But What About Gluttony!?! Do Christians focus on homosexuality and ignore sins like gluttony?

The Aquila Report ^ | April 25, 2014 | Kevin DeYoung

[Gamecock]

How should Christians think about these claims? Well, the operative word in that question is “think.” We can’t settle for gotcha headlines and arguments that are more slogan than substance. We have to be open to reason, open our Bibles, and think this through.

Why do conservative Christians make such a fuss about homosexuality and give everyone a free pass—most notably themselves—when it comes to gluttony?

That’s a question you hear a lot of us these days and one you should expect to hear again and again, posed in a hundred different ways, in the years ahead.

Why are we asking about gays in heaven when we should be asking if there will be fat people in heaven? How can we say “their” sin of homosexuality is terrible while “our” sin of gluttony is no big deal? Everyone’s a biblical literalist until you bring up gluttony. Besides, the Bible contains three times as many exhortations against gluttony than against homosexuality.

How should Christians think about these claims? Well, the operative word in that question is “think.” We can’t settle for gotcha headlines and arguments that are more slogan than substance. We have to be open to reason, open our Bibles, and think this through.

1. Do we really want to suggest that one sin is no biggie because we’ve been pretty lax about a different sin? If it’s the case that Christians are wrongly intolerant of unrepentant gluttony–or any unrepentant sin–then shame us. Sins separate us from God. When we choose to embrace sins, celebrate sins, and not repentant of sins, we keep ourselves away from God and away from heaven.

2. Is it really wise to equate gluttony with being fat? People are overweight, underweight, or fit as a fiddle for all sorts of reasons. Can we be sure that those with a few pounds to shed are worse sinners than the fried-food loving bean pole blessed with an amazing metabolism? If we want to draw a ramrod straight line between gluttony and corpulence, Job has three “friends” we can hang out with.

3. It bears repeating, the reason Christians are talking about homosexuality is because everyone else is talking about homosexuality. Strange coincidence that evangelicals did not become “obsessed” with homosexuality until about 40-50 years ago when the culture became obsessed with sexual freedom. If the Supreme Court finds a constitutional right to jab people in the kidneys with poison-tipped spears, we’ll get worked about that too.

4. Gluttony is a favorite vice to throw into the rhetorical mix because it is one of the so-called Seven Deadly Sins. As Will Willimon explains, the earliest formation of the list of seven comes from Evagrius of Pontus, a desert monk and follower of Origen (who was later condemned at the Fifth Ecumenical Council in A.D. 553). It’s not surprising that an ascetic who lived in a commune separated from the world might consider the temptation for food one of his chief maladies. One can detect more than a little monkish asceticism and some Stoic disdain for the body in the Fathers’ abhorrence to gluttony.

Throughout church history, theologians have understood the sin of gluttony in different ways. For some, immoderate desire is the issue. For others, eating more than we need is the problem. According to Augustine, food was not the problem but how we sought it and for what reason.

The Catholic Catechism does not call them seven “deadly sins,” but “capital sins,” because they engender other sins and other vices (art. 1866).

C.S. Lewis, with typical insight, has the devil Screwtape note how persnickety old ladies–the kind who always turn aside whatever is offered and always insist on a tiny cup of tea–are just as guilty of gluttony because they put their wants first, no matter how troublesome they may be to others. Health conscious foodies beware: the problem of gluttony, according to Lewis, was not too much food, but too much attention to food. We might say, in the broadest ethical sense, gluttony is using food in a way that dulls us from the spiritual and distracts us from God. That’s certainly a danger for most of us, but it’s not the same as enjoying a meal, feeling stuffed, or being overweight.

5. And what does the Bible say? Some will be surprised to learn that “gluttony” appears in none of the New Testament vice lists. In fact, most of the Bible is overwhelmingly positive about food. There are Old Testament feasts and visions of heavenly feasts. Jesus finished his ministry with a meal and instituted a supper for his remembrance in the church. If the New Testament has an overriding concern with food, it is that God’s people not be overly concerned about it. Food does not commend us to God (1 Cor. 8:8), and the kingdom of God does not consist of food and drink (Rom. 14:17). No honest reader of the New Testament can deny that Jesus and the apostles were much more concerned about what we do sexually with our bodies than with the food we eat (Mark 7:21-23; 1 Cor. 6:12-20; cf.1 Tim. 4:1-5).

In the English Standard Version, the word “glutton” appears four times and in every instance is paired with the word “drunkard” (Deut. 21:20; Prov. 23:21; and in a slander against Jesus Matt. 11:19; Luke 7:34). The word “gluttonous” shows up once, again alongside a reference to “drunkards” (Prov. 23:20). Two other times we have “gluttons,” once in a quotation from a poet speaking of lazy Cretans (Titus 1:12) and the other time in reference to the company a shameful son keeps (Proverbs 28:7).

The other passages often associated with gluttony are much less than meets the eye. For example, the point of Proverbs 23:2 (“put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite”) is about not being ensnared by the deceptive hospitality of rich hosts. And the saying in Philippians 3:19 (“their god is their belly”) is either a euphemism for sexual sin (see the next phrase, “they glory in their shame”) or a reference to the Judaizer’s legalistic demands regarding Mosaic dietary restrictions.

So what does the sin of gluttony look like? When we take time to open our Bibles and read the relevant passages, we find that gluttony is much more than eating a McRib sandwich and that partaking in food is much less of a concern than partaking in sexual sin. The composite picture from these verses suggests that a glutton is a loafer, a partyer, and a profligate. He’s the prodigal son wasting his life on riotous living. She’s the girl on spring break who thinks the pinnacle of human existence is to eat, drink, and hook up. A waistral living for the weekend. A big city high flyer who cares for nothing except for indulging in high society. A ne’er do well who takes lifestyle cues from the Hangover franchise.

So, absolutely, the church should speak against the sin of gluttony. But once we understand what the sin entails, I’m guessing most people would say they have a good idea where the church already stands on these issues.

Kevin DeYoung has been the Senior Pastor at University Reformed Church (RCA) in East Lansing, Michigan since 2004. Kevin blogs at the Gospel Coalition; this article is reprinted with his permission.

[GraceG]

What about the other 5 of the 7 sins?

And why do people have to watch certain shows to find out about them because they are not being tasught from the 501c controlled pulpits?

[OpusatFR]

It isn’t either or proposition. Lust ties into gluttony and greed.

[GraceG]

Democrats / Progressives ARE the Seven Deadly Sins

Lust = “If it feels good, do it” mentality.

Gluttony = They consume damn near everything of Value like a locust.

Greed = Their greed for power and control knows no bounds.

Sloth = The use of Sloth as a weapon via the welfare state.

Wrath = You betray their “party ideals” or “Go off the reservation” You will feel their Wrath.

Envy = The whole “Class Struggle” lines are built upon a foundation of envy.

Pride = They think they can run YOUR life better than YOU as they place themselves ABOVE God.

[Unknowing]

Sushi and a half-pint of hot sake on Friday night during Lent, Confession on Saturday afternoon, a big champagne breakfast (with bacon) at Le Peep Sunday morning before Mass. Ten bucks in the collection basket. Go home, watch TV, express disgust at all the homos and queers ruining the comedy shows. Yep, that about sums it up.

[expat2]

In their hearts, most of them know they are sinning. That's one of the reasons they're working so hard to get society's approval.

I don't recall any cities being destroyed for gluttony, like Soddom and Gomorrah.

[dfwgator]

Again I was focusing on those who are using gays (albeit they may not be gay themselves), for the purpose of destroying Western Civilization.

The KGB understood this, and that’s probably why they funded much of the gay rights movement back in the 60s and 70s, they knew what it would do.

[SkyPilot]

The "seven deadly sins" are not in the Bible, but even Jesus warned against the sin of overeating and indulging in excess food (and drink) intake.

Luke 21:34-36

"And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man."

There are degrees of sin, just as there are degrees of punishment by God.

The sin of homosexuality (as referred in the article of this threat) is a horrible sin. God Himself calls it an "abomination."

Whenever I meet a very obese Christian, it is outwardly apparent in their countenance and physical body.

We must be care, however, not to judge in an inappropriate way (we are still to have discernment, but that is another conversation).

However, if someone is engaging in overeating, for that person it become idolatry, and they are in the wrong.

[dmz]

Why does only one of the deadly sins have parades named after it?

<><><

LOL.

Gluttony, for example, has multi day festivals.

[Salvation]

Gluttony is one of the capital (deadly) sins. Very often overlooked.

[Salvation]

Good for you!

[dfwgator]

It’s called “Oktoberfest.”

[Salvation]

The Seven Deadly Sins: Lust [Ecumenical]
Five Biblical Lists of Mortal Sins
On Sloth and the Noonday Devil
Anger, Hatred and Irrational Rage
The Deadliest of the Deadlies, Today
The Meanest of the Seven Deadly Sins?
Envy A Capital Sin [Ecumenical]
Understanding God's Anger: Compline, Anger, and God
Catholic Word of the Day: CAPITAL SINS, 10-26-10
Anger and the Anger of God (Quotes from Scripture)

Lists Every Catholic Should be Familiar With: The 7 Capital Sins and their Contrary Virtues
Prayer to be Freed of the Seven Deadly Sins
The Seven Deadly Sins Revisited: Greed
"Care for an Entrée With Your Entrée?" Gluttony, the Forgotten Sin
Seven Deadly Sins: Sloth or 'Acedia'
Seven deadly sins alive and well today, says Jesuit journal
The Virtue-Driven Life
The Virtues (counteracting the REAL Seven Deadly Sins)
What are Capital Sins? [Seven Deadly Sins]
Satan's Arsenal: "The Seven Deadly Sins"
The Anatomy of Envy

[cloudmountain]

Thanks.

[cloudmountain]

Thanks for the “sin” post.

[IamConservative]

Seven deadly sins, seven days a week. Coincidence?

[Phillyred]

I too am really tired of the one-topic homily, totally ignoring the dangerous cultural issues at hand.

[ladyrustic]

Well said skypilot.

We had a pastor at our church who would ignore certain sins (for example our congregation had many severely obese members) which he would never mention or teach about, but he would preach over and over about homosexuality and fornication and the profound evils of science...

Then one time we had a new married couple start attending our church every Sunday, the husband was black, and the wife white, and this same nitwit pastor starts preaching a series about how God designed the races to be separate from one another and not mingle... It was simply unbelievable, and the congregation ousted that pastor soon thereafter.

My point is that all sins are equal in God’s eyes, and some things, like marrying someone of different race, are not sinful at all. I think many a Christian needs to scrutinize the “beam” in their own eye with more vigor.

[ansel12]

We have to deal with sins that become a public movement.

Today we all sin of course and are fighting our personal sins like gluttony and greed for money, but we also have to vote on sin as a culture, we choose whether to create a Sodom and Gomorrah.

Look at the libertarian agenda, it is about creating Sodom and Gomorrah through the vote, through politics and public persuasion, so we have to discuss some sins a little more than others.

Libertarian Party Platform:

Homosexuals; total freedom in the military, gay marriage, adoption, child custody and everything else.

Abortion; zero restrictions or impediments, full term.

Pornography/prostitution; no restraint, no restrictions, open and advertised.

Drugs; Meth, Heroin, Crack, and anything new that science can come up with, zero restrictions.

Advertising those drugs, prostitution, and pornography; zero restrictions, TV, newspapers, whatever.

[Owl558]

“I thought actual anal sex had something to do with this.”

Remember, the traditional Biblical definition of sodomy includes all “unnatural” sex acts (i.e. acts not geared towards procreation) including anal and oral sex.

[FamiliarFace]

Thanks. I know about those also. My point was to get the other poster to stop believing that homosexuality is only about holding hands and other nonsexual behavior. It isn’t, but so many try to soften the blow by suggesting that sex isn’t involved.