Gluttony

Gluttony

7 Verses on Gluttony
1. “The righteous eat to their hearts' content, but the stomach of the wicked goes hungry.” (Proverbs 13:25)
2. “In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has.” (Proverbs 21:20)
3. “Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.” (Proverbs 23:20-21)
4. “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." (Luke 7:34)
5. “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food” (Matthew 6:25)
6. “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” (John 6:27)
7. “Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.” (Philippians 3:19)

7 Quotes on Gluttony
1. “Of all the seven only Gluttony is today more condemned, feared, and shunned than any of the other sins… Perhaps our contemporary condemnation is because the effects of Gluttony are remarkably external… On the other hand, Gluttony is viewed as something that you can actually do something about” (Will Willimon)
2. “Gluttony is the source of all our infirmities” (Robert Burton)
3. “In general, mankind, since the improvement of cookery, eats twice as much as nature requires” (Benjamin Franklin)
4. “Glutton: one who digs his grave with his teeth.” (French Proverb)
5. "Gluttony is an emotional escape, a sign that something is eating us." (Peter De Vries)
6. “Life’s necessities, when abused, become life’s threat.” (Will Willimon)
7. “Gluttony was also a matter of being overly concerned about food… We tend to feel compassion for those whose abuse of eating makes them too thin and yet we feel condemnation for those whose abuse of eating makes them too fat… I expect that what we call bulimia and anorexia both qualify for what the Christian moralists called Gluttony.” (Will Willimon)

Within arms reach, as I type this post on the Deadly Sin of Gluttony, is a large bag of cookies left on my desk by my mother-in-law. Well, more accurately, half of a large bag of cookies. I'm well known in these parts as a cookie connoisseur, and come October (pastor appreciation month), I'll probably have a whole bunch more cookies to critique. Spoiler alert... they will all pass my 'test' with flying colors.

But is a cookie monster like myself really a sinner in disguise? Does taking an extra taste or two (or twelve) really measure up to lust, greed, and the rest? The Bible doesn't say very much against over-eating. In fact, in the Old Testament extra weight was interpreted as a sign of God's blessing. And in the New Testament Jesus Himself was accused of being a glutton (after all, He went to a lot of parties and talked a lot about great banquets). If anything, the Bible simply tells us not to spend too much time thinking or worrying about food.

Then again, that's exactly what was meant by the sin of gluttony. Gluttony is defined as excessive eating or drinking. I would change that definition just a bit and say that the sin of Gluttony is any excessiveness connected with eating or drinking. For some, the excess might be the traditional over-indulgence in food. For others, though, Gluttony may take the form of obsessing over one's diet. In America, we sin the sin of gluttony in both ways every day.

One-third of all Americans are overweight, but it's also true that we spend more on dieting than the gross national product of Ireland. Most Americans are either excessive in their food intake or in their dietary details. To both groups Jesus asks, "is not life more important than food?" In truth, obesity, bulimia & anorexia may all be connected to the sin of gluttony.

We need to eat. And we also need to know when to stop. But mostly we need to stop being so obsessed with food in either of the above directions. You are not what you eat, or don't eat, except perhaps in the most important meal of communion.