Part A: Violating Natural and Physical Laws

God has established physical laws in His creation, His design, that if adhered to will bring a healthy, joyful, fulfilled life. But if we neglect to abide by His established, physical laws, we will suffer the consequences.

Under God’s creation there are two affects that hinder us in our desire to have a healthy life and instead bring physical suffering, disease, illness, sickness, and various physical deformities: A. Sickness by God’s curse; and B. Sickness by violating God’s design.

A. Sickness by God’s Curse

God created man perfect and placed him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate the ground. Man had perfect health. There was be no sickness, no disease, no suffering, and no death. This was all before Adam sinned.

Adam directly disobeyed God at the prompting of his wife. Adam knew the consequences of disobedience: death. In response to man’s sin, God place a curse upon the earth. This curse continues even today.

Romans 8:18-22 teaches that creation is corrupted and even now groans waiting to be delivered from the curse.

You can read about man’s rebellion and the ensuing curse in Genesis 3.

Genesis 3:17-19 specifically discusses the curse God place upon the earth because of man’s rebellion. Adam was the representative of man. We all suffer because of his choice (However, in God’s wisdom, He chose Adam as the best possible representation for mankind. This means that you or I would have made the same choice.).

We now have decay, disease, pain, death, natural disaster, pollution, and all other forms of evil which will never cease until our Lord Himself removes the curse.

Yet, in spite of the curse, much of the beauty, grandeur, and benefits of this world remain. Though everything in its time deteriorates, flowers are still beautiful and give their fragrances, mountains are still grand, forests are still magnificent, the heavenly bodies are still majestic, food still brings nourishment and is a pleasure to eat, and water still brings refreshment and sustains life.

But, the curse is with us, and we see the effects as some children are born blind, deaf, with cerebral palsy, and various other maladies and weaknesses. Often these deficiencies are passed from parent to child as we sometimes use the terms “heredity” and “genetics” to describe what we cannot fully explain. Though the bible does not talk at all about hereditary illnesses, we see from life experiences that all of us are born with certain weaknesses and strengths in our physical bodies whether we realize it or not. It is part of our genetic makeup.

Functional Weakness vs Structural Deformity

As part of God’s curse, we are born with, to one degree or another, a predisposition toward weakness in certain areas of our body which is sometimes manifested in early childhood as an illness of some kind. Hereditary problems or weaknesses can be classified into two areas – functional weaknesses as opposed to structural deformities. Most “hereditary illnesses” are actually only functional weaknesses as we see by experience.

For example, asthma is a functional weakness. When a child is born, all parts of the respiratory system may be formed correctly, that is, there is no structural deformities, but the respiratory function is weak producing what we call asthma.

On the other hand, another child may be born with deafness which would be typical of a structural deformity and might be caused from a bone that is missing or deformed in the ear.

Functional weaknesses, most all of the time, can be strengthened, and the weakened part of the body restored to proper health. Therefore, an illness that is only a weaknesses from birth, does not have to be permanent. It can be corrected when biblical principles are applied.

Hereditary Does Not Always Mean Permanence

Consider an analogy of a person born into a wealthy family. This person can maintain his wealth wisely or loose it foolishly. A person born into a poverty stricken family can certainly improve his financial situation if he desires to do so. The point is, the responsibility is given to this person to either maintain what has been given financially, loose it, or improve it. It is not a permanent condition! Similarly, we can be born healthy and ruin it with poor habits in a short period of time, or we can be born sick and improve our health as well.

Unfortunately, many doctors do not understand the root causes of illness and of treating problems from a whole body approach as God teaches us in His word and therefore wrongly assume the problem is hereditary. In addition, sadly, they convince their patients that hereditary = permanence.

It also needs to be said that sometimes when a child exhibits the same symptoms as a parent in some type of deficiency or illness, it is prematurely assumed that the cause is hereditary. Sometimes the cause is simply that the child is living like his parents and following their lifestyle and likely mimicking their poor health habits – such as smoking, alcohol abuse, a poor diet, a sedentary lifestyle, a complaining spirit, etc. It is easier to wave the “hereditary flag” than to take responsibility for their own behavior, oftentimes blaming their parents.

Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds.”

One example of this principle is our daughter Emily. Her father suffered from many childhood allergies. Many of these allergies followed him into his adulthood. He also suffered from sinus problems.

For years I blamed her allergies on her father. Then when we changed her eating habits, and her allergies virtually vanished, I came to realize she only had weaknesses towards those symptoms that needed to be strengthened by living under God’s design.

Read all of Emily’s health testimony here.

Aging and Death a Part of the Curse

As a result of the curse, we experience pollution of our air, water, and food. Aging, and in some cases sickness leading to death, are also results of the curse. In other words, people age,  sometimes get sick, and die simply because the world we live in is under a curse. And God may use the general principle to determine the way in which a person dies. Everyone has an appointment with death due to sin.

Some examples from the Bible:

II Kings 13:14 – Elisha has an illness from which he dies. It is his time to go, he gets sick, and dies.

II Kings 20:1-6 – Hezekiah is informed that his sickness will bring his death. However we find out that God gives Hezekiah 15 more years to live.

This concludes part A: Sickness by God’s curse. The second element that hinders us from living a healthy life is our own personal choices!

Next: Why Am I Sick? Reason #7: Violating God’s Design, Part B

Return To: Biblical Health Study

Disclaimer:

Reformed Health exists so you can take control of your own health and be all that God has designed you to be. The information shared on Reformed Health is the sole opinion of the author and is not meant to diagnose or treat any illness. None or our claims have been evaluated by the FDA or any other government organization. We are not medical doctors, nor do we have any medical doctors on staff. If you are having a health emergency, please call 911, contact your doctor, or visit a local emergency room. Always consult your doctor before engaging in any new exercise regime.

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Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.

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© 2017 Mischelle Sandowich
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