Unfolding the Theme
How does the Great Controversy Theme inform and determine those principles of theology, education, health, and all the other topics that Ellen White has unified into a coherent, interconnected, distinctively Adventist way of life? What are those theological principles that undergird and permeate all these various aspects of Adventist thought?MOL 257.7
Each of the following foundation principles not only unfolds the Theme but also exposes some error in contemporary Christian thought:MOL 257.8
God is not the kind of person that Satan has made Him out to be. God is not severe, unforgiving, harsh, arbitrary, or unfair. 14Steps to Christ, 10, 11; Patriarchs and Prophets, 38, 78; The Great Controversy, 519, 536, 569; The Desire of Ages, 22; Christ’s Object Lessons, 204; Testimonies for the Church 5:738. Although God revealed Himself in His law and other revelations through His prophets, Jesus is God’s clearest revelation. 15The Ministry of Healing, 418, 419. “God was represented as severe, exacting, revengeful, and arbitrary. He was pictured as one who could take pleasure in the sufferings of His creatures. The very attributes that belonged to the character of Satan, the evil one represented as belonging to the character of God. Jesus came to teach men of the Father, to correctly represent Him before the fallen children of earth. Angels could not fully portray the character of God, but Christ, who was a living impersonation of God, could not fail to accomplish the work. The only way in which He could set and keep men right was to make Himself visible and familiar to their eyes.... The Father was revealed in Christ as altogether a different being from that which Satan had represented Him to be.... The whole purpose of His own mission on earth [was] to set men right through the revelation of God.... When the object of His mission was attained—the revelation of God to the world—the Son of God announced that His work was accomplished, and that the character of the Father was made manifest to men.” The Signs of the Times, January 20, 1890.MOL 257.9
What we need to know about God can be understood by observing the actions of Jesus and listening to His counsel while on earth. In revealing the truth about God, Jesus revealed God’s image. 16The Desire of Ages, 19. In revealing the truth about human beings, Jesus manifested humanity’s lost image, the image He has promised to restore in all who trust Him and obey His will. 17The Desire of Ages, 37, 38; Education, 73, 74; Testimonies for the Church 5:537; Mind, Character, and Personality 1:249; The Signs of the Times, April 21, 1887; The Signs of the Times, December 22, 1887; Selected Messages 3:135, 136.MOL 257.10
(a) Jesus proved that God was not unfair—that is, He did not make laws that created beings cannot keep. 18Christ’s Object Lessons, 314; The Desire of Ages, 762; The Faith I Live By, 114.
(b) Jesus proved that God was not selfish by demanding submission and sacrifice from His created intelligences without manifesting the same willingness to sacrifice for others. His own life and death, an eternal gift to humanity, revealed God’s unselfishness toward His created beings. 19Patriarchs and Prophets, 70; Selected Messages 1:341; Education, 154.
(c) Jesus proved that God was not “severe, exacting, and harsh,” by revealing God’s tact, thoughtfulness, self-denial, forbearance, and love under rejection. 20Steps to Christ, 11, 12.
Because God is fair, loving, and respectful of His created intelligences, He does not coerce, force, intimidate, or deceive them in order to obtain their loyalty, submission, or compliance. 21The Desire of Ages, 22, 487, 759; Christ’s Object Lessons, 74, 77, 101, 235; The Review and Herald, June 4, 1901; The Great Controversy, 541.MOL 258.1
(a) He does not use peer pressure, or compel a person to make a decision against his or her will, or attempt to bypass reason—all of which are techniques employed by the forces of evil. 22Steps to Christ, 34; Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 142; My Life Today, 340; Early Writings, 22Testimonies for the Church 1:345; Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 116; The Desire of Ages, 466, 759.
(b) He appeals to reason and waits for each person to decide on the basis of the weight of evidence and the constraint of love. 23Steps to Christ, 43-47; The Desire of Ages, 458; Testimonies for the Church 3:255; 4:583, 584.
(c) Thus, His people are to be known for their defense of liberty for others and the absence of oppressive methods among themselves. 24The Great Controversy, 45, 441, 443, 591; Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 200, 206, 219, 359-373.
Because God is willing to wait until all the evidence is in regarding Satan’s charges, and because He will not force compliance, the principle of conditionality permeates His relationship with His created intelligences—He waits for people to respond. 25Selected Messages 1:378; Patriarchs and Prophets, 42, 535, 579.MOL 258.2
(a) The process of salvation by faith requires certain human conditions more than mere mental assent and appreciation for what Christ has done. Saved people are transformed rebels (the degree of change subject to the time and opportunities available), and transformation involves human decisions at every step. 26Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 76; Selected Messages 1:377, 378.
(b) The timing of the Second Advent depends, in part, on certain human conditions. The Advent is delayed, depending on the preparedness of God’s people to receive the latter rain and thus be equipped to help implement the “loud cry” that brings the world to decision. 27Selected Messages 1:67; The Desire of Ages, 297, 633, 634; Early Writings, 7Testimonies for the Church 5:214; Christ’s Object Lessons, 69, 121.
(c) The incarnation of Jesus Christ involved a conditionality that beggars the human imagination—the possibility that Jesus might fail. 28The Desire of Ages, 49, 131.
(d) Character development determines destiny—the human response to God’s gifts of destiny—pardon and power. 29Christ’s Object Lessons, 74, 84, 123, 260, 310, 356, 378, 388; Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 379, 430, 440, 441.
Human beings were created to be God’s counterparts, “in His own image.” They were created to communicate with God and with freedom to choose. Thus, they are responsible (able-to-respond) beings; human beings can be irresponsible, but never unresponsible—they were, and are, free moral agents. 30Education, 15-19; Patriarchs and Prophets, 44, 48-51.MOL 258.3
(a) Since men and women are responsible beings, it is evident that they are not totally depraved; their destiny is not determined by a sovereign God who “elects” some to be saved and others to be lost. 31Patriarchs and Prophets, 207, 208.
(b) Because human beings are responsible beings, God must communicate with them in human terms, in thought patterns that humans can understand. For this reason, the principle of the incarnation explains why Jesus “took humanity with all its liabilities” in order that His followers would know that He identified with them in every way. 32The Desire of Ages, 19, 24, 49, 117, 119; The Ministry of Healing, 418, 419; Selected Messages 3:135, 136; Manuscript 1, 1892, cited in The Review and Herald, June 17, 1976.
(c) The principle of the incarnation explains why God used the thought patterns and vocabulary of human beings when He revealed Himself in the Bible. 33Selected Messages 1:19-22; The Great Controversy, v-vii.
Human beings were created as an indivisible whole wherein such components as the physical body, mind, soul, spirit, emotions, and the will interact, influencing each of the other components. Components are interdependent and all are needed for human beings to survive in a healthy state. 34Mind, Character, and Personality 2:373-412.MOL 258.4
(a) Thus, people do not possess immortal souls that live in physical bodies for a short space of time. When they physically die, they do not continue to live somewhere in a spiritual, disembodied state. They “sleep” (in Biblical terms) awaiting the call of the Life Giver. 35The Great Controversy, 531-562.
(b) Because human beings are not composed of three units (body, spirit, soul) separate from one another, the well being of the physical body directly affects the health of the mind (including the emotions and spiritual values), and vice versa. Each person’s health depends on the optimal interacting of all that contributes to a healthy body and to a healthy mind. 36Mind, Character, and Personality 2:380-412; The Ministry of Healing, 295-335.
Because God is love He yearns for a loving response from human beings. He has promised eternal life to those who freely appreciate His love and who choose to obey His loving will for them. 37The Desire of Ages, 668; Christ’s Object Lessons, 100-102, 112, 116-121.MOL 259.1
(a) Thus, eternal life is promised to those who cheerfully forsake their sins and gladly cooperate with His Spirit in reconstructing their habit patterns so that they will spontaneously love others—the ultimate will of their loving Lord. 38The Desire of Ages, 672, 675, 678; Testimonies for the Church 5:206; God’s Amazing Grace, p. 235; Christ’s Object Lessons, 384; The Ministry of Healing, 491.
(b) Thus, God will not play word games and “save” those who mentally say the right words but whose lives do not reflect, in some maturing fashion, the profession of their lips. 39Christ’s Object Lessons, 97, 272, 316, 410-420; The Signs of the Times, February 25, 1897.
(c) Therefore, God has permitted the law of cause and effect to play out so that created intelligences throughout the universe, as well as human beings, can see the results of both obedience and disobedience to God’s expressed will. 40Patriarchs and Prophets, 78, 79; Christ’s Object Lessons, 84; The Great Controversy, 28, 35-37, 589, 614; The Signs of the Times, December 22, 1914.
(d) The redeemed will be composed of those who have cooperated with God in developing a habitual attitude of loving trust and cheerful obedience to His will; they have demonstrated that they can be trusted with eternal life, never again to put the security of the universe in jeopardy. 41Christ’s Object Lessons, 96, 280, 315, 317.