The Marital Separation of James and Ellen White | |||||||
normally nowadays would not make NEWS in even their local newspaper, but since I was disfellowshipped from the North Creek, NY SDA church in 1976 at the time of my divorce and remarriage, I suspect it is of interest to thousands of Adventists who find themselves in the predicament that I and my new wife found ourselves in at that time. (After our move to North Carolina for a better job for me, we attended the first EVANGELISTIC CRUSADE held by the Carolina Conference in Fayetteville, N.C. after our marriage and were both rebaptized into the Seventh-day Adventist church in 1976 or 1977)
is the name of magazine published by Seventh-day Adventists, many of them highly educated, who believe it is time to move beyond the 19th century and question some of these beliefs and practices, and indeed if it is deemed necessary improve on them. On their web page is a BLOG, a modern web-site feature that allows write-in comments from viewers, and if deemed thought-provoking and appropriate, SPECTRUM publishes some of them and elicits comments from viewers. A blog reviewer of head book editor at the Review and Herald Publishing Association, Gerald Wheeler’s 2003 biography James White: Innovator and Overcomer uses the pseudonym Jeremy Brandeis. "Many an Adventist throughout the world read and heard things that made them wonder, but they remained silent because the questions could potentially lead to alienation or apostasy. Amazingly, even biblical prophets like Abraham, Moses, David, Jonah, Peter and Paul’s very human faults and inconsistencies were highlighted in Adventist pulpits and literature, but those of Ellen White were deemed too sacrosanct. "Yet to the surprise of many, the new scholarship bears out that the things modern and postmodern Adventists have increasingly wondered about also perplexed our pioneers. So this new trend exposes and humanizes everyone involved: Ellen White, the pioneers, and us, the postmodern Adventists. This new realm may be uncomfortable, but it is a relieving discomfort. "Wheeler’s work brings out an aspect of the White marriage that I immediately noticed as one of those perplexing questions that has rarely been brought up but that has dominated Adventism ever since most of Ellen White’s thousands of pages of writing were made available. James and Ellen White had separated in the late 1870s because of temporarily irreconcilable differences. James thought Ellen was trying to control him; Ellen thought James was trying to control her. Without taking sides, Wheeler does a good job of simply quoting the two. James, whose sanity Ellen questioned, wrote his prophet-wife of his primary gripe:
"Obviously James found the entire communication from Ellen White too burdensome to follow and he made a distinction between what God told her and her mere opinions. I want to suggest that more than control issues were at stake here; the sheer volume of Ellen’s suggestions was just too overwhelming for James." More from "Jeremy Brandeis" below on link "Volume Overload in following EGW Counsels" Satan Claus: On the night before Sunday law --- The Marital Separation of James and Ellen White How Some Adventist Officials End Debate in Meetings/ Volume Overload in Following EGW Counsels Ordained by God but not by GC President Why All Adventist Books Say the Same Thing Taboo Subjects for Adventist Discussion or Debate
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