WWUTT 405 Q&A Christian Dieting?

Christian Dieting Fads and Misusing Scripture

Hey, great health is important. The Apostle John prayed for his readers that they would be healthy. But it's not our ultimate pursuit. We are to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness when we understand the text.

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text, as an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty, visit our website at www .utt .com.

Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. And greetings, everybody.

It is Friday. And on the Friday edition of the broadcast, we take questions from the listeners. And the best way to get a question to us is by email. The address is whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

Now even though I just gave out the email address, and I have said in episodes past that the best way to get in touch with me is by email, the comments that I have to respond to today did not come by email, but by Facebook.

And that's one way that I've said is not the best way to get in touch with me, because I don't often check the Facebook page. But this has to do with a video that was posted on the What Facebook page, and then I had to delete.

So I saved some of those comments and will be responding to those comments today. Now what video was it I deleted? It was the one that was just posted through our YouTube channel yesterday on Christian dieting.

I played a version of that video on Monday, but then I changed the script. And here is the new version of Christian dieting that has just been uploaded to the What YouTube channel. Among the dieting fads, there's a market for Christian diets, and the names are as cliche as testaments.

There's the Maker's Diet, the Hallelujah Diet, the Eden Diet, Take Back Your Temple, Weight Loss God's Way, BOD for God, yeah, seriously, doesn't look like anyone's tried a John the Baptist diet yet. The most popular are the Daniel diets.

First, the Daniel Plan, co-written by Rick Warren, and it's what we've come to expect from Rick. Out of context Bible references, a 40-day program, and alliteration. Also his lack of discernment, co-author Dr. Mark Hyman encourages pagan mysticism.

Then there's the Daniel Fast, which consists of cutting out meat and eating only fruits and vegetables, like Daniel and his friends did because the Babylonian cuisine wasn't kosher. And after 10 days, they were fatter than everyone eating the king's food.

Not an inspiration for weight loss. Christian diet books are notorious for taking scripture out of context. Another example is 1 Corinthians 6 .19, which says your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.

God says your body is the temple of his spirit, so I'm supposed to take care of that. God is saying to flee from sexual immorality. The only sin committed against his temple, not bad dieting. Being healthy is still important.

Eat right, exercise, brush your teeth, all that good stuff. Just remember that the kingdom of God is not about eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. While bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life, and also for the life to come, when we understand the text.

Daniel 1 and the Real Point of Daniel’s Food Test

So, after posting that video, Mike Dunkling in Delaware, I don't often mention last names without getting somebody's permission, but I want to give credit where credit is due. He made the following comment.

Do you want to know how you can know that the Daniel diet isn't based on scripture? Scripture says that God sustained Daniel so that he actually gained weight in order to be a witness to the providence of God.

That's well pointed out, Mike. In fact, what I wanted to do was that video covering Christian diets in general, and then I was going to do another one that went through Daniel chapter 1, and showing how the Daniel plan and the Daniel fast don't line up with how this story is presented to us in scripture.

But then once Mike made that comment, I was like, you know, I can just throw that one sentence in that video that I already did, and then I don't have to do a whole other video. I've already tackled it in the video on Christian diets.

So I appreciate that so much, and thank you, Mike, for that comment. So let's go to the story in Daniel chapter 1. The Israelites were exiled to Babylonian captivity because of their sin, because of their disobedience against God, worshiping false gods, would not repent.

This was going on for king after king after king, until finally God gave them up to their enemies. But there were still those who were faithful to the Lord, including Daniel and his friends, and God's favor was with them.

So starting in verse 1, in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand with some of the vessels of the house of God.

And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his God, lowercase g, and place the vessels in the treasury of his God. Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, the chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding, and learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.

The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time, they were to stand before the king.

Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And the chief of the eunuchs gave them new names. Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.

Now here's verse eight. But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food or with the wine that he drank. Now in the video, in the what video, I mentioned that it wasn't kosher.

I'm being tongue in cheek there because of the humor of the word kosher, but the reason why Daniel did not eat the food of the king of Babylon was less about the food being prepared according to the dietary laws of the Israelites.

It was more because he did not want to become accustomed to the food and the delicacies that were common to the Babylonians, who were the Israelites captors. He didn't want to forget Israel and love Babylon.

This is also exemplified in Psalm 137, where it says by the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our lyres, for there our captors required of us songs and our tormentors mirth saying, sing us one of the songs of Zion.

How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? If I forget you, oh Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill. Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth. If I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy.

So just as the psalmist there in Psalm 137 doesn't want to sing a song just to entertain their captors and forget about longing for Jerusalem. So Daniel and his friends did not want to indulge themselves in the wonderful high calorie rich foods of the palace that the king himself ate and so become accustomed to those foods and love those foods and so forget their land and Jerusalem.

They wanted to long for the promised land, the place that God had given to the Israelites. They wanted to go back there. They did not want to stay among the Babylonians so that their hearts would not remain there in Babylon.

They did not want to defile themselves with the king's food. And there's lots of other theories that go with that as well. The king fancied himself a god and so the food was being sacrificed to a god, the king of Babylon.

And so Daniel and his friends did not want to eat the same foods that were being offered to a false god and not in honor of the true God whom they worshipped. So there are other things that tie into that wasn't strictly because the diet that they were being presented with did not line up with the law of Moses.

So once again, verse 8, Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food or with the wine that he drank. Therefore, he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.

And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs. And the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, I fear my lord, the king who assigned your food and your drink, for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age?

So you would endanger my head with the king. In other words, if you don't eat what I give you, you are going to, you're putting my life at risk because the king is going to hold me responsible if you should wither up and die.

Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, test your servants for 10 days. Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink.

Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king's food be observed by you and deal with your servants according to what you see. So we listened to them in this matter and tested them for 10 days.

And at the end of 10 days, it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king's food. So the steward took away their food and their wine that they were to drink and gave them vegetables.

And this was God showing his favor among Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. It had nothing to do with their diet. It had everything to do with their heart being with the Lord and not in a pagan land doing pagan things like the pagans that they had been captured by.

So the Lord honored their obedience. And again, as Mike pointed out, they gained weight, not lost weight. So it's actually a poor story to use for a weight loss plan when that was not the effect that it had on Daniel and his friends.

Mike also added in his comment. Incidentally, I lost 45 pounds just by cutting out Coke, stopped drinking Coke, and the weight fell off in a few weeks. Soda actually has the opposite effect with me. I was drinking like four cans of Dr. Pepper a day, and it was an appetite suppressant.

I was losing weight. And when I quit drinking Dr. Pepper, I started putting the pounds back on again, which my wife appreciates because she thought I was getting too skinny. Rachel also left a good comment on that video.

And once again, the video, as it was originally posted, has been deleted from our Facebook page. So I've saved these comments. Rachel said the following. This passage also comes to mind. Imagine if all the professing Christians toss back and forth with every wind of health doctrine, put that much energy, time and love into holding to sound doctrine and those who teach it.

And here is what Rachel shared the words of Christ in Matthew chapter six. Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.

Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns. And yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon and all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you? Oh, you of little faith. Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear for the Gentiles seek after all these things?

And Rachel put brackets around that part to emphasize the Gentiles seek after all these things. The word used there for Gentiles, same as the one used for pagans. The pagans seek after all these things.

And your heavenly father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these other things will be added to you. Thank you for that reminder, Rachel. Which of us, by being anxious, can add a single hour to our span of life?

Which of us, by being anxious, can fit into the clothes that we want to wear? Instead, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these other things God will provide for you. Food, clothing, shelter.

God knows that you need these things. The Gentiles seek after these things. We, as the children of God, need to seek first his kingdom. And if we were doing that, we wouldn't be drawn into these false teaching diet books.

And yes, I'm saying they're false teaching because they're twisting the scriptures to mean something that those scriptures don't actually mean. It's man-centered doctrine. You buy the Daniel plan because it's all about you.

Not because it's all about God. You do the Daniel fast because you want to do something for you. Not because you're honoring God with your diet. So we seek God first. We look for his kingdom. We remember that the kingdom of God is not about eating and drinking.

What we eat or what we drink. Whether that is our regular diet or our fasting diet. The kingdom of God is about righteousness. Obeying the instructions that have been given to us by Christ. And peace.

Knowing that the wrath of God has been satisfied by the sacrifice of Christ. And we now have right standing with God. So there's no reason for us to be anxious about anything. How many pounds we weigh.

But we know that we are secure in God's kingdom by the sacrifice of Christ. And the other thing that the kingdom of God is about is joy in the Holy Spirit. So you have joy every day knowing the salvation that you have in Christ.

Not because you're losing pounds off your waistline. Or you're finally fitting into the size jeans that you want to fit into. It's all seeking first the kingdom of God. Or as Paul puts it in Colossians chapter 3.

If you've been raised with Christ. Would you say that you have? Then seek the things that are above where Christ is. Seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above. Not on things that are on earth.

For you have died. And your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears. Then you also will appear with him in glory. Now having said that. Does that mean that it's wrong to diet?

Health, Anxiety, and the Priority of the Kingdom

Well I get to this next comment here. And this is from Kimmy in New England. And I think that's where she's from is New England. Didn't actually say. But I kind of guessed from the photo that she had that that's where she was from.

But anyway she says the following. And this is more of a criticism of the video than it is a favorable comment. She says wouldn't we want to take care of ourself? Isn't our body the temple of God? And eating and exercising is right.

And produces a better product slash fruit. Than being a big lazy pile. Now it almost seems like Kimmy didn't even watch the video. Because the video very plainly says. That when 1 Corinthians chapter 6 refers to our body as a temple of the Holy Spirit.

It's in the context of abstaining from sexual immorality. Flee from sexual immorality the scripture says. For all other sins a person commits outside the body. But sexual immorality. The sexually immoral person sins against his own body.

Which is the temple of the Holy Spirit. So that is talking about abstaining from sexual immorality. It has nothing to do with dieting. And furthermore the video mentions. I mentioned in the video. I was already anticipating that there were going to be certain criticisms.

Oh so we shouldn't diet at all? I was already anticipating that somebody was going to say that. It mentions at the end of the video. Hey it's still important to eat healthy. Eat right. To exercise. I mean even getting a good night's sleep.

The scriptures talk about that. David prays about it in the Psalms. I lay down in peace and sleep. Because my God sustains me. Brushing your teeth you know. You want to have those teeth a long time right.

So take care of them. If you don't take care of those teeth. They're going to rot out before you're 50. So there are things that we should do that are good things to do. This is not a video about how we shouldn't diet.

And that dieting in any way shape and form is somehow earthly or worldly. It's just that it's not our focus. It's not our ambition. Because we're not going to keep these bodies. No matter how bad our body gets.

And it's going to age and fall apart. Things are going to get pretty bad. You could get cancer no matter how many blueberries you're trying to stuff into your face all right. So however rotted your body gets at the end.

It's going to go into the grave. It's going to rot even worse than what it's going to be as long as you're in that body. It says in Philippians chapter 3. That our bodies will be made to be like his glorious body.

By the power that enables him to subject all things to himself. Christ is going to raise this body up into an imperishable new body. Which we will have when we dwell with our Lord forever in heaven. So we have something to look forward to.

And know that our body is going to be better than whatever condition we leave it in. Because we don't have control over that anyway. There are passages of scripture that show us that being healthy is a good pursuit.

Third John verse 2. As he's addressing the churches there in Asia Minor. He says beloved I pray that all may go well with you. And that you may be in good health as it goes well with your soul. You know what happens to the soul does affect the body.

And what affects the body does affect the soul as well. Unfortunately the two are interlinked. As long as we are on this earth and continue to walk this flesh. Body stuff affects soul stuff. And so it's good to be healthy because it's better for our mood.

In the Proverbs there are also passages of scripture that point to how what happens in the body affects the spirit. Proverbs 17 .1 says better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.

So you could have the best diet plan on planet earth. If there is strife in the relationships in your life it wouldn't mean a thing. You would feel so depleted in your soul that you could never get any enjoyment out of a healthy body.

But Paul gave health advice to Timothy. First Timothy 5 .23. No longer drink only water but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments. And that was specifically pertaining to Timothy because of some of the health problems that he had.

It was good for him to shape a diet into something that would help him with his health problems. And you probably have a specific diet that you have to follow because you just have a certain body chemistry.

You can't eat what another member of your family eats. Maybe you need a low sodium diet. Maybe you need a low sugar diet. Maybe you're allergic to peanut butter. You know stuff like that. I'm sorry if you're allergic to peanut butter because it's a great food.

But you know there are people that are allergic to certain things and so they have to watch what it is that they eat. It's not wrong to do that. It's just that that is not ultimately our focus or our goal.

To make our body happy and then our life will be happy. No we need to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these other things will be added to us as well. We have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And Paul describes that to the Philippians as a peace that surpasses all understanding. It is a peace that we experience in our lives far greater than anything we could do with our bodies or do externally.

We can only find that peace through Jesus Christ. Knowing that the judgment of God that is upon us because of our sin has been satisfied in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and his resurrection from the grave.

And so because of that resurrection we know that we are going to get a new body and live forever with our God in his eternal kingdom in this body that will not perish is no longer corruptible and will not decay or experience the aches and pains of this life as we experience it now.

Praise God. I'm looking forward to that day. So that is the kingdom that I'm going to be looking for not the things of this earth. Let's conclude with prayer. Our great God and Savior we thank you so much for the salvation that we've been given in Christ.

Looking forward to that day when our lowly bodies will be changed to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself. And then we will see you as you are because we will be made to be like you as John talks about in 1 John chapter 3.

And so help us to long for that kingdom not for not for the things of this world which are wasting away even as we waste away in these bodies. But we are seeking the imperishable kingdom and the righteousness of God and so living out that righteousness in obedience while we inhabit these bodies that we're in right now.

Jesus said to his disciples, you will show me that you love me when you obey my commandments. Let that be our joy and our strength. And we pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.

Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt .com and let your friends know about our ministry.

Join us again next week as we grow together in God's Word when we understand the text.