Professional Documents
Culture Documents
By
Patricia Backora
I just cant believe the crazy crap Christians swallow today! In this
article Ill address just one of the zillions of zany doctrines which have
driven Christians out of brainwashing barns called churches.
In the beginning the church was a spiritual fellowship of brothers and
sisters who were in the world but not of it. After centuries of
persecution, Emperor Constantine brought the church into the
mainstream of respectability. As the church lost its precious vision of
the priesthood of all believers, educated clergy evolved which
separated from the laity. The church became a scholarly religious
organization guided by stern men in black robes.
In colonial America, church was the soul of the nation. Church was the
conscience of the nation, and the doctor which monitored its moral
pulse. As humanistic influences deadened that conscience, the fire
went out of preachers voices. The nominal church became a religious
country club, and attending the right church separated fine families
from the bad. The disillusionment of the 60s set in. Young people
disenchanted with the materialism and hypocrisy of the affluent
institutional church got turned off to organized religion. So God
reached out to them by sending a mighty Holy Ghost revival in the late
60s and early 70s. The Jesus Revolution saw many entering into
closer fellowship with Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
At first, bearded and beaded seekers of truth were fed solid meat from
Gods Word. But as churchgoers matured out of their idealistic childlike
zeal, boredom set in. Little by little the solid Meat of the Word became
candy. Churches competed to draw crowds with top Christian lecturers
and comedians, bouncy music and revolutionary new ways to feel
better about yourself. By now the Jesus People had a mortgage. They
realized that they had to keep religion relevant so they could focus on
paying it off. So church evolved into a a success seminar attended by
go-getters in ties and blue suits. Church, once the arch enemy of
mammon, became big business.
American food kept pace with advances in futuristic technology.
Americans now had a dozen different flavors of their favorite cookie
baking chip! Overworked (and hardly home) Americans swung by
Mickey Ds for dinner. No time to slave over the stove to prepare from
scratch healthy meals anymore! Gotta run, run, run! Overstressed
What kind of blessing did the patriarch Isaac bless his son Jacob with?
Gen.27: 28: Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the
fatness of the earth, and PLENTY of corn and wine.* * *Jacob was
promised plenty, not just enough to make it till his stomach churns.
Joel 2:26: And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the
name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and
my people shall never be ashamed.* * * Sister X condemns Christians
who eat what God sets before them (see Luke 10:8; I Cor.10:27).
What about Abraham, and the dinner he served three angels who
came to visit in Genesis chapter 18? Sarah made a big pile of flatbread
for them. Abraham fixed a whole calf for them, along with butter and
milk! How many bites did the angels take of that fattened calf before
they called it a day? If anyone should set the example for
righteousness, it ought to be Gods holy angels from heaven!
Lev.26:5: and ye shall eat bread TO THE FULL, and dwell in your land
safely.* * *Here God puts having a full stomach on the same level as
living in safety!
Prudent food intake, combined with moderate exercise, is fine. But
self-starvation is an unnatural, unwinnable war against ones own
body. Christian women try to make a religious rite out of dieting. But
theyre kidding themselves. ALL women who diet to look like a skinny
boy do so either to keep bitchy women from riding them about their
weight problem . or do it to get more action in the sack. Christians
fast to impress God, although its nowhere commanded by any Biblical
apostle (I explore this topic in other articles and videos). Christian
devotional dieting is allegedly endured to demonstrate discipleship
toward Christ.
Some say theyre romancing Jesus by starving
physically. Sinners (and some Christians, subconsciously), diet so
some babe out there will get the hots for their sexy bod. This
repressed drive is sublimated into the spiritual realm: Hey, Jesus, Id
rather have You than a Twinkie.
Does any Christian seriously think God holds beauty contests up in
heaven? Do hookers in hot pants stroll the streets of glory to arouse
males with their skinny thighs? Does Peter prance on the beach
showing off his ripped six-pack? Why starve so youll be buried as a
size 2, if youll be wearing a robe up in heaven and no one will be able
to see your flat fanny after you got slim for him (who)?
At this womans church, even the children are taught to eat only till
theyre barely satisfied. And if they go past that point, they are
rebuked for sin. Jesus says in Mark 7:27: Let the children first be
FILLED. What damage is being done psychologically and physically to
innocent children of people attending this dieting church? Everyone
knows children NEED plenty of calories to grow like weeds and develop
bright brains so they can pass tests. Studies have shown that hungry
school children cant learn. When I was a kid, Id dump all my school
lunch in the trash because it wasnt fit to slop hogs with. Id
sometimes feel too tired to concentrate, but on those rare occasions
they served something edible I would take more than three bites. In
other articles I attack the Spanking Doctrine, but forcing eating
disorders and body hatred on kids is another form of religious abuse.
Any church leader who formulates church doctrine out of oppressive
sexist Western beauty standards is doing something none of the early
apostles did. Sister Xs strict legalism frustrates the grace of God. A
freaky Frankenstein gospel spun out of cherry-picked, reinterpreted
Old Testament passages is a noxious weed which bears terrible fruit.
This phrase is found several times in the Gospels: And they did all eat
and were filled (not barely satisfied):Matt.14:20;15:37; Mark 6:42;
Luke 9:17* * *Jesus didnt pass out the loaves and fishes and tell the
crowds: Eat only when your stomach growls and then take only three
bites! After feeding the multitude, Jesus told His disciples to be sure to
collect the leftovers so nothing would go to waste (John 6:12). Sister X
believes in wasting food. If you leave a bunch on your plate and it rots,
so what? Maybe Jesus should have just fed the birds with the
leftovers! Saving food betrays lack of trust in God to provide future
meals. Would Sister X tell a hungry Ethiopian its an abomination in the
sight of God to save scarce food for tomorrows lunch?
Even James, the most legalistic of the apostles, has this to say:
James 2:15: If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily
food,
VERSE 16: And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye
warmed and FILLED (not just get three spoonfuls of nourishment);
notwithstanding ye give them not those things WHICH ARE NEEDFUL
TO THE BODY; what doth it profit?
The Dieting Gospel would say instead: Count it all joy that youre too
weak from hunger to think anymore, and youre a stress bomb who
bites everybodys head off cause the Lord will damn you to hell for
eating. Or, shed say to a fat individual: Whats the use of giving you
money for clothes? Clothing stores dont even stock your size! Youve
got plenty of lard on your bones. You dont need to eat! Nows your
chance to get skinny for Jesus!
Did God care whether OT believers got enough food, or was He more
concerned that they stay skinny? Here are His instructions to Israelite
farmers and herdsmen:
Deut.14:28: At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the
tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy
gates:
VERSE 29: And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance
with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which
are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and BE SATISFIED (not
leave half hungry); that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the
work of thine hand which thou doest.
When Jesus met the Woman at the Well (John 4:1-42), He didnt
comment on her love handles, just her lovers.
Jesus was accused by ascetic, proud Pharisees of being a winebibber
and a glutton (Matt.11:19; Luke 7:34). This was an exaggeration since
Jesus never sinned, but clearly Christ did not establish a reputation for
eating like a sparrow!
Scarcity of bread and barely having enough to sustain life is an
indication of Gods curse upon a disobedient land, not blessing
(Deut.28:38-39). God states that those being punished for
disobedience will carry out more seed to the field than they harvest in
crops, and the worms would eat their grapes. Sister X said its okay if
your uneaten food just rots, so it must be okay if worms eat the food
God created for you. Shes just lucky she didnt live in Jerusalem in
Jeremiahs day, when people died of famine. Or in 19 th-century Ireland,
during the Potato Famine. Only narcissistic, affluent Western fashion
slaves, who dont have to work themselves to death to earn their daily
corn bread can afford to waste good food in the name of vanity.
If Sister X had to trudge around a noisy restaurant twelve hours a day,
up to her neck in grease, cutting, chopping, running back and forth
with dishes, dumping trash, mopping messes and scrubbing grills, its
for sure shed take three bites on her break: FROM A SHOVEL!
Does Sister X just put three drops of gas in her car at a time and
starve it till it sputters for more? Apparently cars deserve kinder
treatment than hard-working human beings.
Just imagine putting her bizarre diet to practice while youre at work.
Eat three bites on your lunch break, then beg your boss to let you stop
slaving and eat three more because your stomachs growling! You
wouldnt last long there!
Sister X is teaching a new gospel, one not taught by Paul or any other
apostle!
Is food intake (or lack thereof) a major determinant of a persons
spirituality?
I Cor.8:8: But meat (food) commendeth us not to God: for neither if
we eat, are we the better; neither if we eat not, are we the worse.
I cant put this more delicately: Despite the sweet-scented flowers and
the eloquent eulogies spoken at funerals, one fate awaits both fat and
skinny bodies after death: disintegration. All bodies, beautiful or ugly,
decay and go back to the dust (Gen.3:19).
Phil.3:21: Who (God) shall change our vile (Gk: tapeinosis, lowly,
humiliated) body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body,
according to the working whereby He is able to subdue all things unto
Himself.* * *Notice, God does not ask His people to change their OWN
body to glorious perfection. Hell do that in the future. Paul identifies
himself as being among those with a vile body needing to be
changed. Tradition says Paul was short, bald, bow-legged and hooknosed, hardly a Mr. Universe. He was probably scrawny, because of his
frequent lack of provisions. So skinny Paul also committed some
cosmetic sins. To qualify to preach at Upper Crust Worship Center, Paul
would have to get a nose job, get shoe inserts, a hair transplant, and
after that, coloring and styling at some salon. A trip to the tanning
parlor for a facial wouldnt hurt. Botox to erase worry lines.
Dermabrasion for wind-burned skin, a manicure for smooth, shakeable
hands. A personal trainer to build muscle, so hed be a more powerful
presence in the pulpit, able to shake cash out of stingy sinners.
Many things can reduce peoples mortal bodies to a humiliated
(inglorious) state. Disfigurements from disease, war wounds, burn
scars, poverty, malnutrition, work accidents. Some people suffer birth
defects or stunted growth. Others have been bullied for being bigger
than is acceptable to society. Whatever our glorified bodies are like,
they wont be anything less than glorious!
It is a well-documented fact that many fat people eat no more (and
often less) than thin people. The body interprets diet-induced weight
loss as famine, fights to regain lost weight and lowers its metabolism
to burn fewer calories. Studies show diets have a long-term failure rate
of 95%! Some fortunate folks are naturally tall and lanky and can eat
all day long without gaining an ounce. We get the genes God gave us.
(Eskimos) who follow their traditional diet eat mostly raw fish and
meat, along with the blubber (fat) of the animal. Sister X states that
primitive people in their native habitat are naturally lean. But it takes
many extra calories to survive the arctic cold. I read of Arctic explorers
who had to eat between 7-8,000 calories per day to resist the cold!
The Inuit tend to be broad-chested and round-faced individuals, rather
than lean and long-faced like some African tribes, who live in much
hotter conditions. Is Sister X going to consign the Inuit to hell for
eating thousands of blubber calories to stave off the cold of the Arctic,
and for failure to stay skinny for Jesus?
Theres lots of BIG-otry in high society churches. The size of a
Christians heart is irrelevant and only their body size counts. But you
cant turn a Hoss Cartwright into a Barney Fife. Starving to convince
others youre Broomstick Barbie is just as stupid as a white guy
toasting his hide in a tanning booth to turn himself black!
Modern Americans can afford to quibble over calorie counts. Why?
Because they dont need to do like their ancient ancestors and eat
more to fend off future famine! Theres a food store around every
corner, and all except the poorest can just go get more food whenever
they run out. But there are pockets of true hunger in America.
Homeless people barely have two nickels to scrape together and have
to scrounge. Poor families often skip meals to meet high rent costs.
Poor families stock up when food goes on sale, or go to food banks. I
saw one family drive up behind a supermarket in a rattletrap truck and
dive into a dumpster to forage for sustenance. Who knows how long it
will be before such poor folks can fill their stomach again? Is Sister X
going to find fault with a homeless woman for eating more than three
bites of the discarded doughnut she finds in a trash can?
Sister X denies that people can suffer a genetic predisposition to
obesity. But shes wrong. When I lived in Arizona, my husband and I
visited a tourist area on an Indian reservation. The ancestors of this
particular tribe had endured repeated seasons of famine, to the extent
that their bodies were conditioned to put on weight effortlessly. I
watched an Indian lad and his mother frying flatbread in a big kettle to
make tacos to sell to tourists. Both were enormous. I found out later
there was a preponderance of obesity in their tribe. Not through
gluttony, but because their genes were programmed to store fat.
Nature itself was more concerned with those Indians survival than
whether theyd win a beauty contest. Would Sister X condemn those
taco fryers to fry eternally in a devils hell because their body size isnt
a good testimony for Jesus?
Sister X even reduces the men of her congregation to skin and bones,
on pain of eternal hellfire. Any weight gain committed by either men or
women must be confessed to the leadership as sin. If one of the
members crosses the leadership, theyre liable to have all their
formerly forgiven sins rehashed repeatedly to humiliate the member
back under subjection.
Ah, some of the bizarre baloney that passes itself off as Christianity!
The heretical teaching that leadership has divine authority to rule
pew saints through censure and fear, even to the extent of
controlling none of your business personal areas of believers lives is
contrary to what Christ Himself taught.
Matt.23:8: But be not ye called Rabbi (master): for One is your Master,
even Christ; AND ALL YE ARE BRETHREN (not privileged leadership)
VERSE 9: And call NO MAN (or woman) your father upon the earth: for
ONE is your Father, Which is in heaven.
VERSE 10: Neither be ye called masters: for ONE is your Master, even
Christ.
VERSE 11: For he (or she) that is greatest among you shall be your
servant.
VERSE 12: And whosoever shall exalt himself (or herself) shall be
abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
What about those intimidated, silent pew saints? Is any truly born
again individual dead weight in Gods church?
I Pet.2:5: YE (all saved believers) also, as lively (living) stones, are
built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual
sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
VERSE 9: But YE are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy
nation, a peculiar (special) people; that ye should shew forth the
praises of him that hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous
light.
In this passage Peter does NOT limit Gods Royal Priesthood only to
people who are fashionably thin!
So what about leadership? Does God set elders and shepherds into His
church? He definitely does, but not to be lords over Gods heritage (I
Pet.5:1-4).
Many cite Hebrews 13:17 as proof that church (or cult) leaders have
the right to unconditional obedience. What does it really say?
Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for
they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they
may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
The Greek word translated obey in this verse is peitho, which means
to be persuaded by. Whenever a church elder appointed by God
breaks the bread of Gods true Word to you or shares a Scriptural word
of wisdom with you, it is best to yield to the authority of the Holy Spirit
(the Voice of the Good Shepherd) which you discern behind the godly
exhortation. But no Christian, whatever his position, has authority
from God to teach heresy which contradicts Gods Word. And no
religious teacher has authority from God to add to Gods commands
(Deut.4:2; 12:32). Any personal area of a believers life which does
not involve sin, as defined under the New Covenant, is a NO GO area
for pastoral authority. I qualified that statement because certain Old
Testament prohibitions are not sinful for Christians today: making
dinner on the Sabbath, eating ham, men shaving their beards, etc.
Let Gods will be done on earth as it is done in heaven. Is hunger Gods
highest will for His saints? If it is, why wont people suffer hunger in
heaven?
Rev.7:16: They shall HUNGER NO MORE, neither thirst any more* * *
Put a brave face on it and try and convince yourself otherwise, but
dieting makes you hungry and miserable. Diet books might be hot
sellers in hell, but not in heaven. Starving for Jesus is NOT a heavenly
doctrine. It was birthed in the bowels of hell to distract Gods people
from their task of evangelizing the world and feeding the hungry! The
devil designed this dieting cult to make weak neurotics of Christians,
so that they fear it is sinful to nourish their own bodies. Satan seeks
the weakening of the Body of Christ through loss of health and peace.
What other cosmetic obsessions will be given spiritual weight by a
church in bed with the world? Body piercings? Head-to-toe tattoos?
Straight hair? Spray-on-tan? Breast implants?
Whose word carries more weight? Sister Xs, or the solid meat of
Scripture?
http://www.scribd.com/doc/4617708/Fasting-Tithing-Blessing-Bringers-or-Burdens