Is it immoral to be fat because of overeating?

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Dan_McVay

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Isn’t gluttony a deadly sin? Since it is a deadly sin, is it worse to be a glutton than an active homosexual?
 
Dan_McVay said:
Isn’t gluttony a deadly sin? Since it is a deadly sin, is it worse to be a glutton than an active homosexual?
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It’s immoral to intentionally overeat regardless of whether one gets fat or not.

I don’t know that it’s really meaningful to talk about the relative severity of mortal sins. They all condemn your soul to Hell; what could be worse than that?
 
Dan_McVay said:
Isn’t gluttony a deadly sin? Since it is a deadly sin, is it worse to be a glutton than an active homosexual?
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“deadly sin” as in the “7 deadly sins” does not mean that all sins that fall under them are “grave matter” for “Mortal sin”. The term “deadly” there does not mean that…in fact usually we use the term “7 capital sins” meaning that from them flows other sins…

Gluttony in fact is often not grave matter.

Lust (active homosexual) though of course certainly always grave matter for mortal sin.
 
Individual acts of overeating…intemperance (gluttony in this sense) are “ordinarily” a “venial matter” for venial sin…

(though it can be grave such as when one is getting drunk where one looses ones reason is mortal for example (or if it leads to other mortal sins)…or uncorrected habits of eating in a way that will “seriously harm ones health or life” --at least in the “short term” that is…)

Ones confessor can help in this…

We need to seek to grow in the virtue of temperance…

Catechism:

1806 Prudence is the virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it; "the prudent man looks where he is going."65 "Keep sane and sober for your prayers."66 Prudence is “right reason in action,” writes St. Thomas Aquinas, following Aristotle.67 It is not to be confused with timidity or fear, nor with duplicity or dissimulation. It is called auriga virtutum (the charioteer of the virtues); it guides the other virtues by setting rule and measure. It is prudence that immediately guides the judgment of conscience. The prudent man determines and directs his conduct in accordance with this judgment. With the help of this virtue we apply moral principles to particular cases without error and overcome doubts about the good to achieve and the evil to avoid.

1809 Temperance is the moral virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods. It ensures the will’s mastery over instincts and keeps desires within the limits of what is honorable. The temperate person directs the sensitive appetites toward what is good and maintains a healthy discretion: "Do not follow your inclination and strength, walking according to the desires of your heart."72 Temperance is often praised in the Old Testament: "Do not follow your base desires, but restrain your appetites."73 In the New Testament it is called “moderation” or “sobriety.” We ought "to live sober, upright, and godly lives in this world."74
 
Dan_McVay said:
Isn’t gluttony a deadly sin? Since it is a deadly sin, is it worse to be a glutton than an active homosexual?
Click to expand...
Gluttony is a sin. Overeating can be caused by intemperance or by a variety of other physical and psychological reasons. But in the end, gluttony is an excess of a good (eating).

Homosexual acts are disordered. There is nothing, no amount of temperance or moderation that can make them into a good. As with gluttony, there may be physical or psychological factors that mitigate culpabilty but it will always be gravely wrong.
 
Gluttony is rarely a mortal sin. One would have to be severely gluttonous in order to make it so.
 
The other day I was in Hometwon Buffet, a chain of restaurants at least here in Southern California, that are “All you can eat.” I just feel something is wrong with it. I told my invited guest that I thought it must be a sin of some sort to stuff yourself like this, while others starve. I haven’t gone back there. It gets to my conscience.

New Blog for Saint Joan of Arc:
girlwhostompedtheenglish.tumblr.com/
 
Dan_McVay said:
Isn’t gluttony a deadly sin? Since it is a deadly sin, is it worse to be a glutton than an active homosexual?
Click to expand...
In many developed nations, more than half the adult population is defined as overweight. So, more than half of us overeat. But how many of us deliberately overeat with the intention of getting fat? Becoming overweight is a very complex psychological and physiological issue, and is almost never a deliberate choice or intention. For many people, it’s an outcome of an increasingly sedentary lifestyle. This is something almost all adults in the Western world need to adjust to in terms of diet and exercise. For others, eating can become an addiction brought about by myriad causes (often traumas). Whatever the cause, one doesn’t make a deliberate choice each day to be fat, despite a series of lesser choices (what to eat, trying to get some exercise) that might lead to that inevitable outcome.

Keep in mind also that a person has to eat, so it’s not as easy to avoid temptation as with some other sins where we can avoid the near occasion of sin. Every meal is a near occasion of sin (if overeating is a sin for any given person) for people who struggle with food.
 
Qoeleth said:
He’s Jewish, isn’t he?
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He is a Catholic

Indeed a convert!

(and of course to respond to the other person – as one noted above lots of things can go into being of larger size…as we know too from the Saints who where extremely mortified in eating)
 
Bookcat said:
Catechism:

1806 Prudence is the virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it; "the prudent man looks where he is going."65 "Keep sane and sober for your prayers."66 Prudence is “right reason in action,” writes St. Thomas Aquinas, following Aristotle.67 It is not to be confused with timidity or fear, nor with duplicity or dissimulation. It is called auriga virtutum (the charioteer of the virtues); it guides the other virtues by setting rule and measure. It is prudence that immediately guides the judgment of conscience. The prudent man determines and directs his conduct in accordance with this judgment. With the help of this virtue we apply moral principles to particular cases without error and overcome doubts about the good to achieve and the evil to avoid.

1809 Temperance is the moral virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods. It ensures the will’s mastery over instincts and keeps desires within the limits of what is honorable. The temperate person directs the sensitive appetites toward what is good and maintains a healthy discretion: "Do not follow your inclination and strength, walking according to the desires of your heart."72 Temperance is often praised in the Old Testament: "Do not follow your base desires, but restrain your appetites."73 In the New Testament it is called “moderation” or “sobriety.” We ought "to live sober, upright, and godly lives in this world."74
Click to expand...
 
underacloud said:
In many developed nations, more than half the adult population is defined as overweight. So, more than half of us overeat. But how many of us deliberately overeat with the intention of getting fat? Becoming overweight is a very complex psychological and physiological issue, and is almost never a deliberate choice or intention. For many people, it’s an outcome of an increasingly sedentary lifestyle. This is something almost all adults in the Western world need to adjust to in terms of diet and exercise. For others, eating can become an addiction brought about by myriad causes (often traumas). Whatever the cause, one doesn’t make a deliberate choice each day to be fat, despite a series of lesser choices (what to eat, trying to get some exercise) that might lead to that inevitable outcome.

Keep in mind also that a person has to eat, so it’s not as easy to avoid temptation as with some other sins where we can avoid the near occasion of sin. Every meal is a near occasion of sin (if overeating is a sin for any given person) for people who struggle with food.
Click to expand...
Some people are overwieight because of lack of exercise and or because of a slow metabolism. Also, there are the types of things that people eat to consider. Someone could not exercise and not eat much, but not eat the right things and get fat even though they don’t overeat for instance.
 
Being overweight is complex but essentially comes down to an individual consuming more kilojoules (calories) than they expend. So when one is overweight, they “overeat” relative to their energy needs. So I mean overeat in that relative sense, not necessarily in the sense of gluttony.
 
The worst sort of mortal sin is always the one YOU aren’t inclined towards, isn’t it? 😉

IMO, this is why homosexual activists are vilified more than hetero fornicators are. It’s really the same root sin, after all.

Whenever you’re tempted to rank one cardinal sin as worse than another, better examine your conscience. You’re probably rationalizing…
 
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