Did
you know that Ellen White encouraged her son Willie to work out
in a gym? She wrote,
“We
hope, Willie, you will be of good courage in the Lord. Do not
neglect physical exercise. Practice gymnastic exercise. The muscles
expand the chest. But above everything else,  grow
strong in God and labor to become an intelligent Christian, that
you may give to others the reason of our hope. Grow in grace daily
and in the knowledge of the truth.
In love,
Mother.”
(Letter
21, 1874)
But she
also wrote a word of caution about gymnastic exercise: “Gymnastic
exercises fill a useful place in many schools, but without careful
supervision they are often carried to excess. In the gymnasium
many youth, by their attempted feats of strength, have done themselves
lifelong injury.” (The Adventist Home, p. 499.)
Exercise in a gymnasium, however well conducted, cannot supply
the place of recreation in the open air, and for this our schools
should afford better opportunity.
(The Adventist Home, p. 499.)
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Katie
Wolfer is sitting on a ‘mechanical horse’ exercise
machine that was invented by Seventh-day Adventist J. H.
Kellogg, world-renowned cold cereal inventor, and health
advocate. Interestingly, this machine was used in a gym
on the RMS Titanic, the famous luxury cruise-liner that
sank on its maiden voyage in 1912. |
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