Lately I have had this fascination about microbes, lacto-fermentation, and healthy gut flora. The other day I was contemplating how people ever survived before the invention of soap and antibacterial products. As I read through the Bible there is no mention of soap. All the washing is done with water (Note: The Bible is a spiritual book with mysteries in it. There are very spiritual meanings to water. Check out Eph. 5:26). Since the creation of man it was water that has kept us clean.

I have to admit that I am a bit of a germ phobic. I sanitize my counters after preparing my meats. I make sure to wash my hands very well and get uncomfortable at public venues.

But really I should not. Here are my thoughts why…

• Earlier this year, we had a deer that got struck by a car across the road from our house. We live in the country and have a neighbour’s dog that runs at large. He discovered this deer a few days after it was struck. This dog had large chunks of fur sticking out of his mouth and running happily home. He came to visit this deer for a few days until it got taken away. This deer was old meat and infested with all kinds of lovely bacteria and as far as I could tell my neighbour’s dog is still quite healthy with no ill side effects.
• My dog decided that he enjoyed living at my mother in law’s farm and she was happy to have him. One thing that he loved doing is eating cow poop. Yum. That is extremely gross but yet again; he had no known unhealthy side effects from it.
• I have known 2 dogs that eat their own poop (both are Labradors… I don’t know if this trait is common among those breeds). Totally gross but they don’t get the runs after doing so.
• This amazing intestinal quality is not just limited to dogs. In my college years I lived with a cat that had a litter of kittens and she would eat her kittens poop too.

In my studies in Environmental Sciences it has been taught to the students that our tolerance for poop bacteria (coliforms and e-coli) is not that high. In fact we get very sick from even the smallest amount. We have to kill these bacteria with chlorine in our water systems. Not only in the water itself but also in the pipes so that bacteria does not grow during distribution.

I know that people are a very different species from cats and dogs, but how can these animals have so much intestinal tolerance from eating solid poop and rotten meat and not die? If a person was to do the same we would get deathly sick, have organ failure and probably die.

How can animals eat decomposing flesh and we have to sterilize our kitchens after handling meat?

Could it be that the good bacteria that lives on us and in us get destroyed by antibacterial products (chlorine, medications and antibiotic use) allowing the pathogenic bacteria to take over and decreasing our own natural immunity.

A good related post to this is What Really Causes Disease by Kelly The Kitchen Kop. This post debates the “germs cause disease” or “immune failure cause disease”.

What about just washing with water? I don’t think I could do it, but it sure gives me lots to think about.

Edit Note: I actually did an electronic search of the word “soap” in the Bible after writing this post to confirm that soap was not used in the scriptures. I found 2 verses containing that word (Jer 2:22 and Mal 3:2). My mistake, Soap IS mentioned in the Bible.

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