March 23,1997
Dear Br. Connors:
It’s cold this morning in the office and my fingers are chilled. While spring came early this year to East Tennessee, the mornings are still frosty and chilly. Try typing with cold fingers, it tends to slow down the words per minute count.
Ever since I was about twelve years old, I have been over weight.
In the later years of high school, I put on even more weight,
going rapidly from a 34 inch waste line to a 40 waste in several
months. In collage I put on even more weight, then in the late
1970s, my weight soared from a 42 inch waste line to 47 inches
where it has remained ever since.
The vast majority of people think fat people are fat because we
overeat, and, indeed most of the moderately overweight people
gain weight for this reason. Overeating is quite common in our
sedentary society. It is so common that almost 1/2 of the adult
population is at least twenty pounds over their ideal weight.
Because of the obesity of America, diets and exercise fads and
books abound. People become famous overnight by expounding on
a new and revolutionary diet or exercise plan. Day time television
is filled with diet and exercise experts or so I am told for I
am too busy during the day to watch television even if I was so
inclined which I am not. There is a lot of money to be made in
the dieting industry.
With all this emphasis on dieting and exercise, you would think
that, rather then being an overweight society, we would be noted
for our healthy, well nourished population. Where are those individuals
who successfully lost weight? A few of them are paraded through
the pages of magazines, newspapers, and day time television by
the diet experts as proof that their diets actually work.
But this is an illusion. While many people successfully control
their weight, the far greater number fail of accomplishing the
promised weight control? Why! Having been overweight for all of
my adult life, but not being a self-proclaimed expert in the field,
nevertheless, I am going to weight in (pun intended) with my own
assessment of why people fail at girth control.
People overeat because we enjoy food or fattening drinks. This
is a simple fact that is virtually ignored by the diet industry.
To control the weight, therefore, is to deny ones self a pleasurable
experience. There are numerous other reasons why people eat too
much, but, ultimately, the pleasure experience keeps people overeating.
I could say, with some truth, that I gained weight because my
mother sexually abused me when I was eight years old. Overeating
is a common reaction to sexual abuse as are other physically destructive
behaviors. I could say that I ate in my early adult years because
of emotional stress, and indeed this is also true with many people.
I could give all types of reasons for overeating, and most of
them would be true, at least from the psychological point of view,
according to the psychologists who have a steak in helping obese
people gain self-awareness.
I spent several years in psychological counseling and used several
very good self-help books to come to terms with maternal abuse.
The stress level in my life is virtually zero since I learned
to trust the Lord. I understand the addiction cycle, the health
hazards of a high caloric diet, the benefits of dietary fiber,
the importance and value of a vegetarian diet (we are vegetarians),
I understand the value of abstinence, and all the other health
risks to overeating, yet I overeat.
I can no longer claim psychological trauma or stress as excuses,
therefore, why do I continue to overeat?
Overeating is a sin. Try telling that to the fat experts or the
millions of people on diets. Not only does fat or overweight disfigure
and destroy the body, the temple of the Holy Spirit, but it often
shortens life. If I overeat, clog my arteries with cholesterol,
and, as a consequence, die of a heart attack, I am as guilty of
murder as if I took a gun and shot myself. The scriptures say
that no unrepentant murderer shall inherit the kingdom of heaven.
(Murders who have repented and received Christ’s pardon are
no longer murderers, but it is difficult to repent after death,
therefore, no self-murderer shall enter heaven.) But if this is
true, then diets and exercise, as a means of obtaining weight
control, represent the same thing as attempting to save ourselves
through our own good works. In other words, it is righteousness
through works rather then through faith in Christ alone.
As you know, there are two systems of worship in the world, righteousness
by works and righteousness by faith. These two opposites can be
seen in every phase of life and in every human endeavor. The idea
that we can save ourselves, that we don’t need God, except
in an emergency, that there is inherent in human nature the potential
of self-elevation or salvation, that willpower alone is sufficient
to over come all obstacles is a well ingrained idea in most people.
I made a sensational discovery the other day, sin can be overcome
through faith in Christ. For several years, I was plagued with
a particular sin. Many times I prayed for relief and nothing happened.
I wondered why God wasn’t answering my prayers. After all,
I reasoned, wasn’t he in the business of forgiving sin and
overcoming it? Then why was this sin still bothering me. Being
astute and knowledgable in the scriptures, you undoubtedly see
the fallacy in my reasoning.
The problem, here, as with all other sins, is my will or choice.
I desired God to do something for me against my own will, something
he will never do. I had not yet reached the point where I wanted,
above all things, for this sin to cease. I had not chosen to stop
sinning. But I also realized that I not only wanted to continue
to sin but was powerless to stop through my own strength. I was
weak and, try as hard as possible, I could not stop sinning.
Christ gently admonished me that I was powerless to overcome sin,
but through his strength, which he would freely give me, I could
overcome, if I desired it above the pleasure of the sin. When
I finally realized that my responsibility was not to try harder
to overcome but to place my will on the side of Christ, then he
would give me the power to overcome. The victory was instantaneous.
No long protracted struggle, no fighting or wrestling against
the sin, no agonizing repetition of victory and defeat. Once I
decided I wanted the victory more then the sin, the strength flowed
into my mind and the victory was won. As simple as that.
With this knowledge came an astounding revelation. With the combination
of Christ’s strength, my choice to overcome sin and faith
in his power, there is no longer any excuse for sin.
Overcoming a weight problem, therefore, does not lie in exercise
and diet but in faith in Christ’s power. My work, if you
will, is to choose to let Christ control my appetite.
If victory over sin is instantaneous when we submit our wills
to Christ, then it isn’t necessary to sin any longer. And
if overeating is a sin, then victory comes, not by diet and exercise,
but through faith in Christ. The first step, therefore, it seems
to me, is not diet and exercise but choosing to obey Christ and
eat only those foods which are most nourishing and eat them at
the most appropriate times.
Having chosen to obey Christ, he directs what is eaten and the
proper amount of exercise according to our abilities and metabolism.
Our response is to thank Him for the weight loss through faith.
May the Lord bless you in your ministry. Your brother in Christ.
Allen A. Benson