Macrobiotics and the Bible
Macrobiotics and Biblical
precepts regarding nutrition have a lot more in common than many people may
realize.
After the Pastor of our
local church suggested I see what the Bible had to say about health and nutrition,
I was amazed to discover the many similarities between Macrobiotic dietary
advice and the ancient teachings of the Bible.
This discovery suggests that
the teachings of the Bible and Macrobiotics are both based on universal
truths. If this is true, then each
supports the validity of the other.
This is truly Good News, being that the Bible is such a highly-respected
and authoritative text for so many millions of people around the world.
God’s dietary
instructions to humanity, preserved through millennia at great cost of human
life and the lives of its untold prophets, sages and martyrs, as well as Jesus
Himself, are also reflected in the more detailed exposition of these eternal
truths by modern Macrobiotics.
At the beginning of the
Bible, in the 1st Chapter of Genesis, God proclaims to Adam and Eve,
the first humans:
Behold, I have given you every herb
bearing seed, which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which
is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. (KJV)
These words were God’s
original instructions to humanity regarding what should constitute our main
food (”meat”). In one
sentence a caring, loving God explains to His children what we should eat to
keep the wondrously-made body He created and gave to us functioning
properly.
God’s very condensed
(Yang) way of speaking reflects His nature: the creative Source, which in the I-Ching (Book of Change) written over
5000 years ago in China is represented by a hexagram consisting of 6 solid
(Yang) lines.
Breaking the sentence down
to clarify what He was saying:
1) Every herb
bearing seed – it may appear
unclear whether the word “herb” is a noun here or an
adjective. As an adjective, it
makes more sense. The phrase should
read: every herb-bearing seed. That is, our main food should be seeds that produce herbs (i.e., green, edible
plants). These foods are
grains, seeds, beans and other leguminous seeds, like lentils. These foods, over thousands of years,
have continued to remain staple dietary items of traditional agricultural
peoples throughout the world. This
fact is further testament to the validity and meaning of God’s original
dietary instructions to humanity throughout the world. As His original instructions stated, I have given you every herb bearing seed,
which is on the face of all the earth.
For the most part, humanity still follows this advice and consumes
seed-foods as their “meat” wherever they grow.
2) This argument is supported by God’s further
dietary instructions after Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden
to eat the herb of the field. If “herb” in the original
statement was meant to be a noun, then why would God later make the same
statement again: …and thou shall
eat the herb of the field. (Genesis 3:18)?
3) A similar question occurs in the next part of
God’s instruction regarding the second item we should consume as main
food: every tree, in which is the fruit
of a tree yielding seed. Again,
it makes sense that God would strive to be absolutely clear in His attempt to explain
what would keep the humans he created healthy and long-lived. The
fruit of a tree yielding seed would mean nuts and kernels or inner edible pits of fruits, not the
pulpy outer part we now call fruits. Another way to express this phrase for
clarity could be: every tree which
produces seeds as its fruits.
4) Why is all of this so important? Because we need to
know exactly what God meant by to you it
shall be for meat. God was
trying to be as specific as possible to explain what should be Adam and
Eve’s meat (“main
food”), so there would be no
misunderstanding. The word meat, as used in this sentence, suggests that which provides condensed, life-sustaining nourishment. Meat
in the old sense meant sustenance or nourishment. Grains, seeds and nuts are solid and
condensed sources of nutrition that can sustain human life, but pulpy fruits are not. Fruits in the old sense meant that which endures from generation unto generation. Seeds endure, and produce more of themselves; pulpy fruits do not. Pulpy fruits are meant to attract by their sensorial sweetness and attractive color, for the main purpose of scattering the seeds (the true fruits) within. By their fruits ye shall know them. The fruits of our labors are those things that endure -- not that which is transitory and ephemeral.
5) Humanity’s primary problem today, as was true
for our forefathers and mothers’, was a failure to listen, to understand
and to obey their Creator.
Instructions good parents give their children are meant to protect, not
harm them, or restrict their freedom.
God’s loving intention has been lost.
6) In light of what we know from studying Macrobiotics,
seeds, nuts and grains make the most sense as the ideal main foods for health
and longevity because they possess condensed, balanced, energizing properties
that fruits do not. In Macrobiotic
terms, fruits are too Yin to be considered main foods. The Macrobiotic assessment of fruits as not
being ideal foods for health and longevity agrees with God’s original
advice.
7) To sum up the discussion this far:
a) Our main food (“meat”) was meant to be
grains and seeds (“herb-bearing seed”) and nuts (“fruit of a tree
yielding seed”).
b) These condensed foods contain all essential nutrients
needed for complete human nutrition (proteins, vitamins, minerals, oils and
fatty acids, etc.) They contain few
waste products that accumulate over time and cause the gradual deterioration we
call “aging”.
c) Eating these simple, wholesome foods put minimal
stress on the human system, allowing it to repair itself and continue in health
for many years.
8) The single act that caused the fall of humanity from
its original state of perfect health and longevity involved not heeding
God’s advice and eating the forbidden fruit that God told Adam and Eve
not to eat. This act caused the
perfect health and longevity God originally designed for us and built into our
bodies to gradually decline:
God’s revised commandment following expulsion
from the Garden of Eden:
(Genesis 3:17) …in sorrow shall thou eat of it (the
fruit of the tree which God had commanded them not to eat) all the days of thy life; …and thou shall eat the herb of the field; (Genesis 3:18) and 19: In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat
bread, till thou return unto the ground;
That
is, we were commanded to eat vegetables and potherbs (the herb of the field) and to cultivate grains for bread (still called the staff of life). The grains were whole, not deprived of
their outer part (bran). Bran
contains fiber, vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, and essential oils, so
important for intestinal health, body strength and energy. In rice bran there are over 120
nutrients, phytonutrients, antioxidants and alpha, beta, gamma, delta
tocotrienol and tocopherol variants that nutritional scientists are only
beginning to understand the value of.
The Bible records the extremely long lives of the early patriarchs like Adam, Methuselah, etc. This record
supports the contention that following God’s diet leads to longevity.
However,
as God knew, we would continue
“to eat of it” (the “fruit of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil”) in our disobedience to His original instructions, and for
that reason, we would continue in sorrow…
to eat of it. That is, humanity would continue to eat
what God commanded it not to eat, and for this reason, humanity would continue
to experience suffering and tragedies as well as gradual shortening of
lifespan.
Due
to eating the wrong diet, the original genetic quality God built into our
bodies has continued to deteriorate, generation after generation. Genetic
drift is still occurring. It
now causes many children to be born with birth defects, or to develop compromised immune
systems and other genetic abnormalities that make it more difficult for them to live disease-free, trouble-free lives as God originally intended.
According to Macrobiotics, eating too much fruit causes lung weakness and other disorders, which are felt emotionally as sadness or sorrow, just as God originally told humanity eating the forbidden fruit would do.
We reap what we sow.
Genesis
3:23 –
Therefore, the LORD God sent him forth from the
Garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
This
sentence further emphasizes Genesis 3:18-19 – that God told Adam (and his
descendents) to be farm the land for sustenance, and eat food produced by
tilling the earth – grains and vegetables. This way of life has constituted the
major life-sustaining enterprise for most people throughout recorded human
history, and continues to be the healthiest way to live.
Genesis 8:22 –
While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and
cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
This
verse eloquently sums up human life from that point onward, as long as Earth
will continue to exist. It also
suggests a simple, agrarian life should continue to be the basis of human
society: --planting fields and harvesting them for our food through winter’s
cold and summer’s heat.
Macrobiotics
describes these cycles of nature as good examples of Yin-Yang alternation that
promote healthy life, while modern urban life has deprived city dwellers of
exposure to these life-enhancing rhythms.
9) Genesis 9:3 –
After
the Flood, God revised his dietary instructions for the third time:
Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you;
even as the green herb have I given you all things.
This is the first time God proclaimed living creatures were OK to eat, probably partially due to the simple fact that there was not much around to eat after the Flood. However, even this revised and less-restricted advice was qualified as follows:
Genesis 9:4 –
But flesh with the life thereof, (which is) the blood
thereof, shall ye not eat.
To some people it may seem unclear whether this verse meant we should not eat any animal flesh that contains blood, or whether we can eat meats that contain blood only after the blood is drained properly, as kosher practices of Jewish people observe. To me God is saying we can eat all moving, living things (like fish & fowl) except for those life forms that have red blood like our own (i.e., mammals).
If
we substitute blood for life thereof, which it appears God
takes pains to identify and qualify to make sure we understand what He is telling us, we
come up with:
“But
flesh that contains blood shall ye not eat.”
If we take this to be what
God was trying to tell us, then we come up with a diet in which “clean”
animals (i.e., those whose flesh is not bloody, like fish and fowl) are allowed in
conjunction with whole grains (bread),
seeds, beans, lentils and other legumes are to be our daily diet, as well as
vegetables (the green herb).
This is daily fare for the
majority of the people of the world, those who lead simple, agrarian lives
without many of the “refinements” of “civilization”.
It also reflects the stages
of dietary purity in George Ohsawa’s version of the Macrobiotic
diet. The only difference is that
God’s Levels are 3 instead of 7:
1) God’s original instructions were to eat grains,
beans, seeds and nuts. This is
similar to numbers 7 to 5 in George Ohsawa’s system.
2) After the Fall, God instructed Adam and Eve to eat
grains and vegetables (bread and herbs of the field). This corresponds to levels 4 to 2 of
George Ohsawa’s Macrobiotic instructions.
3) After the Flood of Noah, God relaxed His instructions
further and said it was OK to eat anything except mammal meat (bloody
flesh). This resembles the lower
levels 1 to -1 of George Ohsawa’s dietary system.
The Very Wholesome Bread Recipe God Gave to Ezekiel
(Ezekiel 4:9) --
Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and
beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches (spelt), and put them in one
vessel, and make thee bread thereof…
I
think this verse also implies that God did not deviate from His original advice
regarding what people should eat to enable them to function optimally,
especially for His prophets. It
also to me shows an extremely loving and caring God, who, like a parent who
cares for the welfare of His children, constantly wants to make sure they
nourish themselves properly.
A
natural bread-making company in the
God also speaks through Ezekiel further on regarding a future promise of food abundance for humanity:
Ezekiel 34:39 –
And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land…
Here continues a picture of a God who loves His children so much He will make a plant (not an animal) available to them so they will no longer die from hunger.
This indicates we must continue to derive our main nourishment from plants, not animals.
God is the same, yesterday,
today and tomorrow.
A Wise Man Who Followed God’s
Dietary Instructions and What Became of Him
Daniel
1:1-20 –
This
is the story of Daniel and his friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
During
the siege of
Melzar
consented, and at the end of the 10 days, their
countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh (i.e., better looking) than all the children which did eat the
portion of the king’s meat. (Daniel 1:15)
Later,
upon questioning them, the king found the young men ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in
his realm. (Daniel 1:20)
It
is interesting to me that George Ohsawa also taught of the healing value of the
10-day “Number 7” diet (strictly rice or other whole grains).
In summary, what I think the
Bible says (as Macrobiotics does) is that we can eat whatever we want, but we
should exercise prudence, as Daniel did, so we can remain in good health.
As we become more aware of how what we eat affects our health, we naturally
become more careful about what we choose to eat.
I think this lesson is
particularly important in today’s world, with its vast array of
sensorially-appealing foods, many of which are not best for health. I think we should still try to follow what God originally told us to eat, because after all, God is our designer, and He should know better than anyone what food will enable the bodies He created to function optimally, just as automobile manufacturers
know best what fuel is correct for each vehicle they manufacture.
I think God did not want to
make diet a stumbling block to life, so when He saw His people were not
adhering to His original dietary instructions, he loosened them up a bit,
realizing that loving Him was more important than making a big issue out of
what we eat or do not eat, etc.
We attempt to follow this
concept in our family – we try to raise our children on a healthful
Macrobiotic diet, but the daily reality is that children are surrounded by
temptations of many types of marginally-nutritious foods and beverages.
As parents, we relaxed the
stricter Macrobiotic rules so that diet will not become too big an issue and block us from nurturing what is really important – their relationship
with their Creator, their family and friends.
Being raised
Macrobiotically, our children have a reference from which they may deviate from time to time, yet they don’t forget what constitutes a healthy diet. When they sense they have strayed too far, they return to what they know is healthful; that is, what we have served them at home before and since they were born.
Perhaps this is the message
we should try to understand: God’s original instructions remain the best
way to eat, but knowing humans only too well – that they easily stray
from what is proper and correct, He made allowances for human deviation because
if He had insisted on strict adherence, few would come to understand His love
for us. The original cause of human decline was dietary, but we can
restore ourselves to health and the original quality of life God built into our DNA over time by returning to the principles explained
in the Bible and in the Macrobiotic teachings.
We should try to follow
God’s guidance in dietary matters and eat as healthfully as
possible. That would be a diet built around whole grains (the way God
made them), seeds, beans and other legumes (“pulses”) as Daniel
wisely chose, with “herbs of the field” – i.e., vegetables --
as the mainstays of our diet. Whatever else we then choose except for
mammal meat, can be balanced by careful selection and preparation. This is the same advice Macrobiotics
offers.
It is my hope that, by
writing this article, Macrobiotics can now be seen by the churches as a system
that is in accord with Biblical principles, and as such, can help many
Christian families, as well as anyone of any faith; to enjoy healthy, active,
faith-filled lives as our Creator originally intended us all to live.
Regarding whether
Macrobiotic dialectics of Yin/Yang is Biblical, one need simply refer to
Jesus’ parable about the seed dying so that it may live, and relate that
to one of George Ohsawa’s favorite sayings: “From one grain, ten
thousand.”
Dialectics is the study of
the cycles of nature, and how to harmonize our lives with these natural
cycles. Jesus often referred to the
cycles of life apparent during the time He lived as physical examples of the
higher spiritual life. Just as a
grain must die in the earth to be reborn into a greater, more abundant life, so
we must constantly sow the seeds of His righteousness in our bodies, minds and spirits to inherit
the greater, eternal life. There is
a divinity in the bread that is the body of Christ, the greater, spiritual
life. There is a divinity or
holiness in the bread of life which God gave us to nourish ourselves so that we
may partake of the Infinite life.
This bread is physical as well as spiritual. We need to join the two as one in order
to fulfill the plan that our Creator set forth for us at the very dawn of His
creation.
As Jesus said, “When you make the two into one,... then you will enter [the kingdom].” (Gospel of Thomas, verse 22)
As Macrobiotics says,
“Until we dissolve all dualism within ourselves and in our lives, we will not know the true life of eternal
freedom, robust health and infinite happiness.”