How fat does a person have to be to be a sinner?

I often think about this issue. He has taken so many of the words out of my mouth it's not even funny. I used to be 40 pounds heavier than I weigh now (gluttony). Now I have learned moderation and exercise and have lost that weight and am now a thin person. I feel less guilty, and I encourage others struggling with this problem to do the same. If I can do it anyone can.

 

THanks Ares,

as soon as I get done with this pregnancy Im going to take your encouragement and go with it!

 

Fat boys are a hindrance to the gospel. Often non-believers notice them before they notice the message.

Many secular jobs require a person to be in a reasonable shape. In fact some have been fired because they do not lose weight. So it ought to be in the church with a pastor.

I speak from experience. Many years ago I rode a bicycle competitively in Canada and in the US. Several years later I pastored a church and told the deacons I would be riding that bicycle. One of the deacons said he thought I ought to be available 24/7.

One year later a few of the deacons told me the church should be reroofed. So I told them to figure the material and we would do it. After about two months I asked them if they had the materials coming. They looked shocked and said they hadn't been able to get any help in the past. So they asked me if I could get some help. I told them I already had. They asked "how many?" I told them I expected about forty. When we set a date and the materials were there exactly forty workers showed up. After about 4.5 hours the church was done and many of them were tired. Because I was in good shape I was able to preach the next day. That small amount of work was not very hard at all. In the past I had been a general contractor. Some of them complained they were sore.

Here there were a few of out of shape deacons who wanetd me to be out of shape just like them and they couldn't even work for 4.5 hours without getting tired and sore.

 

Ouch! this one hurt. Thanks for spoiling my dinner Tim.

I just wish the author would just give it to us straight and stop candy coating things.

I think this is the answer to the original question.

 

What about people whose medications have caused weight gain? What about some people whose illnesses have casued the weight gain, like hypothroidism?
Being over weight is not the sin,eating or doing anything pleasurable in excess is the sin.
I've seen many very thin people who eat constantly, who can't seem to eat enough. What about them? They are gluttenous yet don't appear it too look at their body size.
Then there are those people who no matter what they gain weight,even when eating healthy.
You've judged over weight people to be in sin, that works the other way too, if they aren't over weight what then?
Don't judge people by what you see on the outside, there may be circumstances you know nothing about.

 

Donna I agree completely!

 

Christians who are struggling with almost any other kind of vice are often able to go unnoticed among fellow church members, but those gluttonous over-eaters usually don't have that luxury. Obese church pastors would probably do well to ask the church for prayer (or at least one or two trusted church members) and try to get it under control.

Ares: It's good to hear of your weight-loss success. I have lost 30 pounds myself since July, and I know that the real struggle will be keeping the weight off once I reach my desired weight. Except for feeling hungry all the time, I feel much better now that I am not carrying a lot of extra baggage these days. When my wife saw that I was serious about dieting, she got on the waggon also and is having good results.

Roy

 

NO! It's not, not in that way. Like Donna mentioned earlier, some people have medical issues etc. and are not gluttons. How many over weight people get accused wrongly for that I wonder, when they really have another issue instead?
What really makes me mad is people love to judge others on outward appearances!! Why does everyone forget God looks on our heart?

 

There are very very very few people that have medical issues making them fat. This artical does not apply to them. I dont think that we should be pointing fingers at fat people and making judgements anyway. However people close to them and people in athority over (like there pastor) should be able to judge if a person is a glutton or not. Take them under wing and discuss the issue. And like the artical says it is not just food. If a person is doing anything to excess to the detrement of their family or duty he/she is a glutton.

Me, I have ice cream and Oreo cookie issues, like most other fat kids. Accuse away, I am the one responsable for me. No excusses.

 

This artical brought to mind a local pastor who is grossly overweight . From his prospective you would think he glows in the dark . However when one first sees him the first thouhgt is , there is a glutton. If he were the type of man who was concerned about his walk & its effect on others it could be a problem. Since we are not to judge the outward man I suppose we will just have to let God wiegh it on his scales!

 

I agree this article is not aimed at that tiny (no pun intended) number of people who suffer from severe obesity as a result of a medical problem.

In the vast (pun intended) number of cases the problem is exactly what is laid our by the author. Self gratification.

I love to eat. When I finished high school (1973) I weighed 155 pounds (11 stone). I weighed about that until we started deputation in 1992. The whole fundemental Baptist lifestyle is centred around eating. I can't blame that of course, but my lack of discipline started my weight gain during that time. When we got to Ireland the problem got worse and in the spring of this year I peaked at 191 pounds (13st9lb). Since then I have reduced my weight back to a better 170 (12st2lb). I still am not happy with that. At 5'7" I am still overweight.

My weight problem is mine. Pure and simple. It is the result of sinful choices and fleshly desires.

The author is bang on. To the point, but his points cannot be argued.

 

Jimmy

I am from down around your way. I grew up in Price. If that is your last name in your e mail, I think I know you. May have gone to school with you. I certenly know your name from somewhere.

 

How fat does one have to be in order to be a sinner? Well, how about the weight at birth? Doesn't the Bible say we are all sinners? I guess that includes the fat and the skinny!

 

I would differ on one small point. The writer said that a thin glutton is still a glutton. This is probably incorrect. How does he remain skinny? His high rate of metabolism burns the calories, apparently. He is not overeating, therefore he is not a glutton.

Unless he's bulemic, which is another issue.

 

This whole thing screams "speck vs mote" to me.

My mother was a short woman, and she was an over-weight woman. I used to watch her try to starve herself, and to watch her exercise, and to watch her cry when the pounds would not come off.

To know that some of the holier-than-thou people who were supposed to be encouraging her spiritually were looking at her, calling her a "sinner" because of the weight is heart-breaking. She was no glutten.

 

So now one's walk with God is dictated by body type. This is a joke. Show me where God condems the fat people. You don't.

Gluttony is making food more important than God. Many overweight people love God. I guess some still judge on the outward appearence of man and not the heart.

And we wonder why so many people have a bad taste of church life.

 

I say this bloke has watched the movie "Se7en" a few too many times, has probably stocked up on cans of pasta sauce for me, and I'm gonna stay WELL CLEAR!!

 

This type of thread makes me sad. It hurts so many people.

I agree with this.

I also watched my mother who was overweight (probably not by today's standards), but she did not eat very much and she always mowed the yard with a Manual Mower. Our yard was a half acre. She had a huge garden. She exercised. She was a Christian and put God first in her life.

The size of a person has nothing to do with sin and their walk with God.