Remember the fairy tale about the emperor with no clothes? The one where it was painfully obvious to everyone that the emperor wasn’t wearing clothes but nobody was willing to say anything except for one child who didn’t know to keep quiet? I was reading a column by Doug Giles where he made some comments that reminded me of this children’s story …
“I find it real convenient for the chunky church of the 21st century to go postal on the vices of drunkenness and porn, but you don’t hear a peep out of them when it comes to their paunch. Just the other day I was watching TBN … Why? I do not know … Anyway, the preacher was railing against drinking, smoking and pornography. Y’know, the unholy trinity, the three big sins the church really needs to be focusing on right now. The funny thing was that this man of God was at least, at least, 100 lbs. overweight, and he had more chins than a Chinese phone book.
Yes, the church will go medieval if you snort coke by the gram or toke marijuana by the ounce, but they won’t say a word if you commit spoon suicide by eating chicken by the bucket, pizza by the foot and hamburger by the pound. Why won’t they? Well, to say something about the sin of overeating would equate putting a knife to their own throats.
Now granted, in the grand scheme of things, gluttony is less egregious to other people than some sins. I’d rather be driving on the road with a guy who’s had eight hot dogs than lit up on eight Glenlivets. Having said that, gluttony (unless you want to blow off huge chunks of the Bible) is sin …”
Ouch.
I heard Michael Patton in his Theology Program similarly address this issue. He was talking about smoking in particular and much of the contemporary church’s vendetta against it. Why? Especially when Scripture doesn’t explicitly condemn it? If you use the logic that it’s implicitly condemned because of the verse that says our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and we shouldn’t defile it and need to be good stewards of our bodies… then why do we conveniently ignore the clear Biblical injunction against overeating which is explicitly condemned as sin (i.e., Matt 11:19; Phil 3:19; Prov 23:21, etc.)?
Ouch.
I have a good friend who has been a church-planter in Brazil for many years now. He related that the first question he most often gets from Brazilian Christians upon return from their first visit to the United States is, “Why are so many American Christians overweight?”
Ouch.
Dr. Kara Davis ponders in a 2004 column on the Charisma magazine web site Why The Church Is So Fat?. She points out that born-again Christians lead the pack in our culture’s obesity epidemic.
“According to a study by Kenneth Ferraro of Purdue University, obesity is most prevalent in states with the strongest religious affiliation. Of the people he surveyed, Southern Baptists had the highest average body weight and Jews and non-Christians had the lowest.”
Ouch. The truth hurts. What’s going on here?
Part of the church’s mission is to impact/change the culture in those specific areas where the culture is living in contradiction to the revealed will of God (i.e., be a light.) We do this by immersing ourselves in the culture, sharing the gospel, bearing loving witness and modeling the respective area in accordance with God’s will. There is an ongoing spiritual battle. Either the church will impact the culture in the various areas of life where God reveals His will - or the culture will impact the church. In simple terms - either the church will change the culture or the culture will change the church. One or the other will inevitably happen. We should be impacting the culture in these areas. But if the opposite happens and the culture impacts us in these areas, we quickly lose our relevance and credibility.
The secular media is now regularly filled with recurring warnings of the obesity problem besetting our culture and the frightening negative impact it will have. Sadly, instead of being the beacon of hope and life in this area, most of the contemporary church is now silently marching to the same drumbeat of death. God, have mercy on us and open our eyes. Set us free.
The emperor has no clothes.
Bob
Fides Qauerens Intellectum
__________________________
Bob Pratico
Fides Quaerens Intellectum
(my Sojourn blog)
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Greatstuf, Bob. The issues
Greatstuf, Bob.
The issues are understanding redemption and the power of the resurrection:
Redemption states that Jesus’ death and resurrection places God’s design back into order. Eating can and should be done to the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31). Gluttony (and other abuses of eating) cannot.
The resurrection brings the power of Christ to an individual’s life. The truth that “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” is not mere psychobabble. It is fact. But there is a difference between belief and knowledge. You may “know” the information, but not live it. If you “believe” it, it manifests in your life. The Holy Spirit is available to empower victorious living… even in this realm.
Strangely, the culture is denouncing the lack of control that Americans have with eating. Unfortunately, many Christians are failing there instead of bringing redemption (of food) to the culture.
Does your pagan neighbor respect his “temple” more than you?
“Father, help us to know how the gospel brings redemption to all areas of life. And help us to walk by the Spirit to experience the victory of the resurrection in all areas of life.”
Rethink life.
–
__________________________David Thew
Sojourn Founding Pastor
David Thew
Sojourn Pastor
Thewblog
While I was reading your
While I was reading your blog, I thought, well this is nothing new - I have been reminded about my appearance my entire life. The world that values fashion, style, being thin and being rich, and the church (because these people live in the world and watch TV!) judge constantly on appearances - and ouch, it does hurt, every minute of every day. Some of us come by “chunky” naturally, and much to our lament. The beautiful thing about the internet is that your comments stand on their own. Nothing is out there except your heart, and the Holy Spirit speaking through you. I think that the internet was a God invention - how better than to get us (we the people) out of God’s way and speak his words into our hearts, without the judgement filters on what we are saying going through the filter of how “good do we look”. Fat people, ugly people, people that are too short, people that are too tall, people that are too thin, or people that wear polka dots and plaid together, (or just don’t know what is in style), we all get judged on our appearance by the churched and unchurched alike. God pretty much uses me despite myself. If it were up to me, there would be very little enlightenment going on in my house. I thank God every day for the affirmations I get from Him. The constant loving me just as I am, just because I am His. Then, when He gives me His heart to share my testimony, I am the one that is blessed with being able to share His wonderful love - faithful, accepting, kind, merciful, perfect love, forgiving, come alongside you kind of God love - everything I am not, and could never be without Him. God is good, in Him there is no darkness at all. I’m not perfect and I never will be. There will always be a flaw in my walk - but you know, I now know that it’s OK. God didn’t wait until I could become perfect for Him to offer Jesus as my redeemer. I know that I am perfect in God’s sight because I accepted Jesus as my Savior- I am a saint, and beautiful to my Father in heaven - and to me, at this very moment sitting here, I realize that is all that really matters.
__________________________Diane Overholt
Amen, Diane. Amen. Julie R.
Amen, Diane. Amen.
__________________________Julie R. Rodgers
Julie R. Rodgers
Sorry, I just had another
Sorry, I just had another comment and couldn’t quite figure out how to put it into words. I must say something here, and I pray it is from God and not from myself but I must say it. I’m raising two girls who I hope will not be overweight, but if they are, I hope the church is one place where they will be safe from the judgement and criticism of the world. I want my girls to be healthy, yes of course!! I hope they eat right and exercise. But I know that many times in spite of their best efforts, girls just aren’t thin. God didn’t make them that way. And I hope and pray that in our home and within the walls of the church, the focus is on their hearts, not their appearance.
__________________________Julie R. Rodgers
Julie R. Rodgers
It’s not so much a
It’s not so much a question of judgment as it is of recognizing when something is usurping its God-ordained role of blessing, and is now instead enslaving us - to our detriment. Joe Thorn articulates this pretty well here. Mark Combs also addresses this issue here.
Carly Wecks (dean of students at Multnomah Biblical Seminary) and David Needham (professor of theology at the same college) discuss this issue here.
“Wecks: It is being over-addressed by Christian diet groups and under-addressed at the pulpit. A verse in Romans says, “Do not be a slave to your belly,” so there’s a sense of being enslaved to something. Often, pastors will address alcoholism or sexual addictions, but things like overeating or over-exercising are not being addressed. In our culture, there is a shame factor in being overweight that many pastors don’t want to address. If a thin pastor addresses it, it’s going to seem very condemning. If someone who is overweight addresses it, it seems like they are unspiritual. It’s a catch-22.
Needham: I don’t think that the problem is that the church isn’t confronting gluttony, but is failing to confront the underlying issues of meaning and purpose. At church, there is too much emphasis on how much service you are giving God, rather than receiving God’s love and delighting in His faithfulness. Therefore, the church is failing to deal adequately with the issue of meaning and purpose.
Swope: I don’t ever recall hearing a sermon on gluttony. Gluttony can be associated with things beyond food issues. Buying things on time or having the latest greatest CD, stereo equipment or car are all forms of gluttony. “
They make a valid point: gluttony is not just about food. It often occurs in other ways. i.e.,
- someone so addicted to video games that their lives begin to suffer (i..e, not getting enough sleep or not spending enough time with their wife, etc.)
- Someone so addicted to sports they catch every football game on the weekend, forsaking everything else
- shopaholics
- a church can be gluttonous for ever bigger buildings and facilities
- etc.
Bob
__________________________Fides Quaerens Intellectum
Bob Pratico
Fides Quaerens Intellectum
(my Sojourn blog)
I understand what you’re
I understand what you’re saying Bob, I really do. Let’s just make sure we don’t make false assumptions about why a person is overweight. It may have nothing to do with gluttony or any other sin.
__________________________Appreciate the thought behind what this guy says, and I agree to an extent. But it’s like Christians who look at someone with health or financial problems and say, “it must be because they are unhealthy” or “they don’t know how to manage money.” That’s not always the case.
Julie R. Rodgers
Julie R. Rodgers
Mark Driscoll puts gluttony
Mark Driscoll puts rel="nofollow"> rel=”nofollow”>gluttony in context with other issues.
The early church identified 7 Deadly Sins to educate and instruct followers concerning fallen man’s tendency to sin. It’s interesting what’s listed - and what’s not. You don’t find such heinous acts as murder, rape, child abuse, adultery, slavery, etc. on it.
Here’s the list of 7 Deadly sins compiled by the early church:
1) Lust
2) Gluttony
3) Greed
4) Sloth
5) Wrath
6) Envy
7) Pride
Protestants may dismiss this list as Roman Catholic superstition, but in fact, the list predates the Roman Catholic church by well over a thousand years. Writings on the seven deadly sins or vices can be traced back to the early church fathers, such as Cassian, a 4th century writer. An early 2nd century document, the Didache, contains a list of five. Origen produced a sevenfold list and at the end of the 4th century Cassian amended this sevenfold list. Eventually, the Seven Deadly Sins (or Vices) we know today were defined in the 6th century.
The purpose was to help Christians identify and address the roots of sin in their lives. The list isn’t meant to cover all sin or even the worst sins but rather seven foundational sins that underlie and nourish the rest.
Most modern Protestants Christians would probably laugh at this list and deem it outdated and assert that far more serious sins afflict us. But … perhaps the early church knew something we seemed to have forgotten to our detriment.
Bob
__________________________Fides Quaerens Intellectum
Bob Pratico
Fides Quaerens Intellectum
(my Sojourn blog)
Great dialogue. Keep it
Great dialogue. Keep it going.
It is not an issue of appearance. We are talking about areas of redemption and sanctification.
First, we are founded upon justification: God loves us where we are and meets us where we are. This is grace.
Redemption brings alignment of God’s design for life where we warp it. This is the power of the cross and resurrection.
Sanctification is where justification (non-condemning acceptance) meets redemption (God’s design reset under His lordship) and yields formation of God’s people unto His design. These are heart and mind issues that bring renewed actions and words. This is being conformed to the image of Christ.
We are called to be patient, gracious and truthful with actual and spiritual family. We should be committed to walking with each other, encouraging and challenging one another in all areas of life (that God has redeemed), not just spiritual.
Give grace and truth to the one with a wounded heart.
Give grace and truth to the one with a weak body.
Give grace and truth to the one with a non-disciplined mind.
Give grace and truth to the one with bad relational skills.
Give grace and truth to the one with the new Christian.
Give grace and truth to the one with a weak will.
As a personal example, I’ve told Danielle not to be concerned about scales or weight. My challenge to her is to pursue physical health (cardio and strength), even if the scales might record an increase. The same advice goes for you and me.
This, like other areas, should always be covered with tons of grace.
–
__________________________David Thew
Sojourn Founding Pastor
David Thew
Sojourn Pastor
Thewblog
I understand what you are
I understand what you are saying Bob. We need to be mindful of what can undermine our testimony, and our diligence in serving God. Some may believe that being apparently overweight leads to an assurance of unbridled sin. Many of the writings you have pointed out may lead someone to make that assumption. I think that with the diversity of the human physiological condition, what Julie is suggesting is that “the wearing of the sin of gluttony through excess weight” may not be an automatic judgement we should make. Also, there is an overwhelming instinct in the minds of many Christians not to make a judgement at all, “lest by thine own measure we be judged”. Better to let God do the convicting, rather than us do the convicting - it’s much more convincing and accurate. Below is a writing from David last March concerning Sojourn - a Mosaic of broken pieces, yet beautiful in its integrated assembly. Broken, but not crushed - solitary, but not abandoned.
Mosaic: A picture or decorative design made by setting small colored pieces, as of stone or tile, into a surface. (American Heritage Dictionary)
A mosaic is not from one, intact object. (1) It is made of many pieces. (2) In many mosaics, every piece is a broken piece.
We could spend a lot of time fleshing that out. Quickly, a mosaic must be made of many parts. Some of the parts do not look like they could sit harmoniously next to others. But through the Artist’s design, the mosaic has a greater richness because of the diversity.
Secondly, it is comprised of broken pieces. Yes. Double-yes. Usually the depth of a Christian’s life and maturity is directly proportionate the brokenness of their life. God does not waste a hurt. Most every pain is transformed into a balm for future sufferers. Then we become the doctors that aid a friend in need.
FYI, I considered calling Sojourn, “Mosaic Church,” for these reasons. Though we do not have the name we have the spirit of it.
Beautiful broken pieces that bring glory to Christ,
–
__________________________David Thew
Sojourn Founding Pastor
Diane Overholt
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