On Wed, 27 May 1998, Brian Glass wrote:

> I have a number of friends who are Biblical young-earth creationists
> (Seventh-Day Adventists).  I have trouble convincing most of these folks
of
> the validity of the paleo style diet because of the dearth of young-earth
> based arguments for a paleo diet.  Many of these folks are vegetarians.

I don't know about SDAs, but there are some creationists among
the subscribers to this list.  I can't say whether they are
young-earth creationists, however.

I myself was an SDA as a child, and attended SDA school.  Because
my parents were not SDAs we were not vegetarians, but my
grandmother was.  My grandfather never gave up meat.

> I personally do not have a well defined opinion on these highly
speculative
> topics, but I do believe that this type of diet can be well supported in
> either camp.  I have begun drafting a paper using a strictly Biblical view
> of the origins of the earth and I am in search of good sources of
> information as well as critique.  I will be happy to receive any
> suggestions for inclusion in this paper but reserve the final choice about
> what is included for myself.  Any help will be much appreciated.

Well, you might look at V. Stefansson's _Fat of the Land_, in
which he mentions some Biblical support for the value of *fat*,
although I realize that this is hardly the core of the paleodiet.

Frankly, I don't think paleodiet can be well supported
Biblically, although I don't think vegetarianism can be either.
If I am not mistaken, the SDA emphasis on vegetarianism is not
claimed to be Biblical in any case but is based on the special
revelations of Ellen G. White, founder of the SDA church, as well
as the work of John Harvey Kellogg, who was later
disfellowshipped (in about 1907).  Vegetarianism is not a
doctrinal obligation for SDAs; it is a "health reform," strongly
recommended.

The book of Ezekiel actually contains a recipe for bread, made
from sprouted wheat and lentils (I think).  But note that as
early in the Bible as Gen 3:19 there is the curse, "In the sweat
of thy face shalt thou eat bread."  At Gen 41:54 we have "In all
the land of Egypt there was bread," where bread is in this
instance used as a symbol simply for food.  And of course at the
Last Supper Jesus did not choose chicken wings to symbolize his
body.  For reasons such as these, it will be hard to convince
SDAs or other Biblical literalists to forswear bread.

Furthermore, SDAs appear to be healthier than the general
population anyway.  I don't think there's enough data to
determine whether they are less healthy than hunter-gatherers or,
more to the point, non-HGs who attempt to emulate the HG diet.

Todd Moody
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