GLUTTONS AND PUNISHMENT
by Richard Burkard
"And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all peoples a feast of fat things...." So says Isaiah 25:6 in the King James Bible. In recent years, I've joked to friends at Feast of Tabernacles time that when it came to "fat things," I was exhibit A.
While this verse is NOT talking about overweight people, countless health experts in the U.S. say there's a national problem with obesity -- and some say it's spreading throughout the industrialized world. Some people are fighting it with low-carbohydrate diet plans. Others strive to exercise more. And in some churches, there now are organized anti-obesity programs - ranging from weekly Weight Watchers support group meetings, to full-fledged gyms with tracks and treadmills.
Yet a recent report for the public television program "Religion and Ethics Newsweekly" suggested one hidden cause for obesity - the old-fashioned church dinner. Some congregations have them every week; the congregation I attend is trying to start a monthly "potluck" tradition after the worship service. It's a very open secret in Christianity, you know, that the attendance tends to go up when a meal is served.
Given all this, a recent e-mail requesting research help brought up a timely Bible topic - yet one I doubt you hear preached about very often in any congregation. It's an ugly word, which isn't very politically correct nowadays: GLUTTONY.
Gluttony is one of the infamous "seven deadly sins", but is it a Biblical sin? I've heard Church of God ministers give members on-the-spot convictions during lengthy Holy Day sermons, by referring to people "whose god is their belly." (Phil 3:19, KJV) Spiritual translation: think about my message more than the upcoming meal, or else.
Crete rhymes with eat
We begin our check of gluttony with perhaps the most ethnically profiling, stereotyping statement recorded in your Bible: "Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons. This testimony is true." (Tit. 1:12-13, NIV unless noted) What a broad-brush-painting insult by the apostle Paul, quoting a Crete philosopher from around 600 B.C. Yet it appears as part of "all Scripture.... given by inspiration of God...." (II Tim. 3:16, KJV)
Whether some Church of God ministers use this passage to justify disparaging remarks about certain people groups is a different topic for another time. (No one in the New Testament ever takes back Paul's words about Crete's residents.) But it's clear from these verses that Paul does not consider gluttony a good thing. He recommends a better approach to life in Titus 2:2: "Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance."
Paul's comment against gluttony actually reflects the mood of the Old Testament. "For drunkards and gluttons become poor," warns Proverbs 23:21. Before you argue this isn't true in an era of all-you-can-eat buffets, consider how the Contemporary English Version translates this verse. "Don't.... stuff yourself with food. It will make you feel drowsy, and you will end up poor with only rags to wear." (23:20-21) In other words, your overall quality of life eventually will suffer.
Fat = Sin?
I don't know when health experts first noticed a link between being overweight and having physical problems. But we can trace whether it's a sin to be overweight - based on doing a Bible study of a word which makes many people shudder: FAT.
A scary-sounding section of Ezekiel 34 tells of the Lord judging "between the fat sheep and the lean sheep," (34:20) and planning to "destroy the fat and the strong" (34:16, KJV) This is a prophetic reference to the return of Jesus. Other sections of the Old Testament describe wicked people as being "inclosed in their own fat" (Psm. 17:9-10, KJV; see also Jer. 5:26-28). Proud people also are described as having hearts "as fat as grease...." (Psm. 119:69-70, KJV) Even Babylon faces punishment for growing "fat as the heifer at grass...." (Jer. 50:1, 11, KJV)
BUT WAIT! You actually can line up verses on both sides of this question. Look at Proverbs 28:25: "....he that puts his trust in the Lord shall be made fat." (KJV) It also happens to the "soul of the diligent" (Prov. 13:4) In fact, Isaiah writes GOD will "make fat your bones" if you help hungry and afflicted people! (Isa. 58:10-11; see also Prv. 11:25) These traits are not wrong at all, and are very Christ-like.
So how do we make sense of these verses? By understanding "fat" can translate into several different Hebrew and Greek words. For instance, the "make fat" in Isaiah 58 can also mean "to equip; to strengthen." It appears the issue is NOT the fat itself - but the godly or ungodly actions that lead to it.
The Alternative to Gluttony
In ancient Israel, gluttony was part of the acceptable grounds for stoning a rebellious child. (Deut. 21:20, KJV) But other translations introduce us to different perspectives on this topic. Even the margin of my King James shows "glutton" can mean "intemperate." (The CEV goes as far as the word "partying" - but how much partying can you do when you're wandering in the wilderness, relying on manna to eat?)
To go away from gluttony means living a temperate life. That word was popular about 100 years ago, when the Women's Christian Temperance Union fought against "demon rum" and drinking. But it's a King James Bible word, which you might know better today as "self-control."
"Paul discoursed on righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come...." when he faced trial before Felix the Governor. (Acts 24:25) But in Galatians, Paul made clear such self-control does NOT come from ourselves: "The fruit of the Spirit is.... self-control." (Gal. 5:22-23; KJV "temperance") Peter considered self-control a key "building block" quality, for having an effective knowledge of Jesus Christ. (II Pet. 1:5-8)
One dictionary definition of temperance is "total abstinence from alcoholic liquors" - and that's indeed what the WCTU advocated long ago. I sang in a high school madrigal group which made audiences giggle with WCTU songs from that era, including one about "drinking water pure and bright.... each day and night." Yet another definition in the same dictionary says, "moderation in eating and drinking...." Abstain from eating food, and you'll develop at least anorexia nervosa - and at worst death from starvation.
This is why many Church of God groups have declared drinking alcohol is NOT a sin - but drinking to excess is. By the same application, eating food in moderation is good for you. But eating to excess constitutes gluttony.
How Things Look
So if you see obese people walking down the street, should you brand them gluttons and sinners in your mind? If you do, you forget one other Biblical lesson - that of Jesus Himself.
"The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard....'" (Matt. 11:19/Lk. 7:34) The populace at large in Jesus's day put Him in the same league with sinners -- but were they ever wrong. "But wisdom is proved right by her actions," Jesus adds. As one commentary explains: "....the actions taken by John and Jesus respectively.... gave the proof to their words." (New Bible Commentary: Revised, 1970 ed., p. 831)
Modern science has shown some people have genetic tendencies or medical conditions which make them large-sized, even if their eating is moderate and they maintain an exercise program.
Summary
"Let your moderation be known to all men," Paul advises in Philippians 4:5 (KJV). In an era of extreme sports and even competitive eating tours, such moderation may tend to stand out even more.
And if people notice your moderation and ask why you do it, are you "prepared to give an answer," as I Peter 3:15 advises? You can tell them you serve a God who is "rich in self-restraint" - the Greek root from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of "tolerance" in Romans 2:4 If God was a "glutton for punishment," He could have wiped humanity out completely many times over the millennia - yet He hasn't. Be thankful God keeps Self-control over the vast power at His disposal. And try to live a life reflecting that, with the Spirit's help.
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© 2004 Richard Burkard, All Rights Reserved.