Christians, if your body is a temple then why are you so fat?

By The New Heretics
Fat ChristiansI am sorry, but I have to let this one out.

I can not count how many times I have seen Christians waddle up to some poor kid with piercing, tattoos, weird hair, or clothing that does not meet their approval and wave their fat little fingers in their face and quote:

1 Cor 6:19
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?

Seriously though, are these people really this blind? They are implying that this verse states that our physical bodies need to be in pristine physical condition, because anything less is not fitting it being a temple of the Holy Spirit. That it is a sin to not take care of our physical bodies. That it is a sin to not have a body that does not physically look like it is fitting for God to dwell in.

If that was the case, then Christians should be the most physically fit people on the planet. If we truly believed this, I do not think that any Christians would be without a gym membership. Heck, we would be handing them out at the alters upon conversion.

It would be like:

“Welcome to Jesus! Here is your gym membership. You need to drop about 20 pounds and start dieting. We recommend running 2-3 miles a day to start, and please come by on Wednesday nights for weight training.”

Oh by the way, maybe a few of you should get some plastic surgery done as well… cuz you may be a bit too ugly for God to live in as well. You are a temple you know.

So that you know, to this verse does not have anything to do with your physical appearance. It was actually talking about not sleeping with hookers. If anyone uses it against the way you look, they are making mistakes on many levels.

Yet there are many verses in the bible that speak our against the fat, the lazy, over eaters, sloths, and gluttons. The bible does declare it to be a sin, and it is classified as both an addiction and a sign of a total lack of self control.

In a churches do they allow a person that is openly struggling with drug abuse to be a leader? Would they allow a sex addict to lead, or someone who is abusing their spouse or children? No, of course not. Although all leaders are not perfect, they do expect them to have some of the basics down. Self control is one of these basics, and so is not being a slave to addictions. So why are you allowing gluttons onto the pulpit?

My dad tells a funny story from when he was a new believer. He drove all the way across town to some church to hear a guest speaker talking on “Self Control”. When my dad walked into the service the speaker was already on stage. The man was hefty - grossly overweight. My dad just took one look at him and walked out the door. “Seriously” said my dad “how can this man teach self control?”





Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Comments

Dave Van Allen said…
I hear what you are trying to express. Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit, which means - as a fruit - it develops over time with nurturing and effort.

Unfortunately, what your dad did was judge the speaker and find him lacking based on physical characterisitcs alone. He knew nothing of this man's past or how this man was currently dealing with his present because he didn't stay to find out =(

For whatever reason, your dad was motivated to attend a session called "Self-Control". Then he didn't exercise self-control by staying to hear the words the speaker had to say. That's unfortunate. I hope your dad found some help with whatever issue he had that motivated him to first attend that session.
Dave Van Allen said…
That verse is taken out of context. When Paul says your body is a temple he is speaking about morality and staying away from sexual sin
Dave Van Allen said…
OH! So that means smoking, drinking and gluttony are OK, right? We don't need to take care of our "temple," we just need to keep the door zipped shut. Is that it?
Dave Van Allen said…
Pastor Butthead insisted that since your body is a temple with god indwelling you and such that this verse would be a Bible verse against smoking - before, during, after and in-between having sex [with my husband, of course.]

Boy, do I miss those sermons when everything was a sin and women were the root of all evil. Just kidding:)
Dave Van Allen said…
Why is sexual sin worse than gorging on a giant vat of Country Crock margarine while popping Prozac like M&M's ?

Do you really think Yahweh gives a rat's ass about who's banging who? Is he/she/it/they really watching six billion penises and vaginas? Hell, the National Enquirer can't even keep up with that sh*t.

Yahweh has nothing better to do than keep track of billions of encounters and cross-reference each one with a marriage certificate?

Perhaps the MEN who wrote this nonsense were insecure about themselves and were searching for a way to better keep their wives sexually enslaved. You know...Keep the ladies on a mental leash so they wouldn't act on any thoughts of having sex with other men. Besides, the Imaginary Fiend is too busy killing off as many people as it/she/he can to give a sh*t about the sex lives of the horny housewives.

The bible is so ridiculous...Believers might as well knock their teeth out and wait for the tooth fairy to pay their mortgage. It's that silly.

What does Yahweh do on a Sunday afternoon?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49556906@N04/5186270150/
Dave Van Allen said…
Thackerie,

Hence a line I have used once or twice:

"Your argument is like your god - without weight."
Dave Van Allen said…
I'd go back to church and play nice for awhile if I got a free membership to, say, Gold's Gym! ;)

Unfortunately, my constant struggle with weight has nothing to do with God, the Bible, or my lack of belief in either. It has only to do with my love for food, glorious food.
Dave Van Allen said…
The bible doesn't say a lick about addiction. The seven deadly sins, including gluttony aren't covered once in it.

Those things were all added later by a Monk with bad habits who isolated himself and meditated to his imaginary friend about what made him sin for a bit too long.
Dave Van Allen said…
I've met one or two Christians who were capable of profound introspection and personal metamorphosis, but the sweeping majority of them, even liberal Christians, are far better at judging others. They're especially good at judging those gays. Oh lawrd.
Dave Van Allen said…
lol I used that one when I had sever anorexia as a teen. Regardless of being in recovery for years, I hear you though! IF their body is a temple, why do they stuff their faces with so much food, even allow ice cream to melt between the cracks of food in their stomach? They have NO comprehension of what they say when they quote that verse.

Hey! Want to create an anorexic? Just rattle off a few verses about food and the body, the temple and the body, that are found in the Bible and IF the person is predispose to starvation, it will work every time! Even some of the saints some worship fasted to extreme. Look up St. Kathrine, for starters.

More self-abuse goes on within Christianity than one can imagine though- even Martin Luther whipped himself before he decided to put up his 95 theses! IF the body is a temple, then why do so many Xians abuse themselves as well as others?

I do believe there is a verse against debauchery in the Bible too, but I don't want to take the time to find it. Every time I do find it though, there is invariably some Xian that jumps up and says that it has nothing to do with overeating. Right.

Well, here is a question for them to ponder, which I think I can state in their language... IF overeating, not eating properly is not a "sin", if it is not a defilement of the body, then why do people get heart disease and other illnesses from it? Something must be wrong with overeating and alike if one gets physically sick from it and one doesn't need any superstitious beliefs to answer that question. They can throw out the God delusion and answer the question very well.

IMHO, they do not listen to their bodies, have not learned when to say "when", learned to back up from the table, go for a walk or something, and physically take care, as well as love themselves. If their bodies are temples, then they need to listen to it, care for it, and cherish it, because it is the only one they are ever going to have.
Dave Van Allen said…
Okay...where do I even begin with this one??? LOL!!! I have tons to say about Christianity and its fascinated disgust with the body (particularly the female body) but for now....

1 Timothy 4:8..."For bodily exercise profiteth little"

This pastor is damn proud of weighing 415lbs...Read at your own risk:

Charles “Chuck” Dewease, pastor of the First Pentecostal Church of Youngston, is not ashamed to tell anyone his weight.“I’m a little over 415 pounds and proud of it.” He says.......

http://hottubreligion.wordpress.com/2007/04/19/1timothy48bodily-exercise-profiteth-little/

;-)
Dave Van Allen said…
I've always wondered why, if Falwell and Hagee are in daily communion with God, he's apparently never once told them, "Put down the pork rinds."

I said it the other day, and I'll say it again - if there exist, anywhere on the planet, people who are less prone to introspection and self-reflection than Christians, I have yet to encounter them.
Dave Van Allen said…
I've always wondered why, if Falwell and Hagee are in daily communion with God, he's apparently never once told them, "Put down the pork rinds."

I said it the other day, and I'll say it again - if there exist, anywhere on the planet, people who are less prone to introspection and self-reflection than Christians, I have yet to encounter them.
Dave Van Allen said…
good point. the problem i have with this argument is that the bible isn't really 1 solitary book with 1 author with 1 style of writing contained within. it is a collection of writings with different authors and each written for a specific audience. christians do a HORRIBLE job at studying the scriptures and the setting within which they've been written.
Dave Van Allen said…
Cipher,

"... if there exist, anywhere on the planet, people who are less prone to introspection and self-reflection than Christians..."

Weird, that.
Casts them as Finished Products. Ossified.

But then, what about the astoundingly beautiful 'religious' compositions of Berlioz, Beethoven, Mahler, Bach, Fauré, Verdi etc?
They’re so sensual and passionate that there surely had to be a bit of “…introspection and self-reflection…” involved. Albeit skewy.

S.
Dave Van Allen said…
I don't have a bible to look it up, but I seem to recall a list of folks who will not enter the kingdom. Weren't gluttons on that list? Help me out Sconner.

Barbie_Brains - Pentecost draws in all of the kooks! That guy is more of the 'norm' than the exception. My best friend, growing up, is now Pastor of a Pentecostal church.....all 450 lbs. of him!

I know that Temperance (self control) is listed in the 'Fruits of the Spirit'?!

Oh, I know, the guy has a glandular problem that God hasn't seen fit to heal him of! How pathetic!!

XPD (praise the Lord & pass the Gravey....YEE HAW)
Dave Van Allen said…
I don't have a bible to look it up, but I seem to recall a list of folks who will not enter the kingdom. Weren't gluttons on that list? Help me out Sconner.

Barbie_Brains - Pentecost draws in all of the kooks! That guy is more of the 'norm' than the exception. My best friend, growing up, is now Pastor of a Pentecostal church.....all 450 lbs. of him!

I know that Temperance (self control) is listed in the 'Fruits of the Spirit'?!

Oh, I know, the guy has a glandular problem that God hasn't seen fit to heal him of! How pathetic!!

XPD (praise the Lord & pass the Gravey....YEE HAW)
Dave Van Allen said…
i love that you guys are ripping on Christians for their obesity.

I'm a christian (I even work at a church!) but absolutely love this blog. I read hundreds of blogs from pastors and christian thinkers, but few of them are as honest as y'all.

I'd actually venture to say that you guys and your dialogue help me from getting caught up in all the "bull-shit christianity" but help me to stick closer to the actual teachings and lifestyle of Christ.

but as to the verse y'all are talking about (your body is a temple):

Paul wrote that to a group and the "your" is actually plural so it'd read a lot more like "y'all's body is a temple of the holy spirit" which - to me - seems to mean that he was talking less about their actual body, but more about their community as a church body."

Paul was writing to tell the church in corinth that they ought not do horrible trash because it effected their community and it was within that community that the holy spirit was present.

i went to a christian college and that verse was posted in our fitness center and i complained for 4 years but no one cared to learn shit bout the bible.

so anyways, christians ought not each so much (especially since jesus talked SO much about taking care of feeding the hungry). and there is a ton of stuff about not being a glutton in the bible, but obviosuly churches would rather focus on homosexuality while ignoring greed and gluttony in the pastors.

as always, i need to apologize for the Christians that are being dumb. they don't act anything like Jesus. sorry.

ps. keep up the blog. y'all are doign a better job at community than churches. if i ever decide that God's not real or that this whole Jesus thing is a scam, i'll be right here w/ya.

pps. click on my link and join my "jesus" dialogue. I'd love to have some of your voices on my christian blog. just click the link by my name and head over there. The link is to a post I have highlighting my enjoyment of this blog.
Dave Van Allen said…
here's the link:

http://ramblingsofpassion.wordpress.com/2009/03/31/my-favorite-unchristian-blog-exchristiannet/
Dave Van Allen said…
Umm okay number 1 God LOVES food and has no problem with overeating and all things yummy. I can prove it.

Proof #1- the Last Supper. You think he really needed that? No way, he knew he was going to bite it. He was just pigging out one last glorious time and drinking far too much watertowine than needed to wash down his meal of starch ridden breads.

Proof #2- Cain and Abel. So I'm God right. I need some presents. Like now. What do you get for the God who has practically everything? Vegetable medley, maybe? Hell no, you want some red meat. It's only fitting for a vengeful God to have the best. *shakes head* What were you thinking Cain.


Proof #3- Communion Wafers. They seem harmless enough. But does anyone actually know how much fat is in them?? I imagine Jesus is high in protein, but lean as only the son of God could be. I'm thinking a few years of fleshwafers compounded with some sacred wineblood the carbs alone could add a few pounds.


But seriously, why are you guys so fat? :P

  Books purchased here help support ExChristian.Net!