I have read many of the critics of the whole …

Comment on Believing the Disproven – An Adventure in Science by Sean Pitman.

I have read many of the critics of the whole “shut door” vision. I just don’t find them convincing given the overall credibility of Mrs. White’s own life and work and how she herself explained what happened over time. Of course she herself explains that later visions corrected various misunderstandings that she and others had as far as what happened in 1844. That doesn’t invalidate what she said she was shown in the original vision that December of 1944. This original vision was still “true” as shown. How it was interpreted was not entirely wrong and not entirely correct. The same thing has happened with visions given to biblical characters who didn’t have a full understanding of the Divine vision given to them. That doesn’t mean that the vision wasn’t from God.

In this particular case, additional visions were given to help correct the initial errors in interpretation. However, at no time did Ellen White ever give a specific time when Jesus would actually show up for the “Second Coming” – as I originally explained.

Consider your own cited reference to Olson’s essay (Link). In the concluding remarks he makes the following summary comments:

In December, 1844, Ellen’s first vision led her to the conclusion that the Millerite Movement with its interpretation of Daniel 8:14 was of God after all. This led her to reaffirm once again her view of a shut door. She concluded correctly that there was a shut door on October 22, 1844. She concluded incorrectly that the door of mercy was closed on that day for everyone in the world. She saw that two groups of sinners–the apostate Millerites and the wicked world–had sinned away their day of grace. She failed to recognize, however, that there was a third category–the honest in heart who had never heard or fully appreciated the Millerite message in the first place.

In February, 1845, the Lord showed Ellen that although one door was indeed shut in heaven on October 22, 1844, another door was opened. Ellen did not understand the meaning of this “open door.”

It took about seven years, from 1844 to 1851, for most Sabbath-keeping Adventists to realize that a major mission to the world still lay ahead of them in the proclamation of the third angel’s message.

While the term “shut door” at first was used to indicate probation’s close in 1844, it soon came to mean the close of Christ’s ministry in the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary. It stood for a change of Christ’s ministry in heaven on October 22, 1844.

While Ellen White’s personal beliefs underwent a gradual modification during this period, I find no evidence that she at any time taught theological error in her shut door writings.

You see, I believe that Ellen White, like all biblical prophets of old, was human and subject to error – even regarding the interpretation of visions that clearly present symbolic elements – like open and shut doors. If God is not directly dictating the answers to the meaning of such symbols, it is perfectly understandable that their correct meaning might occasionally be difficult to determine. The very same thing happened to Peter when God gave him the vision of unclean animals along with the shocking message, “kill and eat” (Acts 10:13). Peter was understandably confused by this vision, but it doesn’t mean it didn’t come from God. It did come from God – clearly so. The same is true of Ellen White’s vision of the closed door. God showed her the correct vision, but she misinterpreted its symbolism at first. These early Adventists also misinterpreted some of the prophetic claims of the Bible as well. And so, God had to keep explaining things to her… and to the early church.

Do such human errors undermine her claim to have had visions from God? They would if she had nothing else to back up such claims. However, the weight of evidence is, in my mind, clearly in favor of her claims to have received very privileged information from God in her visions.

Sean Pitman Also Commented

Believing the Disproven – An Adventure in Science

God given gifts are not what we receive from Adam after his sin. The work of the Holy Spirit comes by way of the atonement and if there was no atonement, there would be no “God given gifts.”

The promise of atonement was in existence from the foundation of our world and “from eternity past”. That is why Jesus could tell Adam and Eve that He would immediately step in and provide the necessary “enmity” between us and evil that would enable them and all of their offspring to resist evil and cling to God. Jesus’ sacrifice on the crossed reached into the future as well as the past and took in the entire human race…

No parent would agree with this statement. Children have no feelings of guilt until and unless they are taught right and wrong. And this process begins immeadiately at birth as mother’s begin the process of instruction.

I am the father of two small boys (5 and 3) and I can tell you by my own experience that you’re wrong. Very young children do inherently know right from wrong on a very basic level without having to be taught about what to think or believe and do experience guilt without having to be taught about it. Beyond this, you are ignoring the scientific studies in this regard. It’s been established experimentally as I’ve already pointed out to you. You also ignore what Paul said in Romans about the heathen having the law written on their hearts so that it is “natural” to them even without having ever read or ever hearing the written law. According to Paul they instinctively know right from wrong…


Believing the Disproven – An Adventure in Science
Again, the basic ability to recognize love and exhibit love does not “have to be taught” by parents. A child will also naturally feel guilty for doing harm to another – without the need to be taught about feeling guilty for doing wrong. On the other hand, if you were correct, those who did not have good parents, or had no parents at all, would have an perfect excuse before God for why they didn’t choose to act lovingly toward their neighbors. They would feel no guilt or remorse for anything wrong that they did. After all, according to your argument, no one is born with a conscience – or an inherent knowledge of any kind of moral right or wrong to any degree. You claim that the conscience does not exist at all before one is taught, by one’s parents. You claim that there is no way to know right from wrong unless one is taught by some outside source of information. However, in reality, no one has such an excuse because all are in fact born with an internally-derived conscience regardless of the goodness or training, or lack thereof, of one’s parents.

It is a studied fact that a very young child naturally knows what is right regarding the Royal Law of Love on at least a very basic level… and is naturally attracted to it. This knowledge is hardwired – by God. That is why, yet again, Paul described this ability among the heathen as “natural” – not something that they had to learn from their parents, but understood by having the Law written on their hearts by God (Romans 2:13-15). This Biblical claim is actually backed up by modern research that shows that very young babies do in fact have an innate sense of right and wrong (Link).

And, Ellen White also speaks of children having a God-given conscience that must be considered in their training. They are not like animals that are born without a conscience:

The training of children must be conducted on a different principle from that which governs the training of irrational animals. The brute has only to be accustomed to submit to its master; but the child must be taught to control himself. The will must be trained to obey the dictates of reason and conscience. – Ellen White, January 10, 1882

So, here we have a child being born with inherent God-given gifts of both reason and conscience. Such gifts are created as internally-derived gifts by God. Call it “hocus pocus” of you want, but God is in fact a Divine creator who is well able to create such gifts with no less ability than He is able to create the universe or the complexities of the living human body. Therefore, it is not the parents who create the original ability for “enmity” against evil within their children. Parents do not get the credit for this basic ability to judge right from wrong. After all, it is God who said that He is the one who would create this enmity against sin within the human race (Genesis 3:15). He did not leave this up to us to create within our children. It is God and only God who creates the conscience in each one of us. Our responsibility toward our children is to train them on how to apply, maintain, grow, and guard their God-given gifts of reason and conscience. We nurture the plant that God has made, so to speak, but we did not create the original seed from which the plant was made able to grow.


Believing the Disproven – An Adventure in Science
You’re confusing different concepts. I’ve already pointed out that it is a miraculous act on the part of God that we are able to recognize the beauty of holiness and be truly free moral agents – despite being born with fallen sinful natures. Your problem is that you believe that this information, the knowledge of the goodness of love, is taught and must be learned over time. This just isn’t true. It is given by God as internally-derived information that is indeed “written on the hearts” of all mankind – from birth.

It is only because of this that Paul argues that the heathen “naturally know” right from wrong (Romans 2:13-15). Paul specifically claims here that God has made this knowledge part of everyone’s inherent nature – an internally derived truth that is completely natural or internally derived and need not be learned over time. And, this “natural” gift of God isn’t “hocus pocus” any more than any other miraculous act of God. Your argument that the heathen are taught various truths that have been handed down over time (such as the truth of marriage for example) doesn’t hold water. For example, there are many non-Biblical forms of marriage observed by various heathen cultures. What the heathen do naturally recognize, however, is the goodness of the Golden Rule to do unto others as you would have them do unto you… the Royal Law of selfless love for one’s fellow man.

Consider, in summary, that it would be impossible to even recognize “objective truth” without a pre-existing internal moral compass by which to determine truth from error. How do you know “the truth” when you see it? How do you know how to judge right from wrong? You only know because you’re given a conscience from birth that guides you toward the moral truth when you see it. It is this compass, this enmity against Satan, that has been supernaturally implanted by God, from birth, in every single human being.


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I fail to see where you have convincingly supported your claim that the GC leadership contributed to the harm of anyone’s personal religious liberties? – given that the GC leadership does not and could not override personal religious liberties in this country, nor substantively change the outcome of those who lost their jobs over various vaccine mandates. That’s just not how it works here in this country. Religious liberties are personally derived. Again, they simply are not based on a corporate or church position, but rely solely upon individual convictions – regardless of what the church may or may not say or do.

Yet, you say, “Who cares if it is written into law”? You should care. Everyone should care. It’s a very important law in this country. The idea that the organized church could have changed vaccine mandates simply isn’t true – particularly given the nature of certain types of jobs dealing with the most vulnerable in society (such as health care workers for example).

Beyond this, the GC Leadership did, in fact, write in support of personal religious convictions on this topic – and there are GC lawyers who have and continue to write personal letters in support of personal religious convictions (even if these personal convictions are at odds with the position of the church on a given topic). Just because the GC leadership also supports the advances of modern medicine doesn’t mean that the GC leadership cannot support individual convictions at the same time. Both are possible. This is not an inconsistency.