The Human Body and the Moral Obligations to it

[Fox]

As you know the human body is a gift from God. Do we have a moral obiligation to keep it healthy?

Do people have the right to put into their bodies anything you so choose like for example nicotine or other poisons which you can control?

Or maybe putting artificial things in it like colours, perservatives, additives, or growth hormones (in meats etc.)?

How about letting yourself get overweight or obese (not the people that have medical conditions, injuries etc, or things beyond there control)?

What about people who choose not to exercise the body?

What about feeding on high saturated fat foods or high sugary food?

Will people be held accountable for abusing the gift that God has given? If people know that certain things are bad for them and the said people consume them will there be consequences?

Something to think about.

 

[mosher]

Fox:

As you know the human body is a gift from God. Do we have a moral obiligation to keep it healthy?

Do people have the right to put into their bodies anything you so choose like for example nicotine or other poisons which you can control?

Or maybe putting artificial things in it like colours, perservatives, additives?

How about letting yourself get overweight or obese (not the people that have medical conditions, injuries etc, or things beyond there control)?

What about people who choose not to exercise the body?

What about feeding on high saturated fat foods or high sugary food?

Will people be held accountable for abusing the gift that God has given? If people know that certain things are bad for them and the said people consume them will there be consequences?

Something to think about.

Yes we have a moral obligation to our body. However the difficulty is when you ask the question “what is healthy for my body?” which is a much more difficult question. There are always fads of science on what is healthy for the body and what is not healthy. Many things that we consider unhealthy now my older family members lived in good health eating and doing until they were about 100 years old. So, the touchsttone might be moderation as opposed to exclusion of somethings that are under question.

 

[Pug]

Our life, health, safety, bodily integrity, etc. are human goods. We ought not do things directly in order to harm them. However, they can be harmed incidentally or indirectly. Like go into a burning building to rescue someone knowing that you will sustain some burns.

Your example of exercise must fit into the scheme of everything. I don’t think it is an imperative to use a treadmill. However, if the doctor tells a man that he must exercise or suffer total heart failure within a year, and that man is only 45 with children and a wife, then this raises the bar. This man may see that he ought to use a treadmill, given his obligations and circumstances.

Remember, though, that a person has his vocation. Say a man is a priest. This could cause him to make choices. Should he spend more time in the confessional, or should he spend time on a treadmill? It is not imperative to always choose the treadmill. There are many things out there besides bodily health.

 

[mosher]

Pug:

Our life, health, safety, bodily integrity, etc. are human goods. We ought not do things directly in order to harm them. However, they can be harmed incidentally or indirectly. Like go into a burning building to rescue someone knowing that you will sustain some burns.

Your example of exercise must fit into the scheme of everything. I don’t think it is an imperative to use a treadmill. However, if the doctor tells a man that he must exercise or suffer total heart failure within a year, and that man is only 45 with children and a wife, then this raises the bar. This man may see that he ought to use a treadmill, given his obligations and circumstances.

Remember, though, that a person has his vocation. Say a man is a priest. This could cause him to make choices. Should he spend more time in the confessional, or should he spend time on a treadmill? It is not imperative to always choose the treadmill. There are many things out there besides bodily health.

A good example of this would be Blessed Pope John XXIII who loved to smoke and drink martinis and was very over-weight but is a Blessed in Heaven.