Clean Living and the Bible
Seems that when something is written and then shared about something beneficial in the Bible, mockers will invariably make vacuous comments about "fairy tales written by illiterate Bronze Age goat herders", and then congratulate themselves on the superior intellect of The Mighty Atheist™. If they were intellectually honest, they'd be forced to admit that there are things contained within that are helpful in many ways.
No, this post isn't exactly about morality, it's about physical cleanliness. The Bible has a lot to say, and if people paid attention, quite a few situations involving the spread of disease would have been contained. For that matter, although homosexuality is an abomination before God, it also spreads disease.
Ever see that first Alien movie? We were saying, "Don't open the door and let the guy into the ship!" (As if anyone could hear us, obey, and we'd have watched a very short flick.) They let it in, and chaos ensued. It's a strange example, but a possible "contagion" should have been isolated.
Scoffers like to malign the Old Testament as if God's commands to have lepers separate themselves, pottery that came in contact with infected people should be destroyed, bodily waste could not be in the camp, and other things, were not just examples of God being cranky and arbitrary. No, there were excellent reasons.
Interesting that many discoveries in medical practices (such as hand washing under running water, and containment) had their basis way back in the Old Testament. They were not discovered, they were rediscovered. Add to biblical principles the modern antiseptics and isolation, things are not quite so widespread. Our Creator and Redeemer had provisions for our physical health as well as our eternal destiny.
No, this post isn't exactly about morality, it's about physical cleanliness. The Bible has a lot to say, and if people paid attention, quite a few situations involving the spread of disease would have been contained. For that matter, although homosexuality is an abomination before God, it also spreads disease.
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| The Healing of Ten Lepers, James Tissot, 1886-1896, Brooklyn Museum |
Scoffers like to malign the Old Testament as if God's commands to have lepers separate themselves, pottery that came in contact with infected people should be destroyed, bodily waste could not be in the camp, and other things, were not just examples of God being cranky and arbitrary. No, there were excellent reasons.
Interesting that many discoveries in medical practices (such as hand washing under running water, and containment) had their basis way back in the Old Testament. They were not discovered, they were rediscovered. Add to biblical principles the modern antiseptics and isolation, things are not quite so widespread. Our Creator and Redeemer had provisions for our physical health as well as our eternal destiny.
Old diseases that had been considered to be no longer health problems are re-emerging in importance. . . What is worse, there is no cure or vaccine for many of these deadly diseases.To read the rest, click on "The First Book of Public Hygiene".
On the positive side, the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch, provide tremendous insight and relief concerning disease prevention. Remarkably, the Pentateuch is regarded as the earliest evidence we have of sound public health and sanitary practices. These ancient writings, when used in conjunction with modern medicine, can break the mode of transmission of virtually every scourge known to humanity.
What follows is a brief summary of the biblical instructions pertaining to public health and sanitation. Bear in mind that these regulations were practiced some 3,500 years before the germ concept of disease was discovered (mainly by the creationist Louis Pasteur)!
