Some people in my church are discussing if it is appropriate for a Christian to use perfume. They refer to Isa 3:24. I can not find any statement of EW on this point. Can you give me an advise or an statement? Thank you ___________
Dear ___________,
Thank you for contacting the Ellen G. White Estate. I found 65 entries for "perfume" in the database of Mrs. White's published writings. While I did not look up all of them, or even most of them (you may do so yourself on our website if you wish), the first thing I noticed is that the word was used in a positive, not negative, sense, as something desirable and good. Here are some examples:
The golden rule is the principle of true courtesy, and its truest illustration is seen in the life and character of Jesus. Oh, what rays of softness and beauty shone forth in the daily life of our Saviour! What sweetness flowed from His very presence! The same spirit will be revealed in His children. Those with whom Christ dwells will be surrounded with a divine atmosphere. Their white robes of purity will be fragrant with perfume from the garden of the Lord. Their faces will reflect light from His, brightening the path for stumbling and weary feet. {AH 424.1}
Any negligence of acts of politeness and tender regard on the part of brother for brother, any neglect of kind, encouraging words in the family circle, parents with children and children with parents, confirms habits which make the character unchristlike. But if these little things are performed, they become great things. They increase to large proportions. They breathe a sweet perfume in the life which ascends to God as holy incense. {AH 427.3}
Satan has strewed the broad and downward road with tempting flowers, but those who are allured to death in this road learn by experience that these pleasing flowers wither as soon as grasped. They yield no rich perfume, but a disagreeable, sickening odor. {Daughters of God, pp. 120, 121}
If you would like to look at Mrs. White's use of the word "perfume" for yourself, and you don't have the CD-ROM, you can use our website for the search. See instructions below my signature.
I also looked up Isaiah 3:24, which comments on the judgment to come on the haughty daughers of Zion. Not all of the items mentioned in verses 18-24 are evil in themselves. I have the King James Version here with me, and in this translation some of these items have names that are not familiar. But among those that are familiar are bonnets, headbands, changeable suits of apparel, mantles, fine linen, girdle (meaning a belt), and well-set hair. Does Scripture therefore forbid these things? I think one would have a hard time claiming that it does. Only as these were expressions of the arrogance, haughtines, and wantonness of the daughters of Zion are they mentioned in connection with her judgment.
I do not see that Scripture here condemns every "sweet smell" (KJV), which some apparently take for perfume. But I would offer a couple of cautions about the use of perfume. For some, it may be an expression of the same attitude of being "on the make" as Scripture condemned in those daughters of Zion. Even when this is not true, use of too much perfume may be overwhelming to others. My wife and I have both reacted unfavorably when a woman near us in our Sabbath School class had a cloud of strong perfume scent around her. It made it hard for us to breathe--not physically, like an allergic reaction would do, but just "too much of a good thing." My wife used the word "cloying" to describe it.
So I hope this will be helpful to you. 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: 269 471-3209
FAX: 269 471-2646
Website: www.WhiteEstate.org or www.egwestate.andrews.edu
E-mail: egw@aubranch.egwestate.andrews.edu
To search Mrs. White's writings, go to our website, www.WhiteEstate.org, and click on "Search the Writings" on the menu at the left of the home page. I recommend then that you click on the link to Instructions and read them; print them for handy reference if you can. Then click on the link to proceed to searching, using the new interface.
To search for "perfume," click on "Full Text Search," the first button on the opening menu of the search feature. Type "perfume" into the dialog box, and click Search. In a few moments you will have a list of links to the various documents which use this word. Click on one of them to start reading. The search term will be highlighted. Click on the "Doc/Results" tab near the top of your screen; this will give you the list of links to the "hits" in the lower screen and the text of each one you open in the upper part of the screen.
