Discussion Topic - Is It Imperative That Christians Take Care Of Their Bodies?

[Crushmaster]

Smoking, unhealthy food, OBesity, and drunkenness are everywhere, and with it comes anything but good health. Christians are also guilty of at least some of these things; we feed the fast-food machine as much as anyone else.

Is this right? Should we refrain from eating in an unhealthy manner? Should we exercise regularly? What do the Scriptures say?
God bless,
Joel ><>.
2 Chronicles 7:14.

[Annie]

Yes, unfortunately, gluttony and intemperance are largely accepted in Christendom today, especially in nations which have been blessed with prosperity.

I don't think there's a chapter-and-verse "proof text" which tells us that we need to stop smoking, get enough bodily exercise, etc., but the principles are there in Scripture, IMO. Our bodies are made in God's image; why would we want to mar that image? We are to glorify God both in body and spirit...Also, temperance is a fruit of the Spirit. Moderation is commended, while drunkenness is condemned.

Some people are OBsessed about exercise and diet...I don't think that's right, either, as it could border on idolatry and consume our thinking. Eating right and working out "to look good" is not the proper motivation, either, IMO...at least not as the only motivation.

Edited September 29, 2010 by Annie

[JerryNumbers]

I'm amazed at how the world has turned on smoking, but yet drinking, sex, sex of any kind between any men and men, women and women, filthy language, is embraced as wonderful and A OK anywhere anytime.

I remember what one mother wrote about a movie she took her young daughter to see, it was full of sex, drugs, drinking, bad words, killing, rape, and smoking, the only thing she complained about was the smoking, that it was a crying shame that Hollywood would show someone smoking a cigarette.

[Brother Rick]

Temperance...

All things in moderation...

Physical exercise profitith little....

If thou be a man given to appetite put a knife to your throat....

What? Know ye not that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own....


Yes, there are plenty of verses showing us that we need to take good care of our bodies, it’s not always easy to do, but it certainly is very scriptural.

[Brother Rick]

I have another answer too. As Christians, we are not specifically forbidden to eat anything other than what the Bible forbids us. If you want to eat a live frog, it's not a sin. I'd recommend against it, as I have, and it messed me up that night when I was trying to sleep. Anyways, we can eat what we want in moderation and temperance except for what is listed below.

Acts 21:25, "As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they OBserve no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication."

Paul even recends the meats offered to idols thing in Romans 14. Food is food, it doesn't matter.

Refraining from eating ice cream doesn't make you spiritual, but it's a sin to overindulge in ice cream. I think. It pains me to even think about it. Ugh, can we talk about something else please?

[John81]

I'm hungry

[JerryNumbers]

I refuse to eat a horseburgers, snakes, snails, worms, chocolate covered grasshoppers.

[Crushmaster]

I have another answer too. As Christians, we are not specifically forbidden to eat anything other than what the Bible forbids us. If you want to eat a live frog, it's not a sin. I'd recommend against it, as I have, and it messed me up that night when I was trying to sleep. Anyways, we can eat what we want in moderation and temperance except for what is listed below.

Acts 21:25, "As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they OBserve no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication."

Paul even recends the meats offered to idols thing in Romans 14. Food is food, it doesn't matter.

Refraining from eating ice cream doesn't make you spiritual, but it's a sin to overindulge in ice cream. I think. It pains me to even think about it. Ugh, can we talk about something else please?

I'm afraid I have to disagree, sir. You shouldn't knowingly eat something with, for example, trans-fat, which is horrendously unhealthy for you. We should try to eat healthy every day in every way. I understand what you're saying, but it does indeed matter, even if just in "moderation."

(1 Timothy 4:8 ) - "For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come."

By itself, it is really not worth much; as, if one is godly, one will take care of their bodies.

(1 Corinthians 6:19) - "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?"
We are not our own; this is His body, and we ought to take care of it to the best our abilities. Which I have not done for much of my life.

Thanks for the input, everyone.
God bless,
Joel ><>.
2 Chronicles 7:14.

[DennisD]

I'm afraid I have to disagree, sir. You shouldn't knowingly eat something with, for example, trans-fat, which is horrendously unhealthy for you. We should try to eat healthy every day in every way. I understand what you're saying, but it does indeed matter, even if just in "moderation."

(1 Timothy 4:8 ) - "For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come."

By itself, it is really not worth much; as, if one is godly, one will take care of their bodies.

(1 Corinthians 6:19) - "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?"
We are not our own; this is His body, and we ought to take care of it to the best our abilities. Which I have not done for much of my life.

Thanks for the input, everyone.
God bless,
Joel ><>.
2 Chronicles 7:14.

Just about everything these days is processed so bad it's almost impossible to eat healthy every day in every way.

But, I have found a few good things (well..."good" is comparable)...

I don't look at the nutrition facts, I look at the ingredients. I try to find things that have very little ingredients and that are ingredients from God. When I say from God, I'm talking things you can actually pronounce like "Corn, salt, etc" Fritos are pretty good in this regard "Corn, Corn Oil, Salt". That's it!

Something might be "diet" and seem healthy just looking at the nutrition facts but it has manmade sugar in it. Look at the ingredients.

Rick,

Häagen Dazs ice cream ingredients: Skim Milk, Cream, Sugar, Egg Yolks, Flavor (Coffee for coffee ice cream, vanilla for vanilla ice cream, chocolate and so on). Sure, it has 770 calories per pint but the ingredients are good!

[Bro K]

To choose the Good and refuse the Evil....Eat butter and honey !!!!!! Isaiah 7:15

[Covenanter]

At 50 I was overweight & inactive & short of breath. I joined a tennis club, & my health improved & I lost some weight.

At 60 I was diagnosed with diabetes & changed by diet, as recommended by Diabetes UK, to a diet based on starchy wholegrain carbohydrates, low fat, low salt & low sugar, with 5 a day fruit & veg. Nevertheless the diabetes progressed, & I at 68 was becoming crippled, & had the beginning of diabetic retinopathy. My active life was over. My leg pains were so intense that it took 5 minutes to go from lying in bed to sitting on the edge.

Through a forum I learned that diabetics can improve their condition by rejecting the official recommended diet & greatly reducing the carbs of all types. In 3 months I was out of pain & fully active again.

2 1/2 years on I am free from diabetic prOBlems.

My diet is basically low carb, fresh meat & cheese (full fat); nuts; fresh veg & fruit. ALL my blood tests, as well as my health give my Dr & I no cause for any concern. Also I can sit through sermons & drive 100 miles without falling asleep.

Anyone for tennis? I need no concessions for age (in doubles.)

[Covenanter]

That good health enables me to be active in my Lord's service in my 70s.

Though I recognise many in poor health have served with greater zeal than me.

[Brother Rick]

This is actually a potential pitfall area when it comes to correct theology. There are cults that one of their pillars is what you eat and drink. The days of judging what specific foods you can and can't eat are done and over with. It's wrong to tell someone that eating a certain type of food is a sin.

The Bible makes it clear that we are not to judge one another on what we eat:

Col. 2:16, "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:"

I Tom. 6:17, "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;"

Acts 11:6-9, "Upon the which when I had fastened mine eyes, I considered, and saw fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.
7) And I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter; slay and eat.
8) But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth.
9) But the voice answered me again from heaven, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common."


While the advanced revelation given in the New Testament gives us the liberty to eat what we want, we must not abuse that liberty to the point of damaging the temple of the Holy Ghost:

I Cor. 6:19, "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?"

We are to be good stewards of the bodies God has given us, and do everything we can to take care of them. That is where the emphasis is laid in the New Testament, and that is where believers need to put the emphasis as well. It's wrong to go around telling people that they're sinning if they eat that Twinkie, especially if they're in good shape or better health than you.

According to the principles of the New Testament, the sin isn't in the specific food, the sin is in bad stewardship and poor maintenance of the temple of the Holy Ghost. I stress this because, as I said, there are cults today that put a huge emphasis on what specific foods you eat (Scientology, Seventh Day Adventism), and nowhere in the New Testament is there a precedence for judging someone else on what specific foods they eat, other than perhaps Acts 15:29.

Acts 15:29, "That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well."

Paul rescinds the part about eating meats offered to idols in Romans 14. Meat is meat, it's fine to eat it. At the same time, if you have a personal standard between you and God or between you and your conscience perhaps you shouldn't eat the Zeus Burger. It's wrong to force the issue either way. If you have a friend, who had serious health prOBlems with junk food and believe God wants him to stay away from happiness on a plate, then it would be SIN for you to have him over and serve him pizza, breadsticks, dipping sauce, hot wings, Pepsi, and ice cream. Consuming those things is not a sin in of itself, but if it offends his conscience then it IS a sin for him and it's a sin for you to try and tempt him with it. On the flip side, if God or your conscience has placed upon you the responsibility of staying away from such yumminess, then it would be a sin on your part to go around telling everyone else they need to "stop sinning" by eating those foods.

Romans 14 is all about doubtful disputations, or doubtful things. Most of the chapter is about food, it's a lot bigger deal than people think. It's very easy to go from, "The best and most healthy way to live is..." to "It's a sin to eat..." It's a very thin line, it's easy to cross, and many people have made the mistake of crossing it.

Edited September 30, 2010 by Rick Schworer

[Invicta]

I refuse to eat a horseburgers, snakes, snails, worms, chocolate covered grasshoppers.

I was in France last Friday and in the hypermarket they had some packs with a Joint for roasting and some steaks, all of horse meat. They looked very lean, and grasshoppers, I believe it is scriptural to eat. John the Baptist ate locusts which are a type of grasshopper. And my cat Molly, loves catching them and eating them.

[Brother Rick]

I was in France last Friday and in the hypermarket they had some packs with a Joint for roasting and some steaks, all of horse meat. They looked very lean, and grasshoppers, I believe it is scriptural to eat. John the Baptist ate locusts which are a type of grasshopper. And my cat Molly, loves catching them and eating them.

Hahaha... they're prOBably good for you too.