Long Periods of Apnea Inconsistent With Partial Complex Seizures

 

Granting for argument’s sake that Ellen White did breathe “imperceptibly” or “almost imperceptibly” while in vision, this hardly favors a diagnosis of epilepsy. The simple fact is that apnea (suspension of breathing) is inconsistent with partial complex seizure disorder. Rather than imperceptible, or almost imperceptible, if there is any change in breathing at all, it usually consists of an increase in rate and depth of respiration during the attack. If there is an absence of breathing during partial complex seizures, it is for periods of only a few seconds, not minutes or hours as in the case of Ellen White.

 

Summary and Conclusions

A careful examination of Hodder’s and Couperus’s theories in the light of the historical record shows that they have failed to establish that Ellen White’s “sickness” consisted of serious temporal lobe injury or that the phenomena associated with her visions were consistent with partial complex seizure disorder.

 

On September 1, 1983, the trustees of the Ellen G. White Estate appointed a committee to examine all pertinent information available concerning the nature of Ellen White’s visions and render an opinion. After a thorough examination, this committee, consisting of eight professors in the Loma Linda University School of Medicine and Nursing, including three neurologists, and a well-known psychiatrist from northern California, concluded:

The recent articles and presentation that suggest that Ellen White’s visions and writings were the result of a complex partial seizure disorder contain many inaccuracies. Ambiguous reasoning and misapplication of facts have resulted in misleading conclusions...

After a careful review of the autobiographical and biographical material available, considered in the light of the present knowledge of this type of seizure, it is our opinion that (1) there is no convincing evidence that Ellen G. White suffered from any type of epilepsy, and (2) there is no possibility that complex partial seizures could account for Mrs. White’s visions or for her role in the development of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 53

In this researcher’s opinion, Ellen White was given divine guidance through her visions, which were of value in pointing out the way of salvation through Jesus Christ to those who were searching for truth. Her visions were also beneficial in providing direction to the early Seventh-day Adventist Church in matters of church organization, fundamentals of education, and principles of healthful living. Abundant evidence supports the belief that “something supernatural” was indeed happening when Ellen White experienced her visions. It is the conviction of this researcher that it was a manifestation of the true prophetic gift—not some form of epilepsy.

 

Concerning prophets, the Bible says, “Ye shall know them by their fruits”

(Matthew 7: 16). This is an appropriate standard by which to judge the visions and works of Ellen White.

 

References

 

1 Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, 1988 (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald Publishing Association), p. 7.

 

2 Delbert H. Hodder, M.D., “Visions or Partial-Complex Seizures? ” Evangelica, vol. 2, no. 5 (November 1981), p. 35.

 

3 Molleurus Couperus, “The Significance of Ellen White’s Head Injury, ” Adventist Currents, vol. 1, no. 6 (June 1985), p. 31.

 

4 Kenneth Dewhurst and A. W. Beard, “Sudden Religious Conversions in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, ” Journal of Psychiatry, vol.117 (1970), p. 497-507.

 

5 D. M. Canright, Life of Mrs. E. G. White (Cincinnati: The Standard Publishing Company, 1919), p. 171 (emphasis supplied).

 

6 Ellen G. White, Spiritual Gifts (Washington, D. C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1860, 1944), vol. 2, pp. 7, 8. For other accounts by Ellen White, see Testimonies for the Church (Boise, Id.: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1948), vol. 1, pp. 9, 10, and Life Sketches of Ellen G. White (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1915, 1943), pp. 17, 18. These accounts vary slightly in wording and minor details but are in substantial agreement.

 

7 Hodder, p. 32.

 

8 Couperus, p. 17.

 

9 Gifts, vol. 2, p. 8.

 

10 Testimonies, vol. 1, p. 10.

 

11 Testimonies, vol. 1, p. 11.

 

12 Robley Dunglison, M.D., LL.D., Dictionary of Medical Science (Philadelphia: Henry C. Lea, 1868), p. 923, “STUPOR… Diminished activity of the intellectual faculties, often amounting to lethargy.”

 

13 Hodder, p. 32.

 

14 Couperus, p. 18.

 

15 Gifts, vol. 2, p. 8.

 

16 Testimonies, vol. 1, p. 10.

 

17 Ibid., p. 11.

 

18 Ibid., p. 10.

 

19 Life Sketches, p. 72.

 

20 Gifts, vol. 2, p. 30. Cf. James White in Life incidents, in Connection With the Great Advent Movement, as Illustrated by the Three Angels of Revelation XVI (Battle Creek, Mich.: Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association, 1868), p. 273, says that “when she had her first vision she was an emaciated invalid given up by her friends and physicians to die of consumption.”

 

21 See Maurice Victor and Raymond D. Adams, Principles of Neurology (New York: McGraw-Hill Pub. Co., 3rd. ed. 1985), p. 233.

 

22 Hodder, p. 33.

 

23 Couperus, p. 22.

 

24 Gifts, vol. 2, pp. 292, 293.

 

25 Couperus, p. 22.

 

26 Hodder, p. 33.

 

27 Jerome Engel, Jr., Cecil Textbook of Medicine, James B. Wyngaarden and Lloyd H. Cecil, eds. (Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Co., 17th ed. 1985), p. 2152.

 

28 An oral presentation by Delbert H. Hodder and Gregory L. Holmes, entitled “Ellen G. White and the Seventh-day Adventist Church: Visions or Partial Complex Seizures? ” an abstract of which appears in Neurology, 1981, vol. 31, pp. 160, 161; Hodder, Evangelica, p. 34; Couperus, p. 22.

 

29 Hodder, Evangelica, p. 34.

 

30 See David D. Daly, “Ictal Clinical Manifestations of Complex Partial Seizures, ” Advances in Neurology (New York: Raven Press, 1975), vol. 11, pp. 57-84.

 

31 Couperus, p. 22 (emphasis supplied).

 

32 See W. C. White, “A Comprehensive Vision—I: Sketches and Memories of James and Ellen White” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, vol. 135 (February 10, 1938), p. 6.

 

33 Couperus, p. 23.

 

34 Daly, p. 61 (emphasis supplied).

 

35 Hodder, pp. 35, 36; Couperus, p. 26.

 

36 Stephen G. Waxman and Norman Geschwind, “Hypergraphia in temporal lobe epilepsy, ” Neurology, vol. 24, no. 7 (July 1974), pp. 629-636.

 

37 Hodder, p. 34; Couperus, p. 27.

 

38 Russell N. De Jong, The Neurological Examination (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 4th ed. 1979), p. 274.

 

39 Couperus, p. 27.

 

40 Ibid.

 

41 Hodder and Holmes, pp. 160, 161; Couperus, p. 21.

 

42 J. N. Loughborough, The Great Second Advent Movement (Fort Worth, Tex.: Southern Publishing Association, 1905), p. 204.

 

43 Ibid. (emphasis supplied).

 

44 Ibid., pp. 207-210.

 

45 Ibid., p. 204.

 

46 Ibid., p. 205.

 

47 Ibid., p. 210, (emphasis supplied).

 

48 George I. Butler, “Visions and Prophecy, ” The Advent Review and the Herald of the Sabbath, vol. 43 (June 9, 1874), p. 201.

 

49 Gifts, vol. 2, pp. 77-79.

 

50 Hodder, p. 33.

 

51 Ibid.

 

52 Couperus, p. 22.

 

53 A committee report, “Did Ellen White have complex partial seizures? ” Ministry, vol. 57 (August 1984), p. 25.

 

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