Since the laws of nature are the laws of
God, it is plainly our duty to give these laws careful study.
We should study their requirements in regard to our own bodies
and conform to them. Ignorance in these things is sin.
"Know ye not that your bodies are
the members of Christ?" "What? know ye not that your
body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye
have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with
a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit,
which are God's." 1 Corinthians 6:15, 19, 20. Our bodies
are Christ's purchased property, and we are not at liberty to
do with them as we please. Man has done this. He has treated
his body as if its laws had no penalty. Through perverted appetite
its organs and powers have become enfeebled, diseased, and crippled.
And these results which Satan has brought about by his own specious
temptations he uses to taunt God with. He presents before God
the human body that Christ has purchased as His property, and
what an unsightly representation of his Maker man is! Because
man has sinned against his body and has corrupted his ways, God
is dishonored.
When men and women are truly converted,
they will conscientiously regard the laws of life that God has
established in their being, thus seeking to avoid physical, mental,
and moral feebleness. Obedience to these laws must be made a
matter of personal duty. We ourselves must suffer the ills of
violated law. We must answer to God for our habits and practices.
Therefore the question
for us is not, "What will the world say?"
but, "How shall I, claiming to be a Christian, treat the
habitation God has given me? Shall I work for my highest temporal
and spiritual good by keeping my body as a temple for the indwelling
of the Holy Spirit, or shall I sacrifice myself to the world's
ideas and practices?"
Healthful living must be made a family matter.
Parents should awake to their God-given responsibilities. Let
them study the principles of health reform and teach their children
that the path of self-denial is the only path of safety. The
mass of the inhabitants of the world by their disregard of physical
law are destroying their power of self-control and unfitting
themselves to appreciate eternal realities. Willingly ignorant
of their own structure, they lead their children in the path
of self-indulgence, thus preparing the way for them to suffer
the penalty of the transgression of nature's laws. This is not
taking a wise interest in the welfare of their families.