Ellen Chat Conversation

Ellen White addressed the serious issue of solitary vice" (masturbation) extensively in her writings, particularly in *A Solemn Appeal*. While the provided documents don't contain her specific remedial counsel, they do reveal her approach: she addressed this topic "from a physical, mental, and moral point of view" (SA 49), recognizing it as something that was "ruining" young people "for this world, and for that which is to come" (SA 49). Her broader counsel on guarding the mind provides relevant principles. She taught that "those who would not fall a prey to Satan's devices, must guard well the avenues of the soul; they must avoid reading, seeing, or hearing that which will suggest impure thoughts" (LYL 60). She emphasized that "the mind must not be left to dwell at random upon every subject that the enemy of souls may suggest. The heart must be faithfully sentineled, or evils without will awaken evils within, and the soul will wander in darkness" (LYL 60). The documents also reveal her consistent pattern of calling people to spiritual transformation. She "constantly and unswervingly called men and women, old and young, in clarion tones, to a more rational, a higher, purer plane of spiritual living" (CH 2.3). Her approach was both practical and spiritual—she "drove home those facts on the spiritual side to the innermost citadel of the souls of men and women" (CH 2.3). For those struggling with any besetting sin, she pointed to Christ's power to heal and transform. In one case, she wrote of Jesus saying: "God will heal him... Jesus is drawing him by the tender cords of His love" (13MR 148). Her message was always one of hope—that through repentance and God's grace, transformation is possible. To find Ellen White's complete and specific counsel on overcoming this particular habit, you would need to access the full text of *A Solemn Appeal* and related sections in *The Adventist Home* (Section V) and *Child Guidance* (Section XVI), as noted in the document citation (SA 49). --- 💡 **You might also want to explore:** • What did Ellen White teach about the connection between physical health and moral purity? • How did Ellen White counsel parents to educate their children about purity and self-control? • What role did she say prayer and Bible study play in overcoming besetting sins?