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The socially acceptable sin

I recently read an article that addressed the idea of gluttony as sin. All too often we, as American Christians, find ourselves in a compromised situation where we have to say 'no' to our flesh even though the availability to indulge in greed is constantly bombarding us. The article's gist is that selfishness, lust, greed, and gluttony are all acceptable forms of sin in a North American context. No one bats an eye at things like obesity or excess material wealth but we will get bent out of shape over drinking, sex, or rock n roll.

I find myself daily struggling with this same pattern of selfish desires and greed and usually failing to it. Because amenities like food and comfort are readily available to me in my day-to-day life, it is difficult to turn them down. If I want more of "that thing", then I take it. I eat it. I wear it. I do it. It is easy to feed my addiction of comfort.

What's more, it is easy to think that I deserve it.

For instance, last night, Isaiah and I took Katie to "The Spread" (an all-you-can-eat buffet at the Horseshoe casino) for Mother's Day. It was DELICIOUS! It was even more delicious because it cost $50 for the 2 of us (which was paid compliments to the Flying Pig expo), and we all know that expensive food tastes better than cheap food, right??

So there I was, perusing over tables of delicious food, devouring mountains of meat, licking my fingers of barbecue, and smiling over a pile of used plates and forks. I hadn't eaten hardly a thing all day so somehow I had convinced myself that I had "earned" the right to eat more than my stomach could handle. I convinced myself that because this was such an expensive meal, I "needed" to eat as much as I could handle, in order to get my money's worth of the experience.

Around me sat 200 people with similar mentalities--each one chowing down on a much higher dose of caloric intake than most healthy standards would allow.

I'm not sure where else to go with these thoughts....but there you have it. Somehow we as Americans have convinced ourselves that we have "earned" the right to be gluttons. And we take full advantage of it. Shame on us.

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