EGW's Word Frequencies
In The Culltic Doctrine Doctrine of Seventh-day Adventists (1996, 294), Dale Ratzlaff states that Ellen White's writings "mention Satan 9,956 times when the Bible only mentions that name 47 times" (he was using the EGW CD-ROM, [ibid., note 54]). Nowhere in this context, however, does Mr. Ratzlaff state how many times Mrs. White mentions the name, "Christ." Why did he not tell his readers how many times Ellen White mentions "Christ"? Did he not think to type "Christ" in the CD-ROM? Or maybe he did and chose to ignore the results? I don't know. But I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and opt for the former. The fact is this: the Ellen White writings mention the name of "Christ" over 37,000 times (according to the 2005 EGW CD-ROM, which is more comprehensive than the search system online at the official White Estate Website).
Mr. Ratzlaff also emphasizes that Ellen White uses the word "'Sabbath' 3,315 times when it is only found in 116 verses of Scripture" (ibid., 294). The idea is that Ellen White placed more emphasis on the Sabbath than the Bible does, thus giving it too much importance. But when you remember that Ellen White mentioned the Sabbath 3,315 times in the context of approximately 25 million words (aprox. 100, 000 pages) compared to the Bible's usage of the Sabbath in approximately 780,000 words (aprox. 1200 pages), then her usage of the word "Sabbath" is not that different proportionately from the Bible's usage. Another word related to the Sabbath that Mr. Ratzlaff did not think to type in the EGW CD-ROM was the word, "grace," which is found over 7000 times in Ellen White's writings! The word "law" occurs 8148 times. As such, fairminded readers will discern the balance between "law" and "grace" in Ellen White's writings.
One phrase Mr. Ratzlaff searched in the EGW CD ROM was the "frown of God" or "frown of Christ." After reading Spiritual Gifts he says he was "struck with the many times she spoke of the 'frown of God' or 'frown of Christ,' most of which had to do with the way Christ or the Father looked on Ellen White or some other Adventist believer who was not quite measuring up to perfection. I found that she uses this expression 147 times" (ibid.) The exact phrase "frown of Christ" is found nowhere in Ellen White's writings (according to my search on the EGW CD ROM) but the exact phrase "frown of God" is found 62 times. The word "frown" occurs a total of 168 times in combinations mostly expressing the concept of God's disappointment with individuals or groups. Without question, Ellen White's work involved rebuking "sin" (found 9782 times) and writing about God's disapproval of it. But this must be balanced with the other themes in her writings, such as "love" (17,271 times), "grace" (7159 times), "salvation" (6140 times), "hope" (4700 times), and "joy" (3750 times). Several other balancing word or phrase frequencies in Mrs. White's writings are the "love of God" (1601 times), "love of Christ" (934 times), "smile of God" (6 times), "assurance" (1398 times), and "happiness" (1635 times). Thus, Mr. Ratzlaff's discussion of word frequencies does not present the total picture of Ellen White's themes. Furthermore, whenever the phrase, "frown of God," occurs, the context shows God as frowning on believers engaging in sinful behavior rather than frowning on believers "not quite measuring up to perfection."
Word frequencies are not the best approach because they don't take into account the context in which the word is used. Nevertheless, they do give a sense of an author's thematic emphasis. In the end, because of the thematic balance in Ellen White's writings, attempts to use word frequencies against her, such as the one above, will always fail.
Jud Lake, Th.D., D.Min.