Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, 25/2 (2014): 132-157.
Article copyright © 2014 by Ángel Manuel Rodríguez.
The Theological and Practical Significance
of Health Reform in the Writings of
Ellen G. White
1
Ángel Manuel Rodríguez
Biblical Research Institute
General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
I. Introduction
For Ellen G. White, health reform is an ambitious and aggressive
program of global proportions with very specific goals and firmly grounded
in biblical-theological convictions. It addresses one of the most fundamental
problems of the human experience, namely, disease, illness, and their
concomitant human suffering. It is not simply about what to eat or not to
eat; it is about the impact of sin and evil on human beings as well as on their
rationality and physicality. It is about the apparent absence of divine
sovereignty in the presence of sickness and suffering. It is about God’s
justice in the setting of the cosmic conflict. Although there were other
1
The following abbreviations are used for the books of Ellen G. White:
CCh—Counsels for the Church; CD—Counsels on Diet and Food; CG—Child Guidance;
CH—Counsels on Health; CME—A Call to Medical Evangelism and Health Education;
COL—Christ’s Object Lessons; CT—Christ Triumphant; CTBH—Christian Temperance
and Bible Hygiene; Ev—Evangelism; HL—Healthful Living; HP—Heavenly Places;
Hvn—Heaven; MH—Ministry of Health; MR—Manuscript Releases; PHJ—Pacific Health
Journal; PP—Patriarchs and Prophets; RH—Review and Herald; SM—Selected Messages;
T—Testimonies for the Church; TMK—That I May Know Him.
132
RODRÍGUEZ: HEALTH REFORM IN THE WRITINGS OF E. G. WHITE
health reformers in the days of Ellen White,
2
there is nothing in the history
of Christianity comparable to the magnitude of the health reform program
formulated and promoted by her.
Under the influence of Jesus’ concern for the sick, the Christian church
has always cared for the sick. In the early church deacons and deaconesses
were appointed to care for them and after the conversion of Constantine
hospitals were established to provide for the sick.
3
This is still the case
among Catholics and Protestants. Most Christians consider rational
medicine to be the primary means to care for the sick although charismatic
healings are promoted by many. Disease is considered to be an evil to be
opposed by finding ways to overcome it. But little attention has been given
to a theology of healing. Prevention is to some extent promoted but we
rarely find Christians aggressively speaking against, for instance, the use of
tobacco and the consumption of alcohol.
Ellen White is interested in healing, but she looks at the complexity of
the problem and emphasizes prevention in order to bring healing and not
only to avoid sickness. For her prevention is a means of healing and
restoration. Her program integrates science, religion, and moral
responsibility, that is to say the rational, the spiritual, and the ethical
dimensions of human beings. Since her interest in health is grounded in
biblical theology, it has become part of the Adventist message. Never
before in the history of the Christian church has such significance been
2
For a study of the health reform movements in the times of Ellen G. White and their
contribution to the Adventist emphasis on health reform see, among others, D. E. Robinson,
The Story of Our Health Message (3
rd
edition; Nashville, TN: Southern Publishing,1965);
John B. Blake, “Health Reform,” in The Rise of Adventism: Religion and Society in Mid-
Nineteenth-Century America, ed. Edwin S. Gaustad (New York: Harper & Row, 1974), 30-
49; Ronald L. Numbers, Prophetess of Health: A Study of Ellen G. White (New York:
Harper & Row, 1976), who concentrated so much on the trees in the forest that lost sight of
the beauty of the forest—the health system promoted by E. G. White and its theological
significance. A response to his book was prepared by the Ellen G. White Estate, “A Critique
of the Book Prophetess of Health Prepared by the Staff of the Ellen G. White Estate,” 1976.
Others who have written on the reform movements are, George W. Read, A Sound of
Trumpets: American, Adventists, and Health Reform (Washington, DC: Review and Herald,
1982); and Rennie B. Schoepflin, “Health and Health Care,” The World of Ellen G. White,
ed. Gary Land (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 1987), 143-158.
3
For an introduction to the Christian interest in caring for the sick see, Norman E.
Thomas, “Medical Missions,” The Encyclopedia of Christianity, ed. Erwin Fahlbusch and
Geoffrey William Bromiley (5 vols.; Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2003), 483.
133
JOURNAL OF THE ADVENTIST THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
attached to the question of health. In what follows we will explore the goals
White sets for her program and the theological presuppositions that
undergird it.
4
We will also discuss other theological concepts that contribute
to the foundation of the health program promoted by her.
5
II. Purpose of Health Reform and its Theological Foundations
Ellen White provides a clear statement of purpose for the health reform
envisioned by her. The statement also includes elements of a plan for action
in the implementation of the program (notice the use of the verbs “teach,”
and “show”). We will carefully examine the statement in order to explore
its implications and theological assumptions. We will do this by examining
other places in her writings where these ideas are further developed. Here
is her statement of purpose:
In teaching health principles, keep before the mind the great object of
reform—that its purpose is to secure the highest development of body and
mind and soul. Show that the laws of nature, being the laws of God, are
designed for our good; that obedience to them promotes happiness in this
life, and aids in the preparation for the life to come.
6
The simplicity of the statement is deceiving. It highlights the
significance of the subject and provides the underlying assumptions upon
which the program itself is built. I will begin the analysis with the first part
4
Because of the purpose of this paper, we will not discuss the specifics of the health
reform. But perhaps it may suffice to say that, although she promotes the ideal of a
vegetarian diet (lacto-ovo vegetarian diet), she supports the biblical law of clean/unclean
animals, and rejects the use of alcohol, tobacco, coffee, and tea. She emphasizes physical
exercise and the moderate use of that which is good. White also writes about the dangers of
overeating, the use of highly seasoned foods, rich desserts, and the benefits of light and fresh
air. For a useful summary see Reid, Trumpets, 132-140.
5
For a study on a theology of healing in Ellen G. White see, Read, Sound of Trumpets,
116-122. For an earlier reflection of the topic see, T. R. Flatz, “Health and Gospel Message:
Our Bodies a Living Sacrifice,” Our Firm Foundation (Washington, DC: Review and
Herald, 1953), 339-364; and J. Waybe McFarland, “Health and Gospel Message: The Laws
of Health,” ibid., 365-390. For a discussion of a theology of health in the Bible see, George
W. Reid, “Health and Healing,” in Handbook of Seventh-day Theology, ed. Raoul Dederen
(Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 2000), 751-778.
6
MH 146.
134
RODRÍGUEZ: HEALTH REFORM IN THE WRITINGS OF E. G. WHITE
of the second sentence: “. . . the laws of nature, being the laws of God, are
designed for our good.”
A. Health Reform is Theocentric
For Ellen White health reform is not a secular or humanistic program
but a fundamentally religious one that integrates religious convictions and
the scientific study of the laws of nature. White uses the phrase “law of
nature” in a religious-scientific way meaning by it the laws that regulate the
operations of the natural world under the guidance of God.
7
According to
her these laws are an expression of God’s will for His creation, including
humans.
8
For her, God constitutes the center around which the program is
developed thus transforming it into a well-integrated health system and
philosophy of health.
9
Without a center we would not have a system of
health but pieces of information about health. She offers at least two main
arguments to support a theocentric understanding of the health reform
program.
1. God is the Creator of the Laws of Nature
The theocentric nature of health reform is first manifested in the fact
that God is the creator of the laws of nature: “In infinite wisdom, the world
which God had newly formed was placed under fixed laws. Laws were
ordained, not only for the government of living beings, but for the
operations of nature.”
10
The fact that God created these laws as an
expression of His will imbues them with a moral content—they are to be
7
She also refers to the laws of nature as “the unchangeable principles of nature”
(CTBH 109).
8
She writes, “The material world is under God’s control. The laws of nature are obeyed
by nature. Everything speaks and acts the will of the Creator. Cloud and sunshine, dew and
rain, wind and storm, all are under the supervision of God, and yield implicit obedience to
His command. It is in obedience to the law of God that the spire of grain bursts through the
ground, ‘first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.’ Mark 4:28. These the
Lord develops in their proper season because they do not resist His working” (COL 81-82).
9
She writes, “Those who study and practice the principles of right living will be greatly
blessed, both physically and spiritually. An understanding of the philosophy of health is a
safeguard against many of the evils that are continually increasing” (CG 362).
10
PHJ February 1, 1901, par. 2.
135
JOURNAL OF THE ADVENTIST THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
obeyed. Since they are an expression of love, they aim at the well-being of
humanity.
11
They were designed “for our good.”
In the context of her discussions on health reform she specifically uses
the expression “laws of nature” to refer to the laws that God implanted in
our being in order for it to function properly.
12
She encourages us “to study
that marvelous organism, the human system, and the laws by which it is
governed.”
13
These laws are “the manifestation of God’s love and wisdom
in the works of nature.”
14
Her understanding of natural law as established
by God and aiming at our well-being lays close to the center of the health
reform program she is promoting and removes it from any secular approach
to the study of health.
2. Only God/Christ Can Heal
We find in her writings a second argument supporting the theocentric
nature of health reform. This argument rejects any understanding of nature
along the lines of deism and pantheism. She writes,
Through the agencies of nature, God is working, day by day, hour by hour,
moment by moment, to keep us alive, to build up and restore us. When
any part of the body sustains injury, a healing process is at once begun;
nature’s agencies are set at work to restore soundness. But the power
working through these agencies is the power of God. All life-giving power
is from Him. When one recovers from disease, it is God who restores
him.
15
11
She comments, “But God’s laws are not merely an expression of His selfish or
arbitrary authority. He is love, and in all that He did, He had the well-being of humanity in
view. He would have been glorified in the work of His hands had man retained his first
perfection, and had all his varied capabilities of mind and soul and body been developed so
as to reach the highest possible degree of excellence” (Ibid.).
12
CH 39.
13
Ibid., 40.
14
Ibid.
15
MH 112-113. See also PP 114, where she states: “Many teach that matter possesses
vital power—that certain properties are imparted to matter, and it is then left to act through
its own inherent energy; and that the operations of nature are conducted in harmony with
fixed laws, with which God Himself cannot interfere. This is false science, and is not
sustained by the word of God. Nature is the servant of her Creator. God does not annul His
laws or work contrary to them, but He is continually using them as His instruments. Nature
testifies of an intelligence, a presence, an active energy, that works in and through her laws.”
136
RODRÍGUEZ: HEALTH REFORM IN THE WRITINGS OF E. G. WHITE
The first thing to notice in this statement is that in a world of sickness
and suffering God is always actively working to keep us alive and to restore
us to health. He is dynamically involved in restraining the damage that
sickness and suffering are inflicting on the human race. It is indeed amazing
to observe the human body fighting diseases through built-in systems of
defense. These are “nature’s agencies set at work to restore soundness” to
our bodies. They are part of the laws of nature established by God for our
good. Second, for Ellen White the power to heal observable in the
operations of nature is not inherent in nature itself. The system is there but
it lacks the power needed to heal. Healing power exclusively resides in God
who makes it available to us through the agencies of nature. In other words,
nature lacks life-giving power because it is part of creation itself and, more
specifically, because it has also been damaged by sin and is consequently
sick (cf., Rom 8:19-23). To the superficial observer it would appear that it
is the forces of nature that bring healing but, according to White, what we
witness in the operations of nature is the power of God preserving and
restoring human life on the planet. This is an unapologetic rejection of a
secular and of any mechanical understanding of the operations of nature.
The theocentric nature of the health reform promoted by Ellen White
is at the same time Christ-centered: “There is in nature the continual
working of the Father and the Son. Christ says, ‘My Father worketh
hitherto, and I work,’ John 5:17.”
16
He came to give us “health and peace
and perfection of character.”
17
She adds, “From Him flowed a stream of
healing power, and in body and mind and soul men were made whole.”
18
The healing power of God that is active through nature’s agencies is indeed
the power of Christ manifested on the cross. The physicians try to work
with nature to bring healing but the truth is, White says, that Christ is the
one who imparts health and life.
19
16
PP 114; for a fuller discussion on the Ellen White’s Christ-centered understanding
of the health reform see below under “Soteriology.”
17
MH 17.
18
Ibid.
19
Ibid., 111.
137
JOURNAL OF THE ADVENTIST THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
For her ultimate reality and knowledge or truth are found in God; a
personal God. It is through His self-revelation that we come to understand
Him, creation, and ourselves. Any approach to nature and healing based on
rationalism and/or humanism is considered to be too narrow and ultimately
ineffective in bringing true healing. Only the one who created nature and
who, in the context of sin, sent His Son to redeem us is capable of
preserving and restoring life to the human race. True healing is always a
manifestation of the power of God.
20
B. Health Reform and Biblical Anthropology
Let us return to Ellen White’s statement of purpose for the health
reform program. The second theological element present in the statement
is biblical anthropology. Her understanding of health reform is
incontestably grounded on the biblical understanding of human nature. We
are dealing now with the object of healing—the human being. Who is this
creature in need of healing? It is impossible to develop a theology of
healing or a system of healing without first understanding the nature of the
person who needs healing. In the statement of purpose this is made quite
clear: “Its purpose is to secure the highest development of body and mind
and soul.” It is assumed that humans, as created by God, are in need of
development in an integrated way because they are an indivisible unity of
life in bodily form (body, mind, and soul). We will develop these ideas
under two main headings: Humans as embodied potentiality and humans as
embodied life.
1. Humans as Embodied Potentiality
In biblical anthropology humans were created with a potential to be
developed. In a sense they came from the hands of the creator as
“unfinished” beings. Without this quality they would have been frozen
pieces of art to be admired by other creatures but lacking freedom. Perhaps
it could be said that humans were beings heading to a fuller expression of
their beings. At creation they possessed all the characteristics that defined
20
See, Reid, Trumpets, 118-125.
138
RODRÍGUEZ: HEALTH REFORM IN THE WRITINGS OF E. G. WHITE
them as human beings and as such they were perfect.
21
But the potentiality
that also defined them constituted them into free beings that in the exercise
of their freedom were becoming, in union with God, what they would want
or like to become. This capacity for further development belongs to the very
essence of human nature and should not be identified as a post-fallen
condition.
22
White writes, “He [God] would have been glorified in the work
of His hands had man retained his first perfection, and had all his varied
capabilities of mind and soul and body been developed so as to reach the
highest possible degree of excellence.”
23
God created humans as a potentiality that could actualize itself through
self-development “reaching the highest possible degree of excellence.” In
other words, “every man has the opportunity, to a great extent, of making
himself whatever he chooses to be.”
24
This is indeed about human freedom,
but it is also about assuming responsibility for our actions as beings
traveling to a fuller expression of our beings. Since development belongs
to the essence of being humans, it should not surprise us to find Ellen White
indicating that the goal of the health reform is precisely the development of
the potential that God granted us at creation. God has not changed His plans
for the human race. This potential has been damaged by sin and can only be
21
Notice how Ellen G. White describes the condition of humans immediately after
creation: “Man came from the hand of God perfect in organization and beautiful in form. All
his faculties of mind and body were fully developed and harmoniously balanced. His nature
was in harmony with the will of God. His affections were pure; his appetites and passions
were under the control of reason. His mind was capable of comprehending divine things. He
stood before his Maker in the strength of manhood, the crowning glory of the creative work”
(PHJ, February 1, 1902 par. 1). When she states “his faculties of mind and body were fully
developed” she is not denying the need for further development but affirming that the
faculties did not lack what was needed for them to be humans.
22
White writes, “If it were possible for created beings to attain to a full understanding
of God and His works, then, having reached this point, there would be for them no further
discovery of truth, no growth in knowledge, no further development of mind or heart. God
would no longer be supreme; and men, having reached the limit of knowledge and
attainment, would cease to advance. Let us thank God that it is not so. God is infinite; in
Him are ‘all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.’ And to all eternity men may be ever
searching, ever learning, and yet they can never exhaust the treasures of His wisdom, His
goodness, and His power” (CCh 88).
23
PHJ, February 1, 1902 par. 1, par. 2.
24
CH 107.
139
JOURNAL OF THE ADVENTIST THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
restored through the power of Christ. He is the one who could motivate us
to take proper care of our bodily existence.
Perhaps the questions we should address now is, why do humans need
to develop the potential they have? Ellen G. White provides a direct answer:
Our first duty toward God and our fellow beings is that of self-
development. Every faculty with which the Creator has endowed us
should be cultivated to the highest degree of perfection, that we may be
able to do the greatest amount of good of which we are capable. Hence
that time is spent to good account which is used in the establishment and
preservation of physical and mental health.
25
She has raised the issue of personal development to the level of a moral
responsibility. Self-development is not narcissistic neither is it an attempt
to merge with the powers of nature in a pantheistic mystical rapture. This
is to be done for the benefit of others. We owe it to God and to others to
develop our potential as much as possible in order to increase the amount
of good in the world. When humans look around they tend to see the evil
that is there, but Ellen White challenges us to look for and increase the good
in the world. The value of self-development is not grounded on ethical
egoism, whereby the person seeks to increase personal benefits, but it is
grounded on ethical universalism according to which everyone should seek
the increase of good in the world for the benefit of others. Ethical decisions
related to self-development are to be made in answer to the question, would
this increase the amount of good in the world? According to White,
personal development enables us to increase the amount of good in a world
of sickness and suffering in accordance to our personal capacities.
She also identifies another important ethical value: “Hence that time is
spent to good account which is used in the establishment and preservation
of physical and mental health.” In other words, it is ethically correct to
spend time studying the laws of nature and taking care of our physical and
mental health because in doing such things we are aiming at doing
maximum good for others. Therefore the health reform is not incompatible
with the gospel, the three angels’ messages (Rev 14:6-12) or with the
25
Ibid.
140
RODRÍGUEZ: HEALTH REFORM IN THE WRITINGS OF E. G. WHITE
Christian life.
26
This same value was manifested in the life of Jesus and
consequently “our Lord Jesus Christ came to this world as the unwearied
servant of man’s necessities.”
27
The potential we received from the Creator
is to be developed in order to benefit the human race.
2. Humans as Embodied Life: Wholistic Anthropology
28
The goal of health reform, according to Ellen White, is “to secure the
highest development of body and mind and soul.” Humans are defined by
her as an indivisible unity of body, mind, and soul. According to the
Scriptures, humans were created by God as a fragment of indivisible life in
bodily form.
29
Humans do not have body, mind, and soul but they are body,
mind, and soul. This biblical view provides an unshakable foundation for
what Ellen White has to say about the importance of the health reform she
is endorsing and promoting. Since these different dimensions of the human
being are deeply interconnected in the one person, whatever damages one
26
She is very explicit on this matter: “As a people we have been given the work of
making known the principles of health reform. There are some who think that the question
of diet is not of sufficient importance to be included in their evangelistic work. But such
make a great mistake. God’s word declares, ‘Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or
whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.’ 1 Corinthians 10:31. The subject of
temperance, in all its bearings, has an important place in the work of salvation” (CH 443).
27
MH 17.
28
For a brief history of wholeness in Adventist thinking and life see, Ginger Hanks-
Harwood, “Wholeness,” in Remnant and Republic: Adventist Themes for Personal and
Social Ethics, ed. Charles W. Teel (Loma Linda, CA: Loma Linda University Center for
Christian Bioethics, 1995), 127-144.
29
For the biblical evidence see, Ángel Manuel Rodríguez, “Health and Healing in the
Pentateuch,” in Health 2000 and Beyond: A Study Conference of Adventist Theology,
Philosophy, and Practice of Healing, ed. Eugene Durand and Gary Swanson (Silver Spring,
MD: Health and Temperance Department of the General Conference of Seventh-day
Adventists, 1994),17-29; and Niels-Erik A. Andreasen, “Death: Origin, Nature, and Final
Eradication,” in Handbook of Seventh-day Adventist Theology, ed. Raoul Dederen
(Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 2000), 314-334. Christian anthropology is basically
dualistic (humans have an eternal soul that exist by itself independent of the body).
Neuroscientific studies are providing evidence to support the wholistic anthropology found
in the Bible and that evidence is beginning to have an impact in theological circles. For a
discussion of the evidence from neurology as well as from the Bible and how the two could
interact see, Joel B. Green, Body, Soul and Human Life: The nature of Humanity in the Bible
(Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008).
141
JOURNAL OF THE ADVENTIST THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
of them would also damage, at least to some extent, the unity of the person.
She comments:
Since the mind and the soul find expression through the body, both mental
and spiritual vigor are in great degree dependent upon physical strength
and activity; whatever promotes physical health, promotes the
development of a strong mind and a well-balanced character. Without
health, no one can as distinctly understand or as completely fulfill his
obligations to himself, to his fellow beings, or to his Creator. Therefore,
the health should be as faithfully guarded as the character.
30
This connection is so intimate that:
They react upon each other. In order, then, to reach a high standard of
moral and intellectual attainment, and to secure a strong well-balanced
character, the laws that control our physical being must be heeded; both
the mental and the physical powers must be developed. Such a training
will produce men of strength and solidity of character, of keen perception
and sound judgment,—men who will be an honor to God and a blessing
to the world.
31
White refers to the human body as “a living machinery” in which
“every function is wonderfully and wisely made” and which, among the
works of God in the natural world, is “the most wonderful.”
32
It is a
“marvelous organism.”
33
It is the dwelling place of God
34
and is to “be
presented to Him a living sacrifice, fitted to render Him acceptable
service.”
35
In order to keep it in good health it is important to study human
physiology and practice the laws of nature that govern it: “The Lord desires
us to obey the laws of health and life. He holds each one responsible to care
properly for his body, that it may be kept in health.”
36
30
CG 360-361.
31
PUJ February 1, 1902 par. 14.
32
CG 103.
33
CD 457.
34
CH 382.
35
Ibid., 206.
36
Ev 261.
142
RODRÍGUEZ: HEALTH REFORM IN THE WRITINGS OF E. G. WHITE
“Mind” and “soul” are closely related. The “mind” emphasizes the
rational dimension of human beings while the “soul,” in the context of the
discussion of health in Ellen White, seems to point to the inner life of the
person and in particular to the spiritual aspect. According to her, mind was
created by God on the sixth day. “It was a wonderful thing for God to create
man, to make mind. He created him that every faculty might be the faculty
of the divine mind.”
37
“Mind” is on this planet a unique a piece of matter.
Endowed with self-awareness and the abilities to reason and feel, humans
were to rule over the world and to be able to communicate and commune
with the Creator. Every faculty of the human mind was to “be the faculty
of the divine mind,” that is to say the point of contact or access between the
human mind and God. He was interested in using it to communicate with
us and in allowing us to talk to Him. The divine Mind was to touch the
human mind: “The brain nerves which communicate with the entire system
are the only medium through which Heaven can communicate to man and
affect his inmost life. Whatever disturbs the circulation of the electric
currents in the nervous system lessens the strength of the vital powers, and
the result is a deadening of the sensibilities of the mind.”
38
The deterioration of the reasoning powers of the mind as a result of bad
eating habits and the indulgence of evil passions has done serious damage
to the human race. Ellen White specifically states:
The bad eating of many generations, the gluttonous and self-indulgent
habits of the people, are filling our poorhouses, our prisons, and our insane
asylums. Intemperance, in drinking tea and coffee, wine, beer, rum, and
brandy, and the use of tobacco, opium, and other narcotics, has resulted
in great mental and physical degeneracy, and this degeneracy is constantly
increasing.
39
37
HL 12.
38
CG 446. She also writes, “It must be kept before the people that the right balance of
the mental and moral powers depends in a great degree on the right conditions of the
physical system. All narcotics and unnatural stimulants that enfeeble and degrade the
physical nature tend to lower the tone of the intellect and morals. Intemperance lies at the
foundation of the moral depravity of the world” (CME 38).
39
CH 49. For her, intemperance meant lack of self-control and more specifically the
“indulgence of perverted appetite” (CME 39).
143
JOURNAL OF THE ADVENTIST THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
She considers this condition to be a threat to our humanness. The
rationality with which the Creator endowed humans—the mind—is at risk
and consequently the existence of the human race is also at risk. She states
it this way:
The present enfeebled condition of the human family was presented before
me. Every generation has been growing weaker, and disease of every form
afflicts the race. . . Satan’s power upon the human family increases. If the
Lord should not soon come and destroy his power, the earth would erelong
be depopulated.
40
Perhaps it would not be wrong to say that the human race is facing a
pan-epidemic of mental illnesses. The violence that prevails around the
world in the name of religion, political ideologies, financial concerns, or
rage testifies to the fact that the human mind, as created by God, has been
seriously damage. “Mind” is at risk on the planet. The health reform is one
of God’s instruments for the restoration and preservation of the human mind
in a world of physical and moral depravity and degeneration. She clearly
states, “Abstinence from the things that God has prohibited is the only way
to prevent ruin of body and mind.”
41
Therefore, it is required that the principles of health reform be agitated
in the public arena.
42
This work is to go together with the proclamation of
the three angels’ messages for at least a couple of reasons (cf., Rev 14:6-
12).
43
First, instructing the public on proper health care will destroy
prejudices against the message making people more willing to accept it. The
reliability of the health message would tend to predispose people to accept
40
Ibid., 18. Notice how intemperance is connected by her with the enemy: “The enemy
is trying to drag human beings down by leading them to indulge perverted appetite” (Ev
530). “Intemperance is at the foundation of the larger share of the ills of life. It annually
destroys tens of thousands. We do not speak of intemperance as limited only to the use of
intoxicating liquors, but give it a broader meaning, including the hurtful indulgence of any
appetite or passion. Through intemperance some sacrifice one half, and others two thirds of
their physical, mental, and moral powers and become playthings for the enemy” (CG 394;
emphasis mine).
41
CH 135.
42
“Health principles must be agitated and the public mind deeply stirred to
investigation” (RH, Feb 11, 1902).
43
See CH 20-21.
144
RODRÍGUEZ: HEALTH REFORM IN THE WRITINGS OF E. G. WHITE
the biblical reliability of the message itself. She points out that “when
properly conducted, the health work is an entering wedge, making a way for
other truths to reach the heart.”
44
Secondly, and perhaps more important, the
mind of many are so damaged that it is impossible for them to understand
or perceive the beauty of the message. White states, “He [God] designs that
the subject shall be agitated and the public mind deeply stirred to
investigate it; for it is impossible for men and women, while under the
power of sinful, health-destroying, brain-enervating habits, to appreciate
sacred truth.”
45
She goes so far as to say that improper diet could lead to
animalism and “a development of animalism lessens spirituality, rendering
the mind incapable of understanding the truth.”
46
What these individuals
need is not instruction about biblical teachings but instruction on the
principles of health reform that will bring healing to their minds and would
make them more sensitive to the work of the Spirit and the message of
salvation. Thus will the inner life—the soul—be renewed and character
developed into the similitude of our Lord.
C. Health Reform and the Value of Human Life
Let us return to the statement of purpose quoted at the beginning of this
paper. Let me quote it again in full:
In teaching health principles, keep before the mind the great object of
reform—that its purpose is to secure the highest development of body and
mind and soul. Show that the laws of nature, being the laws of God, are
designed for our good; that obedience to them promotes happiness in this
life, and aids in the preparation for the life to come.
47
44
Ibid., 434; also 487.
45
Ibid., 21.
46
RH, May 27, 1902 par. 4. Writing to Adventists she states, “You need clear,
energetic minds, in order to appreciate the exalted character of the truth, to value the
atonement, and to place the right estimate upon eternal things. If you pursue a wrong course
and indulge in wrong habits of eating, and thereby weaken the intellectual powers, you will
not place that high estimate upon salvation and eternal life which will inspire you to conform
your life to the life of Christ; you will not make those earnest, self-sacrificing efforts for
entire conformity to the will of God which His word requires and which are necessary to
give you a moral fitness for the finishing touch of immortality” (2T 66).
47
MH 146.
145
JOURNAL OF THE ADVENTIST THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
We will comment on the last clause of the statement: “that obedience
to them promotes happiness in this life, and aids in the preparation for the
life to come.” For Ellen White life, and particularly human life, is good and
extremely valuable. “Life is a gift of God.”
48
Sin has devalued human life
and every evil practice devalues it even more leading many to conclude that
life on this planet is a miserable burden; even hell. Sickness damages the
quality of our lives and deprives us of happiness. White states, “There is
sickness everywhere, and most of it might be prevented by attention to the
laws of health. The people need to see the bearing of health principles upon
their well-being . . . .”
49
She goes on to say that “the decline in physical
vigor and power of endurance is alarming. It demands the attention of all
who have at heart the well-being of their fellow men.”
50
Notice that what
should move us to promote health reform is our interest in the well-being
of others; a well-being that is being seriously damage by their eating habits
and their intemperance.
The health reform promoted by Ellen White procures to improve the
quality of life on the planet: “There is a great work to be done for suffering
humanity in relieving their sufferings by the use of the natural agencies that
God has provided, and in teaching them how to prevent sickness by the
regulation of the appetites and passions.”
51
The model offered by her is the
ministry of Jesus.
When Christ saw the multitudes that gathered about Him, “He was moved
to compassion on them. . . .” Christ saw the sickness, the sorrow, the want
and degradation of the multitudes that thronged His steps. To Him were
presented the needs and woes of humanity throughout the world. Among
the high and the low, the most honored and the most degraded, He beheld
souls who were longing for the very blessing He had come to bring; souls
who needed only a knowledge of His grace, to become subjects of His
kingdom.
52
48
CH 41.
49
CME 32.
50
CD 441.
51
CH 206.
52
Ibid., 13.
146
RODRÍGUEZ: HEALTH REFORM IN THE WRITINGS OF E. G. WHITE
This depressing vision of human suffering was one of the reasons for
His interest in healing the sick. Humans have ruined their health through
intemperate habits and many of them tend to “feel that they are without
hope either for this life or for the life to come. . .” Some even “speak of
these erring ones as hopeless; but God looks upon them with pitying
tenderness.”
53
God “calls upon His people to be His helping hand in
relieving their wants.”
54
Health reform is not the final cure for the problem of sickness and
suffering, but it contributes to alleviating and preventing suffering; thus
helping the human family to enjoy a little more of the divine and precious
gift of life. The holy ambition of Christians should be “to make the world
better for their having lived in it. This is the work to which they are
called.”
55
We should teach “that health is to be secured through obedience
to the laws that God has established for the good of all mankind.”
56
The enjoyment of life is inseparable from the religious dimension of the
human being. The experience of the divine in the human mind, soul, and
body brings with it healing power. Our spiritual connection to God is not
detrimental to our health but fundamental for it. “The influence of the Spirit
of God is the very best medicine for disease. Heaven is all health; and the
more deeply heavenly influences are realized, the more sure will be the
recovery of the believing invalid. The true principles of Christianity open
before all a source of inestimable happiness.”
57
God wants us to be happy
and to enjoy life to its fullest. The following statement establishes a direct
connection between the love of God and its healing power in the totality of
the human being:
The love which Christ diffuses through the whole being is a vitalizing
power. Every vital part—the brain, the heart, the nerves—it touches with
healing. By it the highest energies of the being are aroused to activity. It
frees the soul from the guilt and sorrow, the anxiety and care, that crush
the life forces. With it come serenity and composure. It implants in the
53
Ibid., 14.
54
Ibid.
55
MH 398.
56
Ibid., 113.
57
CH 28.
147
JOURNAL OF THE ADVENTIST THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
soul joy that nothing earthly can destroy,—joy in the Holy Spirit,—health-
giving, life-giving joy.
58
The power of the love of God poured into our hearts is experienced not
in the soul as an entity detached from the material body but on the human
being as an indivisible unity—the brain, the heart, the nerves. The love of
God touches the human body—the totality of the person. We could call this
a spiritual-psychosomatic experience of healing. The health reform has the
purpose of increasing the well-being of every human being in order for
them to enjoy life as much as possible in a world that is still under the
tyranny of sin.
III. Other Theological Concepts Associated with Health Reform
In addition to the biblical doctrines of God and humans and the divine
concern for the enjoyment of life, there are several other biblical concepts
that are directly connected by Ellen White to health reform. We will explore
three of them that appear to be particularly important to her.
A. Soteriology
Any attempt to promote health reform should be always connected to
the redemptive work of Christ on behalf of the human race or it would lack
lasting value. Without Him any possibility of true healing is simply
impossible. He is “the Great Healer.”
59
It should be clearly stated that “it is
only through the grace of Christ that the work of restoration, physical,
mental, and spiritual, can be accomplished.”
60
This is possible because He
did the unimaginable for us:
Christ alone was able to bear the afflictions of the many. “In all their
affliction he was afflicted.” He never bore disease in His own flesh, but
58
MH 115. Notice how carrying for others brings healing: “If the mind is free and
happy, from a consciousness of right doing and a sense of satisfaction in causing happiness
to others, it creates a cheerfulness that will react upon the whole system, causing a freer
circulation of the blood and a toning up of the entire body. The blessing of God is a healing
power, and those who are abundant in benefitting others will realize that wondrous blessing
in both heart and life” (CH 28).
59
CME 34.
60
MH 142-143.
148
RODRÍGUEZ: HEALTH REFORM IN THE WRITINGS OF E. G. WHITE
He carried the sickness of others. With tenderest sympathy He looked
upon the suffering ones who pressed about Him. He groaned in spirit as
He saw the work of Satan revealed in all their woe, and He made every
case of need and of sorrow His own. . . . The power of love was in all His
healing. He identified His interests with suffering humanity.
61
This statement suggests that somehow Jesus vicariously bore on
Himself the diseases of those He healed. Vicariously because it is said that
“he never bore disease in His own flesh” and yet He “alone was able to bear
the afflictions of the many” or “he carried the sickness of others.” His
healing miracles were performed in anticipation of His own suffering on the
cross. In fact, we are told, that “as He witnessed the suffering of humanity,
He knew that He must bear a greater pain, mingled with mockery, that He
would suffer the greatest humiliation. When He raised Lazarus from the
dead, He knew that for that life He must pay the ransom on the cross of
Calvary.”
62
Herein lays the mystery of the healing power of the cross, “in coming
to the world in human form, in becoming subject to the law, in revealing to
men that He bore their sickness, their sorrow, their guilt, Christ did not
become a sinner. He was pure and uncontaminated by any disease. Not one
stain of sin was found upon Him. . . . He stood before the world the spotless
Lamb of God.”
63
Yet, He experienced in His own person and as our
substitute the ultimate fate of our sickness; death. It could be said that
sickness is the incursion of death in the sphere of life in order to end life. It
is because the Sinless One, the one in whom there was no disease, took our
place that the cross has become the place from which the healing power of
God flows to suffering humanity. The one who did not need healing was
wounded in order for us to be healed. Atonement is the ultimate solution to
the problem sickness, suffering, and death.
Meanwhile, “Christ is no longer in this world in person, to go through
our cities and towns and villages, healing the sick; but He has
commissioned us to carry forward the medical missionary work that He
began.”
64
Ellen White is referring here to what she calls the health reform
61
CTr 251.
62
Ibid.
63
TMK 67.
64
9T 168.
149
JOURNAL OF THE ADVENTIST THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
program which includes teaching and practicing the health principles, use
of rational medicine, and praying for the sick. The Scriptures clearly teach
that healing can take place through prayer in the name of Jesus. But we
know through personal experience that this is not always the case. In such
cases we can affirm that healing takes places at a deeper level: “When the
sick pray for the recovery of health, the Lord does not always answer their
prayer in just the way they desire. But even though they may not be
immediately healed, He will give them that which is of far more
value—grace to bear their sickness.”
65
What is offered here is a deeper
understanding of healing. The healing power of God is manifested in this
situation through His sustaining grace that enables us to carry the burden
with courage and full confidence in His love.
66
“Sickness and pain may test
and try our patience and our faith, but the brightness of the Presence [the
Shekinah] of the universe is with us and we must hide self behind Jesus.”
67
The idea seems to be that in such cases we can find refuge in Christ thus
strengthening our relationship with Him.
The message of salvation through faith in the atoning work of Christ
has in itself healing power. “If all would accept the righteousness of Christ,
we should not see so much sickness in our world. Everyone would strive to
take care of the house he inhabits. He would purify his soul by obeying the
truth.”
68
This is based on the fact that through His death Christ redeemed us
and consequently our body, mind, and soul belong to Him. We are not our
own but were “purchased with a dear price . . . . If we could understand this
and fully realize it, we would feel a great responsibility resting upon us to
keep ourselves in the very best condition of health, that we might render to
God perfect service.”
69
Our bodies should be used to glorify our Creator and
65
HP 82.
66
This idea comes very close to the distinction made in medical anthropology between
cure and healing. Curing “is the strategy of destroying or checking a pathogen, removing
a malfunctioning or non-functioning organ, restoring a person to health or well-being;”
while healing “is the restoration of meaning to life. It is the strategy of restoring social and
personal meaning for life problems that accompany human health misfortunes” (John J.
Pilch, Healing in the New Testament: Insights from Medical Anthropology (Minneapolis,
MN: Augsburg Fortress, 2000), 153, 155. A person can heal without being cured of an
illness.
67
2MR 37.
68
RH, April 30, 1901, par. 9.
69
CH 43.
150
RODRÍGUEZ: HEALTH REFORM IN THE WRITINGS OF E. G. WHITE
Redeemer.
70
We are God’s appointed stewards of our bodies because He
redeemed us as one unity of indivisible life. From the soteriological
perspective our ultimate victory over sickness and death will take place at
the Parousia: “When Christ comes, sorrow and sighing will be forever
ended. Then will be the Christian’s summer. All trials will be over, and
there will be no more sickness or death.”
71
B. Eschatology
Ellen White, as we should have expected, connects health reform to
end-time eschatological expectations. She counseled that “as we near the
close of time, we must rise higher and still higher upon the question of
health reform and Christian temperance, presenting it in a more positive and
decided manner.”
72
She argues that health reform will assist us in growing
in holiness before the Lord by bringing into subjection our appetites and
submitting the passions of the body to the mind in the power of the Spirit.
73
It is the divine intention to preserve our bodies holy and our spirits pure in
a world packed with corruption.
74
At a time when the human body is abused
by many, we are exhorted to understand our physical bodies in order to
proclaim with the psalmist, “I praise you because I am fearfully and
wonderfully made” (Ps 139:14). In other words, the study of human
physiology as part of the health reform will result in these last days in a
recognition and proclamation of God as our Creator. There is healing power
in praising the Lord.
70
She indicates that “the knowledge that man is to be a temple for God, a habitation
for the revealing of His glory, should be the highest incentive to the care and development
of our physical powers. Fearfully and wonderfully has the Creator wrought in the human
frame, and He bids us make it our study, understand its needs, and act our part in preserving
it from harm and defilement” (MH 271).
71
Hvn 60.
72
CH 467.
73
RH, April 30, 1914, pars. 5-6. She specifically states that “God’s elect must stand
untainted amid the corruptions teeming around them in these last days. Their bodies must
be made holy, their spirits pure. If this work is to be accomplished, it must be undertaken
at once, earnestly and understandingly. The Spirit of God should have perfect control,
influencing every action. The health reform is one branch of the great work which is to fit
a people for the coming of the Lord. It is as closely connected with the third angel’s message
as the hand is with the body” (CH 20-21).
74
CH 45.
151
JOURNAL OF THE ADVENTIST THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
It is in the context of the last days’ deceptions that Ellen White
establishes a clear connection between eschatology and health reform.
75
One
of the most important points of controversy at the close of the cosmic
conflict will be miraculous healings. Satan will appear to “the children of
men as a great physician who can heal all their maladies.”
76
He will appear
as “a benefactor of the race, healing the diseases of the people and
professing to present a new and more exalted system of religious faith.”
77
Perhaps we can refer to this as a false health reform, probably based on
emotionalism, that is totally detached from the rational elements that
characterize the true reform that seeks to heal the totality of the
person—body, mind, and soul.
The healing miracles of Jesus healed the whole person and brought
them into harmony with God’s will: “From Him [Jesus] flowed a stream of
healing power, and in body and mind and soul men were made whole.”
78
This, the false health reform will not be able to achieve. Jesus “made each
work of healing an occasion for implanting divine principles in the mind
and soul.”
79
In the ministry of Jesus “deliverance from sin and the healing
of disease were linked together” and this ministry has been committed to
His people.
80
The new religion promoted by evil powers does not bring this
type of biblical healing because it lacks the power to transform human
beings. The end-time confrontation between true and false healing will test
the people of God. She seems to be suggesting that it will require from them
a clear understanding of the biblical teachings on health and healing that
will help them distinguish between truth and falsehood.
C. Theodicy: The Act of Justifying God
Theodicy (theos, “God” and dike, “judgment”) attempts to demonstrate
that God is love and all powerful in spite of the fact that there is evil and
suffering in the world. The problem of human suffering is complex and only
during the final judgment we would be able to gain a complete
75
The best exposition of the views of Ellen G. White on eschatology is found in her
book The Great Controversy, 563-678.
76
CH 461.
77
Ibid., 460.
78
MH 17.
79
Ibid., 20.
80
Ibid., 111.
152
RODRÍGUEZ: HEALTH REFORM IN THE WRITINGS OF E. G. WHITE
understanding of the divine interaction with it. Nevertheless, there are many
things we can say to defend the loving nature of God and His power in the
context of suffering and death. It is interesting and perhaps surprising to
find Ellen White arguing in favor of the love of God in her discussions on
disease, sickness, and human suffering. To certain extent health reform is
used by her to defend the divine character and to assign responsibility for
the suffering caused by sickness to others except God. Her theodicy, if you
please, is offered to the reader in the form of a narrative. This is
understandable because in the Bible God reveals His character within the
movement of history; in the interaction with human beings.
Ellen White takes us to the moment when God created Adam and Eve;
when humans came from the hand of the Lord. Then the human “faculties
of mind and body were fully developed and harmoniously balanced” and
human nature “was in perfect harmony with the will of God.”
81
The
“appetite and passions” of the first couple were “under the control of
reason” and the “mind was capable of comprehending divine things.”
82
In
other words, God brought into existence a human being perfect in body,
mind, and soul untouched by the corrupting presence and power of evil and
suffering. God established laws to regulate His creation and, since He is
love, in everything He did “He had the well-being of humanity in view.”
83
The theodicy begins emphasizing the original goodness of God’s creation.
There was nothing in the constitution of humans that would by nature lend
itself to corruption. The legitimate action of the appetites of human nature
“would have prompted health and happiness.”
84
The goodness of creation
was a reflection of the essential goodness of the Creator.
The beginning of suffering and disease on this planet is traced back by
White to the fall, when humans, influenced by the enemy of God, lost their
moral and spiritual uprightness and the appetites and passions were
perverted bringing with it death. According to her, “sin is the cause of
physical degeneration; sin has blighted the race, and introduced disease,
misery, and death.”
85
The clear implication is that God should not be
81
PHJ, February 1, 1902 par.1.
82
Ibid.
83
Ibid., par. 2.
84
Ibid., par. 3.
85
Ibid.
153
JOURNAL OF THE ADVENTIST THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
charged with the emergence of disease and misery on the planet.
Unfortunately, since then the tendency of the human race has been
downward, the effect of sin has become “more marked with every
successive generation.”
86
After the flood, the life span of humans began to
decrease. By the time of Christ “humanity had so degenerated that many
endured a terrible weight of misery.”
87
The situation today, she says, is still
more deplorable.
Diseases of every type have been developed. Thousands of poor mortals
with deformed, sickly bodies and shattered nerves, are dragging out a
miserable existence. The infirmities of the body affect the mind, and lead
to gloom, doubt, and despair. Even infants in the cradle suffer from
diseases resulting from the sins of their parents.
88
Sadly, this situation has prevailed for so long that many have concluded
that this is the “appointed lot of humanity;” the natural condition of every
human being. To this she responds, “This is not the case.” She is rejecting
fatalism. Then she proceeds to exculpate God—He is not the author of
disease and it is not His desire to see His creatures suffering. She also
argues that Adam’s transgression “is not the only cause of our unhappy lot.
A succession of falls has occurred since Adam’s day”
89
and consequently
we find ourselves in the condition in which we are now. The enemy, who
enticed Adam and Eve, has been working to deface the image of God by
depraving humanity.
90
What we witness is the success of his work “in the
indulgence of depraved appetites and lustful passions, in defilement and
corruption, deformity and sin.” The work of Satan, the fall of Adam and
Eve, and the successive falls of human beings are the causes of the mental
and physical degeneration of the race and therefore it would be wrong to
attribute the present condition of the world to God’s providence.
91
Through
the indulgence of perverted appetite humans “have declined in virtue” and
86
Ibid., par. 4.
87
Ibid., pars. 5-6.
88
Ibid., par. 7.
89
Ibid., par. 8.
90
She clearly states, “Sickness, suffering, and death are work of an antagonistic power.
Satan is the destroyer; God is the restorer” (MH 113).
91
PHJ, February 1, 1902 par. 9.
154
RODRÍGUEZ: HEALTH REFORM IN THE WRITINGS OF E. G. WHITE
become weakened “through their own immoral practices and their violation
of physical law.”
92
She is placing responsibility where it belongs in order
for humans to acknowledge and assume responsibility for it. The idea seems
to be that one of the ways to assume responsibility is to start practicing the
principles of healthful living.
Ellen White passionately argues that the sickness that comes as a result
of the violation of natural law is not a punishment from God but something
that humans bring on themselves.
93
They experience the result of violating
natural law. Nature protests against any violation of the laws of life and
“bears abuse as long as she can; but finally retribution comes, and the
mental as well as the physical powers suffer. Nor does the punishment fall
on the transgressor alone; the effects of his indulgence are seen in his
offspring, and thus the evil is passed on from generation to generation.”
94
She acknowledges that in the world in which we live the innocent suffer as
the result of the decisions and actions of others.
But, where is God and what is He doing for the human race? The most
important thing he did for us was to send His Son as “the great sacrifice
made for the uplifting and ennobling of the human race.”
95
While the enemy
of God has been working corrupting humans, God through Christ has been
doing the opposite. Today, in the midst of the present chaos of sickness and
suffering, God is constantly working to keep us alive and to build up and
restore us.
96
In His providence He has also raised awareness of the need to
care for human health and interest in the study of the laws of nature that
regulate our physical being and that, if obeyed, would alleviate human
92
Ibid., par. 10.
93
RH, May 27, 1902 par. 7.
94
PHJ, February 1, 1902 par. 11. She has practically personified nature by describing
it as bearing abuse and finally bringing retribution or punishing those who abused her. In the
statement, she is obviously referring to the laws of heredity as one of the sources of disease
but for her this is not the only one. Her etiology of sickness deserves careful study. One
should keep in mind that even those who care for their health would get sick because we live
in a world of sickness and death and our bodies have not yet been redeemed. She indicates
that human social solidarity contributes to the suffering of the innocent: “You are not the
only sufferer from a wrong course. The society you are in bears the consequences of your
wrongs, in a great degree, as well as yourselves” (CH 45).
95
Ev 530.
96
MH 112.
155
JOURNAL OF THE ADVENTIST THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
suffering and in many cases illnesses would be avoided.
97
It would be
correct to say that God is using scientist around the world who are studying
the issue of health and how to overcome diseases in His battle against
illness and suffering. He has also entrusted to believers His self-revelation
in Scripture. “Compliance with its requirements will be a blessing to both
soul and body. The fruit of the Spirit is not only love, joy, and peace, but
temperance also,—health of body as well as health of mind.”
98
Ellen White is totally aware of the complexity of human suffering
caused by diseases. She identifies the primary agent of suffering as Satan,
Adam as the initiator of it in our world through the fall, and its increase
through the succession of falls by his descendants. The responsibility for the
misery and pain that we see today is to a large extent placed by her on the
shoulders of human beings who, instigated by the enemy, have chosen to
violate the laws of nature. God is not responsible for this situation at all. On
the contrary He is constantly working to preserve life on the planet and to
alleviate pain and suffering in anticipation of the moment when He will
remove them forever from the planet.
IV. Conclusion
It may be good to reexamine the role that a concern for health should
play in the Christian church and in the world at large. The purpose of the
health reform promoted by Ellen White is broad and universal in scope
because the problem it addresses—sickness and suffering—is also
universal; no one has been able to avoid its painful sting. For her, health
reform is theocentric and Christ centered because God is the only one who
can truly heal. He is the Creator of the laws of nature that govern the proper
performance of the human body and the one who through these laws
provides the power needed for true healing. This healing power reaches us
through our Lord Jesus Christ. The health reform makes it possible for us
to work harmoniously with God in the preservation of human health.
The health program promoted by Ellen White is also supported by
biblical anthropology. As a being endowed by God with the capacity to
reach fullness of being, that is to say, to develop and grow as a single unity
of life, humans are to care for their bodies in the realization of that
97
CH 21; and PHJ, February 1, 1902 par. 15.
98
Ibid., par. 16.
156
RODRÍGUEZ: HEALTH REFORM IN THE WRITINGS OF E. G. WHITE
potential. The health reform contributes to the preservation of humanness
and rationality. This is necessary because humans are an indivisible unity
of life in bodily form in which body, mind, and soul are so interconnected
that what damages one of these dimensions damages the others. The biblical
theology of the value of life is also part of the theological foundation of the
health reform. God created human life to be enjoyed and not to be a burden
and He is doing all He can for us to enjoy it as much as possible in a world
of sickness, suffering, and death. The health reform makes a contribution
to the enjoyment of life.
The health reform program of Ellen White is inseparable from biblical
soteriology. Without Christ there is no true healing. He took the ultimate
destiny of human disease, death, upon Himself in order for us to enjoy
freedom from it. The health reform alleviates the present suffering of
humanity while waiting for the moment when Christ’s victory over
sickness, suffering, and death will be consummated. Eschatology is also
important in the study of health reform in Ellen White. The forces of evil
will offer their own health reform program to the human race. They will
offer human beings a new way of overcoming the predicament of sickness
and human suffering without transforming the inner being of sinners. The
true health reform aims at unmasking this end-time deception. White
emphasizes in a unique way theodicy in the context of sickness and
suffering. God is not the originator of this cruelty and neither is He using
it to punish the human race. The health reform program contributes to
manifest God’s loving concern for humankind.
Ángel Manuel Rodríguez, Th.D, is the former Director of the Biblical Research
Institute of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. He held that
position for ten years and that of Associate Director for ten years. At the present
time he continues to work part-time for the Institute. He has published over twelve
books and pamphlets and hundreds of articles in books, journals, and magazines.
During his years of service at the Institute, Rodríguez participated in dozens of
Bible Conferences and Theological Symposiums around the world and in several
interfaith conversations with theologians from other Christian communities.
157
