Who Is to Measure Agreement?

There are those who feel that they will safeguard themselves in regard to Mrs. White’s amazing claim to having received visions from God, by declaring: I will accept Mrs. White just as far as she agrees with the Bible. Now obviously the Bible is the yardstick by which to measure all spiritual values, and to evaluate all claims. But it does not necessarily follow that one is taking a defensible position when he declares that his acceptance of Mrs. White is in terms of her agreement with the Bible. Let us explain.WBEGW 103.3

Mrs. White’s unique status in the Adventist Church, let it never be forgotten, grows out of the fact that she claimed to have the gift of the Spirit of prophecy. Either that claim is true, or it is false. If it is false, why accept anything Mrs. White has written, even though parts of her writings may happen to agree with Holy Writ? Is it not true that error is often most appealing when it is mixed with truth? How can Mrs. White’s agreement, in part, with Scripture atone for her disagreement in part—if, indeed, she does disagree? If her claim is true, it is wholly true; if it is false, it is totally false. Why keep her books in our homes if a Bible-agreeing passage might lure us on to accepting a Bible-disagreeing passage? The situation would be intolerable. We cannot rationally justify a fractional acceptance of Mrs. White’s claims to inspiration.WBEGW 104.1

Pursuing the matter a little further: How are we sure that something in Mrs. White’s writings disagrees with the Bible? Obviously, it disagrees with our personal interpretation of the Bible. But are we sure that our interpretation of the particular text in question is the correct one? This is the heart of the matter, and reveals the weakness of the position taken. Have not devout Christians differed militantly over the meaning of various Bible texts? True—too true.WBEGW 104.2

How are you sure, we again ask, that your interpretation of every text is the correct one? Is it not one of the functions of God’s prophets to lead us ever into more correct understandings of the Bible? But if we rigidly take the position at the outset that our private understanding of the Holy Word is correct, how could we ever hope to be led into a truer understanding of that Word? Indeed, why would we ever need Mrs. White?WBEGW 104.3