Why be healthy? It seems like an obvious answer – to live longer, happier lives. But those who are planning to live forever in heaven sometimes wonder – why be concerned now? What's the point of stressing about health here on earth, before the “forever” starts? Won’t our bodies be changed “in a twinkling” into immortal bodies at the Second Coming of Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:51-52)?

Is there a Biblical basis for advocating a healthy life style for Christians in the “here and now”?

Christian schools have been advocating good health for a long time. Harvard University, founded in 1636 on the library and estate of a young, Puritan minister; Oberlin College, begun in 1833 by a Presbyterian minister; Earlham College, begun in 1847 by Quakers -- all were institutions of higher learning which (at their founding) emphasized healthful lifestyle principles in addition to academic excellence.

The National Academy of Sciences recently reported that you can impair someone's ability to make moral judgments by applying a powerful magnetic field through the skull to the right temporo-parietial junction (TPJ) of the brain. This research confirms that moral capacity functions in the brain, and makes us ask: Is there such a thing as a separate soul?