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Body and Mind Inseparable, September 15
If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of
God is holy, which temple ye are.
1 Corinthians 3:17
.
One of the strongest temptations that man has to meet is upon the point of
appetite. Between the mind and the body there is a mysterious and wonderful
relation. They react upon each other. To keep the body in a healthy condition to
develop its strength, that every part of the living machinery may act harmoniously,
should be the first study of our life. To neglect the body is to neglect the mind. It
cannot be to the glory of God for His children to have sickly bodies or dwarfed
minds. To indulge the taste at the expense of health is a wicked abuse of the senses....
The Redeemer of the world knew that the indulgence of appetite would bring
physical debility, and so deaden the perceptive organs that sacred and eternal things
would not be discerned. Christ knew that the world was given up to gluttony and that
this indulgence would pervert the moral powers. If the indulgence of appetite was so
strong upon the race that, in order to break its power, the divine Son of God, in behalf
of man, was required to fast nearly six weeks, what a work is before the Christian in
order that he may overcome even as Christ overcame! The strength of the temptation
to indulge perverted appetite can be measured only by the inexpressible anguish of
Christ in that long fast in the wilderness.
Christ knew that in order to successfully carry forward the plan of salvation He
must commence the work of redeeming man just where the ruin began. Adam fell
by the indulgence of appetite. In order to impress upon man his obligations to obey
the law of God, Christ began His work of redemption by reforming the physical
habits of man....
Intemperance in eating, even of food of the right quality, will have a prostrating
influence upon the system and will blunt the keener and holier emotions. Strict
temperance in eating and drinking is highly essential for the healthy preservation
and vigorous exercise of all the functions of the body....
The only safe course is to touch not, taste not, handle not, tea, coffee, wines,
tobacco, opium, and alcoholic drinks. The necessity for the men of this generation
to call to their aid the power of the will, strengthened by the grace of God, in order
to withstand the temptations of Satan and resist the least indulgence of perverted
appetite is twice as great as it was several generations ago.... The Redeemer of the
world came from heaven to help man in his weakness, that, in the power which
Jesus came to bring him, he might become strong to overcome appetite and passion,
and might be victor on every point (
Testimonies for the Church 3:485-488
).
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