#130-FOOD

Ahh food. America’s greatest vice. What demonstrates the excess in America more than the muffin tops spilling over our waist lines as we walk into our local eateries. And no one loves food more than this guy.

I enjoy all types of food, from the deliciousness of mine and Joel's favorite barbeque (Slows BBQ, look into it), to a good chicken shawarma. From the deserts of the Middle East to the café’s of Sicily, from chili dog to shrimp tempura, there’s no type of food I’ll not try.

But the irony I love about apo’s is the intensity with which we condemn other vices while stuffing our faces full of saturated fats. Some of the greatest messages I’ve ever heard were preached by preachers who were pushing 300 lbs.

“Don’t drink that! You might get drunk!! Don’t smoke that! Know ye NOT that your body a ha, is the temple, a ha, of the Hoooooollllyyyyyy Ghhosttt?!?”

….three hours later….

“Yes I’ll take the 18 ounce porter house, rare, mashed potatoes with extra gravy, and an extra sweetened ice tea. Oh and also the loaded bacon cheese fries as an appetizer, thank you.”

It seems we’ve given our most addictive vice a free pass…

The irony of all of this is the logic stretching and ignoring of scripture.

We’ll preach against alcohol outright when the bible only speaks against drunkenness, with the logic being that drinking at all leads to drunkenness and since we all know that Christians can’t do anything in moderation we have to ban it altogether.

We preach against smoking, which isn’t even in the bible, though they were definitely smoking in that time, and the logic we use, (albeit good logic), is that our body is the temple of God and a gift and we should honor it and not defile it. Makes sense.

We forbid tattooing with little scriptural support (inapplicable Levitical law), on the basis that it is harmful to our bodies, but uuuuhhh… Starting to see the inconsistencies?

We have to stretch scripture, use loose semantics and hyperbole to draw these conclusions, but what about this:

Proverbs 23:2

“and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony.”

And this:

Proverbs 23:20-21

"Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: For the drunkard and the GLUTTON shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags."

And then there’s all that moderation and self control stuff Paul is always talking about...

There’s not really a point to all of this, just trying to call attention to a humorous hypocrisy. The fast track to being seated from your ministries would be to walk into Applebee’s and order a Corona with lime, but you can eat a 1,400 calorie meal and chase it down with a maple butter blondie and brother I appreciate your ministry!

I propose we start calling it like we see it. Those overweight preachers don’t have a glandular problem or a low thyroid. They’re addicts, just like any other addict, and they need help, just like the alcoholic, and should have some accountability.

But this phenomenon isn’t isolated to preachers. Our pews are about a Big Buford and large fry away from needing steel reinforcement. And if it weren’t for Pentecostal women, plus sized womens stores would have gone out of business twenty years ago. And the men don’t exactly have LL Cool J’s abs either. Thank God for adjustable waistband pants or we’d be at church in our Wilson Athletics and a size 54L blazer!

So ladies and gentlemen, please, let’s start practicing moderation in all area’s of our lives, not just the ones that are easy. It’s no sacrifice to not consume alcohol, but to pass on your third Mountain Dew – that’s a challenge of will power.

May our eyes and arteries be opened!