What does EGW write about...
Ellen Gould White über: "Why did Ellen White still eat meat after receiving the health message?"
Answer
Ellen White occasionally ate meat after receiving the health message when adequate alternatives were not available, especially during travel or periods of exhaustion. She also reported being influenced by requests from family members or staff who found it difficult to prepare meat‑free meals. A decisive turning point was the year 1894, after which she consistently removed meat from her table and opposed the “slaughter of God’s creatures.”
Reasons for occasional meat consumption
If I could not obtain the foods I needed, I sometimes ate a little meat; but I am becoming increasingly afraid of it.
Influence of travel and lack of alternatives
In one [text] Mrs. White describes her “well‑set table at all times” generally with “an abundant supply of fruit, good bread and vegetables.” In the other she explicitly states: “If I could not obtain the foods I needed, I sometimes ate a little meat.” … [It] is often very difficult, especially in some countries, to ensure an adequate supply of fruit, vegetables and good milk.
Household challenges and the transition
It was not my intention to ever have meat on my table, but urgent requests were made that one or another could not eat this or that and that his stomach could tolerate meat better than anything else. So I was induced to place it on my table. ... But when the selfishness of taking animals’ lives to satisfy a perverted taste was presented to me by a Catholic woman who knelt at my feet, I felt ashamed and distressed. ... I said: I will no longer support the butchers.
Circumstances that require compassion
I have seen families whose circumstances did not allow them to set their table with healthy food. ... It was not my duty, nor did I consider it the duty of anyone else, to teach them about the evils of meat‑eating. I feel sincere compassion for families who are newly converted and so pressed by poverty that they do not know where their next meal will come from.
- Ellen White meat consumption reasons
- Health reform progressive development
- Vegetarianism Advent history
Original Sources (English)
Loading...
