Healthful Living

Chapter 1—Our Bodies, Temples of the Holy Ghost

God's Workmanship

1. God is the owner of the whole man. Soul, body, and spirit are his. God gave his only begotten Son for the body as well as the soul, and our entire life belongs to God, to be consecrated to his service, that through the exercise of every faculty he has given, we may glorify him.—The Youth's Instructor, September 7, 1893. HL 9.1

2. From the first dawn of reason the human mind should become intelligent in regard to the physical structure of the body. Here Jehovah has given a specimen of himself; for man was made in the image of God.—Unpublished Testimonies, January 11, 1897. HL 9.2

3. The living organism is God's property. It belongs to him by creation and by redemption; and by a misuse of any of our powers we rob God of the honor due him.—Unpublished Testimonies, August 30, 1896. HL 9.3

4. We are God's workmanship, and his word declares that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” He has prepared this living habitation for the mind; it is “curiously wrought,” a temple which the Lord himself has fitted up for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.—Special Testimonies On Education, 33. HL 9.4

5. The very flesh in which the soul tabernacles, and through which it works, is the Lord's—Unpublished Testimonies, October 12, 1896. HL 10.1

Creation's Crown

6. Man was the crowning act of the creation of God, made in the image of God, and designed to be a counterpart of God.... Man is very dear to God, because he was formed in his own image. This fact should impress us with the importance of teaching by precept and example the sin of defiling, by the indulgence of appetite or by any other sinful practise, the body which is designed to represent God to the world.—The Review and Herald, June 18, 1895. HL 10.2

7. The wonderful mechanism of the human body does not receive half the care that is often given to a mere lifeless machine.—Gospel Workers, 175. HL 10.3

Personal Rights

8. Have I not the right to do as I please with my own body?—No, you have no moral right, because you are violating the laws of life and health which God has given you. You are the Lord's property,—his by creation and his by redemption. Every human being is under obligation to preserve the living machinery that is so fearfully and wonderfully made.—Unpublished Testimonies, May 19, 1897. HL 10.4

9. The physical organism should have special care, that the powers of the body may not be dwarfed, but developed to their full extent.—The Youth's Instructor, July 27, 1893. HL 10.5

10. The health should be as sacredly guarded as the character.—Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 83. HL 10.6

11. Jesus did not ignore the claims of the body, He had respect for the physical condition of man, and went about healing the sick, and restoring their faculties to those suffering from their loss. How incumbent, then, is it upon us to preserve the natural health with which God has endowed us, and to avoid dwarfing or weakening our powers.—The Health Reformer, November 1, 1877. HL 10.7

Mind Supreme

12. As they more fully understand the human body, the wonderful work of God's hand, formed in the image of the divine, they will seek to bring their bodies into subjection to the noble powers of the mind. The body will be regarded by them as a wonderful structure, formed by the Infinite Designer, and given into their charge to be kept in harmonious action.—The Health Reformer, September 1, 1871, par. 15. HL 11.1

13. The obligation we owe to God in presenting to him clean, pure, healthy bodies is not comprehended.—Unpublished Testimonies, May 19, 1897. HL 11.2

Christ in Man

14. Christ is to live in his human agents, and work through their faculties, and act through their capabilities.—Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, 128. HL 11.3

15. When human agents choose the will of God, and are conformed to the character of Christ, Jesus acts through their organs and faculties.—Special Testimonies, Series A 3:[48,] 49. HL 11.4

16. The Spirit of Christ is to take possession of the organs of speech, of the mental powers, of the physical and moral powers.—Special Testimonies, Series A 6:53. HL 11.5

Service

17. Our very bodies are not our own, to treat as we please, to cripple by habits that lead to decay, making it impossible to render to God perfect service. Our lives and all our faculties belong to him. He is caring for us every moment; he keeps the living machinery in action; if we were left to run it for one moment, we should die. We are absolutely dependent upon God.—Unpublished Testimonies, October 12, 1896. HL 11.6

18. It was a wonderful thing for God to create man, to make mind. He created him that every faculty might be the faculty of the divine mind. The glory of God is to be revealed in the creating of man in God's image, and in his redemption. One soul is of more value than a world. The Lord Jesus is the author of our being, and he is also the author of our redemption; and every one who will enter the kingdom of God must develop a character that is the counterpart of the character of God. None can dwell with God in a holy heaven but those who bear his likeness. Those who are redeemed will be overcomers; they will be elevated, pure, one with Christ.—The Signs of the Times, May 31, 1896. HL 12.1