Minerals the source of Life Made from Dust




7) “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”— Genesis 2:7 (NKJV)
19) “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.” – Genesis 3:19 (NKJV)
6) “For affliction does not come from the dust, Nor does trouble spring from the ground;” --Job 5:6 (NKJV)
9) “Remember, I pray, that You have made me like clay. And will You turn me into dust again?” – Job 10:9 (NKJV)
47) “The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.” – 1 Cor. 15:47-49 (NKJV)
From a theological point of view, it is the breath of God that gives humankind life. God’s breath separates us from the animal kingdom, providing the soul and the spirit. Nevertheless, we also come from the dust. Our bodies are comprised of an assortment of minerals without which our life would cease.
Man has many parts. He is multifaceted. To approach health without an understanding of these parts is futile. The Naturopathic Approach recognizes that the whole aspect of our being must be in harmony and balance. In Genesis 2:7 God shows us that man is a compound being, having a body and soul distinctly, and separately created; the body out of the dust of the earth, the soul immediately breathed from God himself. The soul and body are not the same thing. The body derives its origin from the earth, the dust. Because it is earthly it is decomposable and perishable.
Of the soul, God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. While this breath of God expanded the lungs and set them in play, his inspiration gave both spirit and understanding.
Since man is a compound being the foundations of his health must also address all his parts. Man’s body is comprised of dust or rather minerals. Our bodies are dependent upon macro and trace minerals to maintain our structures and ultimately our health. Rudolph Ballentine, author of Diet & Nutrition a Holistic Approach, agrees that our bodies are created from a host of minerals: “When plant or animal tissue is burned, the nitrogen, sulfur, hydrogen and carbon that make up the fats, carbohydrates and protein go off as gases, and the minerals alone remain as ash. The minerals that will be found through such a process to be in the body are primarily sodium, potassium, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium. But there are also a number of other minerals found in very tiny or trace amounts such as zinc, iodine, manganese, copper and even arsenic. . . . They are often the key ingredients in the large protein molecules we call enzymes, on whose action most of the metabolic processes of the body depend.”
The functions of our bodies – our life functions – are dependent upon enzymes for their action. Enzymes are dependent upon minerals. Thus, minerals are the source of life. The dust of the earth is what makes our bodies function.
Jensen in The Chemistry of Man discusses the vital need for a dynamic equilibrium only found through providing the body with the correct balance of nutrients. He says that we are made of the dust of the earth, the same basic chemical elements of which the earth is made.
The human body is a complex structure of billions of specialized parts and electrochemical processes, constantly moving, flowing, changing, in the state of dynamic equilibrium we call life. The average lifetime of a red blood cell is 120 days, and when it dies, it is replaced by new ones. As long as we provide the body with the biochemical nutrients it needs, the various organs and tissues can rejuvenate themselves indefinitely – provided we also get enough exercise, fresh air, sunshine, rest and recreation.
When our bodies are deficient in minerals, we begin to break down. To reverse this, we develop cravings. These cravings affect both animals and humans. In animals such cravings are called cribbing in people they are called pica. An animal will start eating the barnyard fence and a good rancher will add minerals to its feed to curb such activity. The children of Israel also had cravings in the wilderness.
4) “Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: ‘Who will give us meat to eat?’” – Numbers 11:4 (NKJV)
The American diet causes many people to crave snack foods, salt, and sugar. In fact the average American eats 120 pounds of sugar in a year trying to satisfy his cravings. Stated another way, the majority of people eat their weight in sugar each year. This is more than a teaspoonful every hour, day and night. The major ingredient in most poor quality foods is sugar and fat. Because we as a society have neglected the intake of essential minerals, the dust of the earth, we find a society failing in its health and addicted to snack foods. Dr. Joel D. Wallach said:
“From antiquity, the description of cribbing and pica in humans relates its major incidence to pregnant women. The Hawaiian King Kamahameha’s mother, Queen Kekuiapoiwa, had cravings for eyeballs. Although she specifically wanted chiefs’ eyes, she was given the salty eyes of sharks to eat. The snack food and fast food industries are aware of this relationship between pica, cribbing, and cravings, sugar binges and salt hunger and they use it to their advantage by liberally salting or sweetening their products. Unfortunately for humans, our bodies temporarily interpret sugar and salt intake as a fulfillment of the cravings for essential minerals. Historically, the consumption of salt to satisfy a pica behavior was of value because salt was not processed and did often times contain small amounts of trace minerals and rare earths.”
Because our society has forsaken the Biblical foundations on the cultivation of our food, because our modern technological society thinks that by altering the natural state of our food to increase production, shelf life, or its aesthetics, we find a gross lack of needed nutrients in our food supply. God provided all needed nutrients in natural whole foods, but we devitalize them through refining, over cooking, wrong cultivation, radiating, etc. Departing from Biblical practices of soil management is a major component to the loss of vital nutrients in food. Not eating whole foods as God created them also is a departure. In other words, to maintain the dust we must maintain the soil. The Bible does give direction to doing this, which we will discuss next time.