We have a "
Health Message" and we take it seriously. Adventist Christians are pretty widely "known" for their Vegetarian Cooking Schools, the Coronary Health Improvement Plan (CHIP), the 5-Day Stop Smoking Plan, and the Depression Recovery Program. Traditionally we stick to these Adventist resources, but a surge of interest in the benefits of plant-based lifestyle has provided a wider base of like-minded materials to draw from for our educational outreaches.
In our particular church community there is a small handful of people who were "raised" in the Adventist church... the rest of us have joined, mostly as adults, and quite a few of us were impressed to become part of this worldwide movement because of the holistic understanding of the Good News-- that is, that our spiritual and mental health do not function independently from our physical health. We were created as "whole" beings in the likeness of our Creator. (Genesis 1:27) While not every physically healthy person is necessarily tuned in spiritually, I think it is safe to state that those of us who have regained physical health and hope through our understanding of the kind of balance and integration in lifestyle that God wants for us, well, we are more apt to be thankful to God for these gifts, and to grow (or re-gain) a stronger spiritual connection as a result of improved physical health. (*I am not a theologian so please excuse generalizations and other statements that appear simplistic or unnecessarily wordy.)
When something God-ordained works well, as a plant-based diet is shown to do, it impinges upon believers to share this knowledge. A movie like "Forks Over Knives" has a huge popular appeal and doesn't conflict with any of our Christian beliefs-- in fact, one of the movie's developers, Dr. Neal Barnard, is a Seventh-day Adventist Christian. Dr. Barnard came onto Dr. Oz's show to demonstrate some of the recipes from "Forks Over Knives" and to talk a little about plant-based living. Who are we to turn down the opportunity that such great "popular" resources afford to spread what we see as a God-given "Health Message"?
So, yes, we showed "Forks Over Knives" in our community last night. Close to a hundred people came out in the rain to see it. We got lots of complaints about the "sound" that we now believe is partly due to our inexperience with the facility's sound system (maybe we should have pointed the speakers differently as someone suggested). But inspite of those complaints, there was an outpouring of enthusiasm and appreciation for the hopeful message of the film. Several people signed up for follow-up Veggin' Out gatherings we will be holding once a month to demonstrate some of the sort of plant-based recipes that were shown in the movie or appear in the Forks Over Knives cookbooks. There will be samples and copies of the recipes at the classes as well. And I will be providing recipes that we use in future blog posts. Our first session is slated for Sunday April 15th, 3-5 pm at the Church, 4660 Headquarters Road, Courtenay, BC, call 250-338-5258 for more information or to register. To cover the costs of supplies, the individual classes will cost $5. More will appear here later. Please pass this information on.
Comments