The Vegan Lifestyle

Most of us do not realize the importance of positive mental attitude. We have been living almost all of our lives in poverty and afflictions, and we contentedly accept it as if it is our lot in this world.

Many people are in hospitals laying helpless in their sickbeds afflicted and suffering of imagined diseases which they have created by themselves. Many cancer patients should have easily recuperated had they known the power of positive mental attitude. Terminal cancer is reversible and curable even by natural medicine, much more by positive mental attitude!

Most of us are hypochondriacs! We have abnormal fears of almost everything. We imagine a lot of diseases in our mind without end. We seem to have been born with a phobia of bacteria, and we continually think that everything around us are carriers of diseases and we are continually in fear of it.

It is true that bacteria, microbes, virus and other pathogens are all around us. Some of them are air borne such as swine flu virus, and they multiply very rapidly not only in millions, but probably in trillions, quintillions, or even centillions. We are abnormally afraid of bacteria and the diseases they cause, and this is this fear in us that makes us very readily susceptible to all these diseases.

All the time we forget that we are the masterpiece of God’s creation and our body is not that frail to readily succumb to the assaults of all these pathogens around us. We are totally blind to the fact, and we always forget that in spite of all these dreadful diseases around us, we are still alive, and still wake up every morning alive and kicking.

As most research have proven, most diseases are 90 % caused by the mind, and only 10 % are caused by heredity, diet, and environment. It would help us a lot if we continually guard our mind from brooding on negative thoughts, such as failures, inferiority, diseases, death and so on.

To avoid all these dreadful diseases around us such as swine flu, AIDS, and all forms of cancer, we need to listen and obey the Word of God. In Philippians chapter 4 verse 8, God instructed us what to do to avoid not only the above dreadful diseases but also to spare ourselves from all the sufferings and afflictions that plagued this sinful world today. It says, ” … whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever thing are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

The swine flu scare is now all around. I thought it will not thrive in the Philippines because of the hot temperature of summer. I was wrong; it is here now, and has already taken a victim.

It started here in the Philippines with the students from La Salle and Ateneo being infected with the virus. They could have taken it from their friends or relatives who have recently traveled to countries with swine flu pandemic.

The swine scare is not in Manila alone. It is now all over the country. It is scattered in some provinces of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Everyone is scared that he could be infected by swine flu any moment.

Here at home, we are taking extra precaution. As much as possible, if not very necessary, we avoid going out to public places where more people converge. Swine flu is air borne, and we can easily catch it in places congested with people. There is no way of knowing who has it, until you got it.

We also basked under the heat of the sun. Sunlight is beneficial to our body. It is not only good for proper blood circulation, and for the detoxification of our body, but it has antiseptic and germicidal effects to kill bacteria, virus and other germs.

Eating fruits and vegetables rich in vitamin C is good too. The nutrients in fruits, grains, nuts, and vegetables can boost our immune system to fight against bacteria, virus and other pathogens that may harm our body.

Drinking enough clean water and other liquids is also good to counteract the onslaught of any disease. All organs of our body need water to function properly. So drink at least 8 to 10 glasses of clean water everyday.

Have enough rest too. Have at least 6 to 8 hours sleep every night. This will strengthens your immune system to combat all diseases and energize your tired body for the next day. Do not worry about swine flu. Your fear and stress will only weaken your immune system, and expose you more to swine flu.

Pork is forbidden by God as food. God said, in Leviticus 11:7, 8, that pig or swine is not clean, and of its flesh man should not eat nor touch its carcass.

Some people have not known that pork is forbidden by God. Some were shown the Bible verses in Leviticus, but still persist in eating pork. They try to rationalize, in their ignorance of words, that swine is not pig, and vice versa.

The King James Version and other versions of the Holy Bible use the word “swine”, whereas, the New International Version, and other modern versions of the Holy Bible use the word “pig”. Dictionaries can prove it that swine and pig are words of the same meaning, and can be used interchangeably to describe the same animal.

Other people have read Leviticus 11 verses 7 and 8, but still refuse to obey God. They say that the prohibition was given in the Old Testament, and is no longer binding in our time. They cite the last part of Mark 7: 19, and Acts 10:13 as proofs that pork can now be eaten as food.

What is spoken of in Mark chapter 7, and what is the truth about the last part of verse 19? Was it about flesh meat eating, or was it eating without washing the hands? Granted that the topic was flesh meat eating, it is very obvious that what they eat was not pork nor any unclean food. The disciples who eat without washing their hands were Jews, and Jews abhor unclean food.

The last part of Mark 7 verse 19 is not found in the original text. It is not found in the King James Version. Modern versions included it, but only enclosed in a parenthesis to show that it was only added and was not a part of the original text.

Acts 10 verse 13 narrates of a voice telling Peter to kill and eat the four-footed beasts which he saw inside a net being let down from heaven during a trance. As a Jew, Peter vehemently refused, arguing that he had never eaten any impure or unclean food. This happened three times, until the net was taken back to heaven.

The vision which Peter saw in a trance is symbolical. It is not meant to be literal. We cannot doubt this fact, for Peter himself explained it in verses 34 and 35, saying, after understanding and realizing the meaning of the vision, that God does not show favoritism, but accepts men from every nation that fear him and do what is right.

So the command in Acts 10:13 was not literally to kill and eat unclean four–footed beasts, but to accept the Gentiles, and preach the good news to them that God now accepts them through the redeeming blood of our Lord Jesus Christ that was shed on the Cross of Calvary.

Why is pork forbidden by God? Is it bad for our health and harmful to our body?

The only reason that God gives in the prohibition of eating pork was that it is unclean. Why is it unclean? Because the pig, God said, though it has a split hoof completely divided, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for us.

If you do not believe God that swine or pig is not clean, consider how pig wallows in dirty stinking mud of wastes and feces, and how it eats its own vomit. Consider the pandemic swine flu that is currently happening in Mexico, the USA, Canada, Hongkong, and other parts of  the world. There is fear in the hearts of many that this pandemic outbreak, if not contained, may take the lives of millions such as happened in the “Spanish” flu pandemic in 1918 that took 50 million lives.

It is true that swine flu is airborne, and pork eating cannot transmit it to human beings because the swine flu virus is killed during cooking. But swine flu is not the only danger from eating pork. Pork have trichina worms that cause trichinosis, and a fatal viral disease called foot-and-mouth disease that hit epidemic outbreak in the USA, Taiwan, United Kingdom, China, and other countries of the world in the past.

Pork is forbidden by God because it is not clean as food. It does not only have parasites,  and viruses that can be transmitted to human beings, but pork is also high in saturated fats that can cause atherosclerosis, strokes, and heart attacks.