Yes. Ellen White’s understanding grew across six decades of ministry. Adventist historians usually speak of three kinds of change: clearer wording, progressive development of “present truth,” and a few genuine reversals.
After the 1844 disappointment she briefly shared the Millerite conviction that the door of mercy had closed for the world. She later said that view predated her first vision and that subsequent light recast 1844 as a change in Christ’s heavenly ministry, not the end of probation for everyone. In 1858 she counselled against making pork a test; after the 1863 health vision she wrote that God never designed swine to be eaten.
She adopted vegetarianism yet admitted eating meat when travel left few options, then in 1894 banned it from her own table. Early Adventists were largely anti-Trinitarian; her writings moved from ambiguity to explicit language about “three living persons of the heavenly trio” and Christ’s “original, unborrowed, underived” life. The group first kept Sabbath from 6 p.m. to 6 p.m.; after Bible study she accepted sunset to sunset.She described herself as “constantly learning in reference to divine things.” She authorised later editorial revisions for clarity while insisting the thoughts had not changed. Growth, in her view, was normal for a prophet.
If Ellen White could change her mind as she matured, and God showed her more, surely we can too. Adventism does not need to be stuck in the 19th century.
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