SDA ANSWER

1846 Mrs. White had a "vision" of the solar system. Mrs. Truesdail, a dedicated and sincere Adventist, was present during the vision. She describes how Mrs. White saw a "tall, majestic people" living on either Jupiter or Saturn:

"Sister White was in very feeble health, and while prayers were offered in her behalf, the Spirit of God rested upon us. We soon noticed that she was insensible to earthly things. This was her first view of the planetary world. After counting aloud the moons of Jupiter, and soon after those of Saturn, she gave a beautiful description of the rings of the latter. She then said, 'The inhabitants are a tall, majestic people, so unlike the inhabitants of earth. Sin has never entered here.'"1

In 1847, James and Ellen White published a tract in which it is announced that she had seen a vision of the planets in our solar system:

"At our conference in Topsham, Maine, last Nov., Ellen had a vision of the handy works of God. She was guided to the planets Jupiter, Saturn, and I think one more. After she came out of vision, she could give a clear description of their Moons, etc. It is well known, that she knew nothing of astronomy, and could not answer one question in relation to the planets, before she had this vision."2

Notice in the above quote that James says Mrs. White gave a "clear description" of their moons. The description was so clear that it included the exact number of Jupiter's moons. Here is how pioneer J.N. Loughborough describes the vision:

"One evening, at the conference above mentioned, at the house of Mr. Curtiss and in the presence of Elder Bates, who was yet undecided in regard to these manifestations, Mrs. White, while in vision, began to talk about the stars, giving a glowing description of rosy-tinted belts which she saw across the surface of some planet, and added, 'I see four moons.' 'Oh,' said Elder Bates, 'she is viewing Jupiter!' Then having made motions as though traveling through space, she began giving a description of belts and rings in their ever-varying beauty, and said, 'I see seven moons.'7 Elder Bates exclaimed, 'She is describing Saturn.' Next she said, 'I see six moons,' and at once began a description of the 'opening heavens,' with its glory, calling it an opening into a region more enlightened."3

REPLY FROM; http://www.ellenwhiteexposed.com/criticb.htm

Is this true? Are there tall, majestic people living on Jupiter and/or Saturn? This may have seemed plausible in 1846, but with all we know about these planets today, it hardly seems likely. Conditions on both planets are extremely inhospitable to life as we know it:

  1. These planets have no solid surface like the earth. The surfaces consist entirely of a sea of liquid hydrogen, hundreds of miles deep.
  2. The atmospheric pressure is millions of times greater than the earth's. The pressure is enough to crush the strongest metals.
  3. Numerous space probes have examined these planets using advanced technology and have not detected any sign of life whatsoever. No plants. No animals. No tall people. Nothing but hydrogen, helium and other gases.

Notice footnote #7 in the above quote. Here is what the footnote says:

"7 In Rise and Progress, it says she saw eight moons to Saturn. This change was made after the proofs went out of my hands. More moons to both Jupiter and Saturn have since been discovered."4
This footnote shows how Mrs. White's visions were later altered by others. Eyewitnesses reported that Mrs. White had seen "seven" moons around Saturn. However, an eighth moon had been discovered by the time Loughborough's book Rise and Progress was ready for publication. The Adventist editors of the book altered the vision to say "eight" moons in order to make it correspond to scientific fact. However, in this later book, to his credit, Loughborough honestly admits that the actual number Mrs. White saw was "seven".

Mrs. White once wrote:

"Science is ever discovering new wonders; but she brings from her research nothing that, rightly understood, conflicts with divine revelation."5

The Scientific Facts

(Wikipedia)

1) Jupiter has 63 known natural satellites....the first certain observations of Jupiter's satellites are those of Galileo Galilei in 1610, who sighted the four large Galilean moons.... No additional satellites were discovered until E.E. Barnard observed Amalthea in 1892. ... Jupiter has a faint planetary ring system..."

2) "Saturn is currently known to have 56 moons. ... [Saturn's 8th moon,] Hyperion, [was] discovered [in] 1848"

3) "Uranus has 27 known moons. ... Voyager 2 photographed the Uranian ring system during its flyby in 1986. Two additional rings were discovered in 2005."

If it is true that science never conflicts with divine revelation, then the only conclusion one can make regarding Ellen White's solar system vision is that it was not a divine revelation! Mrs. White got close enough to Jupiter and/or Saturn to see the "tall, majestic people" living there, but what did she fail to see?

THE REASON I'M ASKING THE QUESTION.

The church has explained it this way;

   God knew that Joseph Bates had read a book about  Jupiter having  4 moons and Saturn having 6. When he heard her say these thing he became a believer. God wanted Bates to except Ellen as a prophet. Think about it. That's one guy. What about the rest of us today. Millions would except her now if the Angel had told her;

   "Today science believe there are 4 moons on Jupiter but they will find there are 63. They will find 56 on Saturn not the 6 they see today."

 

Jupiter, Mars
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