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Evanescence
Guest
Is it a sin to be overweight?
If so why?
Evanescence
If so why?
Evanescence
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Cadence
Guest
Evanescence
It is not a sin to be overweight - it is why a person is overweight that is possibly sinful.
Gluttony is a sin. If you allow indulge yourself with excessive amounts of food then that is a sin, especially if it causes harm to your health. Any kind of over-indulgence is a sin.
For something to be a mortal sin there has to be full knowlege and full consent. If there is some reason why you may not be able to give full consent, for example an addiction, then there is diminished culpability. However if you make no effort to get over said addiction then that is a mortal sin.
Basically you need to be making an effort to stop committing whatever sin it is you are committing.
Does this answer your question?
It is not a sin to be overweight - it is why a person is overweight that is possibly sinful.
Gluttony is a sin. If you allow indulge yourself with excessive amounts of food then that is a sin, especially if it causes harm to your health. Any kind of over-indulgence is a sin.
For something to be a mortal sin there has to be full knowlege and full consent. If there is some reason why you may not be able to give full consent, for example an addiction, then there is diminished culpability. However if you make no effort to get over said addiction then that is a mortal sin.
Basically you need to be making an effort to stop committing whatever sin it is you are committing.
Does this answer your question?
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Katie1723
Guest
I agree with this. But aside from gluttony, there are a whole lot of reasons why people are overweight( I am one of “those people”) Our bodies are temples of the Lord and should be treated as such, so for my own self I am working on it!
~ Kathy ~
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tuopaolo
Guest
As has been said it’s not being overweight itself that’d be a sin but the bad choices you may have made in the past that caused you to become overweight. Whenever you eat something thinking: “I know I shouldn’t eat this, but I’m going to eat it anyway” where you are talking morally and not just joking to yourself, then it’d be a sin.
But it is OK IMO to feast occasionally like at Thanksgiving or some other special day – it might not be OK health-wise, but I think it is OK morally. What would be wrong morally is doing something that goes against what your reason judges to be good. But reason can rightly judge it to be good to feast occasionally even if it may cause some minor health issues because our physical health is not the paramount value in the moral life – having a good time with friends or participating in a celebration can be a higher value. It’d only be morally wrong to eat more than is necessary when you don’t have any good reason, big or small, to do it but are just giving in to your lower impulses while being aware of a complete lack of reason to do it.
As has also been said being overweight can be caused by a variety of things. Sometimes it is not even caused by eating at all. Some people are overweight due to some rare peculiar diseases (kind of like how some people with cancer have their hair fall out).
But it is OK IMO to feast occasionally like at Thanksgiving or some other special day – it might not be OK health-wise, but I think it is OK morally. What would be wrong morally is doing something that goes against what your reason judges to be good. But reason can rightly judge it to be good to feast occasionally even if it may cause some minor health issues because our physical health is not the paramount value in the moral life – having a good time with friends or participating in a celebration can be a higher value. It’d only be morally wrong to eat more than is necessary when you don’t have any good reason, big or small, to do it but are just giving in to your lower impulses while being aware of a complete lack of reason to do it.
As has also been said being overweight can be caused by a variety of things. Sometimes it is not even caused by eating at all. Some people are overweight due to some rare peculiar diseases (kind of like how some people with cancer have their hair fall out).
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puzzleannie
Guest
we already had a few threads on obesity and sin, so we don’t need any more, thank you very much. here is a news flash folks, there are other reasons for being overweight besides gluttony. If you haven’t been there, please have the kindness to shuddup.
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Evanescence
Guest
Sorry Puzzleannie I didn’t know about the other threads…
but I myself am overweight due to Depression.
I suffered from depression and food was my only pleasure…
Now I am addicted to sweets and can’t get off them even when depressed I feel so sad and lonely and feel all the joy had been sucked out of me, even when I eat food I still feel empty, but its my only joy at that time…
Now I feel guilty when I eat but I can’t stop so I was jsut wondering would this go down as a sin being overweight…
Evanescence
but I myself am overweight due to Depression.
I suffered from depression and food was my only pleasure…
Now I am addicted to sweets and can’t get off them even when depressed I feel so sad and lonely and feel all the joy had been sucked out of me, even when I eat food I still feel empty, but its my only joy at that time…
Now I feel guilty when I eat but I can’t stop so I was jsut wondering would this go down as a sin being overweight…
Evanescence
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Cadence
Guest
Gee, do you have a chip on your shoulder?
Evenescence just needed an answer to a question - she doesn’t need your permission!
Also, if you actually READ any of the replys then you will notice that ever one said that while gluttony is a sin there are other reasons one may be overweight that are NOT sinful.
Before you tell people to shut up try reading what they actually have to say.
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Katie1723
Guest
Perhaps “overweight” is an issue new to the original poster, in that she’s recently had to deal with it.Or only now has come to terms with someone who has. Never tell someone to stop asking questions. You don’t know the situation. If reading about it bothers you, then don’t read it.
As far as “repeat” threads, most of the threads here are “repeat” in one form or another. When you STOP asking questions, that’s when the trouble starts.
~ Kathy ~
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Listener
Guest
Well, I can tell you one thing. I have been on both sides of the fence. When I was young, I could pig out on anything I wanted to, and I would hardly gain an ounce no matter how much I ate. This included cakes, cookies, donuts, potato chips, huge hamburgers, you name it. When I was in high school, I would take a sandwich and some cookies to school in a brown bag. After I ate my lunch, I would go to the hamburger joint and eat hamburger, french fries and coke. If the scale did go up a bit, I could drop 5 pounds by skipping a meal.
After age 40, this all changed. I started gaining weight so fast that you would have thought I was pregnant. Now that I’m almost old enough to collect Social Security, the doctor keeps telling me to lose weight. I drink one percent milk, never have pop with sugar in it, and I cut way back on the bread. I eat very little butter. I saw Dr. Phil where the fat people were throwing out all of their junk food. I didn’t have anything to throw out because I don’t keep that stuff in the house. I walk a couple of miles at least three times a week. I’m not a couch potato.
I was diagnosed with metabolic syndrome and pre-diabetes. I would love to lose some weight, but it just doesn’t want to come off. If this is a sin, I guess I would need to go to confession every week!
After age 40, this all changed. I started gaining weight so fast that you would have thought I was pregnant. Now that I’m almost old enough to collect Social Security, the doctor keeps telling me to lose weight. I drink one percent milk, never have pop with sugar in it, and I cut way back on the bread. I eat very little butter. I saw Dr. Phil where the fat people were throwing out all of their junk food. I didn’t have anything to throw out because I don’t keep that stuff in the house. I walk a couple of miles at least three times a week. I’m not a couch potato.
I was diagnosed with metabolic syndrome and pre-diabetes. I would love to lose some weight, but it just doesn’t want to come off. If this is a sin, I guess I would need to go to confession every week!
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Island_Oak
Guest
You are more testy than normal today, girlfriend. What gives? Bad weekend?
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Zooey
Guest
Well, I** hope** it isn’t a sin, because
I have enough problems!
But, seriously, there are all kinds of reasons why people are overweight. In my case, I have several things working against me, including heredity, health issues, & meds that do a number on my metabolism…If I were 20 or 30 years younger, I might be able to minimize the problem. But my middle aged metabolic rate is way bad. So here I am, in the same boat with a lot of others…
I have enough problems!But, seriously, there are all kinds of reasons why people are overweight. In my case, I have several things working against me, including heredity, health issues, & meds that do a number on my metabolism…If I were 20 or 30 years younger, I might be able to minimize the problem. But my middle aged metabolic rate is way bad. So here I am, in the same boat with a lot of others…
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sconea
Guest
No one would have dreamed of asking such a question even 30 years ago as we did not have an obsession with weight, health or appearance…nor did we have fat police. It was understood that people came in all shapes and sizes. There are myriad reasons for what some would call overweight. Sure gluttony is a sin, but not necessarily the cause of ‘overweight.’ Would someone pass me a twinkie?
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StratusRose
Guest
Transform yourself from the inside out. Take the challenge. It’s 12 weeks to physical and mental strength.
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puzzleannie
Guest
Island Oak:
weigh in at doctor after 8 week supervised diet at local med center, lost 1 lb, there are many other issues that contribute to overweight that have nothing to do with how much or what you eat. All the posters, even those who graciously allow that obesity itself may not be sinful, went on to state that behaviors leading to obesity are sinful, and that obesity is caused by gluttony. This is not always the case. If you wish to have a fruitful discussion, or a worthwhile answer to a question, false premises will not contribute to that goal. Yes, I am extremely testy when someone suggests obesity is a sin, or is caused by a sinful behavior.
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Cadence
Guest
Try actually READING the posts annie.
Obesity CAN be caused by gluttony. Not always but often it is.
Obviously if there is some other reason that is not sinful.
All the point we were making is that gluttony is a sin. If you are guilty of gluttony then you need to confess. If you are not guilty of gluttony then fine! Besides, some gluttonous people are NOT overweight.
The point is - are you gluttonous? If you are not then there is no problem! Chill out! We can have a fruitful discussion when people don’t fly of the handle and misquote others.
Obesity CAN be caused by gluttony. Not always but often it is.
Obviously if there is some other reason that is not sinful.
All the point we were making is that gluttony is a sin. If you are guilty of gluttony then you need to confess. If you are not guilty of gluttony then fine! Besides, some gluttonous people are NOT overweight.
The point is - are you gluttonous? If you are not then there is no problem! Chill out! We can have a fruitful discussion when people don’t fly of the handle and misquote others.
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Dj_Roy_Albert
Guest
Ask St. Thomas Aquinas.
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tuopaolo
Guest
Dj Roy Albert:
This is the physical description of St Thomas given in the Catholic Encyclopedia:
“A description of the saint as he appeared in life is given by Calo (Prümmer, op. cit., p. 401), who says that his features corresponded with the greatness of his soul. He was of lofty stature and of heavy build, but straight and well proportioned. His complexion was “like the colour of new wheat”: his head was large and well shaped, and he was slightly bald.”
newadvent.org/cathen/14663b.htm
And being a saint does not mean that one does not sin! If we are to ask St Thomas about whether gluttony is a sin (no one here thinks that being overweight in and of itself is a sin), we must simply ask him and have him answer in his own words rather than with his build (which was not obese in the first place):
newadvent.org/summa/314801.htm
On the contrary, Gregory says (Moral. xxx, 18) that “unless we first tame the enemy dwelling within us, namely our gluttonous appetite, we have not even stood up to engage in the spiritual combat.” But man’s inward enemy is sin. Therefore gluttony is a sin.
*I answer that, Gluttony denotes, not any desire of eating and drinking, but an inordinate desire. Now desire is said to be inordinate through leaving the order of reason, wherein the good of moral virtue consists: and a thing is said to be a sin through being contrary to virtue. Wherefore it is evident that gluttony is a sin. *
http://www.newadvent.org/summa/314802.htm
*On the contrary, Gregory says (Moral. xxx, 18): “As long as the vice of gluttony has a hold on a man, all that he has done valiantly is forfeited by him: and as long as the belly is unrestrained, all virtue comes to naught.” But virtue is not done away save by mortal sin. Therefore gluttony is a mortal sin. *
I answer that, As stated above (1), the vice of gluttony properly consists in inordinate concupiscence. Now the order of reason in regulating the concupiscence may be considered from two points of view. First, with regard to things directed to the end, inasmuch as they may be incommensurate and consequently improportionate to the end; secondly, with regard to the end itself, inasmuch as concupiscence turns man away from his due end. Accordingly, if the inordinate concupiscence in gluttony be found to turn man away from the last end, gluttony will be a mortal sin. This is the case when he adheres to the pleasure of gluttony as his end, for the sake of which he contemns God, being ready to disobey God’s commandments, in order to obtain those pleasures. On the other hand, if the inordinate concupiscence in the vice of gluttony be found to affect only such things as are directed to the end, for instance when a man has too great a desire for the pleasures of the palate, yet would not for their sake do anything contrary to God’s law, it is a venial sin.
It is often said that St Thomas was obese, but this claim is often motivated by a desire other than for the truth, the same desire to be agreeable to liberal politically correct ideology that motivates claims that there have been homosexual saints. And then well-meaning people repeat these claims unknowingly without any kind of disdain for the truth.
This is the physical description of St Thomas given in the Catholic Encyclopedia:
“A description of the saint as he appeared in life is given by Calo (Prümmer, op. cit., p. 401), who says that his features corresponded with the greatness of his soul. He was of lofty stature and of heavy build, but straight and well proportioned. His complexion was “like the colour of new wheat”: his head was large and well shaped, and he was slightly bald.”
newadvent.org/cathen/14663b.htm
And being a saint does not mean that one does not sin! If we are to ask St Thomas about whether gluttony is a sin (no one here thinks that being overweight in and of itself is a sin), we must simply ask him and have him answer in his own words rather than with his build (which was not obese in the first place):
newadvent.org/summa/314801.htm
On the contrary, Gregory says (Moral. xxx, 18) that “unless we first tame the enemy dwelling within us, namely our gluttonous appetite, we have not even stood up to engage in the spiritual combat.” But man’s inward enemy is sin. Therefore gluttony is a sin.
*I answer that, Gluttony denotes, not any desire of eating and drinking, but an inordinate desire. Now desire is said to be inordinate through leaving the order of reason, wherein the good of moral virtue consists: and a thing is said to be a sin through being contrary to virtue. Wherefore it is evident that gluttony is a sin. *
http://www.newadvent.org/summa/314802.htm
*On the contrary, Gregory says (Moral. xxx, 18): “As long as the vice of gluttony has a hold on a man, all that he has done valiantly is forfeited by him: and as long as the belly is unrestrained, all virtue comes to naught.” But virtue is not done away save by mortal sin. Therefore gluttony is a mortal sin. *
I answer that, As stated above (1), the vice of gluttony properly consists in inordinate concupiscence. Now the order of reason in regulating the concupiscence may be considered from two points of view. First, with regard to things directed to the end, inasmuch as they may be incommensurate and consequently improportionate to the end; secondly, with regard to the end itself, inasmuch as concupiscence turns man away from his due end. Accordingly, if the inordinate concupiscence in gluttony be found to turn man away from the last end, gluttony will be a mortal sin. This is the case when he adheres to the pleasure of gluttony as his end, for the sake of which he contemns God, being ready to disobey God’s commandments, in order to obtain those pleasures. On the other hand, if the inordinate concupiscence in the vice of gluttony be found to affect only such things as are directed to the end, for instance when a man has too great a desire for the pleasures of the palate, yet would not for their sake do anything contrary to God’s law, it is a venial sin.
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Island_Oak
Guest
Annie:
Sorry to hear of your frustration–sounds like you have a medical challenge on your hands which may take some time to resolve. Perhaps with the guidance you are receiving you will start seeing some more encouraging results soon. Chin up–we all wish you the best!!
Sorry to hear of your frustration–sounds like you have a medical challenge on your hands which may take some time to resolve. Perhaps with the guidance you are receiving you will start seeing some more encouraging results soon. Chin up–we all wish you the best!!
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cargopilot
Guest
I sure hope not. My dear, sweet wife of many years, was skinny as a rail when we married. Over the years, she has become more ‘comfortable’. She is a dream come true and I am the luckiest man alive. I don’t know if it is a sin to become overweight, but I don’t care. To me, she is still as beautiful today as the day we were married, and I love her, so. If it REALLY is a sin, don’t tell her.
I often wonder what she could ever have to confess, I don’t think she has a sinful bone in her body. So, it’s hard for me to imagine all this talk of the sinful nature of being overweight. I would say that it certainly more sinful to tell someone that their weight ‘problem’ is a sin. I’m pretty sure that a fat person already is aware of that.
I know this guy who has a fat wife, and he rips on her all the time. She is so good to him. She treats him like a king. He doesn’t appreciate what he’s got. He’s the fool. He’s the sinner. He needs to look at himself and count his blessings.
So, I think that there are so many other sins worthy of our focus. If all we’ve got on our list of sins is being ‘chubby’, then we’re doin’ pretty good.http://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon12.gif
I often wonder what she could ever have to confess, I don’t think she has a sinful bone in her body. So, it’s hard for me to imagine all this talk of the sinful nature of being overweight. I would say that it certainly more sinful to tell someone that their weight ‘problem’ is a sin. I’m pretty sure that a fat person already is aware of that.
I know this guy who has a fat wife, and he rips on her all the time. She is so good to him. She treats him like a king. He doesn’t appreciate what he’s got. He’s the fool. He’s the sinner. He needs to look at himself and count his blessings.
So, I think that there are so many other sins worthy of our focus. If all we’ve got on our list of sins is being ‘chubby’, then we’re doin’ pretty good.http://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon12.gif
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tuopaolo
Guest
I don’t disagree with that but I would add that if all we’ve got on our list of sins is that (or more precisely inordinate behaviors which led to it), then that SHOULD be our focus since that’s the only sin we have left to focus on
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