Fat Man

Dear pastor Mike,

Is it sin for a man to be fat?

Thanks,

A Little Bit Chunky

Hi Little Bit,

Wow! There’s a loaded question. The first answer is that the Bible doesn’t say anywhere anything like, “Thou shalt not be a fat man.” On the other hand, I can think a number of instances where being fat would probably be sinful.

For example, if the fatness is the result of being sinfully gluttonous (Prov 23:20), then the gluttony is the problem, not necessarily the fatness. The fatness would be the fruit or one of the consequences of the sin of gluttony.

On the other hand, if you are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength (Deut 6:5), but you are too fat to do this, then it seems to me that being fat would at least be a contributor to your sinning in this way. How might fatness contribute to not being able to love God? Well, fatness can cause sluggishness of mind (e.g. slowness of mind, can’t remember things, causes sleeplessness, etc.), it can cause all sorts of other health problems (e.g. diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, etc.), it can cause sluggishness of body, which might keep a man from doing things he used to be able to do, but can’t now because his fat body won’t let him (some kinds of mission work, some kinds of physical work, etc.). Also, some fat men do a lot of things (doctor visits for example) which take them away from serving God as well as they might if they weren’t fat. Of course, a fat man might just take his fatness as part of his life and act as if these effects are just part of his normal life. I can’t say that his fatness is definitely sin, but I do think he should think carefully about these things.

Another area where I think a guy needs to think about his fatness and his walk with God is in the area of loving his wife like Christ loved the Church (Eph 5:25). There are several things here that spring to mind. First and maybe simplest is to ask the question, what does his wife think about his fatness? Does she like looking at him? If she doesn’t enjoy looking at him in all his fatness, is he loving her? I don’t think so. Of course, he/she might rationalize the whole thing and just say that’s who he is, or who he has become, and she just needs to suck it up and get used to it. But is that loving on his part to demand that of her? I don’t think so.

Also, what does she think about making love to his royal fatness? I don’t think I need to go on and on about this, but it certainly should be thought about. And men, don’t ask your wife what she thinks about this because if she is godly, she’ll lie and say she gets by or some other kind thing. The fact is, I can’t imagine any woman wanting a hulking beast lying on top of her enjoying himself while she is working really hard to make him happy.

I’ve already mentioned the health aspect of being fat, but that was with regard to his ability to love God. I want to ask here if being fat and risking his health is a godly way to love his wife. Oh sure, you have a million-dollar life insurance policy, but she wants and needs a husband; and the kids need a father. They don’t need money. For this reason, I think being a fat man would be sinful.

And as I’ve already said, being fat slows the man down so that he can’t serve God well at work. But it also slows him down in being able to play with his kids at every age. He can’t get up and down to play with his toddler. He can’t run across the park to play catch with his son. He can’t chase that boy down who wants to take his daughter out. He is essentially a couch potato and that isn’t an effective minister of the word to anyone, let alone his family.

Finally, being a fat man doesn’t come upon a man quickly. It takes years to get to the place where a man realizes he’s fat. It comes because of a lifestyle that allows more calories to come in and less calories to be burned off. And this leads to a kind of example to people around that isn’t all that good. It might not be sinful, but it might. If being lazy is the reason the man is fat, then his fatness is sinful. Laziness is sin (Prov 15:19).

As I’m writing this, I’m wondering if that isn’t why you asked the question. You’re sneaky. So, last week I joined the gym. I’ve started being careful to eat less. The weather is changing and I’m planning to get outside more. Of course, the cancer helped wake me up to the importance of these things from a practical point of view, but so did your question. So, thank you for writing.

I hope this helps, both of us.