Ellen G. White - The Acts of the Apostles

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virginiann

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Could someone please give me a general idea what this book is about? Is it true to the teachings of the Church? This book was just sent to my husband and I am wondering if we should give it our time to read. I hope someone can shed some light on this. Thank you!
Virginia Cooper
 
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virginiann:
Could someone please give me a general idea what this book is about? Is it true to the teachings of the Church? This book was just sent to my husband and I am wondering if we should give it our time to read. I hope someone can shed some light on this. Thank you!
Virginia Cooper
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Ellen G. White was a “prophet” of the Seventh Day Adventist Church. I’d suggest you toss it, unless you just want to know what she wrote about and aren’t prone to believing just anything.
🙂 🙂 nianka
 
Anything by Ellen Gould White is not worth your time to read.

To paraphrase Dorothy Sayers: This book should not be set aside lightly–it should be hurled with great force!
 
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Fidelis:
Anything by Ellen Gould White is not worth your time to read.

To paraphrase Dorothy Sayers: This book should not be set aside lightly–it should be hurled with great force!
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:clapping: :clapping: :clapping: I could not agree more:D
 
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Fidelis:
Anything by Ellen Gould White is not worth your time to read.

To paraphrase Dorothy Sayers: This book should not be set aside lightly–it should be hurled with great force!
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Fully agreed! Woo! :rolleyes:
 
Thank you all for your replies. How would you all suggest responding to my sister-n-law and her husband. My husband (her brother) has been a non-believer from way back when (he is 52). I believe Our Lord put us together for his wonderful journey towards Him. He will be fully received in the church this coming Easter. His sister has been a SDA for many years and has tried to reach him all along. So it bothers me that they are trying to sway him as he is so new in this walk. He is well grounded in the faith and trusts me to guide him in what he should spend time reading and what not to. But I’m not sure how to respond to his sister. Any suggestions?

Thanks again!
Virginia Cooper
 
I don’t mean to sound totally ignorant but who is Dorothy Sayers?
Thanks!
V. Cooper
 
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Fidelis:
Anything by Ellen Gould White is not worth your time to read.

To paraphrase Dorothy Sayers: This book should not be set aside lightly–it should be hurled with great force!
Click to expand...
:amen: ,couldn’t say anything more.
 
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virginiann:
Thank you all for your replies. How would you all suggest responding to my sister-n-law and her husband. My husband (her brother) has been a non-believer from way back when (he is 52). I believe Our Lord put us together for his wonderful journey towards Him. He will be fully received in the church this coming Easter. His sister has been a SDA for many years and has tried to reach him all along. So it bothers me that they are trying to sway him as he is so new in this walk. He is well grounded in the faith and trusts me to guide him in what he should spend time reading and what not to. But I’m not sure how to respond to his sister. Any suggestions?

Thanks again!
Virginia Cooper
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I would have him read this *Catholic Answers * tract on Seventh Day Adventists:
catholic.com/library/Seventh_Day_Adventism.asp

Thus informed, your husband could explain to his sister that since SDA is incompatible with his already established Faith, he has no interest in her books. Thanks anyway.
 
If I may… My brother is a SDA, in fact he is a part time preacher for SDA. He gives only SDA propaganda for Christmas gifts. I have one… I am slowly reading it, while making notes in the margins with scripture against it. I am keeping a journal on my computer too. I haven’t gotten very far because my work and school work comes ahead of that, but I am learning a lot.

One of the simpliest things I find helpful is to scan the book for info on the author. 9 times out of 10 with SDA it is vague or non existent. Googling is my new hobby, it helps with getting background on the authors.

For this book, it turns out the author Morris L. Venden has had some controversy within the SDA church.

Just my $.02.

ck:cool:
 
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virginiann:
Could someone please give me a general idea what this book is about? Is it true to the teachings of the Church? This book was just sent to my husband and I am wondering if we should give it our time to read. I hope someone can shed some light on this. Thank you!
Virginia Cooper
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Here’s a link to it: whiteestate.org/books/aa/aa.asp​

 
Hey Virginiann…

I’ve read Acts of the Apostles many times (most recently for a New Testament course at an Adventist college which finished last month). I am still a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, though I am presently preparing to be recieved into the Catholic Church, hopefully by next spring. (It’s been a long two years of searching and asking questons).

First of all, unlike most others, I have a generally positive view of Ellen White: much of her literature production is filled with sound Christian insights and may be best described as (even beautiful) devotional literature worthy of thoughtful reading by all Christians. This being said, I still cannot condone her strong hatred of the Catholic Church, or the doctrinal views shared by Seventh-day Adventists, and though I honor her memory as a firm believer in Christ, she is a product (and in part a source) of Adventism and all that Adventism believes… the Adventism I have sadly rejected.

Acts of the Apostles is one of her weaker works in the first respect… written towards the end of her life, it is not as polished and rich as say, The Desire of Ages (one of her most beautiful works, written on the life of Christ). In many places… it turns out to be a bit… well, dull, actually. It’s Protestant rhetoric is at a minimum as it is simply a devotional peace on the development of the Apostolic Church. Obviously, her understanding of the first century Church wll be muddled by her Protestant presuppositions. Still, the work barely ventures beyond the Biblical narratives and epistles (one of the reason why reading it can be dull at times… entire paragraphs are simply quoted from the Bible and then she sprinkles some commentary and moves on… reading the epistle by itself can be a more rewarding experieince).

A few times (and I mean only a few) she does make points that are meant to defend or introduce an Adventist teaching (but to no detail… she’ll drop a hint that the apostles are keeping sabbath and that proves that Christ never changed it… but that’s about all she says). Other times, she will, as she travels through the New Testament, stumble across a verse that seems to attack the doctrines ofanother Christian group but not specifically Catholicism at all) In the chapter on the Council of Jerusalem (see pp. 194-195) she does attempt to descredit the Petrine Primacy with the age-old argument centered around Peter not being the clear leader of the Jerusalem Council. In that instance, she directly mentions that Roman Catholic Church and says they’re wrong… but if I am correct that is the only time she ever mentions the Church. She does sometign similar in a few other places… but I mean a few. In realitym she does no more than any Protestant commentary of the Bible would. It’s a 500 page book and is primarally devotional reading. For instance, even as she stumbles across verses that Adventists always use against Catholics, she doesn’t care to provide a commentary on them… the work would be more properly considered “inspirational”, not polemical as her most infamous and anti-Catholic work: The Great Controversy.

That’s probably why your in-laws gave that book to your husband in the first place. To their credit, they felt he could benefit from a book that is overwhelmingly focused on the basics of Christianity and the Biblical story itself. It doesn’t aim to attack Catholcism, though like any Protestant treatment of the New testament, it will say a thing or two to undermine Catholic belief. That was their second inention. Give him something that does not overtly call his faith into question, but drops a hint or two on only a few pages. As he comes across her points, he might question his new faith, without feeling they were trying to convert him… it just raises some doubts. And that’s something we might do as Catholics for that matter… be subtle and tactful. Still, I would say that the book is not concerned with making him Protestant, its concerned with telling the Biblical story, and in that respect is especially edifying. Though I may not have agreed with certaoin things in the book, and though I found the book dull in many places… every so often she says someting that truly speaks to your heart or invites you to examine yourself in a new light. I have my highlighter marks here and there.

(cont.)
 
From my optomistic perspective, her sister did a really nice thing that reveals her excitement over his new-found trust in Christ, and aims primarily to strengthen him in his Christian walk. Her intentions are noble, and indicate that she is very much supportive of his coming back to at least the Catholic faith. Still, she wouldn’t mind (lol) him being Adventist, and hopes that this exposure to Adventist literature might eventually lead him to read more by Ellen White and slowly ask the questions Adventists want him to ask. But this is her second intention, and by no means a critical one for her… she wants to contribute to his spiritual life. (Lol… after giving out Adventist literauture and being a member of the Church for a few years, I can enter into the mind of an Adventist).

My conclusion? It’s up to him to decide if he wants to read it. I’d like it if he read more of the Bible itself first-- someone new in the faith needs to familiarize himself more with Scripture itself. But Acts of the Apostles has it’s strengths in introducing him to the New Testament material. As for the few portions that might say a thing or two Catholics might not agree with, he should realize that it’s written from a Protestant perspective to begin with. And, in the rare instance that Ellen White overtly criticizes a teaching of the Catholic Church… believe me, these arguments are the stuff apologists grow weary of answering. Not to say they aren’t provocative, they just don’t hold water (ex-Protestant here can tell you that ;-). For example… you’ll find tons of resources on Ellen White’s argument on pp. 194-195 (my favorite is bringyou.to/apologetics/a30.htm) If he reads the rebuttals of Catholics even briefly, her rare point won’t affect him at all.

My guess though? The first chapters will seem interesting to him (they’re mostly story), but in time he’ll weary of so long a book… especially when it begins to dull. Like any book, it will find its perfect niche on the shelf in time. If he wants a better read, a more inspiring one, and one written by Ellen White (to make his sister happy), ask to borrow Desire of Ages. It too will have some Protestant rhetoric… but no more than Acts of the Apostles, and it will be TEN TIMES more interesting, enriching, inspiring and beautiful. The highlighter will be used infintely more.

But it’s his decision. I wish you well, and I am so glad he has come to know the Savior, and experience the fullness of Christianity within the Catholic Church (I love the Catholic Church!). Keep reading the Bible with him. I will keep him in prayer as best I can, and I thank God for using you in so powerful a way as to bring your husband to Christ. If God has begun the good work in him, He will bring it to completion in the day of His glory.

With love,
Hugo.
 
P.S. (in response to expected dobts concerning my advice)

I noticed that most posts in this thread eshewed reading any material by Ellen White. Of course, I also believe that most people on this thread have never read even a representative portion of the full breadth of her literary production. With 72 books and thousands of periodical pages, I know Ellen White for far more than the Great Controversy – she is, in fact, American’s most prolific writer historically (a fact that isn’t widely-publicized because of her reputation). The writings of Ellen White have nonetheless been an important conribution to my spiritual walk, and I find much praiseworthy within them.

I take the approach of H.H. Benedict XVI who, as Cardinal Ratzinger, always expressed a compassion and at times admiration for Martin Luther, while still disagreeing with his more objectonable teachings and legacy. Ellen White follows in the Reformation tradition that called the Catholic Church the antichrist (a very strong claim in the writings of Luther), and includes most of his arguments against the Church. Still, her baptism places her in partial communion with us as Catholics, and if she was saved (and I have many reasons to hope she is), she will be our (repentant) sister in heaven. That’s the mercy and grace of God.

As Catholics, we must defend and define ourselves against the heresies in Christianity, but Protestants are truly the victims (even when they create those doctrines). It is Satan who is behind the negative material in Ellen White, not necessarily Ellen White herself. Still, gems of truth appear throughout her writings, and as Catholics we can appropriate these and bring them into the fullness of the Christian experience we have in God’s true Church.

I want to be, like the Holy Father, able to extract what is good and admirable in another Christian, while forgiving and rightfully condemning that which is bad. Still, I will not condemn the good along with the evil:

“Moreover, some and even very many of the significant elements and endowments which together go to build up and give life to the Church itself, can exist outside the visible boundaries of the Catholic Church: the written word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, and visible elements too. All of these, which come from Christ and lead back to Christ, belong by right to the one Church of Christ.”
  • Unitatis Redintergatio, Second Vatican Council, 1964
 
Hi,
I like a lot of what “Adventistnomore” said, however, I do have to disagree with his assessment of EGW, and her writings. EGW is clearly a false prophet, no matter how beautiful or inspiring her writings may be, they are still based on deception. I would not recommend reading books by anyone who has claimed to have visions from Heaven that contradict the clear teachings of scripture and the church… We are admonished in the Bible to avoid those who give false prophecies or who preach “another gospel”. I think this advice from our Spiritual forefathers is the best we can look to.

brandon
 
Adventistnomore – Hugo, Thank you so very much for such a wonderful response to my questions. It is clear that you took much time, energy and effort in your post! I can’t wait to have my husband read it when he gets home from work.
Thanks again, Peace
Virginia
 
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virginiann:
Thank you all for your replies. How would you all suggest responding to my sister-n-law and her husband. My husband (her brother) has been a non-believer from way back when (he is 52). I believe Our Lord put us together for his wonderful journey towards Him. He will be fully received in the church this coming Easter. His sister has been a SDA for many years and has tried to reach him all along. So it bothers me that they are trying to sway him as he is so new in this walk. He is well grounded in the faith and trusts me to guide him in what he should spend time reading and what not to. But I’m not sure how to respond to his sister. Any suggestions?

Thanks again!
Virginia Cooper
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Dear SIL,
Thank you so much for sending us Ellen G. White’s The Acts of the Apostles. You are very thoughtful. I am sure it will be an important addition to our library.
Love,
Virginia
 
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