(Death, Heaven, Purgatory, Hell)
Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults
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Seventh-Day Adventists and “Certain Races of Men”
A Denominational Embarrassment
The following statements are perhaps the most shocking ever penned by Ellen G. White! They were so shockingly biased, not to mention unscientific, that they were removed when the book, The Visions of Mrs. E.G. White, A Manifestation of Spiritual Gifts According to the Scriptures. was reprinted:
“But there was a sin that called for the destruction of the race by the flood. It was the base crime of amalgamation of "man and beast". "But if there was one sin above another which called for the destruction of the race by the flood, it was the base crime of amalgamation of man and beast which defaced the image of God, and caused confusion everywhere. . . . Every species of animal which God had created were preserved in the ark. The confused species which God did not create, which were the result of amalgamation, were destroyed by the flood. Since the flood there has been amalgamation of man and beast, as may be seen in the almost endless varieties of species of animals, and in certain races of men" (Spiritual Gifts, Vol. 3 pages 64 and 75).
In these passages we see that the crossing or mixing of species is what caused the confusion. Also note, in the text, that it says, "which God did not create". This tells us about another type of creature that did not come forth from the Creators hand on the 6th day of creation.
Union of Man with Animals creates amalgamated species?
Mrs. White believed the sexual union between man and beast (apes) before and after the flood produced different, amalgamated species. This was an old myth that circulated among the uneducated in the 19th century and has no scientific basis. In fact, science has proven that it is impossible for human sperm to impregnate the eggs of non-humans. This statement was so absurd and unscientific that it was removed from later publications.
Which race is a product of amalgamation?
Mrs. White said the results of amalgamation could be seen "in certain races of men." We have been waiting 140 years for Adventist officials to tell us which human race is the result of amalgamation of man and beast.
Stinging criticism of Ellen White in the 1860's forced church leaders to attempt to defend their prophet. In 1868, four years after the amalgamation statements first appeared in print, Adventist leader Uriah Smith, who at that time still professed belief in Ellen White as a prophet, published his defense of Ellen White.
Printed below is a direct quote from Smith’s defense of Ellen G. White:
"Since the flood there has been amalgamation of man and beast, as may be seen in the almost endless varieties of species of animals, and in certain races of men." This view was given for the purpose of illustrating the deep corruption and crime into which the race fell, even within a few years after the flood that signal manifestation of God's wrath against human wickedness. There was amalgamation; and the effect is still visible in certain races of men." Mark, those excepting the animals upon whom the effects of this work are visible, are called by the vision, "men." Now we have ever supposed that anybody that was called a man, was considered a human being. The vision speaks of all these classes as races of men; yet in the face of this plain declaration, they foolishly assert that the visions teach that some men are not human beings! But does any one deny the general statement contained in the extract given above? They do not. If they did, they could easily be silenced by a reference to such cases as the wild Bushmen of Africa, some tribes of the Hottentots, and perhaps the Digger Indians of our own country, &c. Moreover, naturalists affirm that the line of demarkation between the human and animal races is lost in confusion. It is impossible, as they affirm, to tell just where the human ends and the animal begins. Can we suppose that this was so ordained of God in the beginning? Rather has not sin marred the boundaries of these two kingdoms? (Uriah Smith, The Visions of Mrs. E. G. White, A Manifestation of Spiritual gifts According to the Scripture, pp. 103-104, (Steam Press, Battle Creek Michigan, 1868).
NOTE: This book is not available in any SDA bookstores today. You will not find this book in any SDA bookstores today.
James White "carefully" reviewed Smith's book prior to its publication, and then recommended it in glowing terms to the readers of the church's official magazine, the Review and Herald:
"The Association has just published a pamphlet entitled, "The Visions of Mrs. E.G. White, A Manifestation of Spiritual Gifts According to the Scriptures." It is written by the editor of the Review and Herald. While carefully reading the manuscript, I felt grateful to God that our people could have this able defense of those views they so much love and prize, which others despise and oppose." (Review and Herald, August 15, 1868).
Smith did not publish this book without careful review from the prophet's husband, James White. His endorsement of the book indicates his approval of the explanation. In fact, because it established Mrs. White's claims, James and Ellen took 2,000 copies of Smith's book with them to peddle at camp meetings that year! By promoting and selling Smith's book the Whites placed their stamp of approval on his explanation of the amalgamation statement.
While Smith may have limited the amalgamation to the African Bushmen and other peoples, some SDA's believe this "inspired" statement applies to the entire black race.
While the current defenders of Mrs. White at the White Estate cannot seem to provide a definitive explanation as to what Mrs. White was talking about, they assure us on their web site that whatever it was that Mrs. White was talking about, it was not the union between man and beast:
“No dictionary has ever used "amalgamation" to describe the cohabitation of man with beast. ... Mrs. White never hinted of subhuman beings or any kind of hybrid animal-human relationship. ... The burden of proof rests on those who affirm that Mrs. White gave a new and alien meaning to the term.”
While dictionaries do not explicitly describe amalgamation as the union of man and beast, they certainly allow for that definition. The word "amalgamation" is widely used in the English language to describe a mixture of two different elements. The word is commonly used to describe:
- Combining different businesses, groups, organizations.
- Combinations of music, art or food.
- Combinations of different technology and equipment.
- It has even been used by science fiction buffs to describe the offspring of the union between human and alien beings!
The use of the word is endless. It is used in thousands of ways to describe the combination of any two elements that are different.
The word comes from "amalgam" which has two primary meanings:
1: an alloy of mercury with another metal that is solid or liquid at room temperature according to the proportion of mercury present and is used especially in making tooth cements
2: a mixture of different elements
How was the word used in the 1800's? Webster's 1828 dictionary:
Amalgamation - The mixing or blending of different things.
Webster's 1913 dictionary:
A*mal`ga*ma"tion (#), n. [Cf. F. amalgamation.] The mixing or blending of different elements, races, societies, etc.; also, the result of such combination or blending; a homogeneous union.
A Summary of Mrs. White's main points about Amalgamation:
1. Amalgamation was "a sin" serious enough to require "the destruction" of the human race.
2. Amalgamation was a vile, "base crime".
3. This vile sin "defaced the image of God".
4. It occurred both before and after "the flood".
5. Its effects can be seen "in certain races of men".
But what are we to understand by "certain races of men?" She has not informed us in her writings, but left us to fix the stigma of amalgamation where we see fit. The interpretation has come to light. She told it to her husband, and he made it known to Elder Ingraham, and he divulged the secret that Sister White had seen that God never made the "Darkey" (ie. Negro).
"Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.' So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them..." (Gen. 1:26-27)
The discovery of DNA and subsequent investigations conclusively demonstrates that all human beings, regardless of race, originated with one set of biological parents. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: “Because of its common origin the human race forms a unity, for "from one ancestor [God] made all nations to inhabit the whole earth"(§ 360)
“O wondrous vision, which makes us contemplate the human race in the unity of its origin in God. . . in the unity of its nature, composed equally in all men of a material body and a spiritual soul; in the unity of its immediate end and its mission in the world; in the unity of its dwelling, the earth, whose benefits all men, by right of nature, may use to sustain and develop life; in the unity of its supernatural end: God himself, to whom all ought to tend; in the unity of the means for attaining this end;. . . in the unity of the redemption wrought by Christ for all” (Pius XII, encyclical, Summi Pontificus 3; cf. NA 1) .
"This law of human solidarity and charity", without excluding the rich variety of persons, cultures and peoples, assures us that all men are truly brethren. "(§ 361)