What was your Kingdom Hall like when it came to overweight Witnesses? I remember counseling some people on their drinking habits. A few snickered that if we were going to counsel them because they have had way too many at a wedding reception, what about very overweight Witnesses that have a lifestyle of overindulgence? Shouldn’t they be disfellowshipped for gluttony??
Overweight Jehovah’s Witnesses
by minimus 36 Replies latest jw friends
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FedUpJW
Overweight witnesses? I got chewed out for mentioning that we could triple our meeting attendance and publisher count if only we would count publishers by the pound instead of just as individuals. I guess though that when one suffers through all the condamnation that WT heaps upon individuals they need to find comfort somewhere, and for many it is food or alcohol.
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road to nowhere
We are just following the example from the top.
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nowwhat?
90% of post middle age jws are extremely overweight. Probably explains why 20k died from covid. That's because eating is the only fun/ recreation thing they have time for!
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FFGhost
I recall this being dissected in very fine detail in an elders/CO meeting years ago. Or maybe an elders school. It all tends to run together after a while.
Anyway, IIRC, the basic idea was that the bible condemns "gluttony", not "obesity". It was more about the attitude toward food as opposed to the quantity.
We had a special pioneer / elder who was pretty normal-sized, not big at all, who was legendary for the enormous and multiple 6 or 8 inch high plates he would put together for himself at congregation "get togethers" with food served buffet style. Like, seriously, the plate would be nearly as piled high as it was wide. Then he'd go back and do it again. And again. Then get a dessert plate or 3 or 4.
Never gained an ounce. It was a source of wonderment to everyone.
Anyway, once when a bunch elders were on a coffee break with a particularly zealous CO, we were laughingly recounting some of the awesome Joey-Chestnut-style sprees this guy would go on.
The CO suddenly grew deathly pale and exclaimed "That's gluttony!"
We had to talk him down from trying to remove the elder from his position, or who knows, maybe even try to DF him.
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WTWizard
They don't take care of themselves, instead relying on that rubbish that bodily training is only good for a little. Eating too much is only part of the problem. Most of them get limited exercise, sleep way too little, and have so many toxins from their dry cleaning fumes and McDonalds "food(??)". That not only makes them tubs of lard, but very sick even for their weight.
And I can only wonder what will happen once they start going back to in-person boasting sessions, with mandatory vaccinations in order to do that. I wonder how much suffering they will endure from that and still not cut back on field circus. Not to mention all the calls on those who were inactive at the start of the whole thing or that made few or no Zoom boasting sessions. (Who are probably in better general health than those who remained active jokehovian witlesses.)
And yes, my congregation had its share of tubs of lard. Not that they were particularly fat, but I had one that was quite fat and willfully oblivious to the consequences of eating too much butter. This thing loaded some corn up with butter, and tried to stop me from reading the calorie count of each additional spoonful of butter (the fake stuff, worse for your health than real butter, had 60 calories per tablespoon plus trans fats, where butter has around 120.) And no taking vitamins--I wonder how many got coronavirus real bad, or will get very sick due to the vaccines, and are not taking even a single vitamin D, zinc, or quercetin tablet.
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minimus
Our presiding overseer was a guy who could eat! He wasn’t fast but he was always eating! He was in excellent condition and was a great guy but I guess his metabolism allowed him to eat more than anyone I knew and never gain weight. Whenever we went on shepherding calls, the Witness knew that in order to have a good visit, get the homemade apple pie out. Lol -
Overrated
In their minds the invisible sky daddy and his new order paradise is going to make everything better, so for now anything goes, overeat, drink alot and get fat. Don't worry the invisible sky daddy got your back on your well being.
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truth_b_known
I don't advocate for disfellowshipping, but the principle for disfellowshipping for smoking applies to overeating or eating food known to be unhealthy or that leads to heart disease, diabetes, etc.
There are factors that make gluttony or overeating a serious offense. In the case of one who gluttonously overeats, his desire for food has gotten out of control. He greedily consumes it without consideration for the fact that he has no right to misuse God’s gifts. Hence, by disobediently overindulging in food and making a glutton of himself, he fails to show love for Jehovah God. Why so? Because, as the Bible says: “This is what the love of God means, that we observe his commandments.”—1 John 5:3. Watchtower, March 15, 1974
What is the quickest way to tell if someone overeats? Simple - the person is overweight. If you consume more than your body needs you are overeating.
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minimus
I do think there are lots of people who really do not enjoy many other normal pleasures in the Organization so the one thing they look forward to is food.