I've been doing some reading at "Dear Ethel" and she is struggling with some of the same issues that I go to battle with on a daily basis. Namely: You can't be FAT and have FAITH!!! Why not, you ask? Well--it's one of the seven deadly sins, don't you know!
One of my favorite scriptures about faith: Faith is SUBSTANCE of things hoped for; the EVIDENCE of things not seen. So......there is SUBSTANCE to that which we hope for? How can there be any EVIDENCE of the existence of something that is only hoped for? This is a conundrum.
Further, I also think we base our perception of God as a loving heavenly father based upon our own experience of our perceptions about our Earthly fathers. And, if our Earthly fathers were less than stellar.....it's a little hard to wrap your mind around the concept of unconditional love. Especially if you either didn't have a father, or he was a first class jerk.
We also carry "tapes" in our heads from the things that other people have said to us about our "selves" and how worthy we were to be loved. Interestingly enough, if you have been raised in the Christian community, as I have, you find that your worth as a person is almost always tied to what you are willing to do. (Either for the church, the community, or your family.) And you are judged according to your works. (Read: Faith without works is dead.)
But I also learned, (and somewhere along the line, this got brushed under the rug) that there is NOTHING we can DO to obtain salvation. It is FREE, provided by grace and grace alone. Having said ALL of this, it is an attempt to let you know that I struggle daily with this, too. And the whole worthiness, weight, sin, repentance cycle also goes round and round in my head.
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2 comments:
Wow, Nory. I never even thought to consider that idea before, and it makes me so sad that someone would really believe that fat people can't be good Christians and have faith while their bodies aren't healthy.
I think your final paragraph about salvation being given freely by God summed it all up for me. And if we believe God is able to do that, and we're supposed to be living our lives in his image, why wouldn't we, too, offer that same grace to people struggling with their addictions, demons, and past choices?
I'm going to have to think about this for awhile. Great post. Thank you.
Thanks. Just thanks.
If I am mad at God, and say so, will my "witness" be wrecked forever? If I am fat and depressed am I a good witness for a loving God? As a Christian shouldn't I find my fulfillment in God and not in Twinkies?
I think this "judged" feeling I have all the time originated in my childhood church. Makes me mad. I know my sins are forgiven and forgotten the minute I ask so I do not need to live under condemnation. But I do. Early training is hard to break. Great post.
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