"Contradiction": Jesus Christ Not Truly God
Charge
Robert K. Sanders alleges that Ellen White contradicts the Bible more than 50 times.
The following is #15 from the revision of his document dated June 2002.
Please excuse the problems with italics, punctuation, spacing, and the use of parentheses
rather than brackets for editorial comments. These mistakes are in Sanders' document:
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15. WAS THE MAN JESUS CHRIST ALSO TRULY GOD?
EGW: NO "The man Christ Jesus was not the
Lord God Almighty" (Letter 32, 1899, quoted in the Seventh-day
Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, p. 1129).
BIBLE : YES "For to us a
child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his
shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting
Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6).
BIBLE: YES "Look, he is
coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him;
and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be!
Amen. 'I am the Alpha and the Omega,' says the Lord God, 'who is, and who was,
and who is to come, the Almighty" (Revelation 1:7-8).
BIBLE: YES "Therefore
God exalted him (Jesus) to the highest place and gave him the name that is above
every name" (Philippians2: 9).
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| —Davis Collection |
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Initial Observations
Actually, the quote Sanders gives does not come from Letter 32, 1899. Though two paragraphs later
does comes from Letter 32, the half sentence Sanders quotes comes from Manuscript 140, 1903, and is clearly marked
as such.
But that's not all that big a deal, since it matters little whether the date of authorship is 1899 or 1903.
Typically, those who want to accuse Ellen White of teaching that Jesus isn't God
quote from her earlier writings, not her later ones. By 1899 and 1903, Ellen White was so clearly stating
that Jesus is God that it is fairly futile to try to prove that she believed otherwise at that point in time.
Take for example the following statement from her 1898 book Desire of Ages:
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In Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived. "He that hath the Son hath
life." 1 John 5:12. The divinity of Christ is the believer's assurance of eternal
life.—Desire of Ages, p. 530.
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Consider also these two statements that clearly affirm that Christ was a member of the godhead:
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Look, O look to Jesus and live! You cannot but be charmed with the matchless attractions of the Son
of God. Christ was God manifest in the flesh, the mystery hidden for ages, and in our acceptance or
rejection of the Saviour of the world are involved eternal interests.—Fundamentals of
Christian Education, p. 179. (1891)
The world was made by Him, "and without him was not any thing made that was made" (John 1:3).
If Christ made all things, He existed before all things. The words spoken in regard to this are so
decisive that no one need be left in doubt. Christ was God essentially, and in the highest sense. He was with
God from all eternity, God over all, blessed forevermore.—Selected Messages, book 1, p. 247. (1906)
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Analysis
It is a bit puzzling why Sanders didn't quote the whole sentence. Take a look at what the context says:
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Equal with the Father, honored and adored by
the angels, in our behalf Christ humbled Himself, and came to this earth to
live a life of lowliness and poverty—to be a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. Yet the stamp of divinity was upon His humanity. . . .
There is no one who can explain the mystery of the incarnation of
Christ. Yet we know that He came to this earth and lived as a man among men.
The man Christ Jesus was not the Lord God Almighty, yet Christ and the
Father are one.—Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, p. 1129, bold added.
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Is it not readily apparent that Ellen White was saying that Jesus is not God the Father?
If Sanders had quoted the entire sentence, the remaining seven words, would not the intended
meaning have been more apparent?
Most Christians agree that the Godhead is comprised of three beings: the Father, Son, and Spirit.
Some, however, like the United Pentecostals, maintain that the Father, Son, and Spirit are three manifestations
of one person or being. They would strongly object to Ellen White's statement since they believe that Jesus
is God the Father and the Son and the Spirit all at the same time.
The very statement of Ellen White that Sanders quotes from makes it crystal clear
that Jesus is truly God, while at the same time denying
the idea that there are not three beings in the Godhead. We are therefore uncertain why Sanders has a problem
with this particular statement.
Give Us Your Opinion
| "Jesus Not Truly God": What do you think? |
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