Ellen Gould Whites Novels - Essay Example

?A Novel The that will be in focus in this paper is a woman by the of Ellen Gould White. She was an American woman born in 1827 and died in 1915. She is one of the well-known writers in the world. In fact she is the most translated female writer in the entire world. She has written on various topics such as religion, education, health, relationships, prophecy and other various topics. Her writings especially on health have proven to be ahead of her times. The things she wrote many years ago are now being discovered by scientists to be true. When one reads her writings, one theme will stand out as the central theme and that is, ‘the love of God’. The phrase, ‘God is love’ is clearly felt from beginning to end of all her books. It is the context theme for all other themes in her writings. While she was young, one of her peers threw a rock on her face and critically injured her. But despite this injury, she neither lost her senses nor her character, meaning, the injury did not affect her brain. Since that injury, she has had a deep gratitude to God for sparing her life and also protecting her mental health. It was this incidence that introduced her to the love of God, and it was her desire to share with the world the love and goodness of God. Her knowledge of God’s love further increased when she read in the Bible that God sent his only begotten Son to die for our sins. With this extra knowledge of the love of God, she was motivated and inspired to reveal to the world through literature, this precious love that had conquered her heart. She wrote volumes upon volumes of books about different subjects, but at the core of all those writings, the love of God was revealed. In her book ‘Steps to Christ’ she said, ‘God is love’ is written upon every opening bud, upon every spire of springing grass. The lovely birds making the air vocal with their happy songs, the delicately tinted flowers in their perfection perfuming the air, the lofty trees of the forest with their rich foliage of living green all testify to the tender, fatherly care of our God and to His desire to make His children happy. (White, 11) She continues to say that, nature and revelation alike testify of God's love. Our Father in heaven is the source of life, of wisdom, and of joy. Look at the wonderful and beautiful things of nature. Think of their marvelous adaptation to the needs and happiness, not only of man, but of all living creatures. The sunshine and the rain, that gladden and refresh the earth, the hills and seas and plains, all speak to us of the Creator's love. It is God who supplies the daily needs of all His creatures. (White, 9) These passages in her book clearly tell us that it was her earnest desire to reveal to the world God’s great love, and that this theme saturated all her writings regardless of the topic she was discussing. In her other book ‘Testimonies to the church’, she said that, all the paternal love which has come down from generation to generation through the channel of human hearts, all the springs of tenderness which have opened in the souls of men, are but as a tiny rill to the boundless ocean when compared with the infinite, exhaustless love of God. Tongue cannot utter it; pen cannot portray it. You may meditate upon it every day of your life; you may search the Scriptures diligently in order to understand it; you may summon every power and capability that God has given you, in the endeavor to comprehend the love and compassion of the heavenly Father; and yet there is infinity beyond. (White, 740) She continues writing that, you may study that love for ages; yet you can never fully comprehend the length and the breadth, the depth and the height, of the love of God in giving His Son to die for the world. Eternity itself can never fully reveal it. Yet as we study the Bible and meditate upon the life of Christ and the plan of redemption, these great themes will open to our understanding more and more. (White, 740) Once again, here is another clear proof that the love of God is the driving force in her life and also the central theme of all her writings, regardless of the topic of the book. Many of her statements reveal God’s love. In one of her books, she wrote that, it is true that disappointments will come; tribulation we must expect; but we are to commit everything, great and small, to God. He does not become perplexed by the multiplicity of our grievances nor overpowered by the weight of our burdens. His watch care extends to every household and encircles every individual; He is concerned in all our business and our sorrows. He marks every tear; He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. All the afflictions and trials that befall us here are permitted, to work out His purposes of love toward us, that we might be partakers of His holiness and thus become participants in that fullness of joy which is found in His presence. (White, 740) In her famous true to life novel, ‘Desire of Ages’, she explains in great detail about Jesus Christ and she reveals that the love of God has been made manifest to the world through the Son of God, the Savior of the world. Ellen White wrote that, from the days of eternity, the Lord Jesus Christ was one with the Father; he was the image of God, the image of his greatness and majesty, the outshining of his glory. It was to manifest this glory that he came to our world. To this sin-darkened earth he came to reveal the light of God's love, to be God with us. (White, 19) Once again, it is unmistakable that she is exalting the love of God in this book. As she continues with the chapters in that novel, ‘Desire of Ages’, she strives to reveal how the life of Jesus perfectly revealed the love of God. She claims that, the two great principles of God’s law, love to God and love to man, were clearly revealed in the life of Jesus. In her writings one can see that she is fully convicted that the love of God is incomparable. Her writings imply that, no other being can be compared with God in the aspect of love. In her novel, ‘Desire of Ages’, she further wrote saying, the matchless love of God for a world that did not love him; the thought has a subduing power upon the soul and brings the mind into captivity to the will of God. The more we study the divine character in the light of the cross, the more we see mercy, tenderness, and forgiveness blended with equity and justice, and the more clearly we discern innumerable evidences of a love that is infinite and a tender pity surpassing a mother's yearning sympathy for her wayward child. (White, 15) This novel unlike any other of her writings reveals the love of God much clearly. The novel ends with her describing in greater detail the last days of the life of Jesus Christ. She talks about his struggle at Gethsemane, his contemplation of whether to let the world perish or save it, and his choosing to save it by dying for it on the cross. With all this, she reveals that the love of God as seen in Jesus His son motivates or compels her to share it with the world. Every passage of her book, especially the ones that specifically talk about God, she writes in the background of the love of God. To her, since God is love, then all his actions are a manifestation of love, whether we understand them or not. And this she implies, should bring joy to us and inspire us to share it also through literature and other ways that one can devise, because literature is not the only way to share good news. It is impossible to read through any of her books or manuscripts and not realize that she is trying to reveal the love of God to the world by exalting Jesus Christ, who himself is the very image of God. She claims that, through Jesus, we are able to see the love of God in its undimmed glory. In her novel, she continues to share the great love of God by citing the parable of the good Samaritan. This was a parable given by Jesus that portrays the love of God for the human race that was attacked and bitten by Satan and left helpless. She says that, in the story of the good Samaritan, Jesus gave a picture of himself and his mission (White, 504). She further says that, man had been deceived, bruised, robbed, and ruined by Satan, and left to perish, but Jesus, the Savior, had compassion on our helpless condition. He left His glory, to come to our rescue. He found us ready to die, and he undertook our case. He healed our wounds. He covered us with His robe of righteousness. He opened to us a refuge of safety, and made complete provision for us at his own charges. He died to redeem us. (White, 504) She claims that, the great example of the love of God is given to man so that he may imitate it, and by the grace of God, enabled to experience it in his daily life. Other writers have also born testimony that, the love of God is the central theme of all her writings. One of these writers is an individual by the name of Booth. In the year 2000, Booth mentioned that, an important dimension of her theology was her emphasis on God's love. She believed that theology is valueless unless saturated with the love of Christ. She described God's love as unfathomable, indescribable, without a parallel beyond any human computation. The human soul, she said, was purchased at an infinite cost, and is loved with a devotion that is unalterable. (Booth, 1) Booth continued to support that this woman centers her writings on the love of God by saying that, because of her consistent emphasis on love, God's love for human beings and love as an ethical human obligation, her theology is humane and sensitive. In writing about the love and compassion of God, she repeatedly used the language of human affection and endearment. She understood, however, that the love of God was far more extensive and impressive than human love. She believed that God is deeply sensitive to the needs of every human being and deeply touched with the feelings of human grief and helplessness. (Booth, 1) Here Booth explains the kind of love that he believes Ellen White attributes to God. Here is an individual bearing testimony to the fact that the central theme for this woman’s writings was the love of God. Booth is an individual known for extensive reading. He has read books from many different authors, but one of his favorite authors is Ellen White. He has read almost all of her writings, therefore he is a credible witness when he claims that her writings center on the love of God. One writer said that, Ellen White responded wholeheartedly to Jesus' love, and made it a major theme of her writings. Wherever one turns in her voluminous books and letters to family, friends, and co-workers, one sees evidences of her deep love for the Savior. (Douglass, 5) Another individual that agrees to this thesis is an individual by the name of George Knight. He said that, perhaps the central and most comprehensive theme in the writings of Ellen White is that of the love of God. Why do we begin with this theme? The answer is that it is the one she repeatedly treats first and foremost in her major books. One of the most forceful illustrations of the centrality of God's love in Ellen White's writings is that the phrase "God is love" provides the first three words in the first volume of the Conflict of the Ages Series ‘Patriarchs and Prophets’ and the last three words of the series' final volume ‘The Great Controversy’. (Knight, 109) Knight then continues to mention that, another powerful illustration of God's love as being the central theme of Ellen White occurs in the opening pages of her novel ‘Desire of Ages’. Jesus, she points out in the book's first paragraph, came to reveal the light of God's love. On the next page she writes that Jesus' life demonstrated that the law of self-renouncing love is the law of life for earth and heaven; that the love which 'seeketh not her own' has its source in the heart of God. Her conclusion on the final page is that through Christ "love has conquered. (Knight, 109) He continues to say that, the love of God is uplifted first, last, and all through Ellen White's writings. She repeatedly treats it first and last in her most important books, and it provides the beginning and ending words for her treatment of the Conflict of the Ages, with more than 3,500 pages in between. It appears to be the theme that undergirds and provides the context for all other themes in her writings. (Knight, 109) So once again another writer bears testimony to this fact. He even takes time to mention various instances in the writings of Mrs. White, so that he may prove his point that the love of God is the central theme for all her writings. In conclusion, it has been seen through various writings of Ellen White and also in other secondary sources that, ‘the love of God’ is the central theme of all the writings of this author. Regardless of the topic of the book or the subject in discussion, she manages to weave into the discussion the love of God because she believes that God is interested and also involved in every aspect of our lives. She has used various illustrations, both in nature and in our daily lives, to reveal to us the loving care of God to his creation. Her books will remain one of the best and sort after books if one wants to know more of the love of God. Works Cited White, Ellen Gould. God with Us. California: Ellen G White Publications, 1898 Knight, George R. An Examination of Ellen White’s Major Themes. USA: Review and Herald Publishing, 1996 Booth, Walter M. Ellen White, Theologian? USA. October 2000 White, Ellen Gould. God’s Love for Man. California: Ellen G White Publications, 1892 Douglass, Herbert. Ellen White’s Devotion to Jesus. USA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1998 White, Ellen Gould. The Character of God Revealed in Christ. California: Ellen G White Publications, 1889 Read More