Life Lessons From Open-Heart Surgery

I am home.  

Gluttony As a Sin

As I prepared to leave the hospital Monday, my suregeon approached and asked how I felt, I told him that I had authoritiezed payment of $200,000 plus for the greatest misery that i have ever experienced, but in eight weeks, i expected to thank him for it. 

Into the 19th century,  Christianity recognized gluttony as a ain: the intentional overeating relative to requirements for calories required.  

This was partly was because the enormous prosperity of 19th century America made food so cheap that there was no financial barriers.

Partly, gluttony is like sexual sins:  the damage done is not so obvious in who it injures.  The glutton is consuming food that might.be better (and more safely given to those actually in need).

Take a look at pictures of 1950s Americans. They ate seldom fat. To use the junk food slogan of today "Balance what you do, eat and drink."

Church goers by the 1960s had become one of the greatest  centers of unlimited gluttony.  You have likely see the meme of a child with a plate of salad before with the the caption about trying to eat healthyBut you are a Southern Baptist.  The end of the table is filled with jello deserts, mashed potatoes, and  pies.  (As a churchgoing friend explained the number of pies you neded for a church event;  was one pie for each expected guest).

This does not mean every shared church meal needs to be St. John the Baptist's locusts and honey. But neither should the calorie count exceed 3000 calories per anticipated participant.  If it does, send out scouting parties for homeless or hungry people to join you and enjoy the garnering of the harvest.

Finally, we must ask ourselves if that fifth slice of deep dish pepperoni pizza in any way homors the Lord or does it mostly contribute to obesity that will eventually lead to five days (at least) of misery in open-heart surgery.

My particular problem is slightly more complex.  My aortic valve was defective from the factory but too manyTriple Whataburgers and  extra slices of pizza at evening software development parties were an issue.  My parents' poverty also encouraged a "get it while you can" mentality. At the core, churches in which I grew up did not provide appropriate examples on non-gluttoneous eating,  or polite and gentle encouragement to a better path.

I will revisit the gruesome details of the procedure in a later post.