."
[4]
Recognizing that Satan has been an active agent in the corrupting of
God's plan for man, beast, plants, etc., we can better understand what Ellen
White may have meant when she described the results of amalgamation. That which
"defaced the image of God" in man and that which "confused the species [of
animals]" has been the handiwork of Satan with the cooperation of humans. Such
"amalgamation of man and [of] beast, as may be seen in the almost endless
varieties of species of animals, and in certain races of men," becomes
understandable.
Mrs. White never hinted of subhuman beings or any kind of hybrid
animal-human relationship. She did speak of "species of animals" and "races of
men" but not any kind of amalgam of animals with human beings.
We recognize, however, that serious students of Ellen White's writings
differ on what she meant by "amalgamation." "The burden of proof rests on those
who affirm that Mrs. White gave a new and alien meaning to the term."
[5]
For further study of this issue, see "Amalgamation" in the
Reference
Library.
[1] Spiritual
Gifts, vol. 3, p. 64. "Every species of animal which God had created were
preserved in the ark. The confused species which God did not create, which were
the result of amalgamation, were destroyed by the flood. Since the flood there
has been amalgamation of man and beast, as may be seen in the almost endless
varieties of species of animals, and in certain races of men" (page 75).
[2] "We might
speak of the scattering of man and beast over the earth, but we do not
therefore mean that previously man and beast were fused in one mass at one
geographical spot. We simply mean the scattering of man over the earth and the
scattering of beasts over the earth, though the original location of the two
groups might have been on opposite sides of the earth. In other words, the
scattering of man and of beast" (Francis D. Nichol, Ellen G. White and Her
Critics, p. 308).
[3] "Those who
profess to be followers of Christ, should be living agencies, cooperating with
heavenly intelligences; but by union with the world, the character of God's
people becomes tarnished, and through amalgamation with the corrupt, the fine
gold becomes dim" (Review and Herald, Aug. 23, 1892; see also The
Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 2, p. 144 and The Upward Look, p. 318).
[4] Selected
Messages, book 2, p. 288.
[5] Nichol,
Ellen G. White and Her Critics, p. 308.
[Adapted from Herbert E. Douglass, Messenger of the Lord: the
Prophetic Ministry of Ellen G. White (Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press
Publishing Association, 1998), pp. 491, 492.]