Dear Brother ___________,

Thank you for writing back. I'll be glad to try to help you with these things.

Hi: Thank you for your response to my e-mail. I may become a regular to you, but I hope not a bother. I want to tell you right up front that I sincerely want to believe Mrs. White was a messenger of God. However, as I mentioned my wife does not and I am surrounded with anti-EGW books and continually urged to read them. Some of what I read makes sense, at least on the surface, but I am not in a position to verify everything. Therefore, please be patient with me as I may ask a lot of questions on subjects you consider insignificant in the whole scheme of things.

In reading Dirk Anderson's book "White Out" he refers to a pamphlet or book entitled An Appeal to Mothers. In looking up material I did not find that book in the data base. Maybe I entered it incorrectly.

Appeal to Mothers is in the database of the Complete Published Writings of Ellen G. White on CD-ROM. (The abbreviation for it is ApM.) It is also in the database on our website. I don't know which of these you may have used, but in this case, you may find the online database easier, because when you click on the "Go To: Book & Page" button, you can then select the book you want from a drop-down list. To access this, go to our graphical web page, www.WhiteEstate.org, and click on "Search the Writings" on the menu at the left of the home page. Then click the link to the new interface, and there you will see the button I mentioned. Click on it, select the desired work from the drop-down list, and if you wish, include a page number or a specific bit of text you want to find. Then click the Search button, and soon you will have a link to the text.

For example, I am looking for the statements she made regarding "solitary vice" and "secret indulgence" supposedly found on page11 and 13. When I went to the data base I found Appeal to Mothers to be chapters in some book. It did not contain the statement quoted on page 62 of Anderson's book.

Is that material in the data base?

You did not say which passage you were looking for, but I think Anderson quotes her words more or less correctly (on his first line of quotation, however, he has "you" for "youth," at least in the edition I have here). He doesn't reference them correctly, however. Some of what he attributes to "Appeal to Mothers" he actually quotes from "A Solemn Appeal," in which the wording may not be quite the same. "A Solemn Appeal" is the book I think you found in your searching; a portion of it bears the heading "Appeal to Mothers." When he quotes from it, he is using the page numbers of the Leaves of Autumn Books reprint, in which four original pages are reproduced on one large page. This is confusing and makes it hard to check his sources. I suspect that he may have drawn from a secondary source for these things. Some time ago I found that a man named Hunt had also criticized Mrs. White on this subject, and he too had used the Leaves of Autumn page numbering. Perhaps Anderson merely took his quotations from Hunt without looking them up himself.

You can do the searches yourself to see the statements in their context. I recommend that you do so, because then you can see what he has left out. For instance, I notice that he ends one statement at the point where Mrs. White asks, "And have you not noticed that there was a deficiency in the mental health of your children?" To us such terms mean mental illness, but the next sentences show what she was referring to: "That their course seemed to be marked with extremes? That they were absent-minded? That they started nervously when spoken to? And were easily irritated? . . ." etc.

By selecting certain passages and grouping them with others, Anderson makes the reader believe that Mrs. White has taken positions which a fair reading of her document will show are not hers. For instance, note Anderson's second paragraph of quotes. The statement has several ellipses. Here is the first part, with some of what falls in the ellipsis:

The state of our world is alarming. Everywhere we look, we see imbecility, dwarfed forms, crippled limbs, misshapen heads, and deformity of every description. Sin and crime, and the violation of nature's laws, are the causes of this accumulation of human woe and suffering.

So she traces their cause to the larger categories of "sin and crime, and the violation of nature's laws." Clearly Mrs. White did consider masturbation to be sin and a violation of nature's laws, but she did not limit the effects she listed only to masturbation as the cause. She went on, then, to discuss the evils of masturbation.

I know you have material on masturbation, but I am trying to read statements in context that are quoted by her critics.

Thank you.
___________

I doubt that Mrs. White's critics like her statements much better when they are quoted in their entirety. But they should still not cobble selected portions together in a way that distorts her views.

A couple of pages later Anderson asserts confidently that the viewpoint Mrs. White expressed in this work (one shared by many other 19th century authors) has been thoroughly disproven by modern science. However, this is not necessarily the case. I'll quote here the discussion on masturbation from "Messenger of the Lord," by Herbert E. Douglass. The entire book may be read on our website, www.WhiteEstate.org, under the menu selection "Online Books." This comes from Chapter 43:

Few topics have generated more ridicule from critics than Ellen White's statements regarding "self-abuse,"57 "solitary vice,"58 "self-indulgence,"59 "secret vice,"60 "moral pollution,"61 etc. Ellen White never used the term "masturbation."

Her first reference to this subject appeared in a 64-page pamphlet, An Appeal to Mothers, April 1864, nine months after her first comprehensive health vision. Primarily devoted to masturbation, pages 5 to 34 were from her own pen; the remainder consisted of quotations from medical authorities.62

Ellen White did not say that all, or even most, of the potentially serious consequences of masturbation would happen to any one individual. Nor did she say that the worst possible degree of a serious consequence would happen to most indulgers.

Modern research indicates that Ellen White's strong statements can be supported when she is properly understood. The general view today, however, is that masturbation is normal and healthy and thus should be free from guilt feelings.

Two medical specialists have suggested that in "a zinc-deficient adolescent, sexual excitement and excessive masturbation might precipitate insanity,"63 and "it is even possible, given the importance of zinc for the brain, that 19th century moralists were correct when they said that repeated masturbation could make one mad."64

Two professionals in the area of clinical psychology and family therapy have compared Ellen White's statements on masturbation with current medical knowledge.65 Dr. Richard Nies defended Ellen White's general counsel on masturbation, making four main points: (1) Masturbation leads to "mental, moral, and physical deterioration. . . . It is not the stimulation, per se, that is wrong. It's what's going on in . . . [persons] when they're becoming self-referenced and self-centered." (2) Masturbation "breaks down the finer sensitivities of our nervous system. . . . It is not difficult to see in terms of the electrical mediation of our nervous system, how disease becomes a natural result of individuals who have placed their own gratification at the center of their being. . . . Disease is the natural result of this."

(3) Masturbation is a predisposition that can be "inherited and passed on and transmitted from one generation to another, even leading to degeneration of the race."

(4) In dealing with others, especially children, Ellen White's counsel lies in the direction of dealing with the consequences, of showing them that we should be training for love and eternity, not self-gratification with its terrible consequences. Dr. Nies concluded his paper, "Self-gratification is synonymous with destruction."

Alberta Mazat observed that Ellen White's concern regarding masturbation was primarily on the mental consequences rather than the "purely physical act. She was more concerned with thought processes, attitudes, fantasies, etc." Mazat quoted Ellen White's references to the fact that "the effects are not the same on all minds," that "impure thoughts seize and control the imagination," and that the mind "takes pleasure in contemplating the scenes which awake base passion."

Mazat further noted that some may be embarrassed by Ellen White's strong statements regarding masturbation. However, many of Mrs. White's other statements also seemed "unrealistic and exaggerated before science corroborated them, for example, cancer being caused by a virus, the dangers of smoking, overeating, and the overuse of fats, sugar, and salt, to name a few. . . . It seems worthwhile to remind ourselves that medical knowledge at any point is not perfect."66 57. An Appeal to Mothers, p. 27; Testimonies, vol. 2, p. 470. 58. Ibid., p. 5. 59. Ibid., p. 18. 60. Testimonies, vol. 2, p. 391. 61. Ibid.

62. Appeal to Mothers was reprinted in 1970 as part of a larger work, A Solemn Appeal Relative to Solitary Vice and Abuses and Excesses of the Marriage Relation. A facsimile reprint appears in the Appendix to A Critique of Prophetess of Health (E. G. White Estate).

63. Carl C. Pfeiffer, Ph.D., M.D., Zinc and Other Micro-Nutrients (New Canaan, Ct.: Keats Publishing, Inc., 1978), p. 45.

64. David F. Horrobin, M.D., Ph.D., Zinc (St. Albans, Vt.: Vitabooks, Inc., 1981), p. 8.

65. Richard Nies, Ph.D., (Experimental Psychology, UCLA, 1964; equivalent Ph.D. in clinical psychology, including oral exam, but died during dissertation preparation), Lecture, Give Glory to God, Glendale, Calif., n.d.; Alberta Mazat, M.S.W., (Professor of Marriage and Family Therapy, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, Calif.), Monograph, Masturbation, (43 pp.) Biblical Research Institute.

66. Mazat, Monograph, Masturbation.

{end of material from Messenger of the Lord}

The quotes from contemporary medical people reminded me of the appendix on the subject of masturbation in the compilation Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, which uses some of the same statements but quotes a little more fully. If you have the book, I would suggest that you read the appendix there, because it will be easier reading than what I can give you here. But below my signature I will copy the appendix for you from our CD-ROM. The material is in ALL CAPS to show typographically that this material was not written by Mrs. White, though it appears in a book which bears her byline. The appendix points out a little-known (or little-acknowledged) fact--that practically no real scientific study has been done on this subject. If this is so, claims by Anderson (echoing others) that the 19th-century view has been thoroughly disproven by modern science are simply not true.

I hope this may be of some help. Let me know if I can be of further service. God bless!

--------
William Fagal, Director
Ellen G. White Estate Branch Office
Andrews University
Berrien Springs, MI 49104-1400 USA
Phone: 269 471-3209
FAX: 269 471-2646
Website: www.WhiteEstate.org or www.egwestate.andrews.edu
E-mail: [email protected]

APPENDIX A

MASTURBATION AND INSANITY IN HIS SCHOLARLY STUDY ON "MASTURBATORY INSANITY; THE HISTORY OF AN IDEA," (JOURNAL OF MENTAL SCIENCE 108:1, JAN., 1962), E. H. HARE REFERS TO A STUDY OF 500 PATIENTS ADMITTED CONSECUTIVELY TO THE IOWA STATE PSYCHOPATHIC HOSPITAL. HE STATES THAT THE AUTHORS OF THE STUDY (MALAMUD, W., AND PALMER, G., "THE ROLE PLAYED BY MASTURBATION IN THE CAUSATION OF MENTAL DISTURBANCES, JOURNAL OF NERVOUS AND MENTAL DISORDERS, 76:220, 1932) FOUND THAT IN TWENTY-TWO CASES MASTURBATION WAS "APPARENTLY THE MOST IMPORTANT CAUSE OF DISORDER." {TSB 268.1} HE THEN CONTINUES:

"THE AUTHORS CONCLUDED THAT IT WAS THE MENTAL CONFLICT ENGENDERED BY MASTURBATION RATHER THAN THE HABIT ITSELF WHICH LED TO THE ILLNESS, AND THEY BELIEVED THIS CONCLUSION TO BE SUPPORTED BY THE EFFICACY OF PSYCHOTHERAPY DIRECTED TOWARDS READJUSTING THE PATIENT'S IDEAS ABOUT MASTURBATION. YET THE FACT THAT FIFTEEN OF THE TWENTY-TWO PATIENTS SUFFERED FROM DEPRESSION MUST RAISE DOUBTS ABOUT THE VALIDITY EVEN OF THIS TEMPERATE CONCLUSION, FOR THE DEPRESSED PATIENT IS NOT ONLY PRONE TO BLAME HIMSELF FOR NEGLECT OF WHAT HE BELIEVES TO BE THE RULES OF HEALTH, BUT ALSO TENDS TO RECOVER FROM HIS ILLNESS WHETHER TREATED BY PSYCHOTHERAPY OR NOT."--P. 22.

269 {TSB 268.2} THUS HARE QUESTIONS THE CONCLUSIONS OF MALAMUD AND PALMER, BUT SAYS, SIGNIFICANTLY, THAT THEIR STUDY IS "ONE OF THE VERY FEW ATTEMPTS (INDEED, AS FAR AS MY READING GOES, THE ONLY REAL ATTEMPT) AT A SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF THE MASTURBATORY HYPOTHESIS [THE HYPOTHESIS THAT MASTURBATION CAN CAUSE INSANITY]." {TSB 269.1} AFTER ACKNOWLEDGING THAT "THERE IS NO WAY OF DISPROVING THE MASTURBATORY HYPOTHESIS," HARE OFFERS HIS FINAL CONCLUSION: "ALL WE CAN SAY, FROM THE EVIDENCE, IS THAT THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN MASTURBATION AND MENTAL DISORDER IS WEAK AND INCONSTANT AND THAT THEREFORE, IF MASTURBATION IS A CAUSAL FACTOR, IT IS PROBABLY NOT A VERY IMPORTANT ONE" (IBID. P. 19). {TSB 269.2} SO, ALTHOUGH THIS AUTHORITY MINIMIZES THE POSSIBILITY THAT MASTURBATION AND INSANITY MIGHT BE LINKED, HE DOES NOT DISMISS IT ALTOGETHER. EVEN MORE SIGNIFICANTLY, HE HAS DISCOVERED THAT THERE HAS BEEN ONLY ONE REAL ATTEMPT TO TEST THE HYPOTHESIS SCIENTIFICALLY. {TSB 269.3} WRITING OF MASTURBATION IN THEIR ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT AND ADJUSTMENT (MCGRAW-HILL BOOK COMPANY, 1965), LESTER C. AND ___________ CONCLUDE: "THE EFFECTS OF THIS FORM OF SEX PERVERSION ARE NOT YET FULLY KNOWN." {TSB 269.4} DR. DAVID HORROBIN, AN M.D. AND PH.D. FROM OXFORD UNIVERSITY, STATES:

"THE AMOUNT OF ZINC IN SEMEN IS SUCH THAT ONE EJACULATION MAY GET RID OF ALL THE ZINC THAT CAN BE ABSORBED FROM THE INTESTINES IN ONE DAY. THIS HAS A NUMBER OF CONSEQUENCES. UNLESS THE AMOUNT LOST IS REPLACED BY AN INCREASED DIETARY INTAKE, REPEATED EJACULATION MAY LEAD TO A REAL ZINC DEFICIENCY WITH VARIOUS PROBLEMS DEVELOPING, INCLUDING IMPOTENCE. "IT IS EVEN POSSIBLE, GIVEN THE IMPORTANCE OF ZINC

270

FOR THE BRAIN, THAT 19TH CENTURY MORALISTS WERE CORRECT WHEN THEY SAID THAT REPEATED MASTURBATION COULD MAKE ONE MAD!"--ZINC (VITABOOKS: ST. ALBANS, VERMONT, 1981), P. 8. {TSB 269.5} THIS STATEMENT IS SIMILAR TO THAT MADE BY CARL C. PFEIFFER, PH.D., M.D., IN HIS BOOK ON ZINC. HE DECLARES:

"WE HATE TO SAY IT, BUT IN A ZINC-DEFICIENT ADOLESCENT, SEXUAL EXCITEMENT AND EXCESSIVE MASTURBATION MIGHT PRECIPITATE INSANITY."--ZINC AND OTHER MICRO-NUTRIENTS (KEATS: NEW CANAAN, CONN., 1978), P. 45. {TSB 270.1} NOT ALL MEDICAL AUTHORITIES WOULD AGREE WITH THESE CONCLUSIONS, YET IT IS SIGNIFICANT THAT THERE ARE SOME WHOSE STUDY AND RESEARCH HAVE LED THEM TO OPINIONS WHICH ARE COMPATIBLE WITH THE TEACHINGS OF ELLEN WHITE. {TSB 270.2} SEE CHILD GUIDANCE, PP. 439-456, FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THIS SUBJECT. {TSB 270.3}