Christianity Today writes about the ever-expanding waistline of the body of Christ. I totally agree with preaching the Biblical principle that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and that Christians should be setting an example with respect to physical fitness; however, those with expertise on Biblical matters regarding the body and nutrition should not try to speak as experts on matters of secular nutrition. For instance:
From Atkins to South Beach, fast and easy weight-loss programs tend to be the goal of most people seeking a new diet. But virtually every health expert agrees that the path to true wellness lies not in the latest diet craze but in a permanent lifestyle change.
Now, the irony here is that both of the weight-loss plans mentioned are designed precisely and explicitly as lifetime ways-of-eating. Both are written with an emphasis on diet/nutrition as a component of overall weight management, including exercise, and a focus on long-term success, not quick weight-loss.
I applaud the effort to integrate Biblical principles into our daily lives, but we get in trouble when we don't discern between Biblical principle and our own knowledge or beliefs. For example:
"The healthy diet," Dr. Enriquez says, "is what we find in the Bible—the fruits and vegetables in Genesis 1:29. God added meat in Genesis 9:3, but we're not supposed to let go of the carbohydrates [as the Atkins craze would suggest], because we need them for our energy. But we need the right carbohydrates, not the simple ones you find in white bread or white pasta or white rice. They give us calories, but they have no nutrients. We need more complex carbohydrates in the form of fruits and vegetables."
Again, Dr. Enriquez is apparently speaking from a position in which he as just about no knowledge of the tenets of the Atkins Diet. Fruits and vegetables are exactly the carbohydrates that are included in the Atkins Diet. But that is beside my point. First, what kind of twisted theology is it that says that we eat fruits and vegetables in priority over meat because God gave them to us earlier than he did meat? Does that mean also that I should prefer to dress myself with fig leaves because Adam used them before God clothed he and Eve in animal skins? (Thankfully for those of you who would have to be around me, the answer to that question is "no".) Second, Dr. Enriquez then takes that faulty premise as a basis for stating that the human body "needs" carbohydrates for energy - an assumption that has been proven resoundingly untrue again and again.
I don't so much have a problem with espousing nutritional beliefs that differ from my own; I do, however, have a problem with trying to use the Bible to back up those views. So, stick to using the Bible to preach Biblical principles: The body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, we are to honor God with our bodies, self-control is one of the fruits of the Spirit borne in the life of one living by the Spirit, gluttony and drunkenness are listed among the sins of the flesh - while at the same time allowing and encouraging Christians to study and learn sound nutritional principles and other matters of specifics on which the Bible remains silent on their own.
