Meet Dale Ratzlaff, One of the Contributors to
Jeremiah Films' Video Against Seventh-day Adventism
by Bob Pickle
[To view the extensive critique of Jeremiah Films' video against
Seventh-day Adventism, exposing the multitude of factual errors,
inaccuracies, and attacks on Scripture contained in the video, click here.]
Dale Ratzlaff is a former Seventh-day Adventist minister. He is
actively writing books and disseminating material attacking Adventist
doctrines and beliefs.
Jeremiah Films had told me that they could not answer my questions
about the errors in fact I was pointing out in their video. They said
Lorri MacGregor could help me since she had written the script. Lorri
MacGregor said maybe Dale Ratzlaff could help me, since she was not an
expert on Adventism, and so could not answer my questions. Lorri said
Dale would respond by email,. but did not want any phone calls.
I sent my first email to Dale Ratzlaff on January 4, 2000. His reply
on that date contained the interesting preface:
A few quick answers but first a note or two: I was not the one to edit this video. I would have done it much
differently. I feel that some of the material would have been better left out or changed. My part was the
Investigative Judgment and the Clear Word Bible.
I agree with his assessment that the video was not well done.
As far as his leaving out material if it were up to him, would Mr.
Ratzlaff leave out his quotation of a non-existent statement from the
July 21, 1851, issue of the Advent Review?
Regarding my question about the phoniness of the alleged lawsuit
story, Mr. Ratzlaff responded:
It is clear that the SDA church pulled her book on the life of Paul until the original copyright was over.
Yet the point I was raising is that there was no copyright on the
book allegedly plagiarized. This mythical story was thoroughly debunked
in a book published in 1951.
In reply to my question about his quotation of a non-existent
statement, he said:
Have you read my book, The Cultic Doctrine of SDA's? I am now beginning to think that you have not studied the early writings of EGW. Have you read Fords, 1844 book? This is well documented in both.
This of course did not answer my question, so I asked it again on
January 6. He replied,
Just read the intro to Early Writings. She left out the section that shows she believed in a shurt
[sic] door of mercy for the whole world.
This again dodged the issue of his false charge that Ellen White said
there was no change in idea or sentiment in the reprinting of her first
vision, when she actually said that she had left out a portion.
He closed his reply with:
I can tell you have not read Cultic Doctrine, Sabbath in Crisis or Fords, book on 1844. Read these and then lets talk.
I take this kind of thing as being another kind of run around and put
off. At least that is how it has seemed when others have done that to me
before. So on January 7 I responded:
As far as the books you mentioned, I've been over similar material time and again....
I feel no burden to read these books and see no point in it. Hope you don't mind. If in dialoguing about a particular point, you asked me what I thought about the reasons given in a particular part of one of them, then I would
consider looking at at.
The same day came a reply with only these words:
Sorry, but I don't have time to dialog with those who are closed to reading anything that does not agree with their paradigm of truth.
On the tenth I sent this clarification:
You must have misunderstood what I wrote. I didn't say I was closed to reading anything that disagreed with my paradigm of truth. I don't have time to read multiple
books before talking to someone, especially when I've already read and discussed similar material many times before. However, if in dialoguing, you want me to look
at a particular section of one of your books that makes a particular point, as I said before, I'm open to that.
Sometimes I've felt that someone asking me to read a book before talking further is a diversion tactic. You may not have meant it that way, but that is how I have felt
a number of times in the past....
I am in [no] way closed to reading just about anything, if there is a definite point to it.
To this his only reply came on the eleventh:
Good answer!
[To view the extensive critique of Jeremiah Films' video against
Seventh-day Adventism, exposing the multitude of factual errors,
inaccuracies, and attacks on Scripture contained in the video, click here.]
|