God Talks- Does God Care if You're Fit?

By Chelsea Rowell of Chelsea Gets Fit

Before you jump on me with all that, “Man looks at the outward appearance, God looks at the heart” stuff, let me say that I already know. That’s not the point of this article.

The purpose of this article is to look into what the Bible really has to say about fitness, nutrition, and overall health and well being of the human body. So many people have told me, “God wants me to be happy, so I can eat what I want!” To which I reply, “gag me.” Another popular line I hear is, “Working out and getting in shape isn’t for the glory of God, it’s for the glory of YOU…” Again, puh-lease. Give me a break. These are just two examples of Christianized excuses and are more than likely taking God’s name in vain…or LAME. Contrary to popular belief, sola feels is not one of the "sola's" of Christian theology.

That being said, let’s see what God has told us about how HE feels (not us as individuals or as a society feel) about the way we take care of our bodies!

1. GOD LIVES IN YOU (Gal. 2:19-20; 1 Cor. 6:19-20; 9:27)

As a believer in Jesus Christ, you are not the only one living inside your skin. Christ actively is living in you and wanting to live through you. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, as well. If Jesus walked up to you one day and said, “Hey, friend. I love you and think we should live together so that I can be a constant Helper to you! Will you build a house for us?” Would you build a little shack out of rotten boards and old nails? Would you build a frail house made of sticks and stones and probably cardboard covering the patches trying to keep rain out? Would you build the house out of little carved idols that you worship made of silver and gold and say, “Hey, God, ignore the fact that I love these idols more than I love you, look how beautiful they are! Aren’t you glad I did this for me…I mean you??” OF COURSE NOT!!!!

Christian, the Creator of the Universe and the Author and Finisher of our faith deserves more than a beaten-down little shack. He deserves a well-crafted, well-thought out, strong, and sturdy place to dwell. Build your temple to glorify HIM.

2. GOD VALUES PHYSICAL TRAINING (1 Tim. 4:8)

Now, note that the verses says that bodily training is of some value, because a right relationship with God holds more value than any other thing in the Universe. But it is interesting that this phrase is even in the Bible, telling us that God does value physical fitness. If He didn’t, the verse would say, “…bodily training is of no value…” or, “…bodily training is worthless…” or, it probably just would use a completely different analogy altogether.

3. GOD CARES ABOUT YOUR BODY (1 Thess. 5:23)

“Now may your whole spirit, soul, and BODY be kept blameless until the coming of our Lord…” God wants our spirit, our soul, and our body. Many Christians, myself included, believe that humans are a trichotomy (made up of three parts being body, soul, and spirit), as opposed to being made up of two parts (dichotomy-soul/spirit and body). The reason I bring that up is because--one, it’s super cool that God would make us in His image (being made of three parts) and also because IF we are made of spirit, soul, and body, then we are responsible for each of those things. God cares about what we do with our bodies. If He didn’t, He probably wouldn’t warn against sexual immorality quite so much. ANYWAY moving along, that brings us straight into the next point.

4. YOU WERE FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE (Psalm 139:14)

Not only did God make us in His image, He was so careful and constructed each of us as individual masterpieces, created through Christ to do good works which He has prepared in advance for us. We are to THANK HIM, says the Psalmist, because His works are excellent. The Psalm goes on to say that God made each of us skillfully, and that each of our days were ordained for usbefore we ever lived a single one of them. God worked so, so hard on each of us, creating us each for unique and genuinely good purposes. We are His masterpieces, His handiwork. And He has entrusted each of us to RESPECT and CARE FOR ourselves while we are here on earth. That means that we ought not put ourselves down or demean ourselves, and that we ought to do what we can to keep ourselves in tip top shape so that when Christ returns we will not be like the unwise servant who buried his talents in the ground, but rather like the wise servants who invested the talents that were entrusted to them while the master was away. (Matt 25:14-30

So, you see, God really does care about what you do with your bodies. He also cares about how you view your bodies. I personally struggle SO MUCH with self-doubt and with negative self esteem, which is a quite apparent pride issue. It is not right to think of yourself as any less than anyone else. And it breaks the heart of God. Just as it breaks the heart of God when He looks down on His children doing things that are harmful to the beautiful bodies He has crafted for them.

You can see more of Chelsea's work at Chelsea Gets Fit. We here at FRANK Talks are huge proponents of growing in all areas of life (Spirit, Intellect, Health, Occupation, Social, and Financial), and are so glad to have Chelsea tackle this subject. 

Biblical veracity

In apologetics, one issue has always been interesting to me: Biblical veracity. (How do we know that the Bible is true?) Four years ago I was introduced to the cosmological argument, which really simplified and solidified my confidence in God's existence. Still, I couldn't figure out: why the Bible? Why do Christians cling to it? Is it reasonable to treat the Bible as authoritative in all areas of life? Where does this book come from? Why should anyone believe it? I don't have all the answers. In fact, I would like to study apologetics in graduate school, and focus specifically on this issue. But before I do that, let me share some things I have already learned on the subject.

This post only covers the premise for my argument of biblical veracity, and a few sources to help you along on your own research.

Paradigms

You could also use the word narrative, or worldview. These are different terms, but for the purpose of this discussion they can be interchangeable. We all have a paradigm through which we view the world. You can deny religion, by saying that you are an atheist (or just non-religious or whatever), but everyone has a paradigm through which they view the world. Atheists may tend to adopt a purely empirical (naturalistic) paradigm which denies anything supernatural... and they may also chose a side of an objective ethical theory to go with that (like deontology or utilitarianism).

Now although our paradigms are embedded into our very psyche, let’s pretend that you were to detach from it and (possibly) choose a new one. There are at least two things that your paradigm should be. First, the paradigm should be logically coherent within itself. Now, I think that we are fallible humans, so there may always be incoherencies in our personal reasoning, but we should seek to have paradigms which are as coherent as possible. Any religion or paradigm will have questions or problems to solve. Secondly, we want to find the paradigm which best matches the evidence. It can't just look good in theory, it must match the way things actually are in reality.

My Premise

Now, of course, I would argue that the Christian paradigm is the one that fits this criteria. Of course it would take me years of study to get a grasp on the subject, and an entire book to explain it sufficiently. Hopefully, I will be able to do that another day. I also do not have enough time (or expertise) to write on the origins of the Christian Bible.

Aren’t there contradictions?

Theologians have studied the Bible for centuries to form a paradigm from its texts. You may object "what about all the contradictions in the Bible? Don't they make biblical Christianity an incoherent paradigm?" Well, historians and theologians and other thinkers have found explanations for many of these apparent contradictions. If you search for it, you can probably find plausible answers to virtually all of your questions.

Furthermore, as with life, there are paradoxes: phenomenon that seem to be a contradiction (like light being both a wave and a particle) but are not. These apparent contradictions are only signs of our limited understanding. No matter what you believe (atheism, Christianity, Islam) none of us has it all figured out. We are all still learning.

In Closing

So that is the premise for my argument: the paradigm set forth by the Bible (when interpreted correctly) is the paradigm which best matches reality. Keep your eyes open for my book, which maybe I'll release in the next ten years on the origins of the Scriptures, and my arguments for their veracity.

Further Research

In the meantime I would recommend Me, The Professor, Fuzzy, and The Meaning of Life and Evidence that Demands a Verdict. The first is written as a comic book, targeted to a younger audience, and gives two solid syllogistic arguments: one for the existence of God, and one for the Christian religion. The second book is much more deep, but it talks about the origin of the Scriptures and evidence for the Christian faith.