What did Ellen G. White add to the Sabbath command?

The Adventist Church will often tell you that keeping sabbath is resting from your worldly labors and going to church on Saturday. But one doesn’t need to look very long to see that—based on your geographical location—Adventist’s are not united in what they view to be permissible and prohibited from sunset on Friday to sunset Saturday.

Ellen G. White, the movement’s prophetess who they claim was inspired no differently than that of the Bible writers, added all sorts of extra-biblical prohibitions to what is and isn’t permitted on sabbath. Below is a list of many:

1. No bathing
2. No shoe shining
3. No repairing clothing
4. No cooking
5. No pleasure seeking
6. No worldly employment
7. No time wasted in bed
8. No overeating
9. A larger variety of foods should be consumed
10. Foods should be simple on Sabbath
11. Children shouldn’t be left alone to end up restless
12. Children can’t play indoors or out or their parents are breaking the sabbath
13. Travel by boat, car, etc. should be avoided
14. No talk of any worldly affairs or business
15. No ball playing
16. No swimming
17. No dish washing
18. One cannot be paid on the Sabbath
19. No thoughts of worldly character
20. Being in nature is permitted (but no playing outdoors)
21. Employers must let employees off on Friday at noon
22. No boisterous noise on the Sabbath
23. No “loud toned” commands allowed on Sabbath

The Adventist Church has sought to defend this rank legalism by claiming the context in which Ellen White lived was different and many of these tasks required lots of labor, thus kept one from resting. This doesn’t negate the fact that she never conditioned these statements on the present day conditions. Rather, she claimed that she never wrote a single sentence of heresy and that the things she wrote weren’t merely her own opinion, but were from the Spirit of God and to go against them was to insult the Holy Spirit.