One Sabbath school teacher stated that: “We use Ellen G. White too much almost deifying her!” One might also hear: Or “Adventists must overcome their legalism!” I think it interesting that we accept these assumptions without critically looking at them. Such sentiments are often never challenged.
Some assume that one could go into your average Adventist church and get talked about for bringing cheese or meat to the pot-luck. It is assumed that you can go to your average Adventist church and hear people quote Ellen White more than the Bible. It is assumed that the average Adventist church consists of people with a notepad seeking to write down all 
the things that you have done wrong. But are these assumptions true?
Pot Lucks and Cheese
I find such statements interesting for a couple of reasons…First, I find that the seeker sensitive services do not necessarily end up with a more “loving” expereince. See my post on another blog. But also, I have attended many potlucks and have often seen cheese in them. Sometimes I see meat…But I have never seen anyone castigated for bringing cheese or meat. I have even seen a church related function have unclean meat in it….(but it was something that the pastor was not aware of and attempted to correct) I will acknowledge that my experiences are limited to my own case, I have not visited every church etc…But I can’t help but wonder what if the assumed problem is really not the problem?
Legalism or Lawlessness?
What if our basic assumptions are wrong? What if lawlessness is at least as big a problem as legalism in the church today? What if it is not that we use Ellen White too much, but hardly at all? What if instead of “worshipping her” as we are charged with we ignore her?
I doubt you will go to many churches tomorrow and hear Ellen White quoted more than the Bible. In fact you might hear Billy Graham or Martin Luther quoted more than Ellen White. I think it interesting that some think that Ellen White is deified in the church while at the same time we hear her less. Is the prophet disappearing or have I just attended the few churches that seem to downplay her?
What do you think?
of the methodology of the survey, the statistics are very intresting. for example of those members who read Ellen White daily 85% stated that they had a strong relationship with Jesus Christ while 59% of those who do not read her stated this. 82% of those who read Ellen White regularly also have daily Bible study while only 47% of those who do not read her had daily study.