Health a problem…try a place of worship

You sleep late weekends, read the newspaper, jog the block with your dog, do chores, run errands…no thought of attending a worship service. Rather typical for some while others get up and head out with the family to their place of worship…churches, synagogues, and mosques. Who’s healthier?

Think about it, the healthier one could be the one who attends a worship service. Not that your parents ever told you that, if they insisted you go. They probably wanted you to learn about God and make friends…share fellowship. Affiliating yourself with a place of worship puts you in a caring atmosphere with a support system from others filled with optimism and hope for better days, contributing to your physical health and emotional well being.

There’s proof of that in Dr. Jeff Levin’s book. God, Faith, and Health: Exploring the Spirituality Healing Connection. Levin examines the beneficial principles of the health effects of public religion through theosomatic medicine. Theosomatic…what’s that?

In Faith Community Nursing Janet Susan Hickman writes of Levin’s book, ”From the base of health and religion research, Levin has derived the seven principles of theosomatic medicine (2001). He states that theosomatic medicine is literally a model or view of the determinants of health based on the apparent connections of God, or spirit, and the body. The principles are based on hundreds of studies about God, faith, and health (p. 46).”

I’ve never been in one of those studies. Had I been I believe my attendance at Sunday School then church at Churches of Christ, Scientist all my life, combined with my trust in God has benefited, actually blessed, my health.  So, have you found this to be true, or are you going to give it a try?