thoughs on steroids and medication

[iBarracus]

hello to everybody.

both steroids and medications are used to make improvements on our body.
medications and remedies are normally used to improve our immune response to combat diseases quicker. anabolic steroids are used for many purposes: from aestetical to competition(legally or illegaly), and medical issues(many studies were made on use of GH on childs that don't produce enough or testosterone on elders with the goal of improving wellbeing).

what made me open this theme here is the fact that both resources are used to improve the body in some way. and this improvement is artifical. so i would like to ask a few questions here:

- how we are interfering on God's plans when using those resources? how far is God's will to we be affected by diseases/lack of production of hormones?

- some medications/steroids are prohibited by law on some countries. others legalize it. how to deal with this? if you live in a country that a specific medication or steroids usage are legal, what you should consider before using them?(purpose, law of God, etc...)

- on steroids usage specifically: should those be well researched before being available to human usage?(here i intend to talk about a specific point, but i want to hear the opinion of others and i will use other examples of things that affect our life related to this question)


let's chat. God bless your lives. if i posted on wrong place, please redictect it if possible.
and let's talk! =D  

[cristobela]

edited to change "rotting matter" to "rotting flesh"
edit on Aug 26, 2019: to correct a typo + a note on unclean animals' roles on an earth with no sin/death + poop

Hello there.👋

And, my oh my, do I have a thing to say about this. I can't chat about this, I have to flood, gush and cascade all kinds of information about this.

Ever increasingly, I'm coming to distrust what is artificial and synthetic, even if the negative repercussions / side effects aren't felt immediately. I touched upon this in the [Milking Roaches for All They’re Worth (...)] topic.

I'll quote from my third reply what is most relevant to your questions:

Quote:

edited to add a source to "fragrance" and clarify diction

wahmbulance Further note on three things mentioned in this article:
  (1) on pharmaceuticals,
  (2) on the "insect" lipstick, and
  (3) on Jell-O:

I didn't think to address this yesterday. But the Holy Spirit is showing me otherwise (considering what happened immediately after I logged off yesterday [i.e. my mother came home with a bag of cosmetic products—shampoos, conditioners, body lotions, shower gels—that my aunt didn't have room to pack and take with her [since she's moving]; so, my mother asked me to check the ingredients of these products to see if they were safe to use—and thus, what I was reminded of): that of what God created, and that He specifically made for mankind to use (thus consecrated for our use), is not equivalent to the synthetic a.k.a. counterfeit “solutions” created by the pharmaceutical industry or food industry (which promises to heal/strengthen/benefit you in some way) or the cosmetic industry (which offers to satiate some carnal lust—lust of the eyes, sense of smell, sense of touch, etc—at no harm to you). They're not the same: what God created for our use vs. what they have created for our use.

And to demonstrate this using practical examples:

The pharmaceutical way to “heal”—if we can call it that—is to merely “deal with”/manage your symptoms, not cure the problem, all the while busting another organ in the process (causing more problems). For instance, as opposed to a natural, harmless remedy—that God has already created for man—to treat headaches and circulatory problems (e.g. cayenne pepper [1], [2]], which has even more benefits than the one you're looking for), they've created a synthetic counterfeit—that is, aspirin—to deal with headaches and heart problems. But, lo and behold, the American Heart Journal back in 2004 discovered that aspirin actually induces more cardiovascular problems and even worsens them in people who already have them [source]; plus, other journals and sources of pharmacology lists many other unintended & negative side effects [source].

Note the difference: out of what God created and allowed mankind to use, it actually cures something, plus has way more benefits than the single one benefit you were after VS. what man creates in its place: the counterfeit, the synthetic solution, may or may not cure something, plus has a whole list of unwanted, harmful effects on top of that (that you were also not looking for). What God creates for man to consume serves multiple good purposes and advantages—no negatives; but what man creates may (or may not) have one advantage, but on top that, creates a whole world of lingering, deadly consequences. Not surprisingly, “pharmakeia” is spoken against in the Bible.

• Revelation 9:20-21 (WEB)
  
  20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed with these plagues, didn’t repent of the works of their hands, that they wouldn’t worship demons, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk. 21 They didn’t repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries,[a] nor of their sexual immorality, nor of their thefts.
  
  Footnotes:
  
  a. Revelation 9:21 The word for “sorceries” (pharmakeia) also implies the use of potions, poisons, and drugs

Everything that is topically applied to the skin or ingested into the body will affect your bodily organs—and the systems that they are a part of—in some way; hence the Commands against certain behaviors, practices, and things to ingest (so if that lipstick is made out of unclean insects, don't use it if you trust what YHWH says about them [verified by the function that animal has on earth]; but also, check what the synthetic chemical—that we now have to deal with on top of that—does as well [personally, I would strive to avoid synthetic chemicals period, knowing that only what God created for us to use is good; whereas, man's “cistern”—as opposed to God's “springs of water”—solution is not really a satisfying solution at all i.e. Jeremiah 2:13]).

• Jeremiah 2:13 (NIV)
  
  13 “My people have committed two sins:
  They have forsaken me,
      the spring of living water,
  and have dug their own cisterns,
          broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

Incompetent, counterfeit solution. Aspirins have been around for a little over a century. And only in recent years, have the effects become apparent. Just like Adam and Eve didn't die right away. It took a few generations. Then the full consequences were witnessed. “You will not surely die; so eat it, it'll make you wise, it'll taste good, it'll serve some benefit; ergo, it's good for you and good for food/to eat—no consequences, you can rely on your own discernment and experiments, even if it contradicts God's Commands [and even though God already provided a better, safer alternative]; do things your own way, mankind, don't obey your Creator's Instructions; you have absolutely no indication right now that this is harmful at all, but that it is equally good, so proceed—even though it violates a Command—proceed”.

That is unwise.

Same with the cosmetic industry.

Among the ingredients I found, the bottles contained:

• Methylparabens: linked with breast cancer, known to cause skin and eye damage, endocrine disruption, and reproductive toxicity [source A] [source B]
  
  
• Propylene Glycol: known as a skin irritant; expected to be toxic or harmful to organ systems; [source]
  
  
• “Fragrance”: I put in quotes because it can refer to a lot of things, which are undisclosed, as [this website] explains:
  
  
  Quote:
  [...] can be one or more of 200 chemicals. Companies don't have to disclose the actual components of each fragrance, under the guise that their fragrances are trade secrets. Fragrance has been known to cause many side effects, including headaches and allergic reactions. Why put an unknown synthetic chemical on your skin when you don’t have to? The Environmental Working Group has an extensive database of cosmetic chemicals and their corresponding danger rankings. "Fragrance" recieves [sic] one of the highest rankings possible in their score system. [...]
  
  
  The EWG database entry it is referring to: [link].
  
  I can attest to those headaches and allergic reactions (my throat closed up, I found it hard to breathe) and ever since then, I've been very sensitive to any perfume or spray (even hair sprays and febreeze—not that either of those products are innocent, once you check their ingredients list, but I can't tolerate their use around me as much as I use to anymore); I've lost all trust in synthetic chemicals. If you want perfumes, then get some frankincense and myrrh (or some other nice smelling essential oil that won't kill you); if you want to deodorize, then use baking soda. Simple, natural, God-sourced, not man coming up with synthetic alternatives to natural substances because they will harm you (immediately or in the long run).
  
  
• Formaldehyde: a well-established and known carcinogen [causer of cancer] [source]. If you clicked the link, then you can see it actually has a higher ranking than “fragrance” in the EWG database. Also, from the CDC [source B]

People bathe in this every day, slather it on their skin to smell nice, or achieve a certain style with their hair. They're causing themselves irritation; damage to their eyes, skin, nose, endocrine and reproductive systems; even causing themselves cancer and eventually death. We need to go back to basics: out of what God created that He allowed mankind to use, use that—not the counterfeits / synthetics. They're creating a whole host of problems.

[...]

We should not use poisons as medicines.

[...]

We should not take our cues from the world, what they commonly do or think—nor our own reasoning—but take our cues from God's Commands. If the science contradicts a Command, then the science is error, and will lead to no good.

So to answer the question,

Q: “on steroids usage specifically: should those be well researched before being available to human usage?”.

There's a limit to what (and how much) human research can foretell. God, on the other hand, sees the end all the way from the beginning, and all the little ripple effects that human behavior can cause, ergo His Commands to prevent us from causing more damage. And if we walk in those Commands, then we (and the rest of creation) stay safe. Relatively-speaking, of course, considering we're in a world already compromised, already full of sin, the land is still cursed, and creation (including our own body) is groaning under decay. We're bound to decay and die—no matter what—as those are the consequences for Adam and Eve's sin. But do we have to make it worse for the next generation that is already under decay? We don't have to exacerbate the problem—to mankind and the rest of the created kinds—by breaking Commands in the process. Human research is not at the level of God's foresight.

• Isaiah 46:10 (NIV)
  
  10 I make known the end from the beginning,
      from ancient times, what is still to come.
  I say, ‘My purpose will stand,
      and I will do all that I please.’

And let me demonstrate further why human research is not at the level of God's foresight: research—what does that entail? Subjecting another animal to testing (more groaning and suffering) until it is safe for humans to use? Or develop human organs on a chip [alternatives to animal testing]? Regardless of whatever method we develop for testing—whether continuing to test on something which has the breath of life still in it, thus making it suffer, or using some human cells on a chip, all in the name of “we must use synthetic solutions”—does no one think about how these things are disposed of?

Already, there is evidence that the synthetic chemicals we're using are negatively harming the animal life around us: [Male Frogs May Be Turning Female Thanks To Estrogen in Suburban Waste]; [Something in the Water is Feminizing Male Fish. Are We Next?] (to quote from the latter, “wastewater treatment plants flush endocrine-disruptive compounds [EDCs], including pharmaceuticals, pesticides and hormones, into rivers”).

When the “solution” is synthetic, all that synthetic waste will be going somewhere—even when it's finally deemed “safe for human use”. Our very use of it has negative consequences on the environment and animals around us—all for some perceived immediate “benefit”. Our man-made, deviant-from-God's-Law “solutions” are no solutions at all. Something is going to suffer. We're not improving upon anything God made by doing things our own way, just making it worse. God's solutions don't have those side-effects.

That being said, I am aware that Scripture approves of “the making of” (and use) of healing aids—so that in and of itself isn't the problem (as I already hinted at above):

• Jeremiah 46:11 (NIV)
  
  11 “Go up to Gilead and get balm,
      Virgin Daughter Egypt.
  But you try many medicines in vain;
      there is no healing for you.
  
  
• Ezekiel 47:12 (NIV)
  
  12 Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.”
  
  
• John 9:6-7 (NIV)
  
  6 After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

Jeremiah's verse is about getting healed of sin, so no man-made balm can fix them (but just to show you that He is referring to something that was going on, that the people knew to be useful and healing: the balms in Gilead—and even that won't fix their sin). The second verse is about leaves of the fruits trees (natural healing). And arguably, the last one was a miracle (about the blind man getting healed after Jesus made some mud mixture, applied it to the blind man's eyes, and then he washed in the Pool of Siloam) however, I can't write off that something in the water plus the saliva and mud/clay/dirt mixture contributed to the healing. Maybe both—thus God doing something divinely/beyond-the-natural—and natural remedy working together?—like that of Naaman, who got healed of leprosy by God's divine intervention when Naaman went in faith and washed himself in the Jordan river seven times [though there were better rivers around in other places; who knows, maybe God sent some water-dwelling, microscopic creatures at that exact time Naaman washed, which would feed on the leprosy of his skin and help Naaman heal. I don't know, only God knows why He asked him to go to the Jordan river, specifically, and wash seven times] i.e. 2 Kings 5:1).

I do not think that the type of research needed for this kind of healing (the kind of healing that Scripture approves of [if any research is necessary]), will be having the same effect of the research needed for synthetic solutions.

Understatement? Yes, lol.

That being said, however, and in keeping with healing aids and that they, in and of themselves, are not the issue, things we need to take into consideration, from the above Biblical criteria:

(1) the nature of the ingredients (they are natural, obviously, because the first synthetic drug wasn't discovered until 1869 a.d. [source]; so the medicines in existence then, being referred to in Jeremiah, Ezekiel [edit: nvm prophetic], and John were all natural, even if they were pagans), and

(2) the heart motive of the physicians (they actually want to cure you, heal you, NOT just dose you up to get you hooked on their medicine because that's how they make a living [thus milk you dry of your money]—by your continued dependence on / addiction to the drug—to the detriment of the rest of your bodily organs and/or your mind), which starts this whole cycle of “synthetic drug corrupting another organ which necessitates that you become dependent on another drug to manage that newly failing organ”—or worse yet, they cut out bodily organs unnecessarily, because they believe they're vestigial, and in-so-doing get you dependent on another drug to replace the function of the organ they unnecessarily removed.

Steroids don't pass the above criteria. Neither one. I wouldn't use it.

That being said, if people want to risk taking synthetic drugs, that's their decision; clearly they're free to do it, but they should NOT go in naively thinking that artificial / synthetic drugs are equivalent to what was done in the Bible; ergo equivalent to the examples of God's healing using natural healing aids—or no aids at all, just a miracle (as was the case for Hezekiah and the woman with the issue of blood).

• Isaiah 38:1-5 (NIV)
  
  38 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”
  
  2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord,3 “Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
  
  4 Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: 5 “Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life.
  
  
• Mark 5:25-29 (NIV)
  
  25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

Short answer to this question: human research is limited. Even if they said certain things were safe, that doesn't mean it is. God's Commands are the only safety; if it violates a Command, we should not use it (e.g. roach milk, what the original topic I quoted from was addressing as a solution; no, there is a danger, and ramifications we cannot see, even if our current research says otherwise. God knows best).

---

Q: “how we are interfering on God's plans when using those resources? how far is God's will to we be affected by diseases/lack of production of hormones? ”.

We're not interfering just making needless amounts of creations suffer. There's only so much that medicine can do. God created the universe out of nothing; medicine—its very existence or lack of it—is not impeding Him. He can raise up children out of stones (i.e. Matthew 3:9). He doesn't need us, nor our advancements (or lack there of).

That said, again, medicine has its limits. If God is not in favour of our healing, because He is not in favour of us (since we're straying from His Commands in outright defiance of Him and/or distrust of Him), then no amount of steroids will be to our benefit (whether we die or live).

• 2 Chronicles 16:12 (NIV)
  
  12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians. 13 Then in the forty-first year of his reign Asa died and rested with his ancestors.

Context: Asa started out righteous, obeying Gods Commands, and trusting in God to deliver him from his enemies. But then, later on, he stopped confiding in God in the later years of his life. Though formerly he had trusted in God to win the victory against earthly enemies, large amounts of them, Asa stopped trusting in God and started trusting in man to save him from other men (hired political allies—even though the opposition this time was smaller). So, God had now forsaken him because of Asa's confiding in political alliances this time around instead of trusting in Him. God sent Hanani the seer (prophet) to warn Asa that YHWH had withdrawn His favour and so Asa would be at war until the end of his reign. But instead of repenting and trusting in God, he just isolated himself more from God and withdrew, instead of drawing near to God in humbled prayer and fasting. Thus, we get 2nd Chronicles 16:12-13. Asa: afflicted by disease. God did not intervene in His favor. So Asa succumbed to the disease, no victory. The total opposite of Hezekiah when put in the same “life-threatened-by-disease” scenario.

God's will was not impeded by disease (nor was God's will impeded by man's medicine) in the examples used above. Hezekiah or Asa. He can heal you and extend your life, or He can leave you to succumb to your illness (no matter how rich you are, no matter how many doctors are tending to you). Ultimately the power is in God. His overarching plans will still be accomplished with or without you. That overarching plan being: establishing Himself and His Word as trustworthy. You're still going to die—in this age—though, just like He promised, unless Jesus returns (ergo, initiates the next age) and you're still alive, so you don't die, you just get transformed (i.e. 1 Thessalonians 4:17). But even mankind's death glorifies His Word as true.

Because of His love for you, and your loyal love expressed back to Him, you can affect the details of how you live this life and when you leave this life (like Hezekiah...or Josiah as I'll get to below in just a second, but God's love for him because of Josiah's faithful expressions of love back, was not demonstrated by extending his life, which I'll get to below after offering the following warning).

That being said: may no one be like Asa. Do not seek the solution in medicines—first and foremost—instead of in God. Though God can use natural healing aids in the process of healing you, He doesn't need them (as was seen by Hezekiah and the woman with the issue of blood). Trust in God first and foremost, and His leading about what to do. You might be a Hezekiah, not a Naaman or blind man.

On the flip side, one must also consider, what if God wants me to die (or wants me to not be the most aesthetically beautiful), as an act of mercy/favour towards me (or someone else)? If so, then why fight it? He knows what's best (e.g. King Josiah)

• 2 Kings 22:19-20 (NIV)
  
  19 Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I have spoken against this place and its people—that they would become a curse[a] and be laid waste—and because you tore your robes and wept in my presence, I also have heard you, declares the Lord. 20 Therefore I will gather you to your ancestors, and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place.’”
  
  So they took her answer back to the king.
  
  Footnotes:
  
  a. 2 Kings 22:19 That is, their names would be used in cursing (see Jer. 29:22); or, others would see that they are cursed.

King Josiah, unlike the people around him, renounced ALL idolatry, idolatrous customs, and deviance from YHWH's Commands (next to Jesus, he's my favorite king heart ). His prize: you die emotion_awesome why is it a prize? Because the utter terror and violence that YHWH would be sending on the land as punishment for the nation's idolatry (and Manasseh's shedding of innocent blood on the land).

Josiah was suppose to die peacefully, arguably he did, but he ended up dying at the hands of the Egypt's king—Pharaoh Necho—for Josiah insisting on going out to battle him, despite the king of Egypt saying, and I'm paraphrasing, “my problem is not with you, God is sending me against someone else”. I interpret that as Josiah defying God. Josiah insisted, so he died a bit violently, I would say (and not the ideal God had in mind for him IMO) i.e. 2 Chronicles 35:20-24.

To relate this to Hezekiah (the one to whom God added 15 years to his life), Manasseh (the one who shed blood in the land) was King Hezekiah's son: and it was during that extended period of life, those extra 15 years, that Hezekiah begot Mannaseh (Menashsheh). Mannaseh turned out to be evil, totally breaking God's Commands, outright establishing pagan god (idol) worship in the land—not even masquerading it under YHWH's Name, just outright pagan idol worship; Manasseh rose to power / succeeded King Hezekiah to the throne as king in Judah. :l

Again, God knows best.

Hezekiah should have accepted death earlier, when God originally said, and alleviated Judah of such an idolatrous reign. Mannaseh was not righteous like his father (2 Kings 21), and even though Manasseh eventually repented (2 Chronicles 33:15), it was too late; the damage had been done to the nation.

Was YHWH's will impeded? No. God still proved His Word true via both the obedient and disobedient: this is what happens when people disobey (a bunch of atrocities happen and I send judgment on that nation as punishment). Also, this is what happens when people obey (I save them from feeling the effects of the judgments I send, or even from living at all to see it by making them die early). There is safety for the one who obeys God, not for those who disobey. All things work out for the one who loves (trusts and obeys) Him: whether that means life or death. Hezekiah didn't live to see it, nor did Josiah.

If I were Hezekiah, and I had a tried-and-true prophet of God like Isaiah come up to me and say, “God says you are going to die”, I'd be like, “okay, Abba, let's go. Good bye relatives and household, see you on the other side of the resurrection. God says this is the best time. I'm not arguing, I'm not asking for an extension, actually I've been waiting for this day, to depart is better by far, whatever advice I had to give, I gave, it's all in writing, hope you guys heed it for your own good. I have no kids—take care of my chihuahua [if he's still alive]. Good bye”.

Not to digress though, my point is: neither disease / lack of hormone production (nor man's medicine—plentiful existence of it nor lack of it) are an impediment to God's will (establishing Himself as truth and trustworthy; the whole purpose—ever since the beginning. You can trust me; I give you good instructions).

And in establishing that truth, He does (and allows) whatever He wants to get that point across.

• Psalm 115:3 (NIV)
  
  3 Our God is in heaven;
      he does whatever pleases him.
  
  
• Psalm 135:6 (NIV)
  
  6 The Lord does whatever pleases him,
      in the heavens and on the earth,
      in the seas and all their depths.

Good resulting out of disobedience, however, is not an excuse to sin, but He still gets His plans accomplished even with our sinning and distrust of His Word:

• Romans 6:1-2 (NIV)
  
  6 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

So, whether we use a dangerous/poisonous method of “healing”, or His safe ways, He will be glorified as truthful and His Commands glorified as protective.

And either way: man's intervention or not, it's only out of His mercy that you get to live a little while longer (or get healed), and it's only out His mercy that you get to die a little bit early and avoid seeing (and feeling) His wrath. It's all up to Him. He can grant you your request to live longer. He can grant you your request to not live to see the day when He unleashes wrath on the land (or to keep you alive and safe in the midst of it). If you've been pleasing to Him, and hate sin, then He will have mercy on you, however said mercy manifests (with your continued life or with your sudden death). God's will still gets accomplished: YHWH's Word is always right.

In our day, I can confidently say, a large number of people are succumbing to disease because our farmers are not growing the food the way the Creator said to, nor eating how He said to, and that inherently is resulting in compromised nutrition and health in mankind; food—what God identified as food for man—is God's medicine for us [as opposed to synthetic steroids and other things not meant to be eaten, or ingested e.g. literal blood, feces, garbage, vultures, rats, pigs—animals who feed on such things still to this day, and animals, the literal animals, not the symbol in Acts 10, but literal animals, Jesus continued identifying as unclean in agreement with the Law and the Prophets of His Father]).

• Revelation 18:2 (NIV)
  
  2 With a mighty voice he shouted:
  
  “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!’[a]
      She has become a dwelling for demons
  and a haunt for every impure spirit,
      a haunt for every unclean bird,
      a haunt for every unclean and detestable animal.
  
  Footnotes:
  
  a. Revelation 18:2 Isaiah 21:9

P.S. If you don't know how this gels with Acts 10, Mark 7, Romans 14, 1 Timothy 4, etc—the chapters people commonly appeal to in order to support eating unclean animals like pigs—I went over key ignored verses of those passages and more in the following topic: [Details in the New Testament that Get Ignored]. Spoiler alert: Scripture doesn't contradict. Jesus is right. They are unclean—and will be until they stop functioning in the unclean roles they're doing today (there will be a day that animals don't even eat each other, and there is no death, ergo no animals eating rotting flesh on earth; that's when [edit: but they still might eat poop and rotting plant matter, so...they're still living garbage cans]).

And God promised Israel they wouldn't be diseased—like the rest of the world—if only they would obey. Hint: the way we [gentiles] live, the way we [gentiles] do things, is not the healthiest way to live. Thus why Israel would be different.

• Deuteronomy 7:12-16 (NIV)
  
  12 If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the Lord your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your ancestors. 13 He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land—your grain, new wine and olive oil—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.14 You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor will any of your livestock be without young.15 The Lord will keep you free from every disease. He will not inflict on you the horrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all who hate you. 16 You must destroy all the peoples the Lord your God gives over to you. Do not look on them with pity and do not serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

Blessed more than any other people.
Kept free from every disease.

If what we feed on is not to our benefit, then we will get diseased.

And if the land is compromised (with bloodshed, and other contaminants, pesticides, etc) then so will the food be; if the food is compromised, then so will the health of its people be; if the health of its people is compromised, then they're diseased—all the more if the food is synthetic, man-made, as opposed to obediently grown the way God said to, in accord with His Commands [which includes land sabbaths, not harvesting off of newly-planted fruit trees until a certain year, etc—all spoken of in Leviticus]).

It's not just Israel that suffers when they disobey the Creator's way of doing things, thus refuse the Way He said to interact with creation—all mankind suffers when they disobey His Commands, knowingly or not. Israel was suppose to be a shining light of truth (reflecting God) by their obedience, an example of the proper way to be, but when they failed, they suffered—just like the Gentiles before them suffered too.

• Deuteronomy 30:15-18 (NIV)
  
  15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
  
  
• Deuteronomy 4:5-6 (NIV)
  
  5 See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. 6 Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”
  
  
• Leviticus 18:28 (NIV)
  
  28 And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you.

There is no favoritism. Israelite people or Gentile people—if they function wrongly, then they suffer, get rejected by God and the land vomits them out. Obviously there is some special purpose for the plot of land we know of as Canaan / the promised land / Israel. But the point is, “there is a difference between YHWH, the Most High God, and the idols and demons whom you worship as gods; I don't allow certain things because they're harmful to you and I care enough about you to tell you; your demons and false guides don't warn of this. They allow you to corrupt yourselves, harm yourselves, but I will not. And if that's what you're going to be doing: out! Not allowed, not while you're under YHWH's rule/domain/reign. Go out and be a fleshly pagan, if their ways are what you lust for, whose gods are the five senses of their body: lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh—thrilling to look at, thrilling to hear, thrilling to smell, thrilling to touch, thrilling to taste—to their own demise. But that will not be happening in here. We do safe, proper, wholesome living here. We do the truth here. Get out if that's not what you want to put on display, convey, or live by.” (In Jesus, however, they're suppose to be getting a heart that obeys, that sincerely loves righteousness, and hates wickedness [as He defines by His Word]; so there should be no impediment now—if they sin, it's willful, or out of ignorance of the truth/failure to love the truth).

• Romans 8:7-9 (NIV)
  
  7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God;it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
  
  9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
  
  
• Ezekiel 36:27 (NIV)
  
  27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

But His will gets done—whether with our cooperation or our rebellion to His ways, with us or despite us. His Word is proven true by what happens to us, just like He warned in His Commands. There are two paths: life or death. Which one will we walk in? Follow Jesus, the Way, the Truth, the Life, the Word of God made flesh, who didn't set aside the least of the Commands and rebuked people for doing so, instructing them to live by every word that comes out of the mouth of God and what is read from Moses' seat. (Matthew 4:4; Matthew 5:17-20; Matthew 15:1-9; Matthew 23:1-3).

Or walk in the way of the way of death, the way of the wicked, the rebellious, the unbelievers, the fools who say there is no God, pft, what Commands? I submit to no one but myself and the five senses of my flesh. Pleasure, Mammon, myself, my pagan culture, seated on the throne of God, that is what we worship. Just wait, God's Word will be proven true about such people. His wrath will pour out on them. The way of the wicked entraps them; their evil deeds ensnare them. And if they're a believer being idolatrous (adulteress to the Covenant), they will arouse His jealousy:

• Proverbs 6:34-35 (NIV)
  
  34 For jealousy arouses a husband’s fury,
      and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.
  35 He will not accept any compensation;
      he will refuse a bribe, however great it is.

No price can be paid for a husband's jealousy—neither with man nor with God.
Not even in the New Testament.

• 1 Corinthians 10:19-22 (NIV)
  
  19 Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. 22 Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

Answer: no.

He will be proven true by what happens, whether we obey or disobey, choose His Way, or our way. YHWH's will is not impeded by anything we do. We just make it more troublesome for ourselves when we don't cooperate, and invite sin and death into our life and into the creations around us.

Short answer: we're not interfering with God's will. He gets accomplished what He wants to get accomplished. It's up to us whether we want to obey His Commands and suffer less, or disobey and suffer more, as He goes about establishing His will—glorifying Himself as the truthful One and the trustworthy One, whose Commands lead to life and well-being, physically/bodily and inwardly/at the heart (where evil starts), unlike all these various sects/religions who deny Him (and His Word) in some way, shape, or form—even in Jesus' Name.

---

Q: some medications/steroids are prohibited by law on some countries. others legalize it. how to deal with this? if you live in a country that a specific medication or steroids usage are legal, what you should consider before using them?(purpose, law of God, etc...)

Personally, I would avoid them altogether for all the above stated information.

But one must ask: why are certain countries (or a certain country) considering them illegal? Because of some detriment? Then, why would I take it just because of the countries that allow it (who clearly do not care about my health, just their profit e.g. Hydroquinone, not a steroid but a bleaching agent, known to be toxic and harmful, is banned in the EU, but not in other countries; is it wise to use it)? Someone is sounding the alarm that this isn't safe. Obviously, God blew the whistle way before that IMO. But there is danger there. And not all governments are obeying God even if He allowed certain individuals in said government to get into positions of power to carry out His purposes (to favor the nation or punish it) e.g. Manasseh (evil) allowed by God to reign and establish all sorts of sinful, detrimental ways in the nations contrary to what was good / protective / His Law.

However, if one insists—I don't know what the circumstances of their life are—and still chooses to risk steroid use, because (???) then at least they should be obedient to the government they're living under, to what is allowed.

• Romans 13:1 (NIV)
  
  13 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

But you never know, it may be legal today in their country, but tomorrow another matter. And if you're addicted to a steroid, the misery to get off that, I would imagine is difficult.

People further complicate their life if they travel: are they going to know the laws of the country they're visiting? They could end up in trouble with the authorities. To give an example, not steroids specifically, but taking amphetamines in the USA (say, to deal with depression and trauma after witnessing someone's death), even if prescribed by a hospital, could still get you into hot water if you go to South Korea ([source]; if it hadn't been for the person being so high profile, I don't think such a thing would have come into my awareness. She wasn't charged—but I can't tell you if that's because of who she is in society or whether they figured out it was legal in the USA, and that's why they didn't charge her, I don't know. But that's something to consider. Thankfully, she speaks the language and could explain herself and had people to support her in that country, but that might not be the case for some commoner traveling around). Though honestly, this person being as healthy and young as they are, they went to the feet of an idol, a substitute in place of the One to whom she should have gone to, who can heal all her emotional wounds.

• Psalm 147:3 (NIV)
  
  3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
  
  
• Mark 2:17 (NIV)
  
  17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

He is our doctor. Heed His prescriptions for what to do. Let Him heal your soul/psyche, your inner-being and your heart. It's not necessary for us to do so for Him to establish His will (glorify Himself as true and trustworthy, and Most High God, caring Creator), but it'll alleviate a lot of suffering for many, yourself included, and the other creations in the environment.

---


My answers to your questions in a nutshell:

- how we are interfering on God's plans when using those resources? how far is God's will to we be affected by diseases/lack of production of hormones?

We're not interfering with His will (establishing Himself and His revelation above everything else we hold in high esteem that isn't Him and is deviant from His instructions). We only affect ourselves and the rest of creation negatively by what we do in disobedience / deviance from His original design.

- some medications/steroids are prohibited by law on some countries. others legalize it. how to deal with this? if you live in a country that a specific medication or steroids usage are legal, what you should consider before using them?(purpose, law of God, etc...)

Wisdom says if it's detrimental, then avoid it if you can. Not all things are beneficial—beneficial as God defines beneficial (not, “can I force a use for it”, but, “does my use of this heal the problem and is it protective of, not just the rest of my bodily organs, but every creation that will be affected by my use of it? even by what I pee out?”).

I would not use it at all if there is a detriment involved. Does a country ban a drug for no reason? But if one must use it, for whatever reason I cannot foresee (I am not omniscient; I don't know all the variables of a person's life on this cursed land), then at the very least submit to the government you live under. If traveling, then become aware of the laws of the foreign country. Time will tell whether this actually was a good/godly decision.

- on steroids usage specifically: should those be well researched before being available to human usage?(here i intend to talk about a specific point, but i want to hear the opinion of others and i will use other examples of things that affect our life related to this question)

Human research is limited. They can say something is safe to use and it's only generations later that we start reaping the negative consequences to the demise of our descendants and the rest of the animals. Only God's Commands keep us safe. If it violates a single Command, then we shouldn't use it. It will only cause problems to creation. But, even though this is not an excuse to sin (because sin is harmful to the blameless), God's will gets done anyway whether we obey or disobey (He is proven true, trustworthy, loving and correct).  

[iBarracus]

cristobela

i don't found anything that i read from your post that i'm against it. but i
was left with some questions regarding what you said.

as i understood from what you said, there is no limit for God to heal his people from any sort of diseases/traumas/psychic issues. but even many people knowing this, people still seek the human force(doctors, medications, etc) to heal their wounds. from the people of my living, the main argument used is lack of purpose for God to heal, because God only heal people to preach the word.
to be honest i don't agree with this because if i get healed from any disease i had/have from God, i would love him much more and my faith would be increased a lot.

so let's go for the questions:
- does people block themselves from receiving God's heals because they think they should understand God's purposes for everything He does?

- the trend of the last years is about sport supplements and anabolic steroids. this remembers me of the use of the medicine/pharmacy for body improvement/tuning. it looks innocent but i think it's dubious and my question is: how far is using science for improve it's own body against God's will? this will depends of the intentions of our heart?

- on this issue of seeking health, people struggles because of lack of knowledge or lack of faith to believe that God can provide not only health but everything to us?

thank you for answering me so far =)  

[cristobela]

edit: to add insight about toilets & squatting positions
edit on Aug 26, 2019: corrected a couple of typo's + clarified wording

iBarracus

thank you for answering me so far =)

No problem, I enjoy meditatively applying the Word of God to different issues. 3nodding

iBarracus

i don't found anything that i read from your post that i'm against it. but i
was left with some questions regarding what you said.

as i understood from what you said, there is no limit for God to heal his people from any sort of diseases/traumas/psychic issues. but even many people knowing this, people still seek the human force(doctors, medications, etc) to heal their wounds. from the people of my living, the main argument used is lack of purpose for God to heal, because God only heal people to preach the word.
to be honest i don't agree with this because if i get healed from any disease i had/have from God, i would love him much more and my faith would be increased a lot.

Let me be very specific: He is not limited in His ability to heal any and every disease. He doesn't lack power to heal from anything and everything, but He does limit Himself by choice. He may decide to not heal for other reasons (amongst which, and one big reason that I did mention, is if the person doesn't: [A] trust Him and what He said and thus [B] doesn't obey Him. Lack of repentance from sin [everything He calls sin] and lack of trust in Him would impede healing. There's the need to turn away from everything He calls wicked/a transgression of His Law, thus trusting and obeying God—both, together, results in a Hezekiah. He was righteous [thus had been obedient], asked to be healed, got healed. Naaman trusted in God, obeyed God, got healed. The blind man trusted in Jesus, obeyed what He said, got healed).

But it is also legitimate that the people around you bring up if Jesus or the Father is willing (thus, “purpose”, what is God intending to teach by the healing? or His decision to not heal as well, what is He intending to teach by that? Examples of both...).

• Matthew 8:2-4 (NIV)
  
  2 A man with leprosy[a] came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
  
  3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. 4 Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
  
  Footnotes:
  
  a. Matthew 8:2 The Greek word traditionally translated leprosy was used for various diseases affecting the skin.
  
  
• Luke 22:42 (NIV)
  
  42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

Even by the example Jesus left us, we must ask Him if He is willing. It was God's will to heal at times (be healed, and may your healing and obedience to the Law of Moses be a testimony to them about me and what I stand for), but at other times, it is His will for people to suffer / be afflicted in His Name to result in benefit for many more people.

For instance, in a specific circumstance, God may be glorified more as the source of all joy, when a person with a debilitating disease (or some other affliction) manages to live a life full of contentment and inner joy—despite their affliction—because of their faith / trust / dependence on YHWH/Jesus. God would be glorified more in the eyes of others, in that specific circumstance, by their being diseased (as opposed to a healthy person, to whom people [and the Devil, or the Devil through the mouths of those people] could wrongly attribute to other things and say, “well you have everything, why wouldn't you be happy? Your joy has nothing to do with God, but your stuff, your position in life, and your perfect health”).

But when it is a diseased/afflicted person who is trusting in YHWH, and despite affliction, maintains joy, it is obvious that they are getting their joy from Him, His Word, His Wisdom, the Way He instructs to treat people, and not from being fully able-bodied, disease-free, or affliction-free, living as many days as others, or being able to do whatever they want, uninhibited from physical illness. It may make others say, “how do you do it? I'm healthier than you, I'm better off than you in some way, but I hate life. I can do so much more than you. Why are you so content, happy and at peace, not stressing, despite being so limited and under pain/hard circumstances?” For the afflicted individual too, it is for their good, God helps them discover: I really do not need all of that; God and what He said is enough.

Similarly, but a different scenario: God may not heal—and even bring sickness on purpose—as protection to the person themselves (and others) by limiting what they can do out in the world. If they were 100% healthy, then they would probably find themselves doing certain things, going certain places, influencing people (by their example) to pursue a certain way of life too, which would lead to an earlier death (or spiritual death) to themselves or to another, and God says, “the only way I'm going to prevent this specific person from going to X,Y,Z, place and from doing this, that, or the other, or from thinking they're pursuing a path that pleases me, and making it appealing to others to do certain things, is by keeping them sick and/or afflicting them in other ways to stop them”. Assuming guarding that person and guarding others was His will towards those people. Because if He wanted to allow their destruction, then He wouldn't save them from their wicked path with sickness/an obstacle in such a case.

But regardless of God's purpose: they're going to invest their time, money, words, and strength in a certain way. Had they been healthy, they would have decided differently, or had they been sick, they would have decided differently—and that has ripple effects in their society and in that individual's own life. So, had they been healthy, and not bed-ridden, would there be introspection (“am I pursuing a path that pleases God?”), or would they be doing this instead of that (maybe, not even crying out to Me and confiding in Me, or even talking about Me, but about other things and confiding in other things), and I don't want that—so I will keep them sick (for a moment or for a lifetime) or healthy (for a moment or for a lifetime), whichever one results in what He wants. There could be so many reasons why He heals or doesn't. He knows the circumstances that we, as individuals, need to go through, and would best be suited to go through, so that we be drawn to Him, draw others to Him, and how best to glorify Himself in any given person's life. But to the one who trusts in Him and obeys His Commands, it works out for their good, however their lot in life results (healthy or sick by God's will).

To give you a practical example of how God can send sickness / disablement to prevent evil and preserve a person's life: I remember seeing this video about a man who loved to rock climb (no, not walking up or down a mountain by a trail, in the safe greenery, and dirt/wooden path, but hanging from the side of a cliff) for the adrenaline rush, the exercise, what have you (however he reasoned in his mind that this was a good idea). Anyway, he fell. Became crippled. And I'm thinking to myself, “wow, the mercy of God; He allowed you to live and discouraged you from pursuing this obviously dangerous, harmful, not-beneficial activity, and not just you, but others—God stopped you from encouraging others, by your example of carrying out that activity in society, to pursue a harm-causing path. But what does this man decide to do? Does he have discernment? No, he wants to give himself a robotic limb to continue rock climbing; “I've learned no lessons, I will continue to influence others to follow my dangerous pursuits”.

Despite the difference in reaction (that man's reaction to his circumstances and my reaction to his circumstances), God gets glorified: God's Wisdom is not the mentality of the world; they seek thrill to the flesh and “healing NOW no matter what Command gets broken, no matter the consequences to ourselves, the animals and the land [sea, and sky] around us, using some synthetic "solutions", in essence causing harm in their pursuit to seek more harm” and God seeks true safety and well-being for the long haul, even if that means withholding healing from someone (or allowing someone to get injured to preserve safety or achieve safety).

Had God healed this man, he would have gone back to rock climbing immediately. It's only by this man's deviance from Wisdom that he can pursue the harmful path again. He's fighting God's path of life to get back at his path of death. Why can't he just enjoy a mountain the safe way? He's walking to his destruction and, by his example, leading others who are simple, naive, and led by thrill of the flesh, to do so as well. Don't get me wrong: God can use this man's disobedience to carry out His will of destroying the wicked, and glorifying His Word, but no one walking in God's Wisdom would interact with creation in that way. Those receptive to Wisdom are warned of what not to do, because look at the consequences, and the wicked are led to their death for not heeding Wisdom, but their flesh. People can choose the path of death and God still use it to glorify Himself. Though it's better if the wicked choose the path of life, choose Wisdom, and learn from heeding instructions that keep them and everyone else safe. Either way, YHWH's Wisdom is proven true and the way of the world—exhilaration to the flesh, "who cares about future generations?"—is proven senseless, careless, and foolish.

My point though: God can bring sickness for various reasons, even to benefit the one getting injured, or benefit the one looking at the injured, to get them from pursuing a dangerous path. But it's up to the person whether they take a hint, repent [turn around and do differently], follow wisdom—or, on the contrary, continue going down that dangerous path anyway. In this case, the person is not just refusing to leave harm behind, but causing even more harm by inventing synthetic enablements to continue down their godless path [again the production and disposal of such items will be causing harm; which is proven—and by the way, [electronic graveyards in Africa], our electronics, from the West, leeching toxic chemicals out into the environment in Africa, and I quote, “The electronic waste leaks lead, mercury, arsenic, zinc and flame-retardants. They've been found in toxic concentrations in the air, water, and even on the fruits and vegetables at the wholesale market”], synthetic “solutions” that enable them to continue their way of life—a way of life, mind you, that by God's intervention, God was telling them,”NO”, because it's harmful, you're supporting a dangerous activity, and in the process you will continue to hurt others as well (by influencing them to do the dangerous activity too and supporting an industry that causes harm).

And as much as I love the internet, I'm receiving more and more conviction that this way of life is not good. If there was a community who lived by every single one of God's Commands and did not deny Jesus as Messiah, and knew how to farm by God's Commands, every detail, I'd leave the city, this instant. Of course, I probably would not be reaching out to anyone with the truth at that point, lol. Predicament, predicament.

---

Having said that, let me clarify more succinctly this issue of healing, because there are at least four scenarios that I'm seeing (assuming God does decide to heal):

(1) There's the miraculous healing asked for in faith (e.g. woman with the issue of blood [we're not told about any obedience in her past or present, just her faith; “Jesus has the ability to heal me; I need Him and I need to go to Him [seek Him / receive His help] to get healed”; total miracle).

(2) There's the healing with the use of natural healing aids, and faith + obedience working together (e.g. Naaman and the blindman—not poisons passing off as cures, but natural healing aids that cure something without harming you elsewhere, harming anyone else, nor the environment), again in faith + obedience (trusting what God said and washing in the river Jordan seven times, or get a saliva/mud/clay mixture in your eyes and go wash it off in the Pool of Siloam, trusting what Jesus said and obeying accordingly—thus, "natural healing aid" + "faith" + "obedience"),

(3) There's the prevention of sickness, keeping of health, that we do by obeying God's Command as a community (again in faith/trust that they will work to prevent sickness), and as a result not contaminating the land. This is what God was promising Israel by saying He would keep away EVERY disease away from their nation; this is their lifestyle as a community, maintaining the health of the people, the animals, and the land, the Way He said. In addition, God would keep away impediments to their thriving in order to demonstrate His favour upon them and their way of life. Not only is the Commanded behavior beneficial, in and of itself, but YHWH brings divine favour along with that—consider this preventative medicine. No one is sick yet, this is to prevent).

(4) There's the healing of individuals who have a consistent history of being obedient to God, still are, and who ask in faith because of that (e.g. Hezekiah)

What do all four have in common? Trust in God. Three of them succumbed to disease already (#1, #2, #4,), one of them to is keep every and all sickness away, so no one gets sick in the first place (#3). But if a community repents, lives by His every Command, they will become #3.

Again this is just the scenarios when His purpose/will is to heal. Like I already explained, there are certain cases when your health doesn't glorify Him the most or doesn't demonstrate something He wants to teach (but your sickness, weakness, affliction, and even death does—depending on the scenario—so that's what He uses, instead of your health).

---

In short: Only God knows the specifics of why, how long, or whenever (if ever) he heals a specific person and why not—and the way He goes about doing that (using miracles, healing aids or none at all). But it's always out of His goodness, for those who trust in Him and obey Him, that He chooses to or not to—keeping in mind more than one person who will be affected. He may bring healing, or a healing aid their way (natural or even synthetic), considering what is available at the time and how it affects others (for good or for punishment), but I'm 100% convinced, from the physical evidence, and from Scripture, that man's way/artificial/synthetics are causing a lot of the problems in the first place, and if healing aids were natural, and of God-approved ingredients, such problems (and their far-reaching, negative consequences to the animals and environment around us) wouldn't exist.

iBarracus

so let's go for the questions:

Q: does people block themselves from receiving God's heals because they think they should understand God's purposes for everything He does?

Yes, for some people, that is exactly it. Had Naaman gone another way, disregarded what YHWH had spoken through the prophet Elisha (“that's ridiculous, there are better rivers, why the Jordan? Why seven times? Why does Elisha not come personally and wave his hand over me?”—and left it at that, without obeying), yeah, he would not have been healed. Not just only if he hadn't gone to the Jordan River at all, but what if he stopped at six washings? Not the full seven? We must obey exactly in the way God instructed to do things in order to be healed (and for others to be healed). Not do things our own way, or even half of the way that He said, but fully His Way. If you don't, you do block yourself from receiving healing.

Elisha too: had he gone out to see Naaman personally, touched him, or even gone to watch the process of the healing for the fun of it—instead of sending his assistant with YHWH's Instruction for Naaman, to go do as God said, thus staying in his house like he did, Naaman might not have given the glory to God, but to Elisha. Or something that Elisha did on the way there could have been misinterpreted by Naaman or if Elisha had succumbed to the fear of man and his own reasoning and said, “yeah Naaman, just go to whatever river you want”, Naaman could've continued believing in idols, not in the Most High in the Way He wants, as a negative, unforeseen consequence. So to: (1) achieve healing in a safe manner [either for ourselves and others] in truth and (2) prevent more damage, we must do things exactly as God instructs, in accordance to all the criteria He gave—and not ask, “why?” as an excuse not to; you can ask why, but obey anyway like Naaman did, and in asking “why” God may give you more revelation and understanding.

And so, yes, we should not ask so much, “why? what's the point?”, we should not argue, “how is that better? Isn't that a step down from what else is around / what's available [a step down from “better”, more advanced solutions]? Or, “that's less thrilling”. We should just trust/have faith in what our Heavenly Father said to do. His instructions / His Commands are trustworthy. He knows how His creations work, He knows how the systems in nature [and in our bodies] work, He knows how people react to the things we do, and He knows what is best. If society at large would put His Commands into practice—all of them—honoring the details, they would see for themselves that this is true.

If our food was grown in the way God said, (not using synthetics, not using “companion planting”, not genetically-modifying seeds to what we think is best, not mixing tomato [plant] DNA with fish [animal] DNA, abominable mixes, but only growing food in the way God said, in accord with His Commands, true to the details), then a lot of diseases wouldn't touch our community. Like God promised.

If other dangerous (and useless) practices that God Commanded against were avoided (tattooing, and similarly, cutting up your arm like the worshipers of Baal would do, prostitution, having sex in homosexual ways, adultery, sorcery, etc), a lot of diseases would be prevented.

And in this area, in light of the articles I posted about waste treatment and the water in my first reply, there is a Command to cover one's excrement with dirt, not flush it down anywhere with water (i.e. perhaps [composting toilets] are in obedience to Deuteronomy 23:12-14 in modern day society. That would solve that part of that problem (because the other part of the problem is the synthetic chemicals our waste contains, in and of itself, because of what we ingest—birth control, steroids, and whatnot).

(edit: by the way, Adam and Eve, in order to defecate, would assume a squatting position; there's evidence that squatting alleviates the bowels, and thus makes the bowel movement more effortless—not the only advantage that squatting has over merely bending over or raising the feet on a throne toilet... [Health Benefits of the Natural Squatting Position] /end edit)

When something is not growing, nor being nourished, in the way God said, or when something (microscopic or life-size) is going into places God did not design it to go into, problems will arise.

The real solution is God's way, not to come up with something artificial to mask the symptoms and excuse us to keep living deviantly and strayed. God's Commands address the root problem—what's causing this amongst the human population and leaving them in malfunction in the first place? The way we're living, socializing, speaking, nourishing ourselves, even dressing and worshiping the Creator. It's wrong. God has Commands over all of that. The way they're living is violating the Creator's Law and the details of that Law, in Spirit and in Truth.

But it's not just getting over the intellectual hurdle, simply trusting God and seeing the reasonableness and safety of His Commands. There's a problem that comes before that, and another reason why they block themselves from the healing (and the reason why we violate His Law) is because of the desires of our flesh—that nature we are born with—and this is why they need to accept Jesus: who provides the circumcision of the sinful nature of our flesh, a circumcised heart, submitted to God's Law, giving us desires for righteousness instead of desires to sin, in our hearts and minds, giving us the Holy Spirit, to put the misdeeds of the body to death, so that we could interact correctly with all of creation, and with the Creator, in the Way He / the Father said.

• Colossians 2:11 (NIV)
  
  11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh[a] was put off when you were circumcised by[b] Christ,
  
  Footnotes:
  
  a. Colossians 2:11 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verse 13.
  b. Colossians 2:11 Or put off in the circumcision of
  
  
• Romans 8:13 (NIV)
  
  13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
  
  
• Romans 8:7-8 (NIV)
  
  7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
  
  
• Romans 8:9 (NIV)
  
  9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
  
  
• Ezekiel 36:27 (NIV)
  
  27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

There may be things in society we cannot change from one second to the next, but of what is within our reach/power/ability to do, and do so obediently, it is to our best interest to do it, in the Way He said to do it (if we know how to carry it out obediently) for our own good and the good of others.

Short answer: Yes, because people don't fully trust what God says and are too worried about understanding all the why's (why that? that's too low-tech, there are more advanced ways available. I don't get it, why should I? how is that even going to help? I don't foresee the benefit, God, so I won't), they do not enjoy of the blessings, healings, and protections that God promises. The lack of trust in what He said, and in the way He said to do it, prevents the rest of the nation and land from enjoying those blessings too. They don't trust that it's a protective fence, designed to keep you safely in, and dangerous things out, but instead they view it like a prison. And to resolve that, first and foremost, they need to trust in the Biblical Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God, everything He said and taught, and the power He gives, so that they would stop being hostile to the law of God in the first place, crucify that hostility of the fleshly nature to death, and have His Law written on their hearts and mind, desiring righteousness instead of sin (Commandment-breaking / transgression of the law).


Q: the trend of the last years is about sport supplements and anabolic steroids. this remembers me of the use of the medicine/pharmacy for body improvement/tuning. it looks innocent but i think it's dubious and my question is: how far is using science for improve it's own body against God's will? this will depends of the intentions of our heart?

Good intentions of the heart don't save from the repercussions of the act (the reality of how it affects you and others). Adam and Eve had good intentions in their heart, didn't they? Eve: It'll make me wise (maybe even thinking, “won't Father be proud, won't the Father be glorified”). Come along Adam, eat too. Adam: Okay. I'll ignore God's Command, because you seem to have discovered some benefit to doing this, contrary to what the Father said. Your opinion and sense of judgment is so much higher than the one who created us [who is the Most High, but apparently you're higher—in knowledge and in my heart]. Nothing can possibly go wrong because we define the intentions of our hearts as 'good'—God's Commands don't define it as good, but we do—so who cares if it violates a Command that came from the Father. I'm demonstrating trust in the Creator by not trusting in what He said and not trusting the danger that He warned against.”

And what did the “good” intentions of their hearts—which they defined as “good” by their own reasoning, not by God's Commands—result in ultimately? death for every living thing; to themselves and to everything and everyone around them. Good intentions that go against something God instructed is no good intention at all. YHWH's Commands reveal the true nature and “level of safety” of a thing—whatever it is. Thus why Jesus stressed so much to obey what is read from Moses' seat and live by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.

There's a lot of arrogance in that type of thinking that says we can “improve” upon God's perfect design. No, all man ever did (and does, as I'm witnessing to this day) is mess it up even further. That was the first enticement: self-improvement: this will make you wise (ergo, you will become better than you were before)—but it violates an Instruction God gave (so, in reality, no it won't actually improve anything; it will mess up everything, in the immediate and in the long run; it will cause some impairment that we can't foresee right now, beyond the immediate “benefit”—“benefit” or so it has been advertised to us by Satan's persuasion [and craftily not alerting you of all the consequences, long term, down the road, to the generations that follow]). That's why God prohibited it or didn't create it for us to consume. Some rebellious, deviant creation offered it to us out of their own minds and enticement, their motives not really being about caring for your well-being, but something they want for themselves).

And notice, we're not even in the realm of synthetics yet: this is the very beginning; the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—it was created by God (thus natural)—but not everything that God created is there for mankind to consume. So are they going to set up their own standards of safety? Or rely on God's standards (that protects more than just one individual person, but even the people, animals and the environment around them)? It's as simple as that. Trust in man's self-imposed commands and reasoning/interpretation of the evidence? or in God's Commands as they're read from Moses' seat? Trust in a rebellious creation's words or Creator's words?

So, yes, when it violates an Instruction that came from God, when it disagrees with the Father, be dubious. It's not innocent no matter how much creation tries to argue for it. There is danger (or a failure to protect) in the path they're pursuing, but they're blinded by the immediate sense of thrill, or the immediate sense of life/death, and not the long term effects (let alone how it affects generations down the line who may be ignorant of what was there before and the safe way that things truly should be done in to prevent all possible negative repercussions, that they as a human cannot see). The intentions of the heart don't guard against these unforeseen negative repercussions.

And this is the reality of Adam and Eve's lack of foresight: many of their descendants now do not even believe in a good God who cares about us. Some believe death has always been around, that death/dead things gave life to us. Some believe that the Creator wants to be worshiped in useless and detrimental ways [even outright lies] because, “that's just how our ancestors have done it for a long time now; it has always been this way, what's the big deal—there is no better way, there is no true way to do anything.” All of that happened because we compromise on something that God said. There is no safety when that attitude takes root.

To a certain extent, making healing balms and mud mixtures / clay, as I provided from Scripture, is a science (knowledge). Knowing which leaves from the specific fruit trees heal what, and how much to apply, to use as medicine/healing is a science. So science in and of itself is not the problem. The problem occurs when the so-called science (knowledge) deviates from the Word of God on any point. Even if our intentions are good. We can't undo the fact that we're aware of certain things now (that we shouldn't be aware of). The next best thing, that God provided, were Commands for how to avoid the detriment—now that we are aware of certain things.

We cannot improve upon what was created perfect (by the One who is perfect). We only maintain it (at best) through obedience OR damage it (at worst) through disobedience. “Improvement” is not in our capabilities. If we refuse to maintain creation in the Way that God said, then, by definition, we're not maintaining it at all; we're inventing ways to mess His creation up even further, because there's only one Way to interact properly; inventing “new ways” (going astray) is what will cause more damage in the long term (no matter what the immediate benefit is—which may be legitimate for the purpose they sought; but that synthetic thing is going to affect something else we could not foresee in our limited human knowledge/scope). The only path of safety is confiding in God's Commands, not the intentions of our hearts, alone, divorced from His Commands.

By the way, divorcing ourselves from God's Commands is what the devil wants, not what the Father wants. “Divorce yourself from the Father's instructions”—said who, ever? Jesus did not tell you to do that. The Father did not tell you to do that. The disciples did not tell you to do that. Satan and demonic doctrine tell you to do that. And they tell you to settle for your own (man's own) doctrines, the particular doctrines of a sect, in place of God's.

• Proverbs 4:2 (KJV)
  
  2 For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.
  
  
• Matthew 5:19 (KJV)
  
  19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
  
  
• 1 Timothy 1:8 (KJV)
  
  8 But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;
  
  
• 1 Timothy 4:1 (KJV)
  
  4 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

Their doctrine being: Did God really say to do that? You don't have to do that. Stop loving the truth (God's Word, God's Law).

• Psalm 119:142 (KJV)
  
  142 Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth.
  
  
• John 17:17 (KJV)
  
  17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
  
  
• 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11 (KJV)
  
  9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
  
  10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
  
  11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
  

Who falls for Satan? Those who do not love the truth (truth: God's Law, God's Word, every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God).

So, yes, devil, God really did say something. And we're going to obey that something because we trust what He said, that it is protective, for our own good, and that it is better than our limited, human understanding.

• Deuteronomy 10:12-13 (KJV)
  
  12 And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,
  
  13 To keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?
  
  
• Isaiah 55:8-9 (KJV)
  
  8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
  
  9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Short answer: We do not improve upon what God has done. We can only maintain; and the only way we maintain things correctly is by doing things in obedience to His Way. Anything else damages creation in ways we cannot foresee (to ourselves, the animals, and the land—all of creation, even the sea and the skies); we can't undo any damage—only God can, and only when He restores everything. We can only keep ourselves from damaging it more than it already is, and will be, thanks to Adam and Eve's sin and the unnatural decay they invited into all of creation. Our deliverance from the decay is not in our hands. And deliverance is not in our technology. It's in the resurrection of the dead, and the transformation, that awaits us in the next age—an age that is not ushered in by us, but by Jesus' return to earth.

• Acts 1:9-11 (NIV)
  
  9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
  
  10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
  
  
• Acts 3:21 (NIV)
  
  21 Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.

Q: on this issue of seeking health, people struggles because of lack of knowledge or lack of faith to believe that God can provide not only health but everything to us?

Both a lack of knowledge of what He said and a lack of faith in what He said

• Hosea 4:6 (NIV)
  
  6 my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.
  
  “Because you have rejected knowledge,
      I also reject you as my priests;
  because you have ignored the law of your God,
      I also will ignore your children.
  
  
• 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)
  
  14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
  
  
• Jeremiah 16:12 (NIV)
  
  12 But you have behaved more wickedly than your ancestors. See how all of you are following the stubbornness of your evil hearts instead of obeying me.
  
  
• Nehemiah 1:7 (NIV)
  
  7 We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.

Following their own hearts. Not obeying Him, not obeying His Commands, which He gave through Moses and that Jesus told us to obey (what's read from Moses' seat i.e. Matthew 23:1-3). So they perish. The first step is to get over the ignorance (unawareness) of the knowledge, of everything Jesus said, of everything the Father spoke, then you can get to the issue of whether they lack faith / lack trust in what He said (lack of faith in the knowledge, His knowledge)—what He could do, what He is willing to do, and what He could provide, and when He wouldn't. How can they have faith in God's way of doings things if they never heard about it?

• Romans 10:17 (KJV)
  
  17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

---

Not relevant to the question, per se, but bringing up Jeremiah 16:12 above made me think of it: people who say, “God knows my heart”. Here's a follow up question to ask them, “does your heart have His Law written on it”? Does that heart cherish His Commands? Or cherish sin (the breaking of His Law i.e. 1 John 3:4)? does that heart delight in His Law like it's suppose to? Otherwise, you're following your own pagan, uncircumcised heart, not God's.

Not to mention, "check yourself to see if you are truly under the New Covenant".

• Jeremiah 31:31-33 (NIV)
  
  31 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
      “when I will make a new covenant
  with the people of Israel
      and with the people of Judah.
  32 It will not be like the covenant
      I made with their ancestors
  when I took them by the hand
      to lead them out of Egypt,
  because they broke my covenant,
      though I was a husband to[a] them,[b]”
          declares the Lord.
  33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
      after that time,” declares the Lord.
  “I will put my law in their minds
      and write it on their hearts.
  I will be their God,
      and they will be my people.
  
  Footnotes:
  
  a. Jeremiah 31:32 Hebrew; Septuagint and Syriac / and I turned away from
  b. Jeremiah 31:32 Or was their master

Change of heart is necessary for salvation. It is the evidence of salvation. It's not a change of Commands. You need saving from your heart, from what you "desire" and "think about" that is deviant from the Commands of God.

---

Concisely:

- does people block themselves from receiving God's heals because they think they should understand God's purposes for everything He does?

Depends on what you mean:

Yes, people block themselves from healing when they allow their lack of full comprehension of the how's (how will God do that if I do this?) to keep them from obeying the Commands and every Word God said.

Yes, people block themselves from healing when the sinful nature of their flesh has not been circumcised yet by Christ's circumcision, thus why they can't submit to God's Law at all in the first place. They are still in the hostility of their carnal mind.

They, at the very least, should follow the example of Naaman: “What...? Why?!” *obeys anyway*. Healed. A person does not need to fully have all the why's, and foresee all the how's, of how obedience to the Command / what God said will bring benefit and be able to safeguard all of creation. They just need to trust it in order to benefit from His Commands, simply by obeying them right now. Man is very stubborn.

No, people don't block themselves from healing, if what you mean by "their lack of understanding God's purpose" is, their asking if something is God's will—in the sense of “does He even want me to be healed? Is He seeking to teach something that can only be communicated through my sickness?” (so, when it's not a case of faith/trust in God, and obeying something He said, but God deciding to glorify Himself in a specific situation, where healing the sickness and protecting you is not the best way to go about establishing that). They're not blocking healing, God is blocking the healing/alleviation of affliction, for a specific purpose.

- the trend of the last years is about sport supplements and anabolic steroids. this remembers me of the use of the medicine/pharmacy for body improvement/tuning. it looks innocent but i think it's dubious and my question is: how far is using science for improve it's own body against God's will? this will depends of the intentions of our heart?

Improvement is out of our hands (that will only come at the restoration of all things at Jesus' return). We can only maintain God's creation OR damage God's creation even more. Maintain if we obey as the Commands say to care for / tend to creation (honoring the details of the Commands); Damage if we do anything else / the more we deviate from the Commands and natural systems God set in place.

Science is not the problem seeing as identifying all the fruit leaves that are for healing, and which one heals what, is a science. It's the so-called science/knowledge, which deviates from the Commands in a single detail, that brings in the problems.

Intentions of the heart, if not submitted to God's Commands, don't save anyone from the harm, quite frankly. Adam and Eve. What did their good intentions cause? Death for everyone! Everything with the breath of life in it dies. If one's heart, and thus actions, are not submitted to the full details of God's instructions, then damage / lack of protection will be present, no matter what reasoning, persuasion, or arguments rebellious creations come up with in favor of disobedience to the Command, in Spirit and in TRUTH.

- on this issue of seeking health, people struggles because of lack of knowledge or lack of faith to believe that God can provide not only health but everything to us?

Both "lack of knowledge" (really, "rejection") of what He said and "lack of faith" in what He said are to blame. And of course, lack of motivation to do what He said because their flesh wants to sin and not give up what is causing themselves and other people harm. The solution to that is Jesus, who gives them the desire to obey, the Spirit of Christ / The Holy Spirit / Spirit of God being given to us through Him that leads us into all truth. But if they reject Jesus, reject the Word of God, reject knowledge, reject the Warnings of God because they distrust, then they won't get healed, others won't get healed, and on a nation-wide basis, we cannot live in a way that prevents the sickness in the first place (—again, prevent the sickness that is incurred from interacting incorrectly with creation, not the sickness He sends on purpose to communicate something that He could not do with our health).

 

[iBarracus]

cristobela

i'm loving your answers so far because they are really complete in arguments and verses of bible(they look like biblical studies to be honest). but there is an issue that i wanted to state on the 2nd answer you gave: the improve word.

i'm not a native english speaker, so i think i used the wrong word to express what i wanted. my intention wasn't to ask if God agree to we modify something that He created to make something better, because this is idiot. he knows how to make things perfectly. the issue that i was stating was related to you extract the best that God gave you.

to be honest i wasn't even thinking about thinks like plastical surgery for example(i know you don't mentioned that, but it's an example) or other things. i was thinking of a person that has the choice of doing changes on it's lifestyle(daily diet, exercises, living a happier life) to make it's own body better. everybody has the right to see wellbeing and a wellness life. even knowing that we will have sufferings on life, this doesn't mean that our life must be a nightmare.

also there is a point that i don't saw you speaking specifically, but you only mentioned examples of it which is regarding science: science is not a devil's thing, and it's not a God's thing. it's a tool. what makes it be bad or good will be how we used it.

you would agree 100% in science going to seek natural treatments for well-known diseases on natural habitats. if we think of amazon forest for example, it's an AMAZING environment for find new active ingredients for cure diseases, and it's straight from God's creation!. the thing is that instead of using the tools of science for do relevant discoveries, they prefer to use it to feed their own greed.

if you think of the GMOs, you'll see how this works because we never needed it, we will never need, and people still insist with this idea because they think that the world will die of starve(basing on mathusian theory, which is fake).

i just hope you understanded the meaning of improve that i was talking about. if there are better word or ways to i write this, please correct me because english is not my native language.