James White Changes His Mind About Marriage

March 6 James White Changes His Marriage

 


Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." Matt. 19:4, 5. RSV.

It will undoubtedly come as a shock for most sheltered Seventh-day Adventists to discover that James White did not believe in marriage.

Yes, you heard me right. James opposed marriage in 1845. Thus he could publish in the Day-Star that an Adventist couple in announcing their marriage had "denied their faith." Marriage, White held, was "a wile of the Devil. The firm brethren in Maine who are waiting for Christ to come have no fellowship with such a move." And why, you may be asking, did he take such a position? The answer appears in his next sentence: "We are looking for redemption in the Morning Watch."

The facts of the case are that he expected Jesus to return in October 1845. Beyond that, the early Adventists believed that time was extremely short. And from that perspective, getting married and setting up a home appeared to be a denial of the faith in the soon coming of Jesus. After all, if James came when they expected, there would be no need for earthly homes and marriages.

Thus James later reported that "most of our brethren who believed with us that the second advent movement was the work of God, were opposed to marriage because they believed that the time was very short, and they considered that it was a denial of our faith to get married, as such a step seemed to contemplate years of life in this world."

But time continued on. And with that came reevaluation.

As a result, James and Ellen were married in August 1846. The reason: "God had a work for both of us to do, and he saw that we could greatly assist each other in that work." After all, young Ellen needed a "legal protector" if she was to travel the country bearing her "important. . .message to the world."

The lesson: Sometimes we are wrong. And when we are, the only sensible thing to do is admit it and make a course correction.

But for some of us that is not easy.

Help me, Lord, to see Your leading in spite of my errors. Help me to be humble enough to adjust when I am wrong.