What does Ellen White write about...
Adventistische Schriften über: "Influence of Stimulating Foods on Character"
Answer
Stimulating foods such as meat, tea, coffee, and hot spices have a direct influence on character by arousing the bodily passions and weakening the higher mental and moral abilities. These foods have a numbing effect on the brain and make it difficult to distinguish right from wrong, leading to a lack of self‑control and irritability. A simple, natural diet is therefore essential to preserve moral strength and shape character in harmony with divine principles.
The Effects of Meat and Spices on Morality
»Spices first irritate the delicate mucous membrane of the stomach, but eventually destroy the natural sensitivity of this fine membrane. The blood becomes feverish, animal inclinations are awakened, while moral and intellectual powers are weakened and become servants of the lower passions. ... Fruits, grains, and vegetables ... provide the body with nourishment and give endurance and mental strength that a stimulating diet does not produce.«
Influence of Tea and Coffee on Spiritual Strength
»Coffee is a harmful indulgence. It temporarily stimulates the mind to unusual activity, but the after‑effect is exhaustion, fatigue, and paralysis of mental, moral, and physical forces. The spirit is weakened, and if the habit is not overcome by determined effort, brain activity permanently declines. All these nerve stimulants drain the life forces, and the unrest, impatience, and mental weakness caused by disturbed nerves become a counteracting element that opposes spiritual progress.«
Weakening of Moral Resistance through the Love of Pleasure
»Through the channel of appetite, passions are inflamed and moral forces are paralyzed, so that parental instruction in the principles of morality and true goodness falls on the ear without touching the heart. The most terrible warnings and threats of the Word of God are not strong enough to awaken the numbed intellect and rouse the wounded conscience. Yielding to appetite and passion puts the spirit into a fever, weakens it, and renders it incapable of education.«
Connection Between Diet and Spiritual Discernment
»Everything that reduces physical strength weakens the spirit and makes it less able to distinguish right from wrong. We become less capable of choosing the good, and we have less willpower to do what we know is right. ... The use of unnatural stimulants is detrimental to health and has a numbing effect on the brain, making it impossible to appreciate eternal things.«
The Importance of a Simple Diet for Character Formation
»Meat should not be given to our children. Its influence is to arouse and strengthen the lower passions, and it tends to dull the moral forces. Grains and fruits ... should be the food at the tables of all those who claim to be preparing for the rapture into heaven. The less feverish the diet, the easier the passions can be controlled.«
Irritability and Temperament in Children
»When the system is disturbed by unsuitable food, the brain and nerves are impaired and the passions are easily aroused. ... The quality of the food given to this child daily was of the kind that aroused the lower passions and dampened the moral and intellectual forces. The parents shaped the child's habits. They made him selfish and loveless.«
Original Sources (English)
Stephan Krol
Founder of EGW Vision
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