I wanted to ask if you could point me in the right direction. Someone recently told me something I found very starteling. I have been searching the EGW website etc but I haven't been able to find the quote they said they read. They said they read that EGW states that smoking/tobacco use is not to be a test question..i.e. you shouldn't keep someone from being baptized if they are a smoker and haven't overcome that habbit. They also told me she says the same thing about tithing. Perhaps the missunderstanding lies in the phrase "test question". I am not sure. Then again, perhaps they are mistaken on these quotes.
As a 4th generation SDA and as the daughter of a pastor I find such concepts starteling. I have read quite a number of quotes which say that one must overcome smoking and drinking before becoming a member of the church. If you have the time, could you send me some quotes on both sides of the issue if they indeed exists.
Thank you so much!
Sincerely,
___________
Dear ___________,
Thank you for contacting the Ellen G. White Estate. I found no instance of Mrs. White's having said that use of tobacco was not a test question. Nor did I find such a statement about tithing.
It is possible that the person who spoke this way about tobacco may have misread or misremembered the following statement against the *growing* of tobacco and other items which the Christian should not be using:
In answer to many inquiries, we would say that we believe there is business for Seventh-day Adventists to enter upon for a livelihood, more consistent with their faith than the raising of hops, tobacco, or swine. {2SM 338.1} And we would recommend that they plant no more hops, or tobacco fields, and that they reduce the number of their swine. They may yet see it duty, as most consistent believers do, to keep no more. We would not urge this opinion upon any. Much less would we take the responsibility of saying, "Plow up your hop and tobacco fields, and sacrifice your swine to the dogs." {2SM 338.2} While we would say to those who are disposed to crowd hop, tobacco, and swine growers among our people, that they have no right to make these things, in any sense, a test of Christian fellowship, we would also say to those who have these miserable things on hand, "If you can get them off your hands without great loss, consistency with the faith of this people whose publications and oral teachings have so much to say on the subject of reform, more than suggests that you should get them off your hands as soon as possible." [THIS IS ONE OF THE VERY FEW STATEMENTS TO BE ISSUED JOINTLY BY JAMES AND ELLEN WHITE. INASMUCH AS IT WAS SIGNED BY BOTH, IT IS EVIDENT THAT THE VIEWS EXPRESSED HAD FULL SANCTION OF MRS. WHITE.--COMPILERS.]--The Review and Herald, March 24, 1868. {2SM 338.3}
Should we baptize thieves into the church fellowship before they have put away their thieving? How can the waters of baptism symbolize cleansing, and more so, death to the old life, if one has not left that old life behind? The Bible says that failure to tithe is robbing God. Should we then baptize those who continue to rob God? I could find no statement from Mrs. White which would lend credence to this idea.
The best way to handle assertions such as the one you heard is to ask the person to find the reference for the alleged statement and show it to you. If he does so, then you can look at it in its context and see whether the person is right in interpreting it that way. If he cannot do so, his assertion is merely rumor and should not be given serious consideration.
I hope this helps. Thank you for writing, and God bless!
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William Fagal, Director
Ellen G. White Estate Branch Office
Andrews University
Berrien Springs, MI 49104-1400 USA
Phone: 616 471-3209
FAX: 616 471-2646
Website: www.WhiteEstate.org or www.egwestate.andrews.edu
E-mail: egw@aubranch.egwestate.andrews.edu
