I'm grateful that the conservative movement has embraced health. It's a noble venture. Health is an ancient virtue, an American value and it's time we bring it back again as a part of the MAGA movement. Dare I say, it's also Biblical.
Hello, welcome to Politics by Faith, brought to you by the Patriot Gold Group. Last two days on the radio show on Sirius XM Patriot, we've talked a lot about Make America Healthy Again. And it's been wonderful. I don't know if I've ever received more phone calls, emails, tweets about this topic than any other topic. So, it's great. It's a movement that people are fired up about. So, we talked about it on yesterday's show and after the show I was like wow like people are really excited about this I don't want to miss this moment As I think it's really important But what can I contribute to this? I'm not a nutritionist so I can't give nutrition advice. I'm not a exercise Scientist or whatever with the right word for that. I mean I do all these things I but I can talk about what I do, but I don't know. I don't feel like I have an authority to speak on this. So I was like, all right, well, what can I contribute to this? And I think my strength in this realm is something like encouraging us to see health as a conservative value. Somehow health became this Cali, hippie, granola thing. Right, like, oh, it's just California hippies drink green smoothies and conservatives eat, you know, fried everything. Whatever, it's like, I love myself fried anything, but you can do this in a healthy way, too. I don't know when being healthy became like a liberal progressive thing, but it didn't used to be. It used to be a great conservative value. And I think my role is trying to articulate that clearly and inspire conservatives to grab it. So I want to, really quick, I'll do a little bit of what I did on the radio show if you missed it. And then, because this is a biblical podcast, I want to bring it into what the Bible says about being healthy.
So first on how this is an ancient value the Hippocratic Oath fourth century BC. There's two things that I think are noteworthy here. This is the oath that all doctors would give. I will give no sort of medicine to any pregnant woman with a view to destroy the child. So the original Hippocratic Oath was anti-abortion in the fourth century BC. Worth noting. But more relevant here with regard to healing the sick, I will devise an order for them the best diet. And diet was about food, but also fitness, lifestyle, just overall health. Nutrition, of course, being a part of that. The Greeks had a very holistic view of health. Arete or erete means excellence of virtue, excellence of mind, excellence of body and soul. The Greeks are very focused on potential. You've got to live to your potential and health is an important part of that. Of course, it was the Greeks who came up with the Olympics. So obviously physical fitness and excellence was a major part of their lives. The Romans had an expression, sound mind and a sound body. The shoe company Asics is Animo sano in capore sano, A-S-I-C-S, Asics.
Plato spoke a lot about, in the Republic, about art nurturing one aspect of your soul and then physical activity nurturing another part of your soul, the part that deals with emotion and courage and honor. And we need all of these things to nurture all the aspects of our soul which make up the fullness of what it means to be man. Michel de Montaigne in the 1500s, he said, it is not a mind, it is not a body that we are training, it is a man. So all the inputs, whether we're working our mind or our body, all the inputs go to become a better man in our wholeness. Another interesting thing that happened where you have the geeks over here and then you have the jocks over here. And the geeks can't throw a ball, and the jocks can't read a poem. When did this become acceptable? This is not good either. We'll get to that in just a minute, actually.
So that's ancient stuff, and that's part of our tradition. We are the West, that is us. Let's move now to our founders. Thomas Jefferson gave advice to his nephew. And we made a big deal about this on the radio, we're not gonna do it here, but the whole beginning part of the letter is all these books you need to read. This is to his 15 year old nephew, and it's Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophontus Hellenica, Xenophontus Anabasis, Arian, Quintus, Curtius, Diorus, Siclius, I was just reading some Dior, just Siculus the other day. I was just casual reading. And oh, he got to read it in Greek too. He said to his 15 year old nephew. He goes on and on. These people I've never even heard of. Like, oh, how pathetic is our education system today? Just so unbelievably pathetic. Anyway, then he goes into exercise. He says you should give two hours a day, every day, to exercise. For health must not be sacrificed to learning. A strong body makes the mind strong. So again, keep this in mind. Plato said the same thing. Here's Thomas Jefferson. This connection between the mind, body, and soul. Because then Jefferson goes on and talks about the need to put your books down and go into the woods and take a walk. He says do not bring your books there. Go into the woods, walk around, and just look at nature. And that will make you strong. He talks about how, he said, don't ride on horses. He says Europeans ride on horses. And he says that's made, it's led to a degeneracy of their human bodies. He says an Indian goes on foot nearly as far in a day for a long journey as an enfeebled white does on his horse. And he will tire the best horses. There's no habit you will value so much as that of walking far without fatigue. So he says, go on long walks. It's good for your body and it's good for your soul.
That was early American history. Then you go to Teddy Roosevelt as the archetype of this. One of my favorite stories, he was a sick, frail child. He had asthma, nearsighted, and his dad was very disappointed in him. And his dad pulled young Theodore aside and said, Theodore, you have the mind, but you do not have the body. And without the help of the body, the mind cannot go as far as it should. I'm giving you the tools, but it's up to you to make the body. And young Teddy said, I will make my body. And he went on to live what's called the strenuous life. He took up boxing and he went on these serious hikes and he was on the rowing team on Harvard and he was always moving, always striving, and he did ridiculously incredible things, and he was brilliant. My favorite Teddy Roosevelt fact is he read the Iliad and the Odyssey in Greek while on horseback as a rancher in the Dakotas. That's a ridiculous combination of things. But this was part of America. He was a crazy example of it, but this was the value.
Let me read this quote, and then we'll get to the Bible. He said, in war, you need to have the man decent, patriotic, but no matter how patriotic he was, if he ran away, he was no good. So it is in citizenship. The virtue that stays at home in its own parlor and bemoans the wickedness of the outside world is of scant use to the community. We are a vigorous, masterful people. Is that true today? Are we? We are vigorous, masterful people, and the man who is to do good work in our country must not only be a good man, but also emphatically a man. We must have the qualities of courage, of hardyhood, of power to hold one's own in the hurly-burly of actual life. We must have the manhood that shows on fought fields, and that shows in the work of the business world and in the struggles of civic life. We must have manliness, courage, strength, resolution joined to decency and morality or we shall make but poor work of it. Now how good is that? Manliness, courage, strength, resolution connected with decency and morality. It's great. I know it feels like I'm moving away from health and into masculinity but that's my point. It's all the same. So this is a preliminary intro into what I think I can contribute to this Make America Healthy Again movement and it's the idea that health is an ancient virtue. Health is a conservative value, always has been. It's an American value. We were settled by healthy people, the Pilgrims. We were founded by healthy people, our founders. We expanded because of healthy people, the settlers that traveled west. We thrived and won world wars because of healthy people. And now we are unhealthy like no humans have ever been before. And I would like to restore the idea and restore not only the idea, I'd like to restore health and vigor that we used to have in America. Now let's bring in the Bible because I'd like to throw in here that being healthy is a biblical value as well.
Of course, the asterisk is as much as it's within your control. On my local show in San Diego right now, we're doing a radio-thon for Rady Children's Hospital. Okay, I'm not going to talk to the 15-year-old girl I talked to yesterday who has leukemia and be like, oh, you're not living your biblical values. That's not obviously not what we're talking about. We're talking about things that are within your control. Now people will quote 1st Corinthians 619 which says, or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you whom you have from God you are not your own. Now there's a lot going on with this scripture there's a lot of context that's important but just to keep it focused on what we're talking about here let me quote a commentary from Harry Ironside. He said, see how the Holy Spirit links us again with Christ. When he was here on earth, he said to the Jews of his day, destroy this temple, this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. And they, misunderstanding, looked at the great temple on Mount Moria and said, forty and six years was the temple I'm building, and you're going to build it up in three days? But we're told he spake of the temple of his body. He, the Holy One, had a real human body. And that body was the sanctuary of deity. Now, He has gone back to heaven. He has saved our souls. And He claims our bodies. And has sent His Holy Spirit down to dwell in the body of the believer. He says your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. Do we think as much of this as we should? Would you allow many things about which you are careless if that were constantly before your mind? You think of a church building as a sanctuary set apart for the work of the Lord. You step in from the outside and immediately your hat comes off. Again, this was written a while back. Maybe we're not as respectful respectful of even the church building itself. Harry goes on, he says, For you realize that you are in the sanctuary. We teach our boys and girls not to be boisterous or frivolous in the church building, for it is the house where we meet with God, and we realize that reverent behavior should characterize us. Reverent behavior. But think of this, your body is the sanctuary. It is temple, the temple, in which the Holy Spirit dwells. How careful you and I ought to be that we grieve not that blessed one who dwells within, that we do not bring dishonor upon the name of the Savior who has sent his Spirit to live in our body. Say the words over and over again to yourself until they get such a grip on you that you will never forget them. My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. God dwells in me. It will give you to realize the dignity of the body and the responsibility that attaches to it."
Now, I'm sure that Paul was not speaking of doing, you know, bench presses. But in general, we should work to take good care of our body. Don't make it an idol. But it is also the temple where the Holy Spirit dwells. We should do what we can to not poison it. And you combine this with, of course, gluttony in the Bible. There's a line in Deuteronomy, and they shall say to the elders of the city, Our son is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard. We don't want to be those things. Third John 1-2 says, Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you, and that you may be in good health, just as it is with your soul. Similar to Plato, as we were speaking of, there's this body and mind connection. Proverbs 17, 22 says, A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. Now, your spiritual health can affect your physical health. Now, listen, this is not a salvation issue. Being overweight doesn't mean you're going to hell. You're not a Christian, goodness. But different people are motivated by different things and in different ways. I'm motivated by shame and peer pressure. The way it is, I don't know.
That's the sports I did when I grew up, the coaches I had, I don't know what it is. But shame and peer pressure. If someone says, we're all doing this or or you can't do this. You're not strong enough You're not fit enough, and I'm in I'll make it happen And also shame I used to have a bowl of Frosted Flakes every night and my friend of mine said You're a child And I haven't had Frosted Flakes since I Like tough talk like about tough coaches growing up. So, you know, don't eat that, don't be weak. That speaks to me, that may not be something that motivates you. Maybe speaking of health as an ancient, western value, maybe that's motivating. Maybe speaking of health as an American virtue and value, maybe that's helpful. Maybe speaking of it as a biblical value is helpful too. That's all I can present to you here. I feel like this is the only role I can have in this Make America Healthy movement. But we all need to know that it's only out of love. It's only out of love that motivates it. And I believe Make America Healthy again is a noble venture. Mike Slater dot locals dot com is where you can have the transcript and no commercials Mike Slater dot locals dot com is where you can have the transcript and no commercials Mike Slater dot locals dot com
