Writing Our Own Commandments

The other day I was reading Devotions for Men on the Go (Arterburn and Farrel) and this particular devotion was about  ‘writing our own commandments’.  The point being that by twisting the truth, we can feel in control and avoid accountability for our actions.  The devotion had the first five of the Ten Commandments rewritten:

• Create your own religion. Worship whatever god you think will get you ahead.
• Have as many idols as you want.  Follow sports teams and movie stars, and do whatever you want.
• Swear whenever you want.  In fact, say anything you want, whenever you want.
• Don’t get hung up on going to church.  After all, it’s just a building.  Besides, the people who go to church are just a bunch of hypocrites anyway. Be “spiritual” any way you feel like it.
• Don’t listen to your parents.  Those old people will just hold you down.  Family is like a noose around your neck.

It got me thinking about how our culture does this in pretty much all areas of life.  We’ve become a society of ‘self governing’ people.  We believe we have the ‘right’ to think, say or do whatever we want without consequence.  There always exists the law of cause and effect.  Any action we take has an effect.  Some effects are immediate, some are delayed, some are cumulative; but the effect cannot be avoided, denied, rationalized or swept under the rug.  And as always, I took this train of thought into how we as a society approach the lifestyle decisions affecting our health.

We now live in an era of complete denial regarding the law of cause and effect.  People seem to think they can ‘rewrite’ the physiology of their bodies.  Here’s what I see as “The Dietary Commandments” of our modern society:

• Create any type of food out of any type of substance you find convenient or profitable and if it tastes good, go for it and eat all you want; because it doesn’t really matter to the cells of your body as long as you like the taste and it fills you up.
• Satisfy any cravings you may have because the fulfillment of your personal desires is what ultimately provides nutrition to the organs and systems within your body.
• Say whatever you want about lifestyle behaviors and how they affect health, because your personal truth is true.
• Don’t get hung up about whether food is organic, fresh, processed, sweetened with chemicals, stripped of its nutrients, colored with dyes, saturated with unnatural oils, or made to sit on shelves for months at a time.  After all, food is food – it all goes in one end and out the other.  Be “healthy” any way you like.
• Don’t listen to the science of healthy living outcomes.  Those people just want to spoil your pursuit of pleasure.  Evidence-based research of health-producing behaviors is a ‘millstone’ around your neck – it only gets in the way of doing what you like and want.

That pretty much sums it up today, right?  “A little won’t kill me.”  “I think it doesn’t really matter as long as I feel good.”  “Well, I’m going to die of something.” “I believe in ‘everything in moderation’.” (I want to scream when I hear that). 

Just like the laws of gravity and thermodynamics, there are natural laws for our health that always follow the law of cause and effect. These laws can be proven by feeding your family dog ‘Glo Worms’, donuts, Diet Coke and Doritos.

At the bottom of the devotion was the prayer ‘God, may there be no room in my heart for counterfeits’.

You can do it – you can live within the natural laws that govern our health.  It’s fun, easy and it tastes good!

Yours in health, Dr. Paul