Ellen White's War Against Laughter

By Dirk Anderson, Jan., 2025


"Christ is our example. Do you imitate the great Exemplar? Christ often wept but never was known to laugh. I do not say it is a sin to laugh on any occasion. But we cannot go astray if we imitate the divine, unerring Pattern. We are living in a sad age of this world's history..."
(Ellen White, Manuscript 11, 1868)

One of the many character flaws that Ellen White soubght to eradicate from her followers was laughter. While she did not impose an outright ban on laughing, she took a dim view of levity. For example, she portrayed Christ as someone who never laughed. She sought for her followers to impress others, particularly non-Seventh-day Adventists, by having them display a somber, serious demeanor.

Why was Ellen so disturbed by laughter? Was it because of her lifelong struggle with depression? Perhaps, but it is more likely that she was convicted that laughter was out of place amongst those warning the world of the hour of God's judgement. She believed it was her people's apocalyptic calling to live in a perpetual state of solemnity so that they could impress others with the seriousness of the hour and obtain for themselves the Seal of God:

Who are the company who are sealed with the seal of the living God? What saith the Lord? He says to the angel, Go, and place the mark upon the foreheads of those who sigh and cry for the abominations which are done in the land. [Ezekiel 9:4.] That should keep us in sobriety...1

The angel with the writer’s ink horn is to place a mark upon those who sigh and cry for the abominations done in the land.2

According to Mrs. White, the condition of the world was supposed to induce her followers to adopt an attitude of depression and sobriety:

We feel depressed, greatly depressed, as we see the world and its wickedness.3

As we view the world bound in darkness and trammeled by Satan, how can we engage in levity, glee, careless, reckless words, speaking at random, laughing, jesting, and joking? It is in keeping with our faith to be sober, watching unto the end for the grace to be brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ.4

Ellen called her followers to a life "marked with more sobriety, seriousness, and more solemnity."5 This was so important that she even warned her son Willie to...

Be cheerful, but be guarded in regard to relating stories which will create a laugh; let sobriety be cherished.6

Cheerfulness was okay as long as it only produced a smile. If it generated a laugh, it must be avoided for fear it would not set the right tone for a people expecting the imminent judgment of Christ.

Ministers Forbidden from Joking

Just as young SDAs were taught to be solemn, so were SDA ministers expected to set the example for the young by not laughing and joking around them:

Ministers are not to laugh and joke with the young but to be ensamples to them, that they may follow Christ as they themselves who preach to them the way of salvation follow Him.7

When ministers bearing the solemn message of warning to the world...are careless in their example and deportment, and engage with the young in trifling conversation, jesting, joking, and relating humorous anecdotes to create a laugh, they are unworthy of being a gospel minister, and need to be converted before they should be entrusted with the care of the sheep and lambs.8

According to Sister White, any SDA minister who told a humorous story was deemed "unworthy" and in need of conversion. This implied he should engage upon a rigorous study of her testimonies until all humor was eradicated from his soul, leaving him with a somber and depressed demeanor.

The Case of W.F. Caldwell

In 1896, Ellen White moved to Avondale, Australia. She bought some property near the site of the future SDA school and moved onto the property to supervise the construction of her home. Tents were put up to house Ellen and the workers. 13-year-old Ella White stayed with her grandmother. Maude Camp was employed by Ellen as the cook. Ella assisted Maude with serving meals in the dining tent.9

One of the workers assisting Ellen on her property was a literature evangelist from America named W.F. Caldwell. In addition to helping with the residence, he copied Ellen's manuscripts.10 Caldwell was a man with a contagious sense of humor. He laughed with a thunderous roar that could make the windows rattle. This did not set well with Mrs. White. Her tent was near the dining hall and she could hear Caldwell and the other workers laughing. She wrote:

This cheap, common talk, and terrible boisterous laughter causes grief and pity in my soul. I have [oft] expressed what pain it gives me, for I think how such things must appear to the heavenly Messengers. ... These things are painful to me...11

Ellen's growing irritation with Caldwell's effusive displays of joy soon reached a boiling point. One evening, the women were planning a picnic for the following day. Maude was cooking pies and Ella was assisting her. Ellen became annoyed when she heard loud laughing coming from Maude's tent. She knew that laugh well. The next day she asked Ella and Maude about the laughter. They told her that after Maude baked the pies for the picnic, she hid them knowing that Caldwell had a voracious appetite for sweets. Caldwell, having heard about the existence of the pies in the camp, playfully scoured through Maude's tent in a futile attempt to locate the pies. Maude, Ella, and Caldwell were roaring in laughter as he searched in vain for the pies. Mrs. White was infuriated. Placing the blame fully upon Caldwell, she lashed out at him with a testimony:

I told her [Ella] it pained my heart to hear such loud laughing; it did not become Christians to indulge in such levity. ... All these things are an offense to God. Such exhibitions show a coarse, uncultivated taste. It exceeds the limits of Christian sobriety, and of propriety. It shocks my soul. Such things as loud laughter at the table, jesting, loud responses, to some silly remark made by the workman, jars upon my feelings like a note of discord. It is rude, it is reckless; it is more like the excitement of the irrational animals than that of reasoning beings. Such things show a brutishness and earthliness which is inconsistent with the profession of a Christian. It seems like death knell to spirituality, and all such merriment is weighted with pain to my heart. This boisterous laughing at every thing said sounds to me like drunken revelings, and is a disgrace to the man or woman who indulges in it.12

How dare Caldwell set the wicked example of laughing in front of young Ella!

The Case of Mary Lyon

Mary was a member of the Battle Creek Church in the 1860s. This spirited young lady was lively, animated, and full of energy. Having a vivid sense of humor, she loved to joke with others. Her personality was quite the opposite of Ellen's. Ellen wrote her a cutting testimony to tame her down:

Dear Mary, I saw that there was with you a lack of that sobriety which is so becoming in a follower of Jesus, especially those who believe that the end of all things is at hand. ... Joking and jesting will not tend to your advancement in the divine life, or make you a better Christian. The nearer you live to God, the greater will be your disrelish of these things. Indulging in this light and trifling strain causes you to lose your self-control, your self-respect, and as God is displeased with all such hilarity and glee, you are left weak in faith and shorn of your strength.13

From these two cases the following can be determined:

  • Christians should not indulge in levity, which is an offense to God
  • Laughing loudly is inconsistent with Christian faith
  • Loud laughter is deadly to spirituality
  • Followers of Jesus will exhibit sobriety, not joking or jesting
  • The nearer you are to God, the more you will (like Ellen White) dislike joking and jesting
  • God is displeased with hilarity and glee
  • Hilarity and glee leave a Christian weak in faith

Hypocritical Behavior?

While presenting an aura of sobriety in public, Mrs. White was known to laugh in private. Her granddaughter Mabel reported that she "often laughed over incidents in our home."14 Her granddaughter Ella wrote how "grandma laughed along with us."15 Her daughter-in-law wrote "she could laugh heartily."16 At one point, on a stop-over on the Island of Samoa, while de-boarding a boat, a humorous incident occurred. Her daughter-in-law reported that Ellen: "Laughed so hard at that sight that she couldn't stop. She laughed until she fell off the rock."17 Since Ellen White was a paid SDA minister at the time of these events, one must wonder how she rationalized her laughing to her testimonies saying that ministers should not laugh in front of the young.

In his book Walking with Ellen White, SDA historian George Knight attempted to humanize Mrs. White in the first chapter of his book entitled "Ellen White Wasn't as Glum as Many Imagine."18 Knight spends a large part of the chapter sharing stories of Ellen telling humorous stories and anecdotes which caused people to chuckle. If this is true, then according to her own testimony, she was an "unworthy" minister and needed to be converted.

Conclusion

Ellen White's writings indicate that SDAs should maintain a public display of solemnity to demonstrate their depression over the wicked state of the world and so that they can obtain the Seal of God. Care should be taken not to trigger another person to laugh. However, Ellen's private behavior seems to suggest it is acceptable for SDAs to let loose in private. This bizarre contradiction is...well...laughable!

"To every thing there is a season... a time to weep, and a time to laugh..." (Eccl 3:1,4)

Citations

1. Ellen White, Manuscript 2, 1885.

2. Ellen White, Letter 7, 1874.

3. Ellen White, Manuscript 120, 1898.

4. Ellen White, Manuscript 11, 1868.

5. Ellen White, Letter 9, 1861.

6. Ellen White, Letter 9, 1867.

7. Ellen White, Manuscript 11, 1862.

8. Ellen White, Letter 29, 1872.

9. Ella May White Robinson, Over My Shoulder (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1982), chapter 10.

10. Arthur White, Ellen G. White: The Australian Years: 1891-1900, vol. 4 (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1983), 85.

11. Ellen White, Letter 19, 1896.

12. Ibid.

13. Ellen White, Letter 14, 1862.

14. Mabel Eunice White Interview, Aug. 6, 1967.

15. Ella May White Robinson, Stories of My Grandmother (Hagerstown, MD:Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1967), 11.

16. May White Currow, interview Jan. 4, 1960 (Reno, 1960), Ellen G. White Estate Loma Linda University, 6.

17. Adventist Review, July 7, 1983.

18. George Knight, Walking with Ellen White, (Review and Herald Publishing Assn., 1999) chapter 1. Knight theorizes that the reason SDAs "imagined" her to be glum was because she did not smile for her pictures, which was customary during that era. However, it's questionable whether people would conclude she was glum merely for that reason. More likely, anyone who spent any time reading her testimonies would readily conclude she was glum.

Category: Hypocrisy
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