Overeating or gluttony

[Maxmya]

Proverbs 23:21 says, For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags."

Gluttony or overeating is a sin many Christians tolerate and sweep under the rug. It is not like smoking, drinking, and drug abuse where you can openly see the destructive results! But gluttony is a sin because we abuse our bodies which are temples of the Holy Spirit!

Paul says in I Corinthians 6:19-20 says, "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God, in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."

Gluttony destroys our physical health by causing obesity which causes diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart problems! It cuts down our lifespan which prevents us from serving the Lord!

Look upon gluttony as a sin in the same category as drinking, smoking, and drug abuse in the sight of God!

:Green :Green :Green :Green :Green

[JerryNumbers]

That is a subject frowned on in ever Baptist Church and by nearly ever Baptist Church member.

But I will say this, they are people who are addicted to eating, they will set and stuff everything they can down their throat and just can't stop eating, them they will judge other people harshly for not taking care of their health.

I know of one very sweet Christian lady, she is precious, she was my Sunday school teacher growing up, but she has eaten so much that she cannot walk, cannot get out of her chair by herself, cannot take care of herself, and it would take 4 very strong men to pick her up, but she keeps right on stuffing it down none stop.

Everyone thought her husband would outlive her for he was in wonderful health, but taking care of her hand and foot put him in his grave. Trying to take care of someone who weights 400 pound plus 7 days per week that can't help their self will break down anyone, especially a 70 plus year old man who is 5' 10" weighting about 175 pounds.

Gluttony is one sin that cannot be hid and people don't want to consider it a sin and therefore do not want anyone to talk about it.

I have read that it has been proven its more healthy to be a little over weight than underweight, many people go to the extreme, being underweight is not really good for anyone, but it sure seems fashionable in America.

So please, don't think that I'm saying everyone ought to be skin and bones, but when it starts affecting ones getting up and around and the weight is breaking down their legs, there is a problem.

[Psalms18_28]

I have seen skinny people shove food in their mouth all day too.

I often wonder how they can eat so much food and still be skinny.

Well, found out some of them will vomit their food out.. and some of them exercises.

If you exercise, you may not be lazy, but it is still gluttony to shove food in your mouth.

That's why I say, don't look at extreme fat people and think they are the only one with gluttony issues. Although, It's more likely they have a laziness issues along with gluttony. people who eat too much tend to eat when they are lonely or sad. So they also have spiritual issues as well and they are not handling it properly.

The thing is.. no one likes being fat, no one like eating too much. It is actually embarrassing for anyone - saved and unsaved - to be fat so it is not like they don't know what gluttony is. You can hide your smoking, but you can't hide your fat. People will smoke so they don't get fat. (MY aunt does this... she told me she is afraid if she quit smoking, she will start eating too much). And BTW, I know many skinny people who gain weight like crazy because they quit smoking.

If you going to deal with gluttony.. you need to deal with their spiritual issues too (like I said, people eat when they are sad or lonely)

[JerryNumbers]

I have seen skinny people shove food in their mouth all day too.

I often wonder how they can eat so much food and still be skinny.

Well, found out some of them will vomit their food out.. and some of them exercises.

If you exercise, you may not be lazy, but it is still gluttony to shove food in your mouth.

That's why I say, don't look at extreme fat people and think they are the only one with gluttony issues. Although, It's more likely they have a laziness issues along with gluttony. people who eat too much tend to eat when they are lonely or sad. So they also have spiritual issues as well and they are not handling it properly.

The thing is.. no one likes being fat, no one like eating too much. It is actually embarrassing for anyone - saved and unsaved - to be fat so it is not like they don't know what gluttony is. You can hide your smoking, but you can't hide your fat. People will smoke so they don't get fat. (MY aunt does this... she told me she is afraid if she quit smoking, she will start eating too much). And BTW, I know many skinny people who gain weight like crazy because they quit smoking.

If you going to deal with gluttony.. you need to deal with their spiritual issues too (like I said, people eat when they are sad or lonely)

When people are sad and lonely their are many sins that they will indulge in.

Ever though none of the excuses will hold water, most everyone is good at making excuses for every sin they indulge in.

A church of Christ friend once told me their pastor spoke on the sin of gluttony one Sunday morning and he took a brow beating from certain members of the church.

The next Sunday morning he informed the church, if they did not want every sin dealt with from this pulpit that they surely had the wrong preacher behind it, for I will leave no sin unturned, sin is sin, Jesus will never except any of the excuse you made to me as some of you brow beat me exiting this church last Sunday morning.

Itching ears by God's children is not a good thing, preachers being menpleasers isn't either.

Whatever sin we each might have a trouble with, we can get the strength and power from our Father thru Jesus Christ to over come it.

[Anon]

*sigh* we just had a looooong thread on that, maybe you all could look that up instead of starting this one....

[kevinmiller]

Why is this in "polls?" :huh:

[Psalms18_28]

When people are sad and lonely their are many sins that they will indulge in.

Ever though none of the excuses will hold water, most everyone is good at making excuses for every sin they indulge in.

A church of Christ friend once told me their pastor spoke on the sin of gluttony one Sunday morning and he took a brow beating from certain members of the church.

The next Sunday morning he informed the church, if they did not want every sin dealt with from this pulpit that they surely had the wrong preacher behind it, for I will leave no sin unturned, sin is sin, Jesus will never except any of the excuse you made to me as some of you brow beat me exiting this church last Sunday morning.

Itching ears by God's children is not a good thing, preachers being menpleasers isn't either.

Whatever sin we each might have a trouble with, we can get the strength and power from our Father thru Jesus Christ to over come it.

I agree with you, and I think there should be more preaching on this topic.. just saying if you going preach it, you should also preach how to overcome gluttony. And that fat people aren't the only ones who eat alot.

[John81]

There seem to be a lot of very overweight Baptist pastors (and Baptists in general).

When I've heard Baptists touch on this topic, either in preaching or in their writing, most often it's in the form of a joke. Such as, "As you can see, I don't miss a meal." Or, "It's well known Baptists love a cookout/buffet." That sort of thing.

Of course, not all overweight people are that way due to gluttony or overeating, but it seems that a good many are.

[Anon]

Also, eating alot is not necessarily "gluttony". Nothing wrong with eating well, God speaks much about feasting. Gluttony in the Bible was feasting and feasting (and then vomiting) and feasting some more....it was vanity and a waste of food.

However God speaks often of feasts and being filled and so gluttony was a very extreme form of eating that I am sure most of us do not regularly partake in.

AND you cannot assume fat people are gluttonous....as a matter of fact, per Biblical definition, a bulemic (and therefore, skinny) person would fit most closely the definition of a glutton.

To take this time of year when people get with their families and feast and accuse (especially pastors, which why people like to point a finger at a pastor with a quiet desk job that does not burn many calories, I can't figure out) them of gluttony is pretty ridiculous IMHO.

[John81]

I agree Suzy. There's nothing wrong with enjoying a good meal and getting done plum full!

Gluttony moreso amounts to purposefully overeating as a part of ones life. Or, if a person just finished a full course meal, and someone else comes to the table who has not ate, yet the full person grabs the last morsel of food for himself. He might be considered a glutton too...as well as selfish and a few other things.

And true enough, ones waist size doesn't prove them to be a glutton or not. Those who "scarf and barf" certainly are not fat yet they do fit a definition of gluttony.

[JerryNumbers]

I agree with you, and I think there should be more preaching on this topic.. just saying if you going preach it, you should also preach how to overcome gluttony. And that fat people aren't the only ones who eat alot.

How do we overcome it, the same way we overcome any other sin as I said in my last post.

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13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Phil 4:13 (KJV)

One thing we cannot do is overcome sin on our own. Of course the world teaches many ways to overcome those things which people have problems with, inner strength, inner power. But my strength is my Lord, without Whom I could do nothing.

And of course in America to many people feast 2 to 3 or more times per day and unlike our bothers and sisters who were living in the days our Savior walked on this earth we don't need near the energy that they needed with all the manual labor they did, plus they probably did not feast 2 or more times per day.

Hey, we may eat more snacks in a day than they ate real food.

[John81]

One thing we cannot do is overcome sin on our own. Of course the world teaches many ways to overcome those things which people have problems with, inner strength, inner power. But my strength is my Lord, without Whom I could do nothing.

I certainly wish I understood that when I first came to Christ. When I first came to Christ I dove in Scripture and was like, "Wow! There are a lot of commandments and rules that I need to be keeping!" And thus I set forth to keep them as best "I" could. Not knowing anything of the need to yield to Christ, to trust in the Lord, and really knowing nothing about prayer.

Talk about a lot of frustration, questioning whether I was saved or not, confusion and what not.

We so greatly need to disciple new converts!