Is it a sin to be overweight?

Recently, a friend asked in a forum, "Is being overweight as much a sin as smoking, drinking or sexual immorality?" He received 105 replies, most respondents writing that being fat is morally reprehensible because our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Few people questioned the assumption that those behaviors are actually sins. Many replied along the lines that excess body fat is evidence of sin: “Yes, it falls into the same category of abusing the body God gave you” or “anything that decreases our health or harms us (‘the temple of God’) is sin.” Out of context, they cited 1 Corinthians 6:19, where Paul calls the body the temple of the Holy Spirit, as the basis for healthful living.

But if the body God gave you has genetic disorders, or subsequent accidents, illnesses, or medications that cause weight gain even with hardcore diet and exercise, then are you a sinner? If one has been sexually violated (one in three women and one in six men), or has crazy-making job stress that releases cortisol into their system, are they to blame? Not every overweight or obese person has gotten that way by sloth and gluttony. It's no secret that the diet industry makes billions of dollars every year as people try and fail to lose weight.

There are many passages in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible that say that the sexually immoral (those who have sex outside of marriage) will not be in heaven unless they’ve confessed their sin and turned away from it. On the other hand, there are no passages about the overweight or obese not being able to fit through the pearly gates.

Gluttony was considered bad behavior, but Jesus hung out with gluttons and wine-drinkers! Gluttony is just as much a problem for slim people on whom it does not show, as it is for those who have excess weight. But gluttony is not a cause of most weight problems (ask any bariatric doctor). When I did a whole-Bible search for gluttony as a sin, the only reference I could find was for the people of Sodom: "Sodom’s sins were pride, gluttony, and laziness, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door." Ezekiel 16:49. 

As for alcohol, the Bible is full of instances of alcohol and its good points (gladness, celebration, medicine, ritual, sacrifice), as well as the adverse effects of alcoholic intoxication. There’s no good thing to be gained from smoking tobacco, and it harms not only the smoker, but many others in the immediate environment—but it’s not a biblical issue unless you take it to the extreme of “thou shalt not murder.”

Everyone would agree, I think, that the body should be in the best condition that you have the power to make it—but it’s not a matter of religion! Good health and good looks are desirable, but again—not what God looks for. He looks at the heart or the spirit, rather than outward appearance. He looks for the qualities of mercy, compassion, forgiveness, love, and humility. If you do a search for “body” in an online Bible concordance, most of the passages say or imply that the body is temporary and imperfect housing for the awesome thing that God created in his image: the spirit! God formed the body from soil or clay, and it wasn’t a living being until he breathed into it. The word is pneuma (like pneumonia), which means breath, spirit, wind.

Some people are very smug about their own righteousness in the area of food and self-control. I know a few of them who have made idols of extreme nutrition and exercise. But physical condition is not a yardstick for your spiritual or moral superiority. 

Well, that’s my opinion. Here’s the opinion of a 19^th-century writer and church leader:

“If they will gratify a gross appetite, and by so doing blunt their sensibilities, and becloud their perceptive faculties so that they can not appreciate the exalted character of God, or delight in the study of His word, they may be assured that God will not accept their unworthy offering any sooner than that of Cain. God requires them to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. After man has done all in his power to insure health, by the denying of appetite and gross passions, that he may possess a healthy mind, and a sanctified imagination, that he may render to God an offering in righteousness, then he is saved alone by a miracle of God's mercy..." (Testimony Studies on Diets and Foods, a 1926 compilation from books and articles by Ellen G. White)  Emphases by author of this blog.

The above statement is just one of many similar quotations that have hammered church members since the 1850s. The concept there is wrong, particularly the belief that man must be working, working, working, and perfecting his own salvation, and his appetite or asceticism is the key to his acceptance by God. When he is finally sanctified by his own efforts, he slides under the pearly gates in an anorexic puddle. When he’s worked hard enough to attract God’s attention, he finds pity in a last-minute miracle of mercy.

I saw this statement recently: “Life is hard; it's harder if you're stupid.” ~John Wayne. Someone replied, “So can we measure how stupid we are by how hard our life is?” I’d add, “Can we measure my spirituality or Christian witness by the tape measure around my butt?” A Christian musician who was a guest in my home left a thank-you note for me to find, which said that my witness for Christ was compromised by my weighty appearance and I ought to try harder to lose weight. She was so skinny that you could count her ribs, front and back. And now, when I hear her name mentioned, I think of the not-so-Christian impression she made on me.

But back to the question of sinning by being overweight. There were a lot of words from the Fat Police on that forum thread, but very little in the way of what God has said about foods or salvation. Here are just a few of the Bible's statements about how God sees food as a spiritual or moral issue:  

"God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." Eph. 2:8-10

"But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do." 1 Corinthians 8:8  

"Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense." Romans 14:20

"These people are hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are dead. They will say it is wrong to be married and wrong to eat certain foods. But God created those foods to be eaten with thanks by faithful people who know the truth. Since everything God created is good, we should not reject any of it but receive it with thanks. For we know it is made acceptable by the word of God and prayer." 1 Timothy 4:2-5

Every human body is different from every other one. Just like one “cure” is not possible for the countless viruses that cause the common cold, I believe there's no ONE perfect way to cure overweight and obesity for all humanity--not even “diet and exercise.” Psalm 139:13-16 says that God formed us and knew us from conception. I have to conclude that the Creator made some people with the socially-desirable trait of leanness, and some with the genetic, accidental, or medical condition of fatness. Eph. 2:8-10 says that we are God's poema, his work of fine art. Red and yellow, black and white (and fat or lean), we are precious in his sight.

In our society, fatness is a curse in terms of career and romantic discrimination, bullying, the lifelong (unsuccessful) struggle to lose weight, and the damage it causes to the body. People today think that overweight people are ignorant or stupid for being fat--because if they were "smarter" about nutrition and had some personal gumption, they'd exercise and the fat would just melt off. It's so obvious, right?  Fatness was a good thing in the Old Testament. It was seen, along with wealth, as a manifestation of God's blessings for the person's righteous behavior in keeping the Sinai covenant.

Now we are members of the new covenant of the Holy Spirit living in our hearts and speaking to us personally. The verse the Fat Police quote about the body being the temple of the Holy Spirit is NOT talking about food, fitness, or health. It's talking about the pollution and desecration that sexual immorality causes to the housing of the Holy Spirit, and the spirit he put in you by his holy breath. Here’s the body-temple reference, so you can see for yourself:

Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.  1 Cor. 6:18-20

If your temple has been desecrated and polluted by sexual immorality, it can be sanctified and cleansed, but not by trying with all your might to behave, or by fasting, dieting, obsessing. Only God can forgive and heal, and when he does this as a gift, there is no condemnation for you. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1-2  

You know what? That “no condemnation” clause covers overweight people, too. No, it's NOT a sin to be overweight. Be the healthiest person it's in your power to be (keep at it), and remember who made you. Be a loving, merciful, tender, compassionate, forgiving person, and you'll be beautiful in others' eyes, and the Lord's eyes,  no matter how much you weigh. 

And you know, go ahead and enjoy a serving of mashed potatoes at the church potluck. You deserve it!