Child taken because he is 555lbs.

Yesterday afternoon I sat down and was flipping through the channels and stopped on The Drs.
They were telling about young 14 year old boy who weighs 555lbs. whose mother is a single parent and he was taken away by Child Protective Services because of his weight. It was interesting to hear them debate this matter and what is right for this child.

Was this mother killing her son with food? Yes. She could at any point find her son dead because of the effects on his body from severe obesity. Would we be out outraged if this mother was giving her son alcohol, so much that he passed out drunk every night. Or if she at age 14 supplied her son with drugs and helped him load the needle to shoot up. Yes! And although food is not an illegal thing to take at age 14 as in everything we need to have self-control and moderation.

Now could this mom be working 10-12 hrs a day and not have a whole lot of control over her son buying junk from the vending machines or stopping by the grocery store after school and eating a bag of chips before she got home. Yes. But somewhere in her head when she saw him at 200lbs. or so an alarm should have gone off "Huston we have a problem".

After listening to this discussion I started thinking of this last season on the Biggest Loser. There was a contestant Sean who was a church youth pastor and obese. I thought we all sin and have problems but being overweight to that degree is an obvious sin. Would I allow my child to be under the guidance of a youth pastor who is battling an addiction....probably no. Unfortunately, it is a sin that everyone can see. It is also a sin that is not talked about in the church. Would I be under the leadership of a Pastor who was an alcoholic, drug addict, pornography addict, adulterous, smoker, etc. My answer is no. Why, because those are sins that people let control them. Food can be the same thing. It can control you, instead of you controlling it.

The Bible talks about our bodies being Holy Temples of God. We are to treat them like that by not putting in them things that can harm you. The Bible does talk about gluttony although these are verses we don't "talk" about much in the church. In Proverbs 23: 20-21 it warns us not to join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags. Proverbs 28:7 declares, “He who keeps the law is a discerning son, but a companion of gluttons disgraces his father.” Proverbs 23:2 proclaims, “Put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony.”

Physical appetites are an analogy of our ability to control ourselves. If we are unable to control our eating habits, we are probably also unable to control other habits, such as those of the mind (lust, covetousness, anger) and unable to keep our mouths from gossip or strife. We are not to let our appetites control us, but we are to have control over our appetites. (See Deuteronomy 21:20, Proverbs 23:2, 2 Peter 1:5-7, 2 Timothy 3:1-9, and 2 Corinthians 10:5.) The ability to say “no” to anything in excess—self-control—is one of the fruits of the Spirit common to all believers (Galatians 5:22).

God also commands us to be good stewards of ALL he has given us. Everyday He gives me life and a body to be on earth with and I am command to take care of that body that He has given me. Just as I am commanded to take care of my husband, children, house and everything in it, cars, animals, all our possessions that He has allowed me to have. I am told to be a good steward of all these things.

So with that in mind thinking of the young man who was taken away from his mother, without all the info. I initially support that decision that the authorities made. I hope he is not put in foster care but taken to a weight loss in-treatment center where he can be observed by doctors and can start on a path to learning how to eat better and deal with whatever problems brought him too this severe point of being close to death. And that he can if he doesn't know, come into a relationship with God, and know that God loves him.

And I hope for Sean the youth pastor that he does step down and can too get some help on learning how to deal with problems better then over eating to fill whatever void he is filling and then he can come back a be a huge testimony to youth and adults in that church a like and God's power, grace, and forgiveness will shine through him.