Country Living

Millions of people prefer to live in a city where everything is close by and convenient. In the city there are stores, schools, hospitals, factories, and offices, often within walking distance. While in the country everything is further away. But then there are benefits in country living that are not available in the city, and number one is fresh air. The air in the city is polluted because of the traffic and factories.

The effects of air pollution include chronic respiratory disease, lung cancer, heart disease, even damage to the brain, nerves, liver, and kidneys. In Mexico City alone, about 30,000 children die annually because of air pollution.

Natural Resources Defense Council writes in their annual report: “City dwellers face a wide range of environmental challenges: dirty air and water, dwindling open space, garbage, soot-spewing buses, traffic, the impacts of industry.” This all causes physical sickness. But then there is danger to the spiritual health also. Sister White writes much about it in the testimonies.

“The world over, cities are becoming hotbeds of vice. On every hand are the sights and sounds of evil. Everywhere are enticements to sensuality and dissipation. The tide of corruption and crime is continually swelling. Every day brings the record of violence,– robberies, murders, suicides, and crimes unnamable.

“Life in the cities is false and artificial. The intense passion for money getting, the whirl of excitement and pleasure seeking, the thirst for display, the luxury and extravagance, all are forces that, with the great masses of mankind, are turning the mind from life’s true purpose. They are opening the door to a thousand evils. Upon the youth they have almost irresistible power.” MH, p. 363, 364.

“Few realize the importance of shunning, so far as possible, all associations unfriendly to religious life. In choosing their surroundings, few make their spiritual prosperity the first consideration. “Parents flock with their families to the cities, because they fancy it easier to obtain a livelihood there than in the country. The children, having nothing to do when not in school, obtain a street education.

From evil associates, they acquire habits of vice and dissipation. The parents see all this, but it will require a sacrifice to correct their error, and they stay where they are, until Satan gains full control of their children.” Test. Vol. 5, p. 232.

Because the cities are becoming more and more like Sodom and Gomorrah, the judgments of God are about to fall on them. “The time is near when the large cities will be visited by the judgments of God. In a little while, these cities will be terribly shaken. No matter how large or how strong their buildings, no matter how many safeguards against fire may have been provided, let God touch these buildings, and in a few minutes or a few hours they are in ruins.

“The ungodly cities of our world are to be swept away by the besom of destruction. In the calamities that are now befalling immense buildings and large portions of cities, God is showing us what will come upon the whole earth.” Test. Vol. 7, p. 82, 83.

“There are reasons why we should not build in the cities. On these cities, God’s judgments are soon to fall.” Letter 158, 1902. “The time is near when large cities will be swept away, and all should be warned of these coming judgments.” Evang., p. 29.

“O that God’s people had a sense of the impending destruction of thousands of cities, now almost given to idolatry.” Rev. and Her., Sept. 10, 1903.

“In harmony with the light given me, I am urging people to come out from the great centers of population. Our cities are increasing in wickedness, and it is becoming more and more evident that those who remain in them unnecessarily do so at the peril of their soul’s salvation.” Manuscript 115, 1907.

God placed Adam and Eve to live in a garden, surrounded by nature. There they were to cultivate the ground and enjoy the simple way of life. Many great men in the past had their upbringing in the country setting. Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Elisha, and many others. Often they had to struggle with poverty and hardship. When called to their lifework, they proved themselves a positive power for good in the world. Therefore, Sister White urged people to move to the country, away from the cities.

“Instead of dwelling where only the works of men can be seen, where the sights and sounds frequently suggest thoughts of evil, where turmoil and confusion bring weariness and disquietude, go where you can look upon the works of God. Find rest of spirit in the beauty and quietude and peace of nature. Let the eye rest on the green fields, the groves, and the hills. Look up to the blue sky, unobscured by the city’s dust and smoke, and breathe the invigorating air of heaven. Go where, apart from the distractions and dissipations of city life, you can give your children your companionship, where you can teach them to learn of God through His works, and train them for lives of integrity and usefulness.” MH, p. 265-267.

“To live in the country would be very beneficial to them; an active, out-of-door life would develop health of both mind and body. They should have a garden to cultivate, where they might find both amusement and useful employment. The training of plants and flowers tends to the improvement of taste and judgment, while an acquaintance with God’s useful and beautiful creations has a refining and ennobling influence upon the mind, referring it to the Maker and Master of all.” Test. Vol. 4, p. 136.

“I look at these flowers, and every time I see them I think of Eden. They are an expression of God’s love for us. Thus He gives us in this world a little taste of Eden. He wants us to delight in the beautiful things of His creation, and to see in them an expression of what He will do for us.

“He wants us to live where we can have elbow room. His people are not to crowd into the cities. He wants them to take their families out of the cities, that they may better prepare for eternal life. In a little while they will have to leave the cities.

“These cities are filled with wickedness of every kind,–with strikes and murders and suicides. Satan is in them, controlling men in their work of destruction. Under his influence they kill for the sake of killing, and this they will do more and more…

“If we place ourselves under objectionable influences, can we expect God to work a miracle to undo the results of our wrong course?—No, indeed. Get out of the cities as soon as possible, and purchase a little piece of land, where you can have a garden, where your children can watch the flowers growing, and learn from them lessons of simplicity and purity.” General Conference Bulletin, March 30, 1903.

“To many of those living in the cities who have not a spot of green grass to set their feet upon, who year after year have looked out upon filthy courts and narrow alleys, brick walls and pavements, and skies clouded with dust and smoke,–if these could be taken to some farming district, surrounded with the green fields, the woods and hills and brooks, the clear skies and the fresh, pure air of the country, it would seem almost like heaven.” MH, p. 192.

“It is no time now for God’s people to be fixing their affections or laying up their treasure in the world. The time is not far distant, when, like the early disciples, we shall be forced to seek a refuge in desolate and solitary places. As the siege of Jerusalem by the Roman armies was the signal for flight to the Judean Christians, so the assumption of power on the part of our nation, in the decree enforcing the papal Sabbath, will be a warning to us. It will then be time to leave the large cities, preparatory to leaving the smaller ones for retired homes in secluded places among the mountains.” Test. Vol. 5, p. 465.

Clear counsel has been given us to move out of big cities to country places. Especially it is important for families with small children. To see green fields, trees and flowers which God has created has an influence upon our minds, which will bring us closer to God. Especially for sick people, country life is healthier and therefore, any health institution should be established in the country area. May the Lord help us to take these counsels to heart and plan well where we will locate our homes.
AMEN.

Timo Martin, Canada