How Do JWs View Gluttony?

by Bubblegum Apotheosis 28 Replies latest jw friends

  • wha happened?
    wha happened?

    last time I was in Palmdale, the bro's went to hometown buffet after meeting. I hate that place, and I hated watching all these people grazing inside.

  • cedars
    cedars

    The irony is that, whilst gluttony is mentioned as a sin in the bible, masturbation isn't.

    Guess which gets the most attention by the Society?!

    Cedars

  • wha happened?
    wha happened?

    I remember a brother who was df'd for drinking. He asked why all the fat publishers weren't at least counciled, since it is part of the same scripture

  • Morbidzbaby
    Morbidzbaby

    I knew an elderette who was a self-proclaimed glutton. It wasn't hard to see WHY she was so overweight and unhealthy. The woman had ZERO willpower. We'd go out to eat after the TMS, and she'd say ahead of time "I'm just going to get a salad". Then we'd get there, she'd order her salad, but then she'd be up in her husband's and daughter's plates...scamming french fries, eating half her daughter's mountain of nachos...And then she'd just "give up" and order a quesadilla or her own mountain of nachos. When we'd bring it to her attention with a gentle "You said you were just having a salad", she'd come back with "Well, I LOVE to eat and I can't just sit here with all this food and have a salad! I'll start my diet again next week". It was always "next week". There was one time I recall that she actually lost a very large amount of weight. She went from a size 20 to about an 8. Then decided she could allow herself to cheat multiple times a week. It all came back, and then some. The last diet she was on while I was still in was a healthy one, she was doing really well, showing tremendous willpower. Her daughter had a big party, she caved and had all the things she shouldn't have. Knocked her right off the wagon and she's been off ever since as far as I know.

    I knew another sister who was extremely large. I don't mean she was a size 28/30, I mean she had to either make or specially order her clothing. There was a row of seats in the back of the hall that had no arm rests and she sat back there because her behind took up 2 of the seats and her top half spilled over into the seats on the sides of her. I really felt bad for her. NO ONE wants to be that big. (ETA: No one who doesn't have a fat and gaining fetish, that is...yes, it exists...) And as far as I could tell she wasn't a huge eater. Unfortunately, with the sheer amount of rolls she, it caused sweat and dead skin to be trapped and created fungal infections, causing her to smell. No one really talked to her. She came to the meeting and left right after. Eventually, she stopped going. I heard awhile back that she'd undergone gastric bypass. I don't know how true it is, but I hope she did end up getting better.

    I also knew a brother who is extremely large...yet he's an elder. He's a warm, loving, funny person. I know he was on a crash-type diet and supposedly lost a lot of his weight. I just worry that there are underlying issues that CAUSED the weight gain to begin with... Something more than just "eating too much".

    There's a huge difference between being gluttonous and being overweight. Sometimes they are synonymous, but sometimes they aren't. Sometimes people are victims of their upbringing (if mom and dad make you finish everything on your plate, if grandma gives you a cookie every time you feel bad, if your own parents are gluttons or serve food that is loaded with calories and refined sugars and simple carbs...). But sometimes, they're just slobs. It's hard sometimes to differentiate between the two.

  • wallsofjericho
    wallsofjericho

    i asked a couple elders once if one could be DF'd for gluttony. They hummed and hawed and then nodded yes.

    I then asked them if they would like to be on that committee... lol - of course neither wanted to be!

    I was once told by a sister she was glad I was at her 'get-together' because a sister's UBH was coming and he thinks all JW's are fat and out of shape. Well since I am not waiting for Armageddon to save me from my impending high cholesterol heart attack, I take good care of myself.

    Little did she know that all the JW's in that room WERE fat and out of shape since I am actually an apostate.

    I thought it was funny

  • Disillusioned Lost-Lamb
    Disillusioned Lost-Lamb

    Many are incredibly unhappy and their drug of choice is food.

    Not everyone with an eating disorder is skinny so I don't always think it's gluttony, since self-medicating your unhappiness and anxiety with food by binging (but not purging) is an eating disorder.

    What we should be wondering is why “the happiest people on earth” feel the need to numb themselves with food, alcohol, drugs, etc.?

  • NewChapter
    NewChapter

    How would they even spot it? There are medicines, especally psychiatric meds, that just make a person gain weight. I read an article by a journalist that took some. She had been thin and fit all of her life, and she gained ONE HUNDRED POUNDS in just months! She felt great emotionally and had not significantly changed her eating and exercise habits, but she just kept gaining. She couldn't take it anymore, and decided she needed another drug. It doesn't work as well, but the weight is coming off.

    Then there is the problem of maintenance. Once a person is overweight, they really don't need to take in that many calories to maintain it. Normal portions will keep them fat, and they have to cut calories to lose it. I know with my recent illness, I experienced weight gain. First, I was unable to exercise, or even get out of bed. Next the meds took their toll. On top of that, I was dependent on people to get my meals together, and they chose the worst stuff in the world. Things I never would have eaten with any regularity if I had been in control. It was horrible! And I just got bigger, and since I was usually in jammies or sweats, I wouldn't see the damage until I tried to dress. WHAT A NIGHTMARE---and I didn't take up two seats, or stress furniture, but it didn't matter, I felt like I did.

    Now that I'm on the mend, it's been dropping off. I think I lost 5 pounds in the last week, which isn't good, but it happens sometimes. Every 6 weeks I have to buy new jeans. Now the hope is that I will level out, as my doctors are starting to make charts so I can have a visual on how they see this. But look, I think my body is trying to get back to normal and it seems to be in a rush. I'm not doing it on purpose, but whatever.

    Weight is tricky, and thin people eat too much too. I don't think any elder would want to touch it with a ten foot pole.

    But I have known people that I think of as consumers. They are usually heavy and eat a lot, but it goes beyond that. They consume everything---they shop---they take---they collect----whatever they consume too much. They are generally bottomless pits that can never have enough of anything.

    But with the legalism in the WT, just how would they set out the rules?

    NC

  • extractor
    extractor

    An elder and elderette at our local KH are 300+ a piece! That's 600 pounds of righteous judgement coming your way!

    (Working on a joke about "...food at the proper time...")

  • Bubblegum Apotheosis
    Bubblegum Apotheosis

    The consensus on JWN agrees the Watchtower Society is not addressing the needs of their members physical health. Gluttony is not preached about in the Watchtower or Awake, allowing their sheep to graze to death on unhealty food. Five Hundred Pound Elders are not removed for morbid obesity, but a brother who smokes is disfellowshiped from the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. Not only is this two faced, it's hypocrisy at it's height!

    @whasup Those disgusting Buffets with their sodium loaded frozen dinners, how gross is that!

    @cedars did you read that updated "Elder's letter for March 2012 on Porneia? "They strain the knat, but gulp down the camel!" Their guilt trip is not working on young kids, they don't care what the Organization says about Masterbation. I heard two boys telling an elder "hey at least we are not going out and getting girls pregnant" he agreed with them, what will the Organization do, as more kids show an independant spirit from the Pharisees attention to minute details?

    @LouBelle "I grew up listening to that BS about "Bodily training", one MacNugget at a time, I was told not to exercise, it "was not good, St. Paul said not to work out!" It made me mad as Hell, this trash was spouted by overweight elders and I was only a teenager! I told one brother who liked to talk dirty, "hey brother D, did you know if you lost sixty pounds your penis would grow by two inches?" He went on a diet with those nasty weight loss drugs, hoping to enlarge his penis, not to make his body a clean temple, but to impress his sex hating wife.

    @jojo I heard this talk too, what balls your overseer had! I love his style, not mean but honest! Weight problems are becoming epidemic, yet the Watchtower is failing to keep it's sheep Awake! They are not teaching healthy lifestyle choices, how to avoid over-eating, are they trying to kill thier older members prematurely? Will the French Diet help these knuckleheads? Fat brothers would drink red wine and tell me it was their degreaser!

    "One outspoken and funny ( and sometimes unpopular ) brother gave a talk concerning the " Obesity " Awake magazine. He said from stage that

    " People like to say that it is in their genes, they can't help it.. Well, have you ever seen a fat person in a concentration camp!? Wait till you get thrown in prison during a time of persecution and then tell me it's in your genes.." WOW!"

    Hey Thank You Everyone Who posted, it's not a popular subject to preach, but the Slave must do their part to help their sheep.

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