p. 390 | THE TRUE DIET FOR MAN by W. S. Boone

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 19, 1900

THE TRUE DIET FOR MAN.

By W. S. Boone

W. S. BOONE.

(Logan, Ohio.)

It is written, “God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.” Eccl. 7:29. Perhaps no other invention has contributed so much toward destroying that original uprightness in man, as has his departure from the primitive diet which God gave to him in the beginning. “And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat [food].” Gen. 1:29.

Here we learn from the word of God that the diet which he gave to the representatives of our race, Adam and Eve, consisted exclusively of the various grains, fruits, and nuts. These contain every element of nutrition required by the human body; and besides this, there is no element of disease or death in them.

If Adam and Eve and their posterity had conformed to the instructions given by the Lord in regard to diet, in Gen. 1:29; 2:16, 17, disease and death would never have entered this world; the instructions were disregarded, and for nearly six thousand years the human family has paid but little attention to what the Lord said in Gen. 1:29.

We have departed so far from the Lord’s instructions in reference to what is good and fit to eat; and have substituted or added so many things that are not fit to eat, and which the Lord has told us not to eat; that it can be truthfully said all over the world to-day, as was said by the sons of the prophets to Elisha of old: “O thou man of God, there is death in the pot.”

It was not designed of God from the beginning that the flesh of animals should form any part of the diet of man. This is proved by the revelation of his will upon the subject of diet, as given in Gen. 1:29, and quoted above. The observance of these requirements of God in regard to diet were frustrated, or hindered, for a short time, immediately after the flood.

The earth was broken up by the flood, and was covered with water for nearly a year. By this the grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables were destroyed; so that when Noah and his family came out of the ark, it became necessary for God to supply them with a temporary diet until the fruits, grains, nuts, and vegetables should grow again upon the earth. It was then that the Lord said: “Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat [food] for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it.” Gen. 9:3–5.

Here we learn that the life is in the blood, and that the blood of our lives is required for the lives of the animals whose flesh we eat. The principle revealed to Noah, in the words quoted, is that there is an element of disease and death in flesh food which shortens the lives of those who eat it.

The average length of a man’s life at the time permission was given to eat flesh food was nearly a thousand years. For four thousand years or more he has been losing his hold upon life, by this process of yielding his life for the lives of the animals, birds, and fishes eaten, until he is nearly bankrupt of life, dying at an average age of about thirty-three years.

We should stop our flesh-eating, and return to the healthful, life-giving diet of grains, fruits, vegetables, and nuts, which our loving Father has bountifully provided.