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eating
i eat a lot. is this a sin?
Comments
I eat alot too. I am not sure if it is a sin or not... Maybe its gluttony or something. I think it also depends on the reasons that we eat?
Your brother in Christ,
Jonah
being bored or not wanting to study, or just being stressed out lol
lol, same here, i procrastinate so much with food... and i have to study with food next to me. but its passion week and my abouna is making me cut it down and its kindof working, only because he is so patient with me lol
[quote author=yousiegtennis link=topic=9037.msg112567#msg112567 date=1269930338]
Gluttony, according to the dictionary, is excessive eating and drinking. I suppose you can judge for yourselves whether you have this problem or not.
In Ascending the Heights: A Layman's Guide to The Ladder of Divine Ascent, by Fr. John Mack, which is an excellent summary and commentary on St. John Climacus' book, there is a whole chapter dedicated to this problem. It is titled Step 14: Controlling Our Eating Habits. It's a very short chapter so I've typed it for you here (the bold sentences are St. John's exact words from his book and the rest is commentary by the author):
"Step 14, according to St. John, is Gluttony. His introduction of the topic is very telling:
Gluttony is hypocrisy of the stomach. Filled, it moans about scarcity; stuffed and crammed, it wails about its hunger. Gluttony thinks up seasonings, creates sweet recipes. Stop one urge and another bursts out; stop that one and you unleash yet another. Gluttony has a deceptive appearance: it eats moderately but wants to gobble everything at the same time.
We are all, I am sure, familiar enough with the urges of gluttony. But perhaps we have not stopped to consider fully the spiritual dangers of gluttony. This is something St. John spends a great deal of time discussing. His analysis is very helpful, for he opens up to us the interconnectedness of the various aspects of the spiritual life. St. John expresses the teaching of the Fathers in this way:
The belly is the cause of all human shipwreck.
Why? For two reasons: first, a gluttonous lifestyle feeds the passions which are inherent in man. Unrestrained eating habits spill over into an unrestrained lifestyle. The reason for this is clear:
Gluttony is the prince of the passions.
St. John gives several examples:
Of course, these are just a few examples of many. The point which St. John is making may be summarized as follows: The passions with which you struggle are energized by your gluttonous habits. Gluttony feeds your passions. Fasting takes away their nourishment.[li]If you struggle with unclean thoughts, remember:
The mind of someone intemperate is filled with unclean longings.
If you struggle with talking too much, remember:
The tongue flourishes where food is abundant.
If you struggle with a lack of repentance, remember:
A full stomach dries up one's weeping.
If you struggle with sexual sin, remember:
The man who looks after his belly and at the same time hopes to control the passion of fornication is like someone trying to put out a fire with oil.[/li]
[li][/li]
Please notice: The nature of the spiritual life is that all passions are interconnected. We cannot allow even one passion to be unrestrained. This is especially true of gluttony. If we are gluttonous, we will be overwhelmed by other passions as well. And what is true in a negative way is also true in a positive way. If we struggle with gluttony and gain some victory, we also gain victory over our other passions.
But gluttony is not dangerous only because it unleashes our passions; the Fathers also teach that gluttony is dangerous because the demon of gluttony is a front man for other, more dangerous demons. Counsels St. John:
You should remember that frequently a demon can take up residence in your belly and keep a man from being satisfied, even after having devoured the whole of Egypt and after having drunk the whole of the Nile. After we have eaten, this demon goes off and sends the spirit of fornication against us, saying, "Get him now! Go after him. When his stomach is full, he will not put up much of a fight." Laughing, the spirit of fornication, that ally of the stomach's demon, comes, binds up hand and foot in sleep, does anything he wants with us, befouls body and soul with his dirty dreams and emissions.
How seldom do we consider this when we are moved to eat! We have been taught to believe everything our body tells us about its needs and desires. Our modern "evolutionary" world has taught us that the body is pure and can experience no evil desires. We assume this to be the case, not knowing that very often the body's desires are demonic desires.
St. John reveals a great deal about the nature of gluttony when he allows her to speak:
Why are you complaining, you who are my servants? How is it that you are trying to get away from me? The reason for my being insatiable is habit. Unbroken habit, dullness of soul, and the failure to remember death are the roots of my passion. And how is it that you are looking for the names of my offspring? For if I were to count them, their number would be greater than the total of the grains of sand. Still, you may learn at least the names of my firstborn and beloved children. My firstborn son is the servant of Fornication, the second is Hardness of Heart, and the third is Sleepiness. From me flow a sea of Dirty Thoughts, waves of Filth, floods of unknown and unspeakable Impurities. My daughters are Laziness, Talkativeness, Breezy Familiarity, Jesting, Facetiousness, Contradiction, Stubbornness, Contempt, Disobedience, Stolidity of Mind, Captivity, Boastfulness, Audacity, Love of Worldly Things, followed by Impure Prayer, Distracted Thoughts, and sudden and often unexpected Catastrophes, with which is linked that most evil of all my daughters, namely, Despair.
Victory over this vice is a brave one. He who is able to achieve it should hasten towards dispassion and total chastity."
Sorry for this super long post, hope this helped. Pray for me a lot.
thanks so much youssie for that, it really helped especially
"If you struggle with a lack of repentance, remember:A full stomach dries up one's weeping."
i need to write that down and remind myself of it because its written for me alone but i really do need a side of prayers, if you dont mind.
thanks so much,
your brother in Christ,
Jonah