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MORE GET SICK THAN NEED TO BECAUSE—

* A large section of the human race suffers from malnutrition. This has led to many cases of rickets, scurvy, blindness, goiter and the like. Moreover, an undernourished person is open to other sicknesses, such as tuberculosis and pneumonia. These diseases could be greatly reduced by the simple expedient of the better feeding of poor people.

* Malnutrition poses a threat even in advanced countries. Why? “Changes have occurred in the diet of Americans that could cause a wave of malnutrition (from both overconsumption and underconsumption) as damaging to health in the United States as the widespread, contagious diseases of the early part of the century. Overconsumption of fats, sugar, salt, and alcohol has been related to 6 of the 10 leading causes of death . . . heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, arteriosclerosis, and cirrhosis of the liver.”​—“Health,” 1979.

* The World Health Organization estimates that 80 percent of all sickness in the world is caused by inadequate water or sanitation. Between 10 million and 25 million people a year die because of disease brought on by unclean or inadequate water. About the same number of children die each year from one of these diseases​—diarrhea—​as victims were killed each year by the first world war.

* The air we breathe is being poisoned by fumes from industry and automobiles. The following headlines tell the story: “Air Pollution Victims in Tokyo on Rise”; “Smog Cloud Thickens over Choking Greeks”; “Toxic Smoke Chokes Mexico City”; “Breathing Indoors May Be Hazardous”; “U.S. Study Warns of Extensive Problems from Carbon Dioxide Pollution.” Meanwhile, creation’s great air purifiers, the trees, are being cut down at a rate of from 25 million to 50 million acres yearly. A crisis of unknown proportions lies ahead.

* Immorality has led to an epidemic of venereal disease. The smoking of tobacco has caused an epidemic of lung cancer, emphysema, bronchitis and coronary heart disease. Recent studies indicate that not only smokers but also their marriage partners and children suffer.

* These are some of the practices and social problems that are preventing even existing medical knowledge from being applied successfully for the alleviation of the sicknesses of mankind.

WHY DO WE SUFFER FROM ILLNESSES?

The basic reason why men get sick and die is revealed in a remarkable promise God made to the ancient Israelites: “No resident will say: ‘I am sick.’ The people that are dwelling in the land will be those pardoned for their error.” (Isa. 33:24) It is here that sickness is connected with “error,” or sin. And freedom from sickness is related to the forgiveness of sin.

IS SICKNESS A PUNISHMENT FOR SIN, THEN?

Sickness can be a direct result of sin. The Bible warns us: “Whatever a man is sowing, this he will also reap.” (Gal. 6:7) As we have already seen, those “sowing” immorality, those who are smoking, those guilty of drunkenness and gluttony are ‘reaping’ many diseases. It is true that not all sicknesses are caused by such things. Nevertheless, all sickness can ultimately be traced to “error,” or sin.

WHY DO GOOD PEOPLE GET SICK?

It is because the sin that is the root cause of disease is not our own. It happened a long time ago, right at the beginning of human history. The Bible tells us that God made the first man, Adam, perfect, healthy, and having the prospect of living forever. His continued enjoyment of all of this depended on his obeying his Creator. Adam chose to rebel and thus cut himself off from God, with whom “is the source of life.” Hence, the first man became imperfect, vulnerable to sickness, and eventually died.​—Gen. 2:17; 3:1-19; Ps. 36:9.

It is well known that certain diseases can be inherited. Similarly, sin, imperfection and death are inherited. “Through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned.” (Rom. 5:12) The heritage Adam gave his children was an imperfect life with vulnerability to sickness and death. That is the basic reason why disease exists today.