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Reviews and Endorsements
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[ Bookshelf review ]
- At last, Don McMahon’s work on Ellen White’s health message is in print. He’s presented this topic at camps, ministers’ and other meetings in Australia and New Zealand, and in the United States over several years. Acquired or Inspired? Exploring the Origins of the Adventist Lifestyle presents a strong case for inspiration as the source of Ellen White’s health message.
So strong that Leonard Brand from Loma Linda University claims this as the “first hard evidence I am aware of, on . . . the nature of inspiration.” He adds that after studying McMahon’s work he finds it difficult to explain Ellen White’s health principles “without a definite input of information from a non-human source” (page iv).
Simply put, McMahon finds the accuracy of her health information so far above that of health gurus of her day that God must have given her special insight.
In considering and comparing the latest health understandings, McMahon discovered she has a high score of accuracy in what he terms the “whats” of health—what I must do to be healthy—but with less accuracy in the “whys” of health—why I should do it.
It’s the whats, says McMahon, that give the evidence of inspiration. Her “verified” accuracy from The Ministry of Healing, according to current medical knowledge, is at 87 per cent.
He then compares her to four health writers (and later, John Harvey Kellogg) she had access to and whose works were in her library. Their best score on the whats is at 42 per cent. If Ellen White had gained her health principles from these sources she would have been highly selective to get the results she did (statistically, it’s like attempting to find one specific grain of wheat if Australia were covered with wheat up to 80 kilometres deep, page 135). “These figures make it very hard to refute the claim of inspiration” (page 72).
On the lower accuracy rate for the whys, McMahon argues this is because she had to explain the reasons using the conventional understanding of disease and physiology of her day. He believes this isn’t unreasonable, but essential if she were to be taken seriously by her first readers.
Of course, those looking for 100 per cent accuracy from Ellen White will not find the figure of 87 per cent on the whats helpful even if it is far higher than other 19th century health writers. And the question of lower whys must be addressed, which McMahon does well. His discussion of her greater accuracy on whats immediately after her 1863 health vision compared to her later writings and being apparently influenced by other writers adds another interesting twist to the discussion.
So don’t think this book is merely about the Adventist health message. As Brand suggests, Acquired or Inspired? breaks new ground in considering inspiration. It becomes an important and thought-provoking study of inspiration of how this human–divine connection works.
For McMahon, though, the greatest proof of inspiration was not found in his analysis but in a letter written by Ellen White after her health vision in June 1863: “The health content of this major health vision was primarily for Ellen White herself.” He suspects that she would have died or been incapacitated at a much younger age if she hadn’t changed her lifestyle.
“If she had not changed her habits, the Adventist Church would have missed out on Ellen White’s directing them back to a faith- and love-based church. They would have missed out on the Christ-centred books such as Steps to Christ (1892), Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing (1896), The Desire of Ages (1898), Christ’s Object Lessons (1900) and the opening chapters of The Ministry of Healing (1905), all of which were written after her 65th birthday” (pages 141-2).
Since beginning a renewed emphasis on the risky business (financially) of book publishing a couple of years ago, Signs Publishing Company has brought out some fascinating books. John Ashton and Ron Laura’s Uncorked and its fact-based, withering attack on alcohol consumption and the alcohol industry is one. Graeme Bradford’s study on the inspiration of Ellen White, Prophets Are Human, is another.
Acquired or Inspired? is an important book that keeps this (recent) tradition alive—and adds to it. - Bruce Manners writes from Cooranbong, New South Wales, where he pastors the Avondale College church. .
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[Endorsement]
- "Don McMahon has done an excellent thing. His project was initially fraught with danger, as he may have unearthed results which could have destroyed both his faith and that of others. It has been sometimes misunderstood by others and frequently criticised. This work honestly looks from a scientific and statistical viewpoint at an area taken as a faith issue and comes up with the splendid answer that there was no way Ellen White could have chosen the contents of her health writings from the knowlege of her time and been as accurate as she was in light of modern knowlege.
These results even surpassed Don McMahon's original expectations. The chance of these varied statements being accurate when compared to the accuracy of her contemporaries, has been compared by McMahon to that of accidentally finding a coloured grain of rice mixed with several football fields of rice metres deep at the first attempt. The impossible becomes impossible when these chances are examined statistically.
This is not a book in judgement on Ellen White, but a highly critical investigation which validates her position in Adventist belief and practice. 'Acquired or Inspired' is an honest publication written by a Seventh-day Adventist physician who is passionate about his church and its heritage. For the Seventh-day Adventist reader, it will strengthen faith in Ellen White as a person with a gift from God. For the person who is not an Adventist this book provides a challenge which is hard to ignore." - Dr Percy C Harrold, associate director of Adventist Health Ministries, South Pacific Division of Seventh-day Adventists
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[Endorsement]
- "Don McMahon has done the Church a wonderful service through this research. If the reader will carefully examine his arguments they will find he has developed one of the most powerful arguments that can be presented for the inspiration of Ellen White. When people read this book they will be pondering the question 'how could a relatively uneducated woman living in the 19th century be so right at a time when her more educated contemporaries were so wrong?" - Dr Graeme S Bradford, senior lecturer, Department of Theology, Avondale College, Australia
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[Endorsement]
- "It is not often that a physician openly declares his beliefs and experience, the way we find it written in this fascinating story of one medical man's journey with the writings of Mrs E G White. Time is a great teacher and over the course of a full career, Don McMahon has seen the validation by science of so much he had to accept by faith as a fresh graduate. I am sure readers will find this an interesting story and something they can benefit from in their own lifestyle. " - Dr Allan Handysides, director of Adventist Health Ministries, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
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[Endorsement]
- "This book makes for fascinating and compelling reading for the honest person wishing to know the validity of Ellen White's statements on health. McMahon uses a unique and definitive method for evaluating the accuracy of the health pronouncements found in the writings of Ellen White as measured against modern medical science. A few of his findings could prove unsettling to some, particularly for those who would want to assign to Ellen White a 100 per cent accuracy rating. However he presents a very convincing argument to support his final conclusion, that 'it is impossible to exclude inspiration' from her writings. This book is a very valuable resource for the Adventist church and one that I heartily endorse." - "This book makes for fascinating and compelling reading for the honest person wishing to know the validity of Ellen White's statements on health. McMahon uses a unique and definitive method for evaluating the accuracy of the health pronouncements found in the writings of Ellen White as measured against modern medical science. A few of his findings could prove unsettling to some, particularly for those who would want to assign to Ellen White a 100 per cent accuracy rating. However he presents a very convincing argument to support his final conclusion, that 'it is impossible to exclude inspiration' from her writings. This book is a very valuable resource for the Adventist church and one that I heartily endorse." - Laurie Evans, Former President, South Pacific Division of Seventh-day Adventists
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[Endorsement]
- "If McMahon's research on health can be fully verified, it will revolutionise our understanding of [Ellen White's] ministry and spiritual gifts. I challenge anyone tempted to reject the ministry of Ellen White to carefully consider the implications of this book. It is very persuasive and potentially groundbreaking." - Dr Jon Paulien, chair, New Testament Department, SDA Theological Seminary, Andrews University
