Aunty, Ellen White and the Bible seem to give different interpretations. Who’s right?
3 June 2024 |
Dear Aunt Sevvy,
Ellen White writes that Jesus’ siblings were his step-siblings, from a previous marriage of Joseph’s. The Bible doesn’t say this explicitly. What’s the truth?
Signed, Conflicted
Dear Conflicted,
This is one of the frequent questions Aunty receives: “Ellen White says thus and so, but the Bible seems to say something different. Who is right?”
Many of us grew up believing that an angel dictated Ellen White’s writings to her. If there was an apparent contradiction between Ellen White and the Bible, we deferred to Ellen White in the belief that she alone could interpret the Bible for Seventh-day Adventists.
It wasn’t until the last 50 years or so when word got out that Ellen White plagiarized other writers extensively, and most of her books were composed by her assistants. (For what it’s worth: there are church leaders who knew this all along and deliberately chose to hide this fact from members.)
Where do we stand today? In theory, Adventists believe in sola scriptura. But in practice, Ellen White seems always to get the last word. Many Adventist couldn’t imagine holding views other than those she affirmed. There are even matters of Adventist theology where our scholars have been known to set aside a clear biblical teaching in order to defend Ellen White’s view!
As for Mary’s and Joseph’s children, the Bible is unclear, and Aunty could venture no opinion. And really, does it matter very much? (Ironically, the tradition of Mary never birthing other children is used by the Roman Catholic Church to say that Mary was an eternal virgin—a teaching not embraced by Protestants.)
While Aunty appreciates Ellen White as a strong and capable woman who had a relationship with God, she doesn’t believe that Ellen White is our only interpreter of Scripture.
Aunt Sevvy
Aunt Sevvy has collected her answers into a book! You can get it from Amazon by clicking here.
You can write to Aunt Sevvy at DearAuntSevvy@gmail.com. Your real identity will never be revealed.
