why are so many christians in the dark about nutrition and holistic health?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Frank on -
Because we are taught 'Prayer' answers everything. We can be irresponsible as long as we Pray after. Unfortunately, I've watched alot of Christians suffer than call the Prayer Line. Then, when they're better, got back to abusing themselves some more. Sad really.
Plus I also think they consider fasting for health too carnal. Please don't get me started. It's too crazy to even think about.
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Permalink Reply by Michael David Golzmane on -
I think "prayer" isn't really about begging and asking God for things. To me (and I know this seems to run contrary to what many people are taught in traditional churches), God already knows what you need before you ask. You don't need to ask and beg and say a bunch of words to "twist God's arm."
I like the phrase that "God won't be doing anything differently in 10 minutes than God is doing now." God's not going to change. God is just God and is always loving and eternal and perfect. Of course, right? Obvious!
I think OUR job is become a beautiful conscious place for God to flow through us. That's where the diet part of our life can come in. I think what we eat influences us at least as much as any other single thing EVER.
Gabriel Cousens makes it clear that we can't "eat our way to God," but I think we can become more healed in our relationship with God through eating a lighter, more plant-based diet--such as the raw vegan path.
Anyone else feel the same way?
Love---Michael
www.RawChristianTips.com
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Permalink Reply by Uncle Jabba on -
I agree with CityNnature I and even feel that there are a lot of Christians who feel nutrition was Dictated to us in Genesis 1:29
Then God said, Behold, I have given you every herb [plant] bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat [food]. (Genesis 1:29)
This is the basis for www.Hacres.com and their Hallelujah Diet. Their philosopohy is what got me to places like this website.
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Permalink Reply by Frank on
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Amen. I agree with you both. I'd like to also add that it's easier for most folks to put the responsibility on someone else.
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Permalink Reply by Rawsome on -
Wow, what a GREAT question! Here are my thoughts, sorry they are soooooo long and rambly.
It occurred to me that American Christians, especially, have a long cultural tradition of associated food with fellowship. It started with the "First Thanksgiving," perhaps, and maybe evolved out of the need in communities to share food for survival anywhere and everywhere that new communities were established. That pretty much includes the whole country, doesn't it? Offering food is also a part of the "offer hospitality" and "Feed the Hungry" admonitions. When a pioneer Christian read the Bible during the winter in a sod house under 5 feet of snow, which verse jumped out? To eat things that seemed patently unavailable to them at the time, or to feed,comfort and shelter the stranger/fellow pioneer that showed up at their door looking for shelter? And they probably fed him with the same things they had to eat, cooking meat from wherever they had it stored outside, with onions from the cellar and grinding up some grain for bread. They might have had some canned preserves and vegetables, maybe even lacto-fermented cabbage. I'm referring to a rather well-off pioneer, here, of course. As we know from other pioneer accounts, people had to figure out how to survive on much, much less. None of them came from a culture that espoused raw eating, so why should it occur to them when they had worked so hard just to get through the day, and it wasn't much of an option anyway? They ate what was available, and they ate in the way that they had been taught be their parents and the people they encountered, all of whom came from cultures with traditional cooking styles.
I also agree that when our nutritional knowledge began to advance along with worldwide communication, people could see how opposite the New Age/Eastern philosophies were to Christianity and hesitated to associate themselves with any part of it.
Scripture says "My people perish for lack of knowledge." I know that I, and many, many others are sick of seeing their loved ones perish for lack of specifically nutritional knowledge, and to see themselves on the same road. When George Malkmus ate according to Genesis 1:29 and saw that his body healed itself of cancer, and when he started to get the message out, there were so many Christians who heaved a huge sigh of relief, thinking "Yeah, I always thought there was something to that verse, but was afraid to do anything about it, it seemed too radical...but now I see that God in His wisdom always has benefits for us when we obey even the oddest sorts of principles and commandments."
Of course other people, just as in non-Christian circles, look on raw food miracles as either flukes or as dire, painful interventions that they hope that they themselves will never have to endure. The change would cost them too much. One of my girlfriends is constantly asking "How do you DO it, how do you have a LIFE and DO it?" I think most people, Christian or not, who embrace even part of the raw food lifestyle, have realized that there ARE social consequences, and haven't figured out how to handle them gracefully.
It is hard to feel "ok" about bringing nut-pate nori rolls to a potluck for teenagers when you are supposed to bring an "entree/casserole." The idea is to bring things that people will enjoy eating, right? And what about doughnuts? Can't stop serving those, everyone expects them, right? It's part of our hospitality! And what about handling big church-wide dinners? Gotta serve what people want, right? When we host missionaries and people from all around the world, we have another arena of having to figure out "what's for dinner that most people will eat."
Then there is evangelism and being connected to the world around us. It is amazing how much food seems to be involved in evangelism as well. We bring meals to needy families. We provide canned food to the hungry. We bring food to school and sporting and other events in our communities as a way of connecting with others that might need the gospel. We might host informal breakfasts each week at church so the teens have somewhere welcoming to bring their friends to, to introduce them to their life at church. I think that when Christians think through the implications of being raw, they have a hard time getting past how much food affects every part of their life, including the way they've been doing their faith walk in community with others. Changing to a raw lifestyle can be daunting enough when it only affects you and your family. Oh yes, family. Christians are like everyone else with families that may or may not be supportive of going raw. They need to be fed, too....
If the social barrier feels too overwhelming to climb, there is another barrier to climb: no one else in most churches is doing it. There's no support from the church leadership. Their hearts and minds are engaged with the gospel and sharing it. When they are ill and I have suggested that they look into raw foods, their immediate reaction seems to be that God and their doctors have things in hand. The message of diet and lifestyle isn't one that is likely to be delivered in the pulpit. Remember the bit where Peter has the dream about unclean foods in the book of Acts, and Paul's attempts to keep the Jews in Jerusalem from imposing heavy, pharisee-influenced rules onto new gentile believers. The Jews, of course, had been eating cooked foods since after the flood, when there was basically only mud on the ground and God gave them permission to eat meat. Any message on eating that I have ever received in church or at home (so far as the spiritual implications of our eating goes) is that the food we ate was not a matter of sin, but rather a matter of moderation and respect for our bodies, which Paul described as the temple of the Holy Spirit. I think we tuned out Genesis 1:29 for the most part as "old covenant" but acknowledged that those things were good for us in a more general way. We focus more on our "freedom in Christ," than being bound by food rules.
As to Christians I know, in general, they are beginning to understand the importance of diet, mainly through their own life experiences, usually involving their children. But others are discontented with their own health, and have been hearing from me, and no doubt others, that there is more to nutrition than they realized before. For me, going raw 100% for three weeks almost did me in...I was dangerously dehydrated despite drinking plenty of water, had some bizarre neuro symptoms, and I had to modify my doctor-suggested 6-week raw retreat in order to survive. When I returned home, I was tested for heavy metal poisoning with a big POSITIVE result. Yes, it can be dangerous to go 100% raw. I am no longer supposed to eat 100% raw all the time. I have a long road ahead of me to get to the heart of my various imbalances in a way that doesn't poison me in the process. So I haven't exactly been the poster-child to get everyone onto the raw bandwagon, either. I'm sure that throughout the country, there are 'failed" raw fooders in churches for one reason or another. But as more and more of us try new things and talk about them, it gives people around us permission to consider other ways besides their doctor's advice to address their health problems. I'm seeing much more interest in alternatives among my friends. At our church, a number of members have changed their diets using herbs and supplements from a local wellness company, and have experienced some great results...so going raw still seems too extreme when they can get results in other ways. I think that response is pretty natural and human, whether you are Christian or not. After all, we don't usually change unless we perceive more pain in the status quo than in making a change.
My last thoughts on why Christians are in the dark about diet and health is because most Christians don't read their Bibles, and take them seriously. Granted, it takes some study and the Holy Spirit to understand it, and understanding Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic (which is really useful for clarifiying a few things that people call "inconsistencies) is really useful. But if people would just read it they would see the holistic advice it contains....
I don't have the references or the exact wording at the tip of my tongue, but scripture tells us really helpful things....
Meditate on the law day and night and you will become like a tree planted by a river--meditation is good, especially if God is your topic!
Don't sin (guilt isn't good for you)
Don't fornicate or have adultery (good for your mental, emotional and physical health)
Don't disrespect your parents or provoke your children-ditto
don't let the sun go down on your wrath - go to bed with restored relationships
eat growing things a la Genesis 1:29
if eating meat, avoid bottom feeders, carnivorous predators and carrion-eaters and foods likely to hold nasty pathogens
a cheerful heart is good medicine - an all-around holistic healing approach
as a man thinks in his heart, so is he - ditto
give thanks to the Lord, for He is good - cultivating a heart of gratitude
Don't covet - feel peace inside instead - ditto
don't bear false witness - guilt/bad relationships aren't good for you
eat in moderation - don't burn off all your enzymes in one sitting!
some kinds of prayer is more efficacious with fasting
Fasting modeled as part of the lives of those who walked close to God
work 6 days and rest on the 7th (France tried to go to a 10 day workweek during one of their anti-God campaigns. Didn't last. The horses couldn't handle that schedule and began dying.)
The "Daniel Diet" of vegetarian fare gave Daniel and his buddies a superior glow and physique that impressed the king.
John survived just fine on locusts and wild honey. While not strictly vegan, it was raw.
wash your hands and clothing and houses according to guidelines of different sorts, including those to prevent the spread of leprosy.
Be transformed by the renewing of your mind - another mind-body connection as well as great spiritual advice
Give to others, care for widows, orphans, the sick, the imprisoned, the destitute.
Let those in debt to you have the option of working for you (slavery) but give them the choice of either staying with you (security) or being free after their debt is paid or when a Jubilee Year comes around.
Don't take advantage of your neighbor or charge interest, and restore land to original families every Jubilee year so everyone can have a chance to start over again. -- practicing charity results in better health and well-being for everyone.
Rotate your crops and let fields lie fallow every seventh year.
So lets see, we are implored to Meditate. I will suggest that it is hard NOT to breathe deeply and restfully when doing this, even though it isn't specified. The Holy Spirit is referred to as a breath, too.
We are implored to have a peaceful, stress-free, cheerful, forgiving, thankful and trusting mindset.
We are to eat in moderation, eat clean and periodically give our bodies a rest with fasting
we are given both a command to eat a vegetarian way, which, though rescinded out of necessity of survival, is confirmed as a great way to eat in the book of Daniel. Raw and natural eating is demonstrated by John the Baptist.
Practice good hygiene for personal and public health in both specific ways (like not spreading leprosy), but also having social rules to take care of the needy and give people a second chance. The "slavery" they practiced was never supposed to be anything more than a way to keep a roof over the debtor's head and food in his tummy while the lender got something in return for what he loaned, and it was to be temporary unless the debtor liked his new home well enough to stay there permanently. No homelessness giving rise to increased rates of AIDs, hepatitis (like today), or whatever scourges were common back in those days.
God's sustainable agricultural practices would have ensured a high quality of nutrients and health in their crops, too. I forget now, but there were rules about wells and water, too.
The Bible shows us how to be healthy both in our own bodies and in relationship to both our families and our communities and our land.
Those are all pretty holistic to me. But if Christians aren't reading their Bibles, they don't know that this stuff is there. Christians, as a group, are so ignorant of the Bible anymore that when the President of the United States misquotes Scripture on a national news network, they don't know that he misquoted it, and misapplied it, and you barely hear a peep about it. The other thing is that Christians aren't believing that their Bibles are relevant. When other non-Christian groups figure out that washing hands before surgery or that organic methods of gardening are key for our health, with no mention of Scripture having a similar plan or principle, it is very, very telling. The fact that Christians don't even seem to realize that there was already a command or principle in the Scriptures about it is very, very telling.
It tells me that we, as a culture, are totally ignoring what God has to say to us in His Word. It is fascinating to me that scientists and clergy alike created doubt in God's work in previous centuries...and that all the supposed "proof" was false, and that a lot of the missing "proof" that let the clergy toss out parts of the bible has now been found. Yet we blindly continue to believe, in fact seminaries continue to teach, that the Bible is a nice story with spiritual implications, not the Word of God. It "contains" the Word of God, and you and I get to pick and choose which parts are "real." (now them are fightin' words, sorry if I'm stepping on toes! I feel about this cover-up the way I feel about the AMA and big pharma trying to coverup natural remedies and true nutrition information!)
As a side note on a couple of other holistic practices...
While the Bible doesn't specify deep breathing, I think that quietly meditating and praying usually brings this sort of breathing on, naturally.The Bible also doesn't mention specific physical exercises like Yoga, nor techniques like sun-gazing. Since the Jews left Egypt behind, it is easy to see why God didn't particularly want them worshiping the Sun so I imagine that is why he left out that particular technique. Kind of like his rule about avoiding cooking meat in milk...one of the religious rituals of other tribes was to boil a kid in its mothers milk. God's commands to the Jews were to make them peculiar and different from the cultures around them.
As for Yoga in particular, I know that some Christians have heard the argument that when practicing some forms of meditation and Yoga, you are to empty your mind and open it to bad influences. God's command in meditation isn't to empty your mind, but to think on Him and His word. The argument runs that if you are emptying your mind, and putting yourself into a certain physical state, you are more open to demonic spiritual influences who will, of course, appear to you in a positive, desirable way. There have been some anecdotes of people who were purportedly later possessed with evil spirits after opening their hearts and minds to these occult influences. I have no idea if the stories are true or not, but the fact that they have been told will certainly cause many Christians to shy away from eastern practices like Yoga. I think that is why the more physically-oriented Yoga practices, like Hatha Yoga, have been the ones to find mainstream acceptance among some, but not all, Christians. I've read enough accounts of demonic activities and known enough people with involvement in the occult to believe that the supernatural world is quite real, so I wouldn't automatically dismiss the possibility that these stories have a basis in truth.
Anyway, those are my thoughts on why Christians are in the dark when it comes to nutrition and holistic health.
.
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Permalink Reply by Kara on -
If you look at a lot of the christian in the old testament..many of the were basically raw. Daniel for example was raw. He didn't eat the meat that the king had. He ate pulse. I believe in miracles and that prayer is a great defense and a wonderful and personal experience with God, but I also believe that we should eat the food God created instead of the process junk.
He gave us the gift of a body so we can charish it and feed it well so we can be a benefit to others. If we are on the top of our health we can be on the top of our game to help others who are in need.
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Permalink Reply by Kara on
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True. It was an option. They could eat meat if they wanted to. I guess in some cases that would be good to eat meat but I think if more christians were more conscious of what they ate. They would understatnd a lot more about the connect between body, mind, and spirit. It's all connected we are 1 being with 3 parts and it's all connected. it's 1. It you understand that concept you can more fully understand how God has 3 parts but yet is still 1 God. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost...3, but yet 1.
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Permalink Reply by Justin on -
I have to agree with Frank. We're taught we can do whatever we want and if God does't heal us, it's somehow his fault. Crazy I tell ya!
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Permalink Reply by ainsley on -
I've considered that question and I think it's because they feel God will keep their bodies going... that whole verse about being a good steward of your body does not seem to sink in with them...
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Permalink Reply by Amber on -
There are a lot of reasons (and I do think the post that makes the case for it just being an American thing has a point), but one main ones is the idea that "God will take care of it". No need to take responsibility for your health or think about where you food comes from, God gave it and God will take care of health if he feels like it. It's a sort of religious passivity particulary endemic to the western world.
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Permalink Reply by Salome on -
When you discover that the Standard American (I would say Western!) Diet actually is engineered to make people fat and hungry so they buy more and want to eat more so that the manufacturers/suppliers get more money out of them, this is not such a mystery.
Never judge, because you also don't know what emotional, physical, disease issues they are facing. It has been my experience that judgment comes back on us - in one way or another - if we dare to dish it out!
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Permalink Reply by Raw Caribeña on -
I remember a couple years ago (I think), I had watched an episode of a show where the wives or husbands spend a week at the home of another family. The cultures of the family are usually polar opposites ie: vegetarian vs. meat-eater, rural vs. city etc... This episode was about a conservative wife/mother who spends a week with a New Age family into different religions etc... and vice-versa. As a Christian, I felt embarrassed watching the episode because the Christian woman was severely obese and she kept trying to Bible-thump the other family. She was always offended by their "worldly ways" and would storm off when feeling challenged. The other family was a picture of health and balance, participating as a family and enjoying physical activities together while bonding. Once the wives returned to their homes, the Christian woman began to lose her mind, literally. She freaked and screamed and talked about the other family as being from the dark side. She looked like a monster freaking out like that. It was great tv fodder. Her children were stunned with their mother's behaviour and were kind of cowering and saying nothing. The children had a fine time with the New Age wife/mother. At the end of the show, each wife has money they give to the other family and writes in a letter what the money is intended. Well, you can imagine that the Christian woman decided to use a large portion to buy Bibles for them and I can't remember what else. The New Age woman did not impose any other her values and instead thought of things that would make the Christian woman and her family happy. The children of the Christian family had said their mother wanted gastric by-pass surgery. So the N.A woman said to use that portion of the money to help offset the costs of the surgery.
I wondered after the program what the Christian woman's pastor and church thought of the episode.
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