Ellen White and the 6000 years

Some Adventists have been teaching that Ellen White used the number of 6000 years precisely. Therefore, they say, we can predict future events with the precision of years or even months. They are wrong. Let’s look at 8 quotes to see how she really used this idea of 6000 years.

(1) For six thousand years Satan has struggled to maintain possession of the earth. Now God’s original purpose in its creation is accomplished. “The saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.” (AH 539.3)

It would seem that Ellen White is here telling us that Christ’s second coming will happen exactly in the 6000th year of earth’s history. But if we are going to take the approach of interpreting precisely when no context tells us to interpret precisely, then we must consistently use that as our pattern.

(2) The continual transgression of man for six thousand years has brought sickness, pain, and death as its fruits. And as we near the close of time, Satan’s temptation to indulge appetite will be more powerful and more difficult to overcome. (3T 491.3, 1875)

If we apply the same method to quote 2 as in quote 1, then the messenger of the Lord is here declaring that 1875 is year 6000 of sin. I phrase it that way because I am being precise. We don’t know how many days, months, or years passed between the first day of creation and the day of the fall. According to the precise interpretation of this quote, the time of paradise was not included in the 6000 years of transgression.

Please don’t jump to the conclusion that the earth turned 6000 in the year 1875. Ellen White is NOT saying that. I am merely showing the foolishness of imposing an arbitrary, precise interpretation on statements that are not meant to be exact nor meant to be interpreted as prophecy.

Now let’s look at two more quotes that appear to reinforce this conclusion.

(3) The continual transgression of man for over six thousand years has brought sickness, pain, and death as its fruit. And as we draw near the close of time, Satan’s temptations to indulge appetite will be more powerful, and more difficult to resist. (CTBH 154.2, pre-1890)

(4) The continual transgression of man for nearly six thousand years has brought sickness, pain, and death as its fruit. Multitudes are perishing for lack of knowledge. (CT 467.2, pre-1913)

These two previous quotes are only found in compilations and the sources are not individually dated, so all I know is that Ellen White wrote them before the books were published. Now let’s draw conclusions using as precise an interpretation as we can. First, 1890 was already beyond and over the 6000 year milestone. Secondly, the “nearly” quote could have been written in 1845 at earliest. Therefore, the 6000 years must end between 1845 and 1890, if we interpret precisely. This supports our conclustion from quote 1 that 1875 was year 6000, if we interpret precisely.

But can we be that precise?

(5) the world is now only about six thousand years old. (3SG 91.2, 1864)

(6) the world is now only about six thousand years old. (ST 3/20/1879)

Look up every reference for “6000 years” and “six thousand years.” Mrs. White never makes a precise, definitive, prophetic-like statement. Never!

And that is a good thing because it would lead to a big contradiction.

(7) The great controversy between Christ and Satan, that has been carried forward for nearly six thousand years, is soon to close. (GC 518.1, 1911)

(8) The great rebel still carries on his warfare against God, begun in heaven and for nearly six thousand years continued upon the earth. (GC 552.2, 1911)

In 1911, in her heavily edited and revised Great Controversy where she wanted to make sure all historic details were stated and supported as precisely as possible, she says “nearly”. And nearly applies not just to the time of sin after the fall, and not just to the age of the earth, but also includes Satan’s time of rebellion in heaven. If the 6000 years ended in 1875, but the 6000 years are not nearly ended in 1911, then we have a big contradiction!

Unless, the inspired writings are using 6000 as an estimate. It is merely a round number to characterize the time period of earth’s age.

If we want to be so precise that we can predict the Sunday law or Christ’s return or the end of the 1000 years down to the month, then we need to know how long Adam and Eve were in the garden—down to the month! But we can't.

Therefore, 6000 years is an estimate and round number. The Bible never uses that number and never makes a prophecy about it. The messenger of the Lord is not adding a new prophecy to the Bible. She is using the commonly accepted number of 6000 (which has problems in the Bible genealogies) to get us to another more important point.

Ellen White is copying the method Jesus used in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Jesus used the commonly accepted belief of consciousness in death and eternal hellfire to get the point across that rising from the dead is not as powerful as listening to Scripture. We fault the evangelicals for being too precise and too literal with the parable. We should not make the same mistake with the symbol of 6000 years.