A TRUTH SEEKER ASKS:............

A Truth Seeker Asks: Ellen White Answers

18 Pertinent Questions Answered from the Writings of Ellen White:

Question #1: How do I ensure that I correctly go about studying the Bible?
bible study

"The student of the Bible should be taught to approach it in the spirit of a learner. We are to search its pages, not for proof to sustain our opinions, but in order to know what God says." {Ed 189.1}

Question #2: We acknowledge your divine credentials seen in your ministry and writings. Can we not therefore take all of  your writings as infallible?

"We have many lessons to learn, and many, many to unlearn.  God and heaven alone are infallible.  Those who think that they will never have to give up a cherished view, never have occasion to change an opinion, will be disappointed." {1 Selected Messages, p. 37}.

Question #3: Will we not be judged by your writings in the Day of Judgment?

"I saw that the Bible was the standard book, which will judge us at the last day." {Ms 4, 1850; 16 MR 34}.

Question #4: Did the heavenly Father, the Lord God, reveal to you all the truths needed for His people living in the last days since you are the prophetess of the end?

"He does not tell to any all that He might reveal." {DA page 568}.

Question #5: Should we dare go beyond what was studied, accepted, and handed down to us by the Pioneers?

"We do not want to hold our faith simply because it was handed down to us by our fathers.  Such a faith will not stand the terrible test that is before us." {R&H 4-29-84}

Question #6: How do you prepare for the imminent final conflict?

"None but those who have fortified the mind with the truths of the Bible will stand through the last great conflict.  To every soul will come the searching test:  Shall I obey God rather then men?  The decisive hour is even now at hand.  Are our feet planted on the rock of God's immutable word?  Are we prepared to stand firm in defense of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus?" {Great Controversy, p. 593}.

Question #7: What is your instruction regarding the old Jewish economy? Is there any thing for us today to gain from its study?

"As we gather up the divine rays shining from the gospel, we shall have a clearer insight into the Jewish economy, and a deeper appreciation of its important truths. Our exploration of truth is yet incomplete. We have gathered up only a few rays of light. Those who are not daily students of the Word will not solve the problems of the Jewish economy. They will not understand the truths taught by the temple service." {Spalding Magan Collection, p. 306}

Question #8: Sister White, the year 1892 is about to fold, could you not confirm that all the light that we need to have has been already given and that all our teachings therefore must by now be free of error?

"There is no excuse for anyone in taking the position that there is no more truth to be revealed, and that all our expositions of Scripture are without an error. The fact that certain doctrines have been held as truth for many years by our people, is not a proof that our ideas are infallible. Age will not make error into truth, and truth can afford to be fair. No true doctrine will lose anything by close investigation." {RH, Dec 20, 1892 --CW 35.2}

Question #9: When it comes to the study of new light, can we not make your writings weigh in along with the Bible?
Man Reading Bible

"The Bible, and the Bible alone, is to be our creed, the sole bond of union;
all who bow to this holy word will be in harmony."

"When God's word is studied, comprehended, and obeyed, a bright light will be reflected to the world; new truths, received and acted upon, will bind us in strong bonds to Jesus. The Bible, and the Bible alone, is to be our creed, the sole bond of union; all who bow to this holy word will be in harmony. Our own views and ideas must not control our efforts. Man is fallible, but God's word is infallible. Christiania, Norway." {RH, December 15, 1885 par. 16}

Question #10: Is it not right and enough for me to quote you when someone presents me with new light that contradicts statements you made?

"But don't you quote Sister White. I don't want you ever to quote Sister White until you get your vantage ground where you know where you are. Quote the Bible. Talk the Bible. It is full of meat, full of fatness. Carry it right out in your life, and you will know more Bible than you know now." {Spalding and Magan Collection, p. 174}

Question #11: You have stated before that there is additional light to come from heaven on His people. In what manner will this additional light come?

"... there was to be special light for God's people as they neared the closing scenes of this earth's history. Another angel was to come from heaven with a message, and the whole earth was to be lightened with his glory. It would be impossible for us to state just how this additional light would come. It might come in a very unexpected manner, in a way that would not agree with the ideas that many have conceived. It is not at all unlikely, or contrary to the ways and works of God, to send light to His people in unexpected ways." --Letter 22, 1889.  White Estate Washington, D. C. May 17, 1984 {13MR 334.2}

Question #12: Since knowledge of truth is progressive, what does our rejection of new light say about old truth?

"In every age there is a new development of truth, a message of God to the people of that generation. The old truths are all essential; new truth is not independent of the old, but an unfolding of it. It is only as the old truths are understood that we can comprehend the new. When Christ desired to open to His disciples the truth of His resurrection, He began 'at Moses and all the prophets and 'expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself.' Luke 24:27. But it is the light which shines in the fresh unfolding of truth that glorifies the old. He who rejects or neglects the new does not really possess the old. For him it loses its vital power and becomes but a lifeless form." {COL 127.4} 1900.

Question #13: Since there is a great deal of new light  to come on His people, why is it there is no new light being shed on the SDA Church?

"The question has been asked me, 'Do you think that the Lord has any more light for us as a people?' I answer that he has light that is new to us, and yet it is precious old light that is to shine forth from the word of truth. We have only the glimmerings of the rays of the light that is yet to come to us. We are not making the most of the light which the Lord has already given us, and thus we fail to receive the increased light; we do not walk in light already shed upon us." {RH, June 3, 1890 par. 2}

Question #14: Regarding this additional light that is to be expected, when can we expect it?

"The Bible has accumulated and bound up together its treasures for this last generation." {Selected Messages, Vol. 3, p. 339}

Question #15: Will there ever be a time in the future when Adventists will not see nor keep God's Sabbath?

"I saw that God had children, who do not see and keep the Sabbath. They had not rejected the light on it. And at the commencement of the time of trouble, we were filled with the Holy Ghost as we went forth [Hosea. 6, 3.] and proclaimed the Sabbath more fully. This enraged the church, and nominal Adventists, as they could not refute the Sabbath truth.  And at this time, God's chosen, all saw clearly that we had the truth, and they came out and endured the persecution with us." {Word to the Little Flock 18.4}

Question #16: By what criteria are we to test new light?

"Our brethren should be willing to investigate in a candid way every point of controversy. If a brother is teaching error, those who are in responsible positions ought to know it; and if he is teaching truth, they ought to take their stand at his side. We should all know what is being taught among us; for if it is truth, we need it. We are all under obligation to God to know what He sends us. He has given directions by which we may test every doctrine,--'To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.' [Isa. 8.] If the light presented meets this test, we are not to refuse to accept it because it does not agree with our ideas." {GW 300.4}

Question #17: What will God do if His light is obstructed by the leadership of church?

"No one should claim that he has all the light there is for God's people. The Lord will not tolerate this. He has said, 'I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.' Even if all our leading men should refuse light and truth, that door will still remain open. The Lord will raise up men who will give the people the message for this time." {TM 107.1}

Question #18: How am I to prepare for the overwhelming surprise you have foretold that it will soon break upon us?

"Christians should be preparing for what is soon to break upon the world as an overwhelming surprise, and this preparation they should make by diligently studying the word of God, and striving to conform their lives to its precepts. . . . God calls for a revival and a reformation."  {Prophets and Kings, p. 626}