Attention has been called to statements that seem to show that Ellen
White made grievous errors regarding scientific issues. Prophets are not called
to update encyclopedias or dictionaries. Nor are prophets (or anyone else) to
be made "an offender by a word" (Isa. 29:21). If prophets are to be held to the
highest standards of scientific accuracy (every few years these "standards"
change, even for the experts), we would have cause to reject Isaiah for
referring to "the four corners of the earth" (Isa. 11:12) and John for writing
that he saw "four angels standing at the four corners of the earth" (Rev.
7:1).
Some point to the phrase, "As the moon and the stars of our solar system
shine by the reflected light of the sun," charging that Ellen White was
untrustworthy in scientific matters. [1] But most readers would recognize this use of
"stars" for "planets of our solar system" as a non-technical description easily
understood by laymen.
Some have declared Ellen White was in error when she allegedly said that
she had visited a "world which had seven moons," [2] and that the planets visited were Jupiter and
Saturn. In point of fact, she never named the "world which had seven moons."
But there is more to the story.
Less than three months after she and James were married in 1846, she had
a vision at the Curtis home in Topsham, Maine, in the presence of Joseph Bates.
Although Bates had seen Ellen White in vision on several occasions, he still
had doubts about her prophetic gift; but through the Topsham vision he was
convinced that "the work is of God." [3] James White reported that, in this vision, Mrs.
White was "guided to the planets Jupiter, Saturn, and I think one more. After
she came out of vision, she could give a clear description of their moons, etc.
It is well known, that she knew nothing of astronomy, and could not answer one
question in relation to the planets, before she had this vision."
[4]
What was it that convinced Bates, the old sea captain and amateur
astronomer, that Ellen White was "of God"? After the vision, she described what
she had seen. Knowing that she had no background in astronomy, Bates said,
"This is of the Lord."
Obviously, what Bates heard corresponded to his knowledge of what
telescopes showed in 1846. Almost certainly this vision was given in Bates's
presence to give him added confidence in Ellen White's ministry. If she had
mentioned the number of moons that modern telescopes reveal, it seems clear
that Bates's doubts would have been confirmed. [5] (See
"Avoid Making
the Counsels 'Prove' Things They Were Never Intended to Prove.")
[1] Education, p.
14 (same statement, The Desire of Ages, p. 465).
[2] Early
Writings, p. 40. This vision was first described in the Broadside, To
those who are receiving the seal of the living God, first published Jan.
31, 1849.
[3] A Word to
the Little Flock, p. 21, cited in F. D. Nichol, Ellen G. White and Her
Critics, p. 581.
[4] Ibid., p. 22.
Ellen White wrote: "I was wrapped in a vision of God's glory, and for the first
time had a view of other planets" (Life Sketches, p. 97; see also
Spiritual Gifts, vol. 2, p. 83). No evidence exists that this is the
same vision described in Early Writings, p. 40. See pages 144, 145.
[5] Further
information regarding this 1846 vision is found in Loughborough, The Great
Second Advent Movement, pp. 257-260. For a discussion of how Loughborough's
memory of his conversation with Bates many years earlier fits into this
memorable moment for Bates, see Nichol, Ellen G. White and Her Critics,
pp. 93-101.
[Adapted from Herbert E. Douglass, Messenger of the Lord: the
Prophetic Ministry of Ellen G. White (Nampa, Idaho.: Pacific Press
Publishing Association, 1998), pp. 490, 491.