The Dangers of City Life and Blessings of Country Living

It is truly a blessing to consider the foundational principles for establishing a home that fosters spiritual growth and health 🌱.

Cities Offer No Real Benefit—There is not one family in a hundred who will be improved physically, mentally, or spiritually by residing in the city. Faith, hope, love, happiness, can far better be gained in retired places, where there are fields a...— AH 137.2 (1952)

Counsel on Moving From Rural to City Areas—Many parents remove from their country homes to the city, regarding it as a more desirable or profitable location. But by making this change, they expose their children to many and great temptations. The boys have no employment, and they obtain a street education and go on from one step in depravi...— AH 137.3 (1952)

...unloved and unlovely in character, when they show decided impiety and a tendency to infidelity, you blame the faith you profess because it was unable to save them. You are reaping that which you have sown—the result of your selfish love of the world and neglect of the means of grace. You moved your families into places of temptation; and the ark of God, your glory and defense, you...— AH 137.1 (1952)

It is essential to understand that residing in the city is highly detrimental to the physical, mental, and spiritual welfare of families, as barely one family in a hundred gains any improvement from city dwellingAH 137.2. Parents must realize the profound consequences of prioritizing worldly interests over their children's eternal well-beingAH 137.1.

The Danger of Choosing City Life

Moving families from country homes to the city, often seeking a location deemed more desirable or profitable, exposes the children to a torrent of great temptationsAH 137.3. This shift is deeply concerning because faith, hope, love, and true happiness are gained far better in retired places where fields, hills, and trees aboundAH 137.2.

• Spiritual Neglect and Resulting Impiety Parents who neglect the means of grace and move their families into places of temptation are making a costly offering to a mammon god, comparable to the historical practice of the Canaanites offering their children to MolochAH 137.1. When children consequently grow up displaying decided impiety and a tendency toward infidelity, the parents are merely reaping the painful results of their own selfish love of the world and neglect of spiritual means, and they should not blame the faith they profess for being unable to save the childrenAH 137.1. When the ark of God, which serves as the family's glory and defense, is not considered essential, the Lord will not work a miracle to deliver those children from temptationAH 137.1.

• Mental and Physical Harm The rattle and din of streetcars and teams associated with city life contribute to making the minds of children less healthyAH 137.2.

• Moral Depravity Lacking beneficial employment, children, especially boys, often obtain only a street education and subsequently go on from one step in depravity to another until they lose all interest in anything that is good, pure, and holyAH 137.3.

The Wisdom of Remaining Rural

It is far better for parents to remain with their families in the country, where the surrounding influences are most favorable for promoting both physical and mental strengthAH 137.3. When families move away from the unsettling sights and sounds of the city, their minds become more healthy, and it will be found much easier to bring home the truth of God’s word to their heartsAH 137.2. Furthermore, youth should be taught to labor in tilling the soil, which ensures they sleep the sweet sleep of weariness and innocenceAH 137.3.

It is wonderful that you are exploring the profound benefits of country living, as embracing a rural environment provides comprehensive advantages for physical, mental, and spiritual well-being, aligning closely with God's original plan for humanity 🌳🏡. Relocating miles away from large cities is an unequivocal instruction, offering rich blessings for those who willingly grasp themLDE 95.2+2.

Here are the key benefits associated with living away from the congestion and corruption of cities:

🌟 Spiritual and Moral Advantages

By choosing a country location, you secure a position highly favorable for the recovery and preservation of health, bringing life more nearly into harmony with God’s original design in placing our first parents in a garden12MR 30.1.

• Fostering Right Character: Christian character is formed more easily amidst the scenes of nature than within the wickedness of city lifeEv 46.4.

• Gaining Essential Virtues: Faith, hope, love, and happiness are far better gained in retired places where fields, hills, and trees are presentPC 14.1+1.

• Avoiding Temptation: Moving to the country avoids many evils and closes the door against a flood of temptations that gravely threaten the minds of childrenCL 16.3.

• Learning from Nature: By beholding the works of the Creator and studying God’s handiwork in nature, individuals are imperceptibly changed into the divine image10MR 263.2+1. Jesus Christ is often compared to the blessings of nature, such as the living water and the eternal light John 6:33+1.

• Easier Instruction: Away from the unsettling sights, sounds, rattle, and din of the city, children’s minds become healthier, making it easier to bring home the truth of God’s word to their heartsPC 14.1+1.

• Biblical Examples: Those who have been influential workers for God, such as Elisha, received their early training in quiet country life, benefitting from the teaching of nature and the discipline of useful workRR 79.2+2. Even the announcement of the Saviour’s birth was made to shepherds abiding in the field Luke 2:8.

💖 Health and Physical Restoration

Country surroundings are crucial for promoting physical strength and mental clarity, particularly for those needing recovery or rest.

• Nature as Physician: The pure air, the glad sunshine, the flowers, trees, orchards, and vineyards, along with outdoor exercise, are inherently health-giving and life-givingTSDF 84.8+1. Nature is truly God’s physicianTSDF 84.8+1.

• Mental Quietude: Being away from the bustle and noise of cities, including streetcars and the continual rattling of vehicles, ensures quiet that is appreciated by patients, allowing them to be more readily influenced by the Spirit of GodCH 265.4+1.

• Healing Environment: For chronic invalids, living amid attractive country surroundings restores health and happinessCH 170.2+1. The fragrance of cedar and fir, along with the balsam of the pine, contains life-giving propertiesCH 170.2. In these environments, drooping spirits revive, waning strength is recruited, and the mind becomes unconsciously peaceful, leading to a more calm and regular pulseCH 170.2+1.

• Nutritional Blessings: God desires those in countries where fresh fruit can be obtained for a large part of the year to realize the blessing they have, as depending more fully on fresh fruit plucked directly from the tree yields greater benefitsCH 473.4+1.

• Physical Discipline: Children benefit from an active, out-of-door life and employment, such as laboring in tilling the soil, which helps them sleep the sweet sleep of weariness and innocenceRH September 13, 1881, par. 6.

💼 Practical and Institutional Advantages

The wisdom of country living extends to providing practical security and an ideal setting for institutions dedicated to God’s work.

• Securing Provisions: Families are instructed to move into the country where they can raise their own provisions, as the challenge of buying and selling is predicted to become very serious in the futureLDE 99.4.

• Sustainable Income: Cultivating the land, coupled with God’s blessing, will supply human necessities, yielding stores richer than silver or gold for the faithful workerCL 17.4+1.

• Ideal Institutional Locations: Institutions such as schools, publishing houses, and sanitariums are instructed to be established outside of cities in rural places2SM 357.2+1. For instance, the Pacific Press was moved from Oakland to a rural place so employees could secure homes without needing high wagesPM 187.4+1.

• Sanitarium Success: Sanitariums situated in the country, surrounded by gardens and vineyards, have a restorative effect that is like an elixir of lifeMM 233.3. Patients who come to these institutions from the cities enjoy the retirement of rural life and may even become so interested in the outdoor work that they forget their aches and pains19LtMs, Lt 5, 1904, par. 9+1.

• Personal Space: The country allows families to have "elbow room," and houses are not crowded closely together, ensuring freedom from interference12MR 30.3+1. Many who are now crowded into cities, looking only upon filthy courts and brick walls, would find the green fields, clear skies, and pure air of the country to seem almost like heavenLDE 99.1.

We must remember that while here we are dwelling as pilgrims, seeking a better country, which is heavenly Hebrews 11:9, 16.