Eating is a means of sustaining one’s life. That much is clear. But you can also overdo it, even to an extreme degree. The obesity rate is constantly rising, especially in “developed countries.” The lack of resistance even has a spiritual aspect, which can be decisive for everything or nothing.
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Appetite and temptations
Can eating be a sin? Yes and no. As with many other areas of life, this depends on how much, how often, when, and, above all, what. The “what” is dealt with relatively quickly, because anything animal that is unclean is not even considered a food in the debates surrounding food. It is not considered a food at all. This also applies to the understanding of the New Testament, where food is repeatedly discussed. However, the issue here is not “clean” or “unclean,” but rather the knowledge and conscience of whether these foods were previously offered to some idol god (“meat sacrificed to idols”). Thus, the question of whether it was lamb or pork does not even arise, since, for example, pork is generally excluded (Info).
Eating a lot, overeating, and especially eating what can at best be described as body filler, not as food (a means of subsistence), has been a clear sign of intemperance in every era. Health damage, especially since the middle of the last century, has increased rapidly. Even previously very rare or even completely unknown ailments thrive like fungus on a moist surface. Many of these illnesses are simply declared “common diseases,” and they are “doctored,” eliminating the symptoms but not the causes.
The obvious is not entirely clear
Gluten intolerance (celiac disease) is a prime example of such developments. It has only been a phenomenon since the 1970s. What was there before? Little to no knowledge. The possible cause? The Nobel Peace Prize-winning hybrid wheat. This wheat is used almost 100 percent in everyday foods containing “wheat” (Info).
Indeed, it’s almost impossible to do anything good for your body these days when you rely on industrially produced “food.” The more a farmer’s produce is processed, the less valuable it becomes, if not the potential harm outweighs it. Completely underestimated is the “secret drug number one,” refined sugar. It has real addictive potential and wreaks absolute havoc on the body. It creates a completely over-acidified environment, forces blood sugar levels to constantly bounce when eaten regularly, and, above all, provides the ideal fodder for carcinomas.
A simple principle
From a purely pragmatic point of view, except for those with genuine metabolic problems, anyone who weighs in at excessive weight has been consuming more calories than they burned for quite some time. It’s simple math. Appetite plays the biggest role here. You can literally train your body to constantly crave food through your own behavior. Combining this with fast-food products results in a real disaster.
One can also completely overreach the topic of food and turn it into downright idolatry. TV shows and magazines that focus exclusively on food, recipes, tips & tricks, and, ironically, even recipes for losing weight, when the extra pounds become too much to bear. Or, just in time for the season, they promote a socially acceptable “beach body.” Food serves to sustain life, and socially, it also serves as the center of attention with family and friends. But if you’re already buying the “Michelin Guide” to get the “best star-rated food,” you’ve already gone way beyond the pale.
Yet food and appetite, and especially the ability to control and curb this craving, are indeed a biblical theme. This is even true with enormous weight. The first major “example” of this topic was the children of Israel, who recently left Egypt. US preacher Randy Skeete explained the connection between appetite (not just eating) and resistance, overcoming and temptation in one of his sermons.
“You are what you eat”
Following is an excerpt from the sermon by SDA Pastor Randy Skeete
(minutes 00:00 to 09:20 – Source)
Let me introduce something into your minds. What you eat affects how your mind functions. There are multiple thousands of young boys, young girls in elementary schools and primary schools who are on Rolin [Medicine for excessive stomach acid]. For possibly no other reason than they eat too much sugar before they leave home in the morning. And so they rest on hyper simply because of what they eat before going to school. Children whom if someone with insight could change their diet would realize what they would needed was not Rolin but a biblical diet in the morning.
We know the effects of alcohol on the brain, the effects of caffeine on the nervous system. What we take in affects our capacity to think. And there are many people because of the way they eat, they have unbalanced minds. And their leaders in the church. I’m not talking about the Baptist. I’m not talking about the Anglicans. Who am I talking about? Seventh Day Adventists. And a man or a woman with an unbalanced mind will make unbalanced decisions.
If Daniel and those three boys had eaten of that diet, they would have been guilty of intemperance [Book of Daniel, chapter 1]. It is a lessons for us, may friends. We must guard our eating, our drinking, the way we satisfy the urges of the flesh. Listen to what Ellen White says. In our high calling, “In Heavenly Places”, page 194, paragraph 3 [in the 1967 edition on page 402]. Listen carefully. “In Heavenly Places”, page 194, paragraph 3. It’s also found in “Our Father Cares”, page 157, paragraph 3. Listen carefully.
In temperance lies at the foundation of all the moral evils known to man. Christ began the work of redemption just where the ruin began. Now what does she mean by that? Let’s got on to find out what she meant. She says our first the fall of your first parents was caused by the indulgence of appetite. The quotation closes with these words: in redemption, denial of appetite is the first work of Christ. But we see that in his temptation. Satan knew. You see, if you’re trying to get someone to fall to do something, and you have three options, which option do you use first?
The one that’s most effective. Because you may not get a chance to use options one, two, and three. Are you with me? The most powerful temptation Satan brought was the first. Christ won that victory over appetite for us and for himself. And so, Ellen White writes: in temperance, failure to control appetite, whether for food or the sensual urges, lies at the foundation of all moral evils known to man.
“Maranatha”, page 62, paragraph 5: the controlling power of appetite will prove the ruin of thousands who, if they had conquered on this point, would have had the moral power to gain the victory over every other temptation.
Now, you missed it. Let me put it in the ‘Silver Springs language’. If you gain the victory over appetite, every other temptation becomes easier. A lot of people will be lost. Listen to what Jesus said in Luke 17 from verse 26. ‘As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the coming of the son of man.’
Did he eat? They drank. Who invented eating? God. Who invented drinking? But like so many things God has invented and given to us, we have misused.
So God gave us the privilege of sexual expression between husband and wife, and we use it adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, prostitution. God gave us appetite to keep the body alive, to feed it what it needs. And Adam and Eve use it to sin against God. What God gives to us, we abuse. And it’s one of the most devastating ways to sin against God. To take something he has given for his glory and use it to disgrace him. And so she writes: the controlling power of appetite.
Well, Jesus, let me go back to Jesus Christ. Verse 28, Luke 17. ‘As likewise as it was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank.’ Now that’s not a crime for which you go to prison in the United States or Uganda or Sweden. If the eating and the drinking express in temperance, many of us will lose a place in God’s kingdom because we cannot control this. She goes on to say in “Councils for the Church”, page 228, paragraph 2, an amazing statement speaking of God he permitted that long-lived race to eat flesh food. You know why? To shorten their lives.
I don’t want to get you mad with me if you like Kentucky Fried Chicken, but you need to know the truth. Ellen White, our prophet in these last days said, ‘God allowed the eating of meat in order to shorten people’s lives.’
Now, if you know that, surely you must look at a chicken leg differently. Are you with me? Or a stack of ribs or sushi. The reason God allowed them to eat flesh so they would die quickly because God has never had an interest and having sinners live long. Are you with me? Righteous people should live long, not sinners [e.g. Exodus 20:12].
“Councils and Diets and Fools”, page 148, paragraph 3, she writes: ‘of the Israelites in the wilderness,’ you won’t believe this statement. Listen carefully, ‘they prefer to endure slavery, even death, rather than to be deprived of flesh foods.’ But the Bible says that, listen to Exodus 16:3. ‘And the children of Israel said unto them,’ meaning Moses and Aaron, ‘would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt,’ when we sat where? ‘By the flesh pots.’
Listen to me. Somewhere I don’t recall where Elamite says: ‘the demon of intemperance is a giant.’ Strong. Satan knows he cannot have so great power over minds when the appetite is controlled as when it is indulged. Let me say that again. That’s not a quotation. Satan knows he cannot have so great power over minds when the appetite is indulged as when the appetite is kept under control as when it is indulged. And he is constantly working to lead men to indifference.
Let me say it again smoothly. Satan knows, He doesn’t guess. Let me paraphrase. It is easier to tempt someone who cannot control appetite than someone who controls appetite. That’s the “North Pacific Union Gleaner”, April 14, 1909, paragraph 12. My brothers and sisters, appetite, diet, and appetite means not just food, but I said the urges of the flesh. It is a matter of great concern, has always been, but particularly in these last days. Because Satan will work through appetite and in temperance in such a way it will become more difficult for us to resist and control.
And once he has influence in the area of appetite, he has us in every other area. We may not be murderers. We may not be rapists. We may not be bank robbers. We not beat old ladies over the head and take their social security checks. But we’re heading on a downward path because of the area where Satan thrives. The area of temperance. In temperance, I should say is an area where we give the victory to him.
Let us take a lesson from Daniel.
The “Diet Sermon” by Randy Skeete
Loyalty is necessary even in the smallest way
Who would have thought? While eating itself isn’t a question of salvation, the context surrounding eating, or rather, the appetite, and especially the reasons why overeating isn’t resisted, are. Those who can’t resist overeating will exhibit similar behavior when it comes to temptation, deception, and “life and death.” A rather sore point, since Luke 16:10 also clearly states in general:
He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
Bible verses from King James Version (1611)
