Gluttony as a sin

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It’s possible but much less likely. Obesity is mainly caused by overconsumption of food. Some hormonal problems, genetics, other diseases or treatments for diseases can have an effect but it is a small percentage of those who are.obese. A sedentary lifestyle can also play a role but diet is the main culprit. Maybe psychological issues make people more prone to it and may lessen the culpability of gluttony for some, but it’s still gluttony
 
Fascinating new research demonstrates a link between gut bacteria and obesity. Heredity plays a huge role as well. Obesity is far more complicated than merely over eating, and addiction to food is a real and serious problem for many. Never judge someone by appearances. People who are obese can suffer in terrible ways.
People of any and all body shapes can be guilty of gluttony.
 
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There is increasing evidence that gut bacteria plays a role in developing obesity.

I know skinny people who overeat yet do not gain weight but people with sluggish thyroids can gain weight even on a strict diet.

So it’s not always the case that all fat people are committing the sin of gluttony.
 
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Polak said:
It’s like a sin you cannot hide and being fat is the punishment for it.
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It’s not punishment but consequence.

No more punishment than sticking your hand in a fire and getting burned or drinking excessively and getting a hangover.

By the way, people can indulge in gluttony and still remain slim. Why aren’t they being punished for gluttony?
 
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Yeah did you actually read my full post? You clearly didn’t. If you had, you’d have seen that I mentioned this.
 
Calm down.

I was just elaborating on what you said. The same effect may have different causes.

I didn’t disagree with you. I merely gave it a tweak, just a slight adjustment.
 
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The stain of original sin is the root to all illness and disease, yes.
 
There is no guilt in original sin. So if gluttony is a capital vice, then we have to ask where the actual sin is, not just the evil result. If we say that all drunkards are diseased addicts, then how is gluttony a vice at all? There is a deterministic trend in modern psychology that absolves all wrongdoing because it removes all free will from the individual. This might help heal the alcoholic who has lost all control (if he believes in grace), but it is not helpful to the drunkard who still has some choice left for prevention.
 
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Disease and gluttony are not the same thing. Being drunk is not always a mortal sin, nor is it always part of a disease. It is not a good example of gluttony.

Gluttony is far more difficult for those of us in prosperous nations/times to understand.

In “Biblical Times” starvation was very real, it happened regularly. For someone to eat more than they needed, to overindulge, to let food go to waste, while people starved outside your front door was a reality.

Today, in the US, we have a glut of food. The closest thing I can think of is an American Christian buying more than they can possibly use every week, then dumping a fridge full of perfectly edible food only to fill it again could be sinful.

Another form of gluttony is to be so picky about your food that you deprive others, for instance, you will only eat grass fed organic beef but you buy your children only rice in order to afford your fancy meat.
 
Per the cited definition in the Catholic Dictionary, I’m still waiting for clarification on what “exquisite food and drink” are. Left me with the feeling that going to a restaurant fancier than, say, Applebee’s, would be sinful.
 
Interestingly, 5 of us could snort a line of cocaine, and only one would develop an addiction. Addiction is physiological. So if all five of us went to confession for it, is the one who ends up physiologically addicted the bigger sinner?
 
Your examples are true but there’s no need to unduly narrow a capital vice: that’s why it’s a capital vice, because it leads to many different kinds of sins. Even shopping for luxurious clothes can be a form of gluttony. A disordered appetite for pleasure should not be difficult for us to understand. Addiction can result from it, but it doesn’t absolve the guilt of choosing to indulge temptations, wherever there is free will, although it may be mitigated. Drunkenness is a classic example, even though alcoholism removes free will to the degree that physical dependency develops.
 
Addictions of any kind, whether to food, alcohol, drugs, shopping or gambling, could be a coping mechanism for a troubled soul.

It deadens the pain. Sort of like pain medication.
 
Interesting replies.

Lots of justification for gluttony unlike the other deadly sins. I guess that was my point. We are happy to find reasonable explanations for the behaviours yet unwilling to do so for other seemingly ‘worse’ sins like lust.
 
Gluttony is less black and white than some other sins, especially the ones against the 6th commandment. The point where a normal thanksgiving dinner turns to gluttony is not as clear as having sex outside marriage vs not having it. Gluttony is often in the eye of the beholder - what one person considers overindulgence in food or drink is normal living for another. Whereas with lust, things are more objectively right or wrong.
 
ewohdrol said:
Lots of justification for gluttony unlike the other deadly sins.
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Do you consider addiction “gluttony?”
LisaB said:
Gluttony is less black and white than some other sins,
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I would say sloth is, as well. Being lazy for purely self-serving reasons is wrong. But I’ve been “lazy” while undergoing clinical depression. Conditions like Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, anemia, hypothyroidism, and even good 'ol pregnancy can also make people appear “lazy.”

The Church, along with the rest of civilization, has learned over the centuries that there’s more than meets the eye to behavior once considered “sinful.” We now know, for example, that suicide isn’t the selfish and evil act that it was once considered to be.

It’s OK for the Church to accommodate advancing knowledge in science in psychology.
 
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Sarcelle said:
Addictions of any kind, whether to food, alcohol, drugs, shopping or gambling, could be a coping mechanism for a troubled soul.

It deadens the pain. Sort of like pain medication.
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@Sarcelle

Thank you for your insightful post.
 
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