The Church of the Beyond, vol. 2 (Living in The Way)
For Bonhoeffer the community life practised there was based on the mores and guidelines of the Sermon on the Mount which became paradigmatic for the kind of discipleship that he believed Christ required from the church Bethge: Countering the criticism that Finkenwalde, by isolating itself temporarily from the direct heat of Hitler's choking laws, had compromised its witness, Day writes: That was Bonhoeffer's conviction and his experience during those years. As the political situation in Germany worsened, the Finkenwalde initiative and even the "Nachfolge" theology that inspired and supported it, although never totally irrelevant for Bonhoeffer, retreated somewhat into the background.
Bonhoeffer was now moved to more drastic action. The view of the church which emerged for Bonhoeffer during this time was that of a "community of responsibility" - a community which like Christ was willing - in this case on behalf of the oppressed and the persecuted, the majority being Jews - to oppose the powers and even to suffer on behalf of Christ. It was a community which was now also challenged to be more open and inclusive, accommodating all those who were willing to struggle and uphold those human values which over centuries had formed the basis of Western civilization.
In this regard there was a specific event which not only moved Bonhoeffer to reconsider the nature and scope of Jesus's Lordship, but also the witness and shape of a church or community which now stood up to follow Christ as Lord in a time of crisis. In an essay called "Kirche und Welt" Bonhoeffer refers to this amazing experience by recalling how many so-called humanists, in the hour of crisis, experienced a new affinity for the church and specifically for the gospel.
It was in particular the compassionate way of Christ, exemplified in the life of many Christians, which drew them nearer. In a remarkable way - and this was how Bonhoeffer articulated it - the old humanitarian values like truth, justice and freedom suddenly found a home with Christianity and especially within a church who faithfully adhered to the gospel Anthonissen In this way the biblical word from Mark 9: Now the so-called "good person" who was prepared to suffer for justice, but did not openly confess the name of Jesus, also enjoyed room and acceptance within the church as the visible body of Christ.
These thoughts were in a fascinating way further developed in Bonhoeffer's final writings. In his Ethics, which partly reflects Bonhoeffer's effort to clarify and even lay the moral foundations for a new societal order, the leading Christological question was about "Gestaltung" Anthonissen Within this context the church as God's most important order or mandate within the structure of society represents that part of humanity where Christ initially takes form, thereby serving as the first sign of a new humanity. As such the church is called through its communal life, to exemplify the suffering Christ's inclusive and sacrificial love, thus reminding the world of its destination Anthonissen To express the unique character of the church as an alternative and completely inclusive community Bonhoeffer introduced the term "Gemeinwesen" Day In this "Gemeinwesen" or convivial togetherness, being a Christian and being human come together.
The church becomes a space where human beings reach out to each other like Christ, caring and even suffering for one another. In alliance with each other they may now also enjoy play and friendship, thereby celebrating the resurrection of Christ. In his Letters and Papers from Prison where Bonhoeffer was reflecting on the conditions for and especially on the form of the Christian faith in a modern secularized society, he took his reflections on the credible witness of the church as a unique and alternative community even further.
Answering the leading Christological question of the time: That is the place where the church as the body of Christ needs to be. In fact Bonhoeffer in Thomas Day's words, proposed: As the heart of human sympathy the church would be the starting point to winning free space in the world for art and education, for free friendship, play, the whole of what Kierkegaard called 'aesthetic existence', a place where everything serves the community and community serves others. Reflecting on the relevance of Bonhoeffer's ecclesiology and especially the ongoing challenge it entails for the church to become more credible, his notion of the church as an alternative community remains without doubt one of his most potent and valuable legacies.
Thomas Day expressed the importance of this basic notion and thrust in Bonhoeffer's theology best when he wrote: It is no surprise that this particular focus on true community as the vital key, if not the crucial prerequisite for a more credible life and witness of the church in the world, has inspired many to explore and test Bonhoeffer's suggestions. They have rightfully recognized that community not only expresses the heart of what a truthful church is all about, but also the place to which the gospel wants to constantly lead us - and that for the sake of a more just and humane world.
In the words of the Franciscan writer Richard Rohr: Until and unless Christ is someone happening between people, the gospel remains largely an abstraction. This of course latches on to Bonhoeffer's own observation: Bonhoeffer's concept of the church as community first of all reminds us that a church which is only geared to serve the so-called eternal needs of the individual can miss and even distort its real purpose.
Writing in an extremely helpful way Richard Rohr gives interesting insight in what this distortion is and why it happened: But history has shown that individuals who are confirmed in their individualism by the very character of our evangelism will never create church, except after the model of a service station: We are saving souls while God is creating people" Rohr But the cause that I want to deal with is a certain kind of apathy, a fear of passion" Rohr Rohr's remark, apart from offering an interesting historical analysis, also draws our attention to the positive challenge that Bonhoeffer's concept of the church as an alternative community offers us.
This challenge is to become and at the same time offer a space where people from all walks of life, including Christians from different countries, traditions, cultures, sexes, classes and races can come together to really meet and serve each other. Of what can happen where people are drawn into real community and have an honest encounter with one another, Rohr writes grippingly: Here it is OK to show affection It is acceptable to feel here, and you do not have to be ashamed or afraid. We need quite simply places of sharing where the Word can be shared, and where hearts and bread can be broken and passed around If the church is to be renewed, if family is to happen anywhere, we must again make it possible for heart to speak to heart" Rohr For Bonhoeffer a church that risks following the incarnated Christ can never retreat into a ghetto, but is from the outset, exactly like her Lord, directed towards and involved in the world.
The church is not only an end in itself, but also a means to an end. The theological basis and impulse for this involvement was for Bonhoeffer throughout his life informed and guided by the notion of life orders, or as they were later called and explained in his Ethics, as "divine mandates". These mandates which consist of the church, marriage and family, culture and the state were to Bonhoeffer's mind life forms created by God. By existing and functioning together in harmony, interacting in a cordial and healthy way, these mandates express the will of God, thereby guaranteeing the necessary peace and justice society so desperately needs.
However, when one of these mandates, like in the time of Hitler's totalitarian state, oversteps its boundaries and claims the dominant place in this delicate network, it not only disturbs the God- given order in society, but also starts to erode the moral fibre and crucial human values that are so vital for the wellbeing, harmony and happiness of a society Anthonissen Then the time has arrived, according to Bonhoeffer, for the church as God's most important mandate to step in and to testify to God's will. Bonhoeffer did not believe that it was the church's first calling to provide a recipe devised to solve the problems of the world.
No, the church needed under all circumstances to remain a credible witness to its Lord by simply staying true to its own unique identity as the body of Christ, believing that the unique form of community that it represented and embodied - that is a community of reconciliation, love and forgiveness - is not only an image of a new humanity, but a first sign of God's love for all humanity, the crucial reminder of society's real purpose and destination Huber Being a sign or image of God's love of course does not exclude the courageous and prophetic proclamation of God's word but actually calls for it.
In fact the word of God and the authority of the preacher, is seen by Bonhoeffer as a vital key to and source of the church's ongoing existence, while the unique form of the church is the visible expression of the effect and influence of God's word in the church's life. In this way the church becomes the place of Christ's presence. To express the importance and urgency of this challenge to continuously and bravely witness to the world, not only by speaking a prophetic word through preaching, but also by appealing to the world through the way in which the church exists, Bonhoeffer coined the almost provocative phrase, that the church should heed to the commandment of the hour.
This challenge was not only put to the local church, but also to the ecumenical church Anthonissen As the situation in Germany worsened and the pressure on the church to conform grew, Bonhoeffer's view of the manner in which the church should involve and address the challenge of the hour also changed.
Whereas in earlier years the prophetic witness which Bonhoeffer expected of the church was to prepare a way for the word of God to be heard more clearly, allowing for the church to engage more cordially and patiently with the state , his expectation at a later stage changed. In his Ethics and his Letters from Prison, he for instance suggested a more drastic, open and confrontational character, expressed specifically by the word "responsibility" Anthonissen In a way the notion of "responsibility" characterizes Bonhoeffer's conviction of this ongoing obligation of the church to bravely render its witness to the world.
As Bonhoeffer's reflections on Christ's place and work in the world developed this responsibility became more urgent. It included not only official members of the church, but all those who were prepared to suffer for the oppressed. Listening to this presentation one can easily get the impression that Bonhoeffer was primarily a social activist, whose main interest was the church's ongoing involvement with the issues of society; that his effort to render the community credible, was geared only to witness in public.
Of course this is only partly true. For Bonhoeffer there was also a mystical core at the centre of his own life and also at the heart of the church as the body of Christ, which not only served as a nourishing source for himself and the life of the community, but also for its testimony in the world.
It is the space where Christ himself enters the heart of his followers through his Word and Spirit and where the church - by practising amongst other things the disciplines of solitude, silent contemplation, prayer, meditation and confession - is able to receive and be consoled, and yes, even changed by the gift of God's love and grace. How this spiritual gift should be received, embraced and nurtured is wonderfully expressed by Bonhoeffer in one of his last letters to Bethge on 21 August This more contemplative spirituality and pious commitment to Christ, was an indispensable part of Bonhoeffer's life.
Not only did this commitment, shortly after his return from America, change his life and moved him during his time as a lecturer and pastor in Berlin to confront some of his students with the very personal question whether they loved Jesus - it is also well known how he nurtured this relationship with the living Christ himself through the regular practice of reading the Bible and prayer Bethge A vital part of the training of students in Finkenwalde within the relatively isolated context of community, was also the practising of these old disciplines, helping the Confessing Church at that time to be more prepared and defensible against the looming crises GS I: Even after Finkenwalde had to be shut down Bonhoeffer received letters from Finkenwalde students, thanking him for introducing them to the discipline of meditation Bethge In prison Bonhoeffer maintained the daily discipline of Scripture meditation and prayer he had been practicing for more than a decade.
Each morning he meditated for at least half an hour on a verse of Scripture. He also interceded for his friends and relatives, and for his brothers in the Confessing Church who were serving on the front. In one of his last letters to Bethge Bonhoeffer shares how he meditated on the Moravian daily readings "Losungen" , remarking that all boils down to being in Him, Christ Bethge But for Bonhoeffer the practice of these disciplines was not only a personal necessity, it was also an unfailing condition for a credible and meaningful testimony of the church in the world.
For it is only when God is allowed to serve his followers in spaces of silence and prayerful expectation with his love, that their words and witness will also have power and meaning. That is why the so called cultus or inner life of the church is always extremely important for Bonhoeffer, also when suggests that the church has to interpret and live the gospel in a new non-religious way.
What that would entail was never properly spelled out by Bonhoeffer, but he did give a clue by referring to the importance of the so-called disciplina arcana Anthonissen The disciplina arcana encompassed those disciplines which from earlier ages formed the sacred heart of the church's existence. They were vital in protecting the church from rendering its message profane and impious. It is necessary to remind ourselves as believers of the importance and necessity to always in the way we live and testify to our faith, retain this balance between solidarity and silence, between social involvement and prayer?
Concerning this I want to highlight just one more aspect of this challenge - an aspect that Bonhoeffer himself stressed during his time at Finkenwalde - and which concerns the issue of theological training.
The Church of the Beyond, vol. 2
Shortly before his return from London to take up the position as Director for Theological Training in Finkenwalde, he wrote to Erwin Sutz: In the case of all three these things this is currently not happening at the University" GS I: Later on 19 September , after Bonhoeffer had already practised theology in the context of a caring community in Finkenwalde, he shared his conviction in this regard with Karl Barth: That both our theological work, as well as a real caring and pastorally-inclined community can only grow in a kind of life together which is determined by regular morning and evening gatherings around the Word, and by established times for prayer, is for sure" GS II: Finally, in a letter to his brother Karl-Friedrich during this time, it becomes clear how he visualised the renewal of the church: These thoughts seem to me to be of extreme importance for the training of a next generation of pastors and theologians in our own context.
In this regard I finally want to share a story, if not a keen observation, which to my mind highlights some of the problems as well as some of the main challenges we face in this regard. According to a former student of this faculty, who in the meantime has become a lecturer at another University, most students when they come to study theology are usually quite pious and naive. In fact it is exactly because of this piety, which mostly implies a strong sense of vocation that they come to study theology.
However, during the course of their training they are inevitably exposed to the newer critical, historical and hermeneutical research and discourses which for many are a positive, liberating and enlightening experience, broadening their horizon and also stimulating a more rational engagement with the traditional concepts of their faith, often making them leave behind many of these concepts and the practices related to them. For others, however, this introduction into the more critical tradition, is perceived as an erosion and even, in some cases, an undermining of their traditional piety and faith, leaving them with nagging doubt, growing confusion and even outright resistance or indifferent cynicism.
In both cases a glaring spiritual vacuum often remains, one which, according to my colleague, requires a spirituality which can, on the one side help the more critically minded students to regain a so-called "second naivety", not forgetting or neglecting the disciplines of prayer, silence, meditation and even fasting. On the other hand such a spirituality needs to restore new confidence in the authority of Scriptures for those who have become disillusioned while guarding at the same time against the dangers of fundamentalism and self-complacency.
It would not be out of place to think of Bonhoeffer's suggestions in this regard - suggestions which in short amount to a critical revision of our current model of theological training, undergirding and complementing it with a tested spirituality which should be practiced and appropriated within the context of a nourishing and caring community. The vital ingredients of this spirituality should be those which over the centuries have proved themselves to provide the so-called "spiritual armour" referred to in Ephesians 6. This armour has rendered most of the apostles fireproof in difficult situations.
On a personal note: I was glad to hear that since professor Denise Ackermann was appointed within the Department of Practical Theology a few years ago to assist with spiritual formation in the Faculty of Theology that the teaching and practising of some of these disciplines, including an annual retreat, were integrated into the curriculum. My impression, however, also on the basis of discussions with Prof.
Ackermann, was that these exercises or practices, and in particular the possibility of a retreat, were usually only introduced at the end of the training, serving as a finishing touch. The question remains whether the guidance into these exercises or disciplines should not have been introduced earlier, thus forming a more integral part of the whole training?
Perhaps the more vital question is whether those who are responsible for the training are themselves also committed to the practising of these disciplines? Unpublished PhD dissertation, Stellenbosch Univerity. Bethge, E Eine dogmatische Untersuchung zur Soziologie der Kirche Herausgegeben von Joachim von Soosten. Transzendentalphilosophie und Ontologie in der Systematische Theologie.
Herausgegeben von Hans-Richard Reuter.
SCM Press Ltd, Manuskripte in rekonstruierter Entstehungsfolge Briefe und Aufzeichnungen aus der Haft Herausgegben von Eberhard Bethge. In Marty ME ed Conviviality and Common Sense: De Gruchy JW The Dynamic Structure of the Church. An Exposition and Comparative Analysis of the Ecclesiologies of Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and an Interpretation based on this Exposition and Analysis of the basic Principles which should determine the Structure of the Church in our situation today.
PhD dissertation, Unisa, Pretoria. The Theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In Wolf E Hrsg Forschungen zur Geschichte und Lehre des Protestantismus. Volk als Raum der Kirche: Bonhoeffer - Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. Von der Kirche zur Welt: Herbert Reich Evangelische Verlag. Der andere ist unendlich wichtig. Ein Beitrag zur theologischen Prinzipienlehre. The Form of Christ in the World. Every time I hear of these, I feel like clothing myself in sackcloth.
I have an agony of soul that is beyond anything that I can describe to you. Would the lightning and thunder of Sinai arouse this church? Would they arouse you, fathers and mothers, to commence the work of reformation in your own houses? You should be teaching your children. You should be instructing them how to shun the vices and corruptions of this age.
Instead of this, many are studying how to get something good to eat. You place upon your tables butter, eggs, and meat, and your children partake of them. They are fed with the very things that will excite their animal passions, and then you come to meeting and ask God to bless and save your children. How high do your prayers go? You have a work to do first. When you have done all for your children which God has left for you to do then you can with confidence claim the special help that God has promised to give you.
You should study temperance in all things. You must study it in what you eat and in what you drink. And yet you say: Many who have adopted the health reform have left off everything hurtful, but does it follow that because they have left off these things they can eat just as much as they please? They sit down to the table, and instead of considering how much they should eat, they give themselves up to appetite and eat to great excess. And the stomach has all it can do, or all it should do, the rest of that day, to worry away with the burden imposed upon it. All the food that is put into the stomach, from which the system cannot derive benefit, is a burden to nature in her work.
It hinders the living machine. The system is clogged and cannot successfully carry on its work. The vital organs are unnecessarily taxed, and the brain nerve power is called to the stomach to help the digestive organs carry on their work of disposing of an amount of food which does the system no good.
Thus the power of the brain is lessened by drawing so heavily upon it to help the stomach get along with its heavy burden. And after it has accomplished the task, what are the sensations experienced as the result of this unnecessary expenditure of vital force? A feeling of goneness, a faintness, as though you must eat more. Perhaps this feeling comes just before mealtime. What is the cause of this? Nature has worried along with her work and is so thoroughly exhausted in consequence that you have this sensation of goneness.
The stomach needs rest to gather up its exhausted energies for another work. But, instead of allowing it any period of rest, you think it needs more food, and so heap another load upon nature, and refuse it the needed rest. It is like a man laboring in the field all through the early part of the day until he is weary. He comes in at noon and says that he is weary and exhausted, but you tell him to go to work again and he will obtain relief. This is the way you treat the stomach. It is thoroughly exhausted. But instead of letting it rest, you give it more food, and then call the vitality from other parts of the system to the stomach to assist in the work of digestion.
Many of you have at times felt a numbness around the brain. You have felt disinclined to take hold of any labor which required either mental or physical exertion, until you have rested from the sense of this burden imposed upon your system. Then, again, there is this sense of goneness. But you say it is more food that is wanted, and place a double load upon the stomach for it to care for. Even if you are strict in the quality of your food, do you glorify God in your bodies and spirits, which are His, by partaking of such a quantity of food? Those who place so much food upon the stomach, and thus load down nature, could not appreciate the truth should they hear it dwelt upon.
They could not arouse the benumbed sensibilities of the brain to realize the value of the atonement and the great sacrifice that has been made for fallen man. It is impossible for such to appreciate the great, the precious, and the exceedingly rich reward that is in reserve for the faithful overcomers.
The animal part of our nature should never be left to govern the moral and intellectual. And what influence does overeating have upon the stomach? It becomes debilitated, the digestive organs are weakened, and disease, with all its train of evils, is brought on as the result. If persons were diseased before, they thus increase the difficulties upon them and lessen their vitality every day they live. They call their vital powers into unnecessary action to take care of the food that they place in their stomachs. What a terrible condition is this to be in!
We know something of dyspepsia by experience. We have had it in our family, and we feel that it is a disease much to be dreaded. When a person becomes a thorough dyspeptic, he is a great sufferer, mentally and physically; and his friends must also suffer, unless they are as unfeeling as brutes. And yet will you say: Does anybody around dyspeptics suffer? Just take a course that will irritate them in any way. How natural to be fretful! They feel bad, and it appears to them that their children are very bad. They cannot speak calmly to them, nor, without especial grace, act calmly in their families.
All around them are affected by the disease upon them; all have to suffer the consequences of their infirmity. They cast a dark shadow. Then, do not your habits of eating and drinking affect others? And you should be very careful to preserve yourself in the best condition of health that you may render to God perfect service and do your duty in society and to your family.
But even health reformers can err in the quantity of food. They can eat immoderately of a healthy quality of food. Some in this house err in the quality. They have never taken their position upon health reform. They have chosen to eat and drink what they pleased and when they pleased.
They are injuring their systems in this way. Not only this, but they are injuring their families by placing upon their tables a feverish diet which will increase the animal passions of their children and lead them to care but little for heavenly things. The parents are thus strengthening the animal, and lessening the spiritual, powers of their children.
What a heavy penalty will they have to pay in the end! And then they wonder that their children are so weak morally! Parents have not given their children the right education. Frequently they manifest the same imperfections which are seen in the children. They eat improperly, and this calls their nervous energies to the stomach, and they have no vitality to expend in other directions.
They cannot properly control their children because of their own impatience, neither can they teach them the right way. Perhaps they take hold of them roughly and give them an impatient blow. I have said that to shake a child would shake two evil spirits in, while it would shake one out. If a child is wrong, to shake it only makes it worse. It will not subdue it. When the system is not in a right condition, when the circulation is broken up, and the nervous power has all that it can do to take care of a bad quality of food, or too great a quantity even of that which is good, parents have not self-command.
They cannot reason from cause to effect. Here is the reason why—in every move they make in their families they create more trouble than they cure. They do not seem to understand and reason from cause to effect, and they go to work like blind men. They seem to act as though it would especially glorify God for them to move like wild men, and if anything wrong should occur in their families, to put it down with roughness and violence.
Who are our children? They are only our younger brothers and sisters in the family that God acknowledges as His. We are dealing with the members of the Lord's family. And while the care of them is committed to us, how careful should we be that we bring them up for the Lord, so that when the Master comes we can say: I have seen mothers of large families, who could not see the work that lay right in their pathway, just before them in their own families. They wanted to be missionaries and do some great work. They were looking out for themselves some high position, but neglecting to take care of the very work at home which the Lord had left for them to do.
How important that the brain be clear! How important that the body be as free as possible from disease, in order that we may do the work which Heaven has left for us to do, and perform it in such a manner that the Master can say: Let each day's actions be such that in the day of final settlement of accounts you will not be ashamed to meet the record made by the recording angel. But what about an impoverished diet? I have spoken of the importance of the quantity and quality of food being in strict accordance with the laws of health. But we would not recommend an impoverished diet.
I have been shown that many take a wrong view of the health reform and adopt too poor a diet. They subsist upon a cheap, poor quality of food, prepared without care or reference to the nourishment of the system. It is important that the food should be prepared with care, that the appetite, when not perverted, can relish it. Because we from principle discard the use of meat, butter, mince pies, spices, lard, and that which irritates the stomach and destroys health, the idea should never be given that it is of but little consequence what we eat. There are some who go to extremes. They must eat just such an amount and just such a quality, and confine themselves to two or three things.
They allow only a few things to be placed before them or their families to eat. In eating a small amount of food, and that not of the best quality, they do not take into the stomach that which will suitably nourish the system. Poor food cannot be converted into good blood. An impoverished diet will impoverish the blood. I will mention the case of Sister A. That case was presented to me to show an extreme. Two classes were presented before me: First, those who were not living up to the light which God had given them.
They started in the reform because somebody else did. They did not understand the system for themselves. There are many of you who profess the truth, who have received it because somebody else did, and for your life you could not give the reason. This is why you are as weak as water. Instead of weighing your motives in the light of eternity, instead of having a practical knowledge of the principles underlying all your actions, instead of having dug down to the bottom and built upon a right foundation for yourself, you are walking in the sparks kindled by somebody else.
And you will fail in this, as you have failed in the health reform. Now, if you had moved from principle you would not have done this. Some cannot be impressed with the necessity of eating and drinking to the glory of God.
Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2
The indulgence of appetite affects them in all the relations of life. It is seen in their family, in their church, in the prayer meeting, and in the conduct of their children. It has been the curse of their lives. You cannot make them understand the truths for these last days. God has bountifully provided for the sustenance and happiness of all His creatures; and if His laws were never violated, and all acted in harmony with the divine will, health, peace, and happiness, instead of misery and continual evil, would be experienced.
Another class who have taken hold of the health reform are very severe. They take a position, and stand stubbornly in that position, and carry nearly everything over the mark. Sister A was one of these. She was not sympathizing, loving, and affectionate like our divine Lord. Justice was nearly all she could see.
Kuhusu mwandishi
She carried matters further than Dr. Her patients had to even leave her because they could not get enough to eat. Her impoverished diet gave her impoverished blood. Flesh meats will depreciate the blood.
Cook meat with spices, and eat it with rich cakes and pies, and you have a bad quality of blood. The system is too heavily taxed in disposing of this kind of food. The mince pies and the pickles, which should never find a place in any human stomach, will give a miserable quality of blood. And a poor quality of food, cooked in an improper manner, and insufficient in quantity, cannot make good blood.
Flesh meats and rich food, and an impoverished diet, will produce the same results. Now in regard to milk and sugar: I know of persons who have become frightened at the health reform, and said they would have nothing to do with it, because it has spoken against a free use of these things. Changes should be made with great care, and we should move cautiously and wisely.
We want to take that course which will recommend itself to the intelligent men and women of the land. Large quantities of milk and sugar eaten together are injurious. They impart impurities to the system. Animals from which milk is obtained are not always healthy. They may be diseased. A cow may be apparently well in the morning, and die before night. Then she was diseased in the morning, and her milk was diseased; but you did not know it.
The animal creation is diseased. Flesh meats are diseased. Could we know that animals were in perfect health, I would recommend that people eat flesh meats sooner than large quantities of milk and sugar. It would not do the injury that milk and sugar do.
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Sugar clogs the system. It hinders the working of the living machine. There was one case in Montcalm County, Michigan, to which I will refer. The individual was a noble man. He stood six feet and was of fine appearance. I was called to visit him in his sickness. I had previously conversed with him in regard to his manner of living.
He was eating large quantities of sugar. I asked him why he did this. He said that he had left off meat, and did not know what would supply its place as well as sugar. His food did not satisfy him, simply because his wife did not know how to cook. Some of you send your daughters, who have nearly grown to womanhood, to school to learn the sciences before they know how to cook, when this should be made of the first importance.
Here was a woman who did not know how to cook; she had not learned how to prepare healthful food. The wife and mother was deficient in this important branch of education; and as the result, poorly cooked food not being sufficient to sustain the demands of the system, sugar was eaten immoderately, which brought on a diseased condition of the entire system. This man's life was sacrificed unnecessarily to bad cooking. When I went to see the sick man I tried to tell them as well as I could how to manage, and soon he began slowly to improve. But he imprudently exercised his strength when not able, ate a small amount not of the right quality, and was taken down again.
This time there was no help for him. His system appeared to be a living mass of corruption. He died a victim to poor cooking. He tried to make sugar supply the place of good cooking, and it only made matters worse. I frequently sit down to the tables of the brethren and sisters, and see that they use a great amount of milk and sugar. These clog the system, irritate the digestive organs, and affect the brain.
Anything that hinders the active motion of the living machinery affects the brain very directly. And from the light given me, sugar, when largely used, is more injurious than meat. These changes should be made cautiously, and the subject should be treated in a manner not calculated to disgust and prejudice those whom we would teach and help. Our sisters often do not know how to cook.
To such I would say: I would go to the very best cook that could be found in the country, and remain there if necessary for weeks, until I had become mistress of the art, an intelligent, skillful cook. I would pursue this course if I were forty years old. It is your duty to know how to cook, and it is your duty to teach your daughters to cook.
Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2 — Ellen G. White Writings
When you are teaching them the art of cookery you are building around them a barrier that will preserve them from the folly and vice which they may otherwise be tempted to engage in. I prize my seamstress, I value my copyist; but my cook, who knows well how to prepare the food to sustain life and nourish brain, bone, and muscle, fills the most important place among the helpers in my family. Mothers, there is nothing that leads to such evils as to lift the burdens from your daughters, and give them nothing special to do, and let them choose their own employment, perhaps a little crochet or some other fancywork to busy themselves.
Let them have exercise of the limbs and muscles. If it wearies them, what then? Are you not wearied in your work? Will weariness hurt your children, unless overworked, more than it hurts you? They can recover from their weariness in a good night's rest and be prepared to engage in labor the next day. It is a sin to let them grow up in idleness. The sin and ruin of Sodom was abundance of bread and idleness.
We want to work from the right standpoint. We want to act like men and women that are to be brought into judgment. And when we adopt the health reform we should adopt it from a sense of duty, not because somebody else has adopted it. I have not changed my course a particle since I adopted the health reform. I have not taken one step back since the light from heaven upon this subject first shone upon my pathway. I broke away from everything at once,—from meat and butter, and from three meals,—and that while engaged in exhaustive brain labor, writing from early morning till sundown.
I came down to two meals a day without changing my labor. I have been a great sufferer from disease, having had five shocks of paralysis. I have been with my left arm bound to my side for months because the pain in my heart was so great. When making these changes in my diet, I refused to yield to taste and let that govern me. Shall that stand in the way of my securing greater strength, that I may therewith glorify my Lord? Shall that stand in my way for a moment? I suffered keen hunger. I was a great meat eater. But when faint, I placed my arms across my stomach and said: I will eat simple food, or I will not eat at all.
I could seldom eat a piece as large as a dollar. Some things in the reform I could get along with very well, but when I came to the bread I was especially set against it. When I made these changes I had a special battle to fight. The first two or three meals, I could not eat.
I said to my stomach: This I could not eat before; but now it tastes good, and I have had no loss of appetite. When writing Spiritual Gifts , volumes three and four, I would become exhausted by excessive labor. I then saw that I must change my course of life, and by resting a few days I came out all right again. I left off these things from principle.
I took my stand on health reform from principle. And since that time, brethren, you have not heard me advance an extreme view of health reform that I have had to take back. I have advanced nothing but what I stand to today. I recommend to you a healthful, nourishing diet. I do not regard it a great privation to discontinue the use of those things which leave a bad smell in the breath and a bad taste in the mouth.
Is it self-denial to leave these things and get into a condition where everything is as sweet as honey; where no bad taste is left in the mouth and no feeling of goneness in the stomach?