I squat on Sundays. I’m going to hell.
The article didn’t really make much sense to me. I am not sure if I wasn’t reading it right or they are crazy… or I am crazy or what is going on. I do know that if God created us he would want us to look after the body he has given us. On another note I definitely do not think they are promoting being fat or lazy at all, they are just saying that it is important to love everybody.
One thing I don’t like about the article in particular is that they try to make it seem like extreme fitness is causing people to lose sight of more important things like God, their fellow man, etc… When there are a million and one other things they could have easily picked on that would have been more valid due to it being more widespread.
I know one thing, if I were God I wouldn’t want these fuckers speaking for me.
[quote]thomas.galvin wrote:
As a counterpoint to this article, one of our pastors just gave a sermon on how people need to get off the couch and get into shape, and commented on how no one would take your spiritual discipline seriously if your physical discipline is out of whack.
I was also asked to speak to the youth group on a similar topic a few months back, and I also put together a workout for our interns.
Not every church is full of the fat and jealous.[/quote]
Exactly…
My religion is curling. I pray to my biceps.
[quote]BodyBldgBabe wrote:
The article isnt encouraging people to get fat, only to accept people for who they are…healthy or not.
“…those who don’t have an ideal body type or perfect health shouldn’t be stigmatized.”
How many times have we heard on T-Nation, “I hate fat people because…”
[/quote]
I completely accept people no matter what physical state of health they’re in… so long as they’re attempting to improve said health.
“Sloth”, now THAT is one deadly sin I totally agree with being on the list. There is no excuse for being physically unhealthy and making no effort to change that state.
[quote]Bauer97 wrote:
I completely accept people no matter what physical state of health they’re in… so long as they’re attempting to improve said health.
“Sloth”, now THAT is one deadly sin I totally agree with being on the list. There is no excuse for being physically unhealthy and making no effort to change that state.[/quote]
We share the same line of thinking. Your body composition doesn’t bother me. However, what you do with yourself does. I can’t stand it when people don’t do anything to help themselves out. But, other than that, I don’t hate anyone.
[quote]BodyBldgBabe wrote:
As someone who grew up in church almost my entire life fitness was always encouraged because of the very fact that the Bible states your body is a temple and glutney is a sin.
The article isnt encouraging people to get fat, only to accept people for who they are…healthy or not.
“…those who don’t have an ideal body type or perfect health shouldn’t be stigmatized.”
How many times have we heard on T-Nation, “I hate fat people because…”
[/quote]
I’m sure that is exactly what they ment. The problem is that is not exactly what they said. Religious leaders have to be critically clear in what they say, because their followers can easily misinterpret what they say.
Having said that so may have journalist.
[quote]AccipiterQ wrote:
“At an ecumenical service in Würzburg, the head of the German Bishops Conference, Heinrich Mussinghoff, said fitness was well and good, “but it’s not everything.”” they’re not saying we should all be slobs…relax dudes[/quote]
Exactly. Outside of the fact that it is a kind of lame topic to address, I was wondering if I read the same article as a lot of the people who posted their opinions on this.
[quote]anonym wrote:
AccipiterQ wrote:
“At an ecumenical service in Würzburg, the head of the German Bishops Conference, Heinrich Mussinghoff, said fitness was well and good, “but it’s not everything.”” they’re not saying we should all be slobs…relax dudes
Exactly. Outside of the fact that it is a kind of lame topic to address, I was wondering if I read the same article as a lot of the people who posted their opinions on this.[/quote]
We read the same article. I also noticed that they used a picture of competing bodybuilders which will only cause anyone not into bodybuilding to see it in a negative light…as if it is such an extreme that it should be avoided at all costs.
I am actually faulting the journalist who wrote the story more than the church.
This country (the world even) is not in the grips of a mass fitness craze. It in the grips of feelings of apathy and the lack of motivation to change much in their lives in a positive way. There is more focus on “fat acceptance” and “self esteem boosting” than there is on working harder and making an effort to change things.
More people will run to get stomach stapling and plastic surgery than will ever work hard enough to make so much of a difference in the gym that people don’t recognize them.
There are millions of Star Jones’ in the world. There are very few Ronnie Colemans.
you guys look at the first headline. NAKED GIRLS!
[quote]Synthetickiller wrote:
I squat on Sundays. I’m going to hell.[/quote]
Diddo.
If you’re going to make an argument that health is becoming a religion, then it’s not a stretch to say that pursuing health has spiritual value.
Pursuing religion for no other reason than gaining access to heaven and attempting to guarantee the safety of your soul isn’t any different than pursuing health to perpetuate and enhanced your life in your current body.
But for every 1 sermon that preaches against health, there are dozens of other religious organizations promoting health: The YMCA, The Lord’s Gym, and countless summer sports camps. We shouldn’t get carried away with this little article. No matter what you have to say about organized religion, it has done a lot to promote sports and active lifestyles in this country.
It’s not like the Pope is asking Christians around the world to become morbidly obese as a demonstration of their devotion to their faith and absence of vanity.
I mean that some people read into it as being an attack on fitness - which I didn’t see it as, at all.
“Ideal body type or perfect health” was mentioned - doesn’t seem to me like they are celebrating being fat (which some here took it as).
I found the crux of the article to be: [quote]“We have to be careful that we do not move toward an image of humanity that excludes the ill and disabled.”[/quote]
To me, at least, this article seemed to be geared more towards those types - the ill and disabled - as opposed to the fat and slovenly (or are they all lumped together nowadays?), and that our society seems to have an unhealthy obsession not so much with fitness but with beauty (and the devaluation of those who do not meet our standards of such), and I think that it also encompasses what you said about people making heavy use of plastic surgery to meet those standards.
I see some criticism of fitness in regards to where some take it to the point of stigmatizing the ill/disabled (once again, not fatties), but the whole “attack on fitness” thing was due more to the overall presentation of the article (going to what you said about the journalist).
I guess it depends on whether or not we consider obesity to be a genuine “illness/disability”.
[quote]anonym wrote:
Professor X wrote:
I mean that some people read into it as being an attack on fitness - which I didn’t see it as, at all.
“Ideal body type or perfect health” was mentioned - doesn’t seem to me like they are celebrating being fat (which some here took it as).
I found the crux of the article to be: “We have to be careful that we do not move toward an image of humanity that excludes the ill and disabled.”
To me, at least, this article seemed to be geared more towards those types - the ill and disabled - as opposed to the fat and slovenly (or are they all lumped together nowadays?), and that our society seems to have an unhealthy obsession not so much with fitness but with beauty (and the devaluation of those who do not meet our standards of such), and I think that it also encompasses what you said about people making heavy use of plastic surgery to meet those standards.
I see some criticism of fitness in regards to where some take it to the point of stigmatizing the ill/disabled (once again, not fatties), but the whole “attack on fitness” thing was due more to the overall presentation of the article (going to what you said about the journalist).
I guess it depends on whether or not we consider obesity to be a genuine “illness/disability”.[/quote]
I agree with you on the message from the church. I am focused on the message the journalist was trying to get across. They were apparently trying to get more reads by relating this to bodybuilding which is also publically related to steroid use. All in all the media is the problem, not the church message.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
I agree with you on the message from the church. I am focused on the message the journalist was trying to get across. They were apparently trying to get more reads by relating this to bodybuilding which is also publically related to steroid use. All in all the media is the problem, not the church message.[/quote]
Oh, yeah, I agree with you on that. With the picture at the top, that is what it struck me as when I first glanced at the article.
[quote]zephead4747 wrote:
you guys look at the first headline. NAKED GIRLS![/quote]
I need to make this heard.
“Our grandparents sought redemption, while we only seek health,” he said. “If that is not possible, people demand a quick end, since a life of disability is no longer seen as meaningful.”
The above paragraph stood out to me but not so much from a health and fitness perspective. I’m not certain who these people are that are demanding a quick end.
In fact, I believe we have moved to the opposite end of the spectrum in that we revere life to such an extent that we endeavor to prolong lives that are intolerable and untenable. In our grandparents generation, people were allowed to die. It’s normal. Today, it’s as if death is something unnatural and avoidable if we just try hard enough.
Okay. Rant over. 
[quote]ouroboro_s wrote:
“Our grandparents sought redemption, while we only seek health,” he said. “If that is not possible, people demand a quick end, since a life of disability is no longer seen as meaningful.”
The above paragraph stood out to me but not so much from a health and fitness perspective. I’m not certain who these people are that are demanding a quick end.
In fact, I believe we have moved to the opposite end of the spectrum in that we revere life to such an extent that we endeavor to prolong lives that are intolerable and untenable. In our grandparents generation, people were allowed to die. It’s normal. Today, it’s as if death is something unnatural and avoidable if we just try hard enough.
Okay. Rant over. :)[/quote]
Good point. I am sure a person could make national headlines today if they had cancer and wanted to die as a result of the pain involved. They still won’t allow many cancer patients access to marijuana legally which makes absolutely no sense at all.
Sunday is my rest day so im in the clear.
Here are some Bible verses concerning strength, exercise, and training:
“For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”
1 Timothy 4:8
“You armed me with strength for battle; you made my adversaries bow at my feet.”
Psalm 18:39
“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.”
Hebrews 12:11-13
“Look to the L-RD and his strength; seek his face always.”
1 Chronicles 16:11
“Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,
who rely on horses,
who trust in the multitude of their chariots
and in the great strength of their horsemen,
but do not look to the Holy One of Israel,
or seek help from the L-RD.”
Isaiah 31:1
"Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way;
say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come…”
Isaiah 35:3-4a
I note that the verses from Hebrews quoted the last verse I listed, from Isaiah. As a quick side note, I put a ‘-’ in the word “L-RD” out of respect for traditional, Orthodox Jewish sensibilities.
These verses are from both the Tanakh (Old Testament) and the New Testament. A keyword search for “strength” at biblegateway.com produced 237 different verses in the New International Version… and that’s not even looking at “lazy”, “glutton”, “training”, “diligence”, or many other words which pertain to this subject. Clearly, the Bible takes exercise and physical training into account.
From the verses I listed, I gather that strength and training/exercise are good things, but are not the most important things in life.
[quote]TriednTrue wrote:
Here are some Bible verses concerning strength, exercise, and training:
“For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”
1 Timothy 4:8
“You armed me with strength for battle; you made my adversaries bow at my feet.”
Psalm 18:39
“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.”
Hebrews 12:11-13
“Look to the L-RD and his strength; seek his face always.”
1 Chronicles 16:11
“Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,
who rely on horses,
who trust in the multitude of their chariots
and in the great strength of their horsemen,
but do not look to the Holy One of Israel,
or seek help from the L-RD.”
Isaiah 31:1
"Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way;
say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come…”
Isaiah 35:3-4a
I note that the verses from Hebrews quoted the last verse I listed, from Isaiah. As a quick side note, I put a ‘-’ in the word “L-RD” out of respect for traditional, Orthodox Jewish sensibilities.
These verses are from both the Tanakh (Old Testament) and the New Testament. A keyword search for “strength” at biblegateway.com produced 237 different verses in the New International Version… and that’s not even looking at “lazy”, “glutton”, “training”, “diligence”, or many other words which pertain to this subject. Clearly, the Bible takes exercise and physical training into account.
From the verses I listed, I gather that strength and training/exercise are good things, but are not the most important things in life.[/quote]
Biblically, strength and general well-being were certainly looked at in a positive manner(duh). As has been said, I think it’s pretty clear that the reporting is the issue, not what the churches were saying.
Someone else mentioned something about their church encouraging people to be healthy, because people are less likely to take their spiritual discipline seriously if their physical discipline isn’t up to par, and I agree wholeheartedly with that idea.