Yes. A significantly altered quotation was recently circulated in an effort to make it appear that Ellen White supported the ordination of women. Here is the altered quote side by side with the original quote. Altered portions are in underlined-bold. Italics are original.*
As Recently Altered By the White Estate
(Christ Triumphant, p. 146) | As Actually Written by Ellen White
(Unpublished Ms. 163, 1902) | Those placed in positions of responsibility should be men and women who fear God, who realize that they are humans only, not God. They should be people who will rule under God and for Him. Will they give expression to the will of God for His people? Do they allow selfishness to tarnish word and action?
Do they, after obtaining the confidence of the people as leaders of wisdom who fear God and keep His commandments, belittle the exalted position that the people of God should occupy in these days of peril? Will they through self-confidence become false guideposts, pointing the way to friendship with the world instead of the way to heaven? | Those placed in positions of responsibility should be men who fear God, who realize that they are men only, not God. They should be men who rule under God and for Him. Will they give expression to the will of God for His people? Do they allow selfishness to tarnish word and action?
Do they, after obtaining the confidence of the people as men of wisdom, who fear God and keep His commandments, belittle the exalted position that the people of God should occupy in these days of peril? Will they through self-confidence become false guide-posts, pointing the way to friendship with the world instead of the way to heaven? |
* The altered quotation is found in the devotional Christ Triumphant, which acknowledges in the introduction that Ellen White’s words have been modified to make them “gender neutral.“ See Angel Rodriquez, Evaluation of the Arguments Used by Those Opposing the Ordination of Women to the Ministry, p. 66, January, 2014 TOSC.
While Ellen White clearly understood and taught that both men and women can occupy positions of responsibility in the church, she was not calling for identical leadership roles in the church for both males and females. |