Is It a Sin To Be Fat?

Do you really think that when you meet God, He’s going to measure your waistline? Check the form on your deadlift?

Religion is a fascinating subject to me, both as a matter of study and as a man of religious convictions. Religion’s integral relationship to culture, and widespread influence on social and civic affairs provide endless avenues of study, especially when it comes to matters of health and quality of life. Questions of eternity prompt many interesting discussions in this arena, but one caught my attention recently. In short, an online connection simply claimed, “Being fat is a sin”…

Sorry. Just laughed a little as I typed that quote.

There was a short explanation attached to this claim, something to do with Christ not being fat. I don’t know. To be honest, I didn’t really think the rationale was sound and I vehemently disagreed with the claim. I think that for healthcare professionals with religious inclinations, there are far greater questions to wrestle with, but I want to address this one head on.

No. Being fat is not a sin. And here is one Christian’s perspective on why, and if you are a person of faith, or an alternative faith, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

There are a number of problems I see with attributing sin to being fat. Foremost is the ambiguity inherent in what it means to be fat. Every human body has fat. Some people have more than others. So if you assume that it is sinful to be fat, at what point does your adiposity threshold flip the switch from righteousness to wickedness? And furthermore, what teaching of Christ or scripture is that threshold predicated upon? Frankly, I defy anyone to sustain this claim based on that question alone.

But let me shelve this claim about the sinful nature of fatness, and readjust the focus on "health", or the general state of your body's optimal functioning. Forget about body fat for a moment. Is it sinful to mistreat or disregard the health of your body? To this, I believe the answer is yes. Most major faiths offer either instruction or principles that regard the care of the human body, and most monotheistic faiths I’m familiar with (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, etc.) do as well. But these faiths also believe in an afterlife, which prompts an interesting question - “Why would anyone with a belief in an afterlife care about the length or nature of their time spent between now and that afterlife?” I believe the best answer to that question also justifies my belief that it is a sin to mistreat your body. God expects me to safeguard the things He entrusts me with. If my body is a gift given for divine purpose, I owe it to my Maker to treat it with respect, and accept the counsel He offers on its care, because He cares. I love how this was expressed by Rabbi Harold Kushner:

“I am a traditional Jew. I observe the biblical dietary laws. There are certain foods I don’t eat. I suspect most of you assume I go around all day saying to myself, “Boy, would I love to eat pork chops, but that mean old God won’t let me.” Not so. The fact of the matter is, I go around all day saying, “Isn’t it incredible? There are five billion people on this planet, and God cares what I have for lunch.”

What about those for whom health is short-handed? Those born with congenital defects, experience a debilitating injury from an accident, or develop a significant illness? Here, I think the parable of the talents offers explanation, in Matthew 25:14-30. In short, every servant is entrusted with varying amounts of money, and every servant is expected to do good with what they are entrusted with. The only servant who is punished is the one that disregards his duty. It’s not the amount that matters, only the accountability and trust that is demonstrated.

I said it was sinful to “mistreat or disregard” the body, and by this I meant overt examples of harm inflicted on the body — cutting, schedule I drug abuse, or self-asphyxiation, all of which are *intended* to cause harm for a dopamine hit. Beyond that, it gets harder to pin down where disregard becomes disrespect to God, such as with matters of diet, exercise, or lifestyle behaviors.

And now we’ve come back around to the claim of fat and sin, where I can now hear the gym-bro wheels turning. “If diet influences your body fat,” they reason, “and excess body fat leads to poor health, and disregard for your health is a sin, than why is it not a sin to be fat?”

Okay gym-bros and pseudo-health adjacent allies. Let’s dissect that. Diet - an established pattern of food and beverage choices - can only be interpreted as healthy or unhealthy based on collective intake over a defined period. A single food choice tells me relatively nothing about your health. A day of food choices is also limited, but getting warmer. Ultimately, I need to know the aggregate pattern to establish long-term diet quality. Consider the following exercise that culminates with a question. Read each line below this sentence, one by one, describing part of a person’s dietary pattern and the revealing details bit by bit:

• A man consumes 3 doughnuts (maple bars!) after spending an hour cleaning a building

• Those 3 doughnuts represent the only added sugar and fried food he will eat all day

• He eats doughnuts maybe three times a year

• There are hardly any foods in his regular diet that are fried

With each line of detail, did your conclusions about the “righteousness” of this man’s diet change? If not, no worries, you’re probably not a dietitian. The thing is, when you measure diet by its quality there is a lot of improvement that can be seen, either in a day, or a week, or a month, or a year. I can make conscious efforts that favor better diet quality, but am I less righteous for enjoying a doughnut? If I eat two carrots, is that more saintly than one?

What about exercise? I go to the gym four times in a week. Am I more righteous for going five? I currently rep about 315 on the bench press. Am I more righteous if I pump it up to 325?

If you answer no to any of those questions, than how can you offer an affirmative answer to the question, is it sinful to be fat? I don’t believe it is, but it may be more accurate to say I think the question is completely useless. A person could be conscious of their intake, make good choices, exercise consistently, and generally care for their body, but still have a higher body fat percentage than someone who does none of these things. If thinness does not define health, it sure as… heck… does not define righteousness.

Speaking personally, my humble pursuit of health is one meant to maintain a vessel in service of other causes. Be a good husband, a good father, a good friend, a more serviceable member of my community. Pursuing good health is not the end in itself. The mechanism (maintaining my health) is in service to a Master (My God and His commands to me). I worry that people of faith lose sight of this. Do you really think that when you meet God, He’s going to measure your waistline? Check the form on your deadlift? If you think so, a scripture comes to mind; “Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature… for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart". (1 Samuel 16:7).

I don't believe God is waiting at the pearly gates with a set of golden calipers in hand. I believe He does care about what you do with your body, but that He doesn’t care about what’s reflected in the mirror. I think, and I emphasize the word ‘think’ here, He'll judge me on those two great commandments, and wherever care for my body fits into that picture, maybe He'll ask me "Did you learn to care for what I gave you?".