The process of communication is not as simple as we might at first suspect.
The topic was certainly at the forefront of James White's thinking as he watched
his wife struggle to lead the early Adventists down the path of reform. In 1868
he wrote that "What she may say to urge the tardy, is taken by the
prompt to urge them over the mark. And what she may say to caution the prompt,
zealous, incautious ones, is taken by the tardy as an excuse to remain too far
behind" (Review and Herald, Mar. 17, 1868; italics supplied).
As we read Ellen White's writings we need to keep constantly before us the
difficulty she faced in basic communication. Beyond the difficulty of varying
personalities, but related to it, was the problem of the imprecision of the
meaning of words and the fact that different people with different experiences
interpret the same words differently.
"Human minds vary," Mrs. White penned in relation to Bible
reading. "The minds of different education and thought receive
different impressions of the same words, and it is difficult for one mind to
give to one of a different temperament, education, and habits of thought by
language exactly the same idea as that which is clear and distinct in his own
mind. . . . The Bible must be given in the language of men. Everything that
is human is imperfect. Different meanings are expressed by the same word;
there is not one word for each distinct idea. The Bible was given for practical
purposes.
"The stamps of minds are different. All do not understand expressions
and statements alike. Some understand the statements of the Scriptures to suit
their own particular minds and cases. Prepossessions, prejudices, and passions
have a strong influence to darken the understanding and confuse the mind even in
reading the words of Holy Writ" (Selected Messages, vol. 1, pp. 19,
20; italics supplied).
What Ellen White said about the problems of meanings and words in regard to
the Bible also holds true for her own writings. Communication in a broken world
is never easy, not even for God's prophets.
We need to keep the basic problems of communication in mind as we read the
writings of Ellen White. At the very least, such facts ought to make us cautious
in our reading so that we don't overly emphasize this or that particular idea
that might come to our attention as we study God's counsel to His church. We
will want to make sure that we have read widely what Ellen White has presented
on a topic and studied those statements that may seem extreme in the light of
those that might moderate or balance them. All such study, of course, should
take place with the historical and literary context of each statement in mind.