Friday, January 19, 2007

Gluttons Against Winebibbers

For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. -Proverbs 23:21 KJV


I think I smell hypocrisy...

The Southern Baptist Convention recently passed "Resolution #5" which is a broad condemnation of the manufacture, sale, and drinking of alcohol. I have already addressed this issue in a previous post, but in light of some things that have recently come to my attention, I want to rant about it again.

I think many Christians in America would applaud the recent actions by our denomination, but I believe Resolution 5 is very hypocritical. The reason I make this statement is because studies have shown that Southern Baptists are leading the way in the United States in regards to being overweight and obese!! My wife recently sent me links to some shocking articles that discuss theses facts. You can read those articles here, here, and here.
So while many Southern Baptists are patting themselves on the back for taking a stand against this "pet sin" that probably only a minority of Baptists actually partake in: they are flat ignoring the fact that a majority of Baptists are sinning by committing gluttony with food. If you noticed the passage of Scripture above, you'll see that gluttons are no better than drunkards! Both types of overindulgence are sinful!
So, what we really have here is a bunch of gluttons trying to take the motes out of the eyes of the winebibbers; all the while ignoring the beams stuck in their own eyes -and the two pieces of fried chicken stuck their own mouths!

Now I have to admit, I cannot get too self-righteous on this topic, because I am among that group of Southern Baptists who needs to shed a few pounds -about 20 actually. What got my attention about my health is when I had my cholesterol checked a few weeks back and my numbers came back about twice as high as they ought to be! It shocked me and made me do some serious thinking. I am now taking steps -through diet and exercise- to try and correct this problem before I end up just like my father who died from coronary artery disease at the age of 39 -despite being very slim and fairly active!

What I find amazing is that even though many Baptists would condemn a person for having a glass of wine with supper, adding red wine to a person's diet has been shown to be beneficial to reducing cholesterol levels! Seeing as though so many Baptists have weight problems, I'd have to guess that they probably have cholesterol problems as well. Perhaps then, a good thing for Southern Baptists to do would be to eat less food and drink red wine!

Instead of picking out "pet sins" to pass resolutions on, I suggest the SBC -as a whole- get serious about its collective health. If we really believe our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, we need to start acting like it! It's hypocritical to go around condemning folks for "defiling the temple" with tobacco and alcohol, while we are busy stretching the temple ourselves!
"Come, come, good wine is a good familiar creature, if it be well used: exclaim no more against it." -SHAKESPEAR, OTHELLO, ACT 2, SCENE 3

2 comments:

Fred said...

Dude, that is to funny!!!

chadwick said...

Rhet,

You really let the whip crack on that one!

The picture is hillarious!!!LOL

Chadwick