Summary of Ellen White’s Principles of Health Reform

Ellen White’s contribution to an advanced understanding of health and disease may be attributed to these factors:MOL 337.1

1. Insights received through visions;MOL 337.2

2. Her Spirit-directed ability to perceive what was in harmony with those insights from the maze of current opinion, andMOL 337.3

3. Her governing principle of the Great Controversy Theme that placed health matters within the context of a person’s spiritual motivation, commitment, and preparation for the Advent.MOL 337.4

The record stands: Compared to the relatively few “health reformers” in her day, Ellen White was unique. When compared to or contrasted with conventional medical wisdom and practice, she was decades ahead of her time.MOL 337.5

In what way was Ellen White unique? Contemporary health reformers were prescient in some areas, but gravely wrong in others. Many held extreme positions on “discarding milk, sugar, and salt,” etc. ^{205Testimonies for the Church 3:19.} Others believed that rest, not physical exercise, was indicated for those recuperating from illness. ^{206See p. 330.}MOL 337.6

What if Ellen White had held these and other extreme positions? Her credibility would have been severely damaged in the ensuing years. More than that, if she had endorsed contemporary medical knowledge, her credibility would have been demolished. Further, her appeal that she was directed by divine guidance eventually would have been seen as a temporary ploy for self-serving purposes. ^{207See pp. 290, 291 for Dr. Kellogg’s unqualified opinion of Ellen White’s divine guidance in the development of Adventist health principles.}MOL 337.7

But the health principles found in her nineteenth-century writings, distinctively coherent, have stood the test of time. Her principles relating to disease prevention as well as health restoration are not today viewed as fads. They were not the result of a “shotgun” approach. ^{208Seventh-day Adventists are described as “the healthiest group of people in the country.” John Cook, “A Church Whose Members Have Less Cancer,” Saturday Evening Post, Mar. 1984, pp. 42, 108.} All of the principles are integrally related; specifics are seen relating to the whole person’s total health. The lifestyle of Seventh-day Adventists “is reflected in the phenomenal accumulation of published research papers concerning the Adventist lifestyle.... It seems probable that no other religious group has attracted so much recent interest from scientists.” ^{209Strahan, Stanton, and Fraser, “Adventist Health Studies,” p. 8-1.}MOL 338.1