Gluttony, The Overlooked Sin

 

Gluttony is a sin that has not only been ignored by much of the western church, but actually incorporated in many ways into our lifestyle.

Many think it is not that big a deal. But gluttony was the sin that brought down the whole world. Genesis 3:6, "6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate." It was their appetite, as they "saw that the tree was good for food," that undermined the entire human race and drove us into sin. They gave in to gluttony. They could not control their appetite.

It is not an accident that the obese nations of the West are in such moral decline. Appetite speaks to self-control, what you worship and what rules you. An inability to reign it in is a visible demonstration of a lack of impulse control, and a lack of moral seriousness on the issue. Geoffrey Chaucer in the Canterbury tales puts this forward in a powerful way,

"O gluttony; full of all wickedness,

O first cause of confusion to us all,

Beginning of damnation and our fall,

Till Christ redeemed us with His blood again!

Behold how dearly, to be brief and plain,

Was purchased this accursed villainy;

Corrupt was all this world with gluttony!

Adam our father, and his wife also,

From Paradise to labour and to woe

Were driven for that vice, no doubt; indeed

The while that Adam fasted, as I read,

He was in Paradise; but then when he

Ate of the fruit forbidden of the tree,

Anon he was cast out to woe and pain."[1]

This is no minor issue. It is a world changing issue. A society given over to self-indulgence has to decline, what else can it do?

Many are ruled by their bellies, but as Chaucer notes, the belly is literally a container of trash,  

“The apostle, weeping, says most piteously:

"For many walk, of whom I've told you, aye,

Weeping I tell you once again they're dross,

For they are foes of Christ and of the Cross,

Whose end is death, whose belly is their god."

O gut! O belly! O you stinking cod,

Filled full of dung, with all corruption found!

At either end of you foul is the sound.""[2]

 

"Filled full of dung..." literally. A horrible, but also true thought.

Food is a wonderful and glorious gift from our Lord and God. But like all good gifts from God, this one has been severely abused by many, including Christians. At least with sexual sin and wrath, you hear these things challenged from time to time. But gluttony, it is the forgotten sin.

List of References

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[1] Chaucer, Geoffrey .. The Canterbury Tales: FREE Hamlet By William Shakespeare (JKL Classics - Active TOC, Active Footnotes ,Illustrated) (p. 257). JKL Classics. Kindle Edition.

[2] Ibid (pp. 257-258).