Electric Fence

By Bruce N. Cameron

Copr. 2008

“I Found Rest on the Journey”: The Royce Earp Story
Royce, a second generation Adventist, who graduated from an Adventist academy and university, decided to learn about Ellen White after his children were born. The story says that Royce graduated from Southern Adventist University in 1984. The family picture shows he has a couple of grinning sons, the oldest of which cannot be more than 15 years-old. According to my rough math, ten years out of school (all the while a member of the Church), Royce decides that he wants to learn about Ellen White.

I’m not sure how much attention Royce was paying in school, but it seems quite remarkable that he could go through Adventist schools, be a member of the Church for ten years thereafter, and know so little about Ellen White. Of course, the story also mentions that he did not know about the book of Galatians either.

According to the story, the beginning of Royce’s break with the Church occurred when he noticed that Genesis 3:6 said that Eve was with Adam at the time when he ate the forbidden fruit, while Ellen White said that Eve was susceptible to temptation because she had wandered away from Adam. That conflict, coupled with reading a few attack articles on Ellen White, convinced Royce she was a false prophet. As Royce wrote: “a thoughtful and open-minded person must reject Ellen White as a messenger of God.”

All this because Royce thinks Ellen White and the Bible have a location dispute!

Let’s look just a moment about what “thoughtful and open-minded” people would reasonably conclude about this alleged location conflict. Take a look at Genesis 3:1-6. A great deal of detail is omitted from this brief account of the fall. Would it make logical sense that Adam would stand mute at the side of Eve during her entire conversation with the serpent? Would he really say nothing when she first took hold of the fruit and then ate it? Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 2:14 that Adam was not deceived, he knew what he was doing. Would an Adam who knew exactly what was going on stand mute while Eve fell into sin? The Bible does not say that Adam was there the entire time and it defies common sense to think he was. So much for being “thoughtful.”

But, don’t listen to me. If Royce had taken the time to study some Bible commentaries he might have decided that Ellen White’s commentary was in line with several others. The Jamieson, Fausett, and Brown Commentary on this section says:

Much is evidently left to the reader’s imagination in this brief statement. We are left to picture the tumult of conflicting emotions that filled and distracted the breast of Adam when he heard the woeful intelligence; surprise at the recital of his wife’s strange conversation with the serpent, astonishment at her fatal act, and the powerful motives that led him coolly and dispassionately to take the fruit-branch from her hand.

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft.

Adam was “surprised at the recital of his wife’s strange conversation?” Obviously, these commentators do not think Adam was present at the time of the temptation. Instead, he heard it later. These scholars make their views clear here:

Unto the woman —the object of attack, from his knowledge of her frailty, of her having been but a short time in the world, her limited experience of the animal tribes, and, above all, her being alone, unfortified by the presence and counsels of her husband. Though sinless and holy, she was a free agent, liable to be tempted and seduced.

Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., Fausset, A. R., Brown, D., & Brown, D. (1997). A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments.

Consider the famous and universally respected Matthew Henry commentary. Matthew Henry explicitly says in his commentary on Genesis 3:1-5 that Eve was alone during her temptation: “ The person tempted was the woman, now alone, and at a distance from her husband, but near the forbidden tree.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition, Copyright (c) 1991 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.

Matthew Henry says this about the later statement in the Bible that Adam was “with” Eve:
She gave also to her husband with her. It is probable that he was not with her when she was tempted (surely, if he had, he would have interposed to prevent the sin), but came to her when she had eaten, and was prevailed upon by her to eat likewise; for it is easier to learn that which is bad than to teach that which is good.
Id. (Commentary on Genesis 3:6)

The Teacher’s Commentary by Richards, L., & Richards, L. O. (1987 Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books) says this: “It is fascinating to note the strategies of the tempter. First he isolated Eve from Adam. He gave the pair no opportunity to strengthen each other in a resolve to choose the good (cf. Heb. 10:24–25).” If Eve is “isolated,” she is obviously not with Adam and the time of her temptation.

Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the Old Testament, Wiersbe, W. W. (1993 Wheaton, IL: Victor Books) says this: “Eve should not have ‘given place to the devil’ (Eph. 4:27); she should have held to God’s Word and resisted him. We wonder where Adam was during this conversation.” Clearly Wiersbe does not think Adam was present with Eve during the temptation.

Not one of these esteemed Bible commentators are Seventh-day Adventists. If Royce had taken the time to check out a few of the best-known Bible commentators he would have realized that Ellen White’s statement that Adam and Eve were apart at the time of her temptation is a reasonable reading of the Bible text. Of course, Royce’s admission that even after getting his secondary and college education at Adventist schools (with their mandatory Bible courses) he is a little vague on Ellen White and Galatians shows that he is not claiming to be a theological heavyweight. He reinforces the point in his article by saying that just after he had thrown Ellen White overboard: “I had a very good non-Adventist friend, Mike, who had recently
become a Christ-follower, and he began to teach me about life apart from the law.” That’s just great. Royce is now taking theological instruction from someone who has just been converted!

Royce is no doubt a sincere guy, but he is hardly someone from who Adventists should take theological direction.

The more fundamental question concerns the Proclamation! wolves. Either they know that reasonable, mainstream Bible commentators agree with Ellen White’s statement, in which case in my opinion publishing this article is a virtual fraud, or they are as uninformed as poor Mr. Royce Earp. I’ll let you choose which is true - but I’ll trust that you are smart enough not to follow them.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 17th, 2008 at 8:47 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.