BONES

Thank you for coming to GodSaidManSaid. We're so glad you've come. In II Chronicles, chapter 20, verse 20, the mighty Israeli king Jehoshaphat was preparing his people to go out to battle against a ferocious enemy and he said, "...Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper." Let us apply ourselves to our God and the beauty of His Words. NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.

GOD SAID, Psalms, chapter 31, verse 10:

For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed.

GOD SAID, Proverbs, chapter 14, verse 30:

A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones.

GOD SAID, Psalms, chapter 38, verse 3:

There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin.

GOD SAID, Psalms, chapter 51, verse 8:

Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

MAN SAID: Much of what you read in the Scriptures is not to be taken literally! Mere men wrote the Bible—not God—and much of what these men did write simply consists of flawed allegories.

Now THE RECORD: The Words that you read in your majority-text holy Bible are the inerrant Words of the living God. There are many parables in the Scriptures which are easily discernable. These parables are basically spiritual puzzles requiring the student to think, to pursue the revelation. The revelation is literal, as is all of the Scriptures—literal physically or literal spiritually—and the Bible is a self-interpreting book.

Yes, God spoke the earth, mankind, and the universe into existence in six literal days just over 6,000 years ago. Yes, God did form man from the dust of the earth. Yes, the devil did possess the serpent and tempted Eve and, yes, Eve did eat literal fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Yes, Methuselah did die at 969 years. Yes, the entire world perished in a literal flood in the days of Noah.  Yes to many, many more revelations from the Scriptures.

What does all this have to do with the passages cited? The verses cited concerning bones will be just another proof that the Creator, God, authored the Scriptures. Only God the Designer could have known the secrets of the bones which He recorded thousands of years ago and which modern science is still discovering. These passages are not allegories or metaphors or the words of mere men. They are literally scientific truth. Please note that no scientific truth has ever controverted the Word of God. I challenge those who claim to have proof that the world is billions of years old to do three simple things: 1. define truth; 2. define proof; and 3. supply proof. It won't be forthcoming because it's not true; therefore, not provable. Basically, in street slang, I'm saying, "Put up or shut up."

The definition of bones, what they do, and what affects their performance will again prove the unerring truth of the Bible, the book of the God of creation—mankind's owner's manual. In A. Gillen's educational book, Body By Design, the general definition of bones is found:

Bones (or osseous material) serve a number of diverse purposes in the human anatomy. In addition to providing structure, protection, and support for the organs of the body, bones also house marrow, which produces blood cells. The bones also store the calcium deposits which the body may access, via resorption, when needed. Additionally, bones detoxify the system by removing heavy metals, such as lead and arsenic, as well as other toxins, from the bloodstream. Osseous tissue itself is made of water (about 1/4 of the bone weight), organic material (about 1/3 of the bone weight, most of which is the protein, collagen) and inorganic minerals (calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium predominate, though iron, sodium, potassium, chlorine, and fluorine are also present in small amounts). Most bones (except for the cranium) are initially pre-formed in cartilage and are then ossified as the newborn develops.

The following research information is taken from a powerful feature on this website titled, "A Merry Heart or a Broken Spirit:"

The bones in our bodies are key to excellent living and their role is much more than simply a structure to hang organs and flesh upon. Inside our bones is found a spongy moist tissue called bone marrow where all of our body's blood cells are produced. The blood cells begin life in the moist marrow as stem cells. These stem cells divide and form the various cells that make up our blood and immune system. Out of this moist bone marrow comes red blood cells which carry oxygen and nutrients to the body and also the white blood cells that fight infection. Without bone marrow there could be no human life. The amazing bone is strong as steel but light as aluminum and inside the cancellous bones of the ribs, vertebrae, sternum and pelvis is bone marrow, a moist hive of activity. Imagine, two million red blood cells are being replaced every second and they're being generated in the body's bone marrow. So then the red blood cells carry oxygen and nutrients to the body and the white blood cells defend against disease and both find their beginnings in moist bone marrow. New fields of study have arisen concerning white blood cells and immune system malfunction called "psychoneuroimmunology" or "neuroimmunomodulation." It is now known that stress, depression, sorrow, grief, negative thoughts, anger, etc., have a direct negative effect on white blood cells and happy, joyful, restful, positive thoughts have a direct positive effect on white and red blood cell production and activity. Remember, red blood cells bring oxygen and nutrients to the body and white blood cells defend it against disease and sickness. Dr. Berk, a researcher at Loma Linda University School of Medicine's Dept. of Clinical Immunology has shown that laughter lowers serum cortisol levels. Cortisol is part of the body's fight-or- flight response but too much of it can dampen immune response and shut down the very process that attacks life-threatening microbes or keeps malignant cells from proliferating into an invasive tumor. Laughter also increases the amount of activated T lymphocytes, increases the number and activity of natural killer cells, and increases the number of T cells that carry helper, suppressor receptors. Simply put, the immune system is positively benefited by laughter. Our first line of defense against infectious organisms trying to enter through our respiratory tract is salivary immunoglobulin A. Confirmed research shows that salivary immunoglobulin A is lower when one is in a negative mood and higher on days when one is in a positive mood. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. Dr. Berk's research cited earlier also shows that laughter helps boost the production of NK cells, which fight upper respiratory infections, such as pneumonia and bronchitis. Laughter boosts energy levels, strengthens organs and increases circulatory capacity. A few seconds of laughter could be as good as one minute of aerobic exercise. Dr. William Fry, an emeritus associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Stanford University Medical School in California, weighs in with studies on laughter that reveals among its many other benefits, that it produces increased activity of white blood cells, which fight disease. Remember what the Bible records: A merry heart doeth good like medicine. The following is an excerpt from an article in Ladies Home Journal, titled "30 Days to More Self-Esteem:"

The latest scientific research shows that all our thoughts create chemicals in our body, called neuropeptides. Happy thoughts produce chemicals that actually strengthen the body, and negative thoughts produce chemicals that weaken the body.

Note that spiritual things such as thoughts produce physical things such as chemicals. Our God, who created the body, gives explicit instructions in His owner's manual, the Bible, concerning the attitude from which we should approach life. Happy, cheerful, joyous, courageous, positive and loving thoughts cause our bone marrow to produce red and white blood cells prolifically. The red blood cells bring oxygen and life and the white blood cells destroy infectious disease. Thousands of years before man conceived this wisdom, God declared that a merry heart doeth good like a medicine...a medicine that man can only dream of duplicating. A final quote concerning a merry heart was found in a sub-headline in a USA Weekend tabloid dated May 30-June 1, 1997. It reads, "More doctors insist: Laughter is a miracle drug. Now some are even prescribing it." Unfortunately the merry heart is becoming more and more scarce. According to the World Health Organization, by the year 2020, depression will likely be the second leading cause of death and loss of productivity, right behind cardiovascular disease. The other half of Proverbs, chapter 17, verse 22, says, "but a broken spirit drieth the bones."

Listen or read on. You'll be amazed at what you hear next. In an article in Psychology Today titled, "The Blues Are A Bone-Breaker," research conducted by Dr. Ulrich Schweiger of the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Germany was cited. Schweiger measured bone density of 18 depressed, hospitalized men and women and another group of 21 patients who were free of depression. All were over the age of 40. The results were shocking. The research took place over a period of two years. At the end of two years, Schweiger compared the bone density of both groups. The depressed patients lost significantly more bone mass than the non-depressed. The following is a direct quote from Dr. Schweiger. He says, [It provides] "a vital link in explaining the increased mortality observed particularly in men with major depression." Another piece of research reported that 75% of our daily thoughts are negative, which cause a responding negative physical reaction. Remember, a broken spirit drieth up the bones, the manufacturing plant of red and white blood cells. The following two passages were reported in Energy Times:

Scientists investigating why people under chronic stress, such as those caring for someone with a degenerative disease, are especially prone to ill health recently closed in on an answer: Their bodies can't produce enough white blood cells—called lymphocytes—to fight off invaders.

Paul J. Mills, Ph.D., of the University of California at San Diego with his colleagues at UCSD and researchers from the Veterans Administration reported in the March 1999 issue of Psychosomatic Medicine that a group of "vulnerable" caregivers, who care for their spouses more than 12 hours a day and get a break less than once a month, had an average of only 40% as many lymphocytes as a less burdened, "nonvulnerable" group.

And then again under the sub-headline, "Studying an Urgent Topic:"

The link between stress and illness is a familiar yet subtle one. Scientists must connect psychology and biology, as does Sheldon Cohen, Ph.D., of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. In his New England Journal of Medicine report (1991, 325(9):606), he conclusively associated psychological stress and the tendency to be infected by respiratory viruses—the common cold.

Researchers at the world-famous Mayo Clinic followed up on the results of a personality test conducted on 839 individuals 30 years ago. Those who tested as pessimists had a 19 percent increased risk of death. The merry heart of the optimist yielded the fruits of a healthier, longer life. God's commandment in Philipians, Chapter 4, Verses 8-9, read:

8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

Research conducted among older happily married couples by Ohio State University found that abrasive arguments weakened the couple's immune systems. Again remember, the bone marrow is the manufacturer of white blood cells, your immune system. Ronald Glaser, a microbiology and immunology professor who helped conduct the survey said:

The more negative behaviors the couples exhibited around each other, the more their immune systems weakened.

On December 1, 2000, an AP article written by science writer Paul Recer discussed two different scientific studies which discovered that transplanted bone marrow can naturally transform itself into neurons, which are brain cells. The medical world was shocked at this discovery, which suggests that natural resident bone marrow regularly converts bone marrow cells into brain neurons, a previously unknown natural healing process to replace failed brain cells.

Fix your mind on cheerful thoughts and your body will respond with excellence.

Proverbs, chapter 3, verses 7-8:

7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

8 It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.

When the bones are affected through either sin, stress, and grief or righteousness, peace and joy, the following are also affected, either negatively or positively:

• Bone density;
• Detoxification;
• Calcium deposits;
• Bone Marrow;
• Red Blood Cells;
• White Blood Cells;
• Lymphatic system;
• And so much more that science has yet to discover.

Thousands of years before man knew some of the reasons why, God revealed the secret for the upkeep of your bones in your owner's manual, the Holy Bible, which is the "literal" truth.

GOD SAID, Psalms, chapter 31, verse 10:

For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed.

GOD SAID, Proverbs, chapter 14, verse 30:

A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones.

GOD SAID, Psalms, chapter 38, verse 3:

There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin.

GOD SAID, Psalms, chapter 51, verse 8:

Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

MAN SAID: Much of what you read in the Scriptures is not to be taken literally! Mere men wrote the Bible—not God—and much of what these men did write simply consists of flawed allegories.


Now you have THE RECORD.




References:

King James Bible

Martin, R.A. & J.P. Dobbin, "Sense of Humor, Hassels and Immunoglobin A: Evidence For a Stress- Moderating Effect of Humor," International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 1985.

National Bone Marrow Transplant Link

Rogers, J., "The Blues Are a Bone-Breaker," Psychology Today, May/June 2000

• Go Further With Christ
• Email To a Friend
• Comments or Questions?