Chasing Methuselah?

I'm terribly behind in my magazine reading.  I just finished reading the December 2010 and January 2011 issues of Christianity Today.  (Guess it's Christianity Yesterday by the time I get to them!)  But the January cover story for CT is relevant today - even if it was printed three months ago.  It's titled "Chasing Methuselah" and the hook is this:

Exercise, technology and diet help us live longer than ever.  Should those who look to eternal life care?  Nearly 100 million Americans currently use anti-aging products and practices.  Among these practices are special diets, such as the "120 Year Diet" from Roy Walford (who died of Lou Gehrig's disease two months before his 80th birthday), plastic surgery, vitamins, mineral supplements, human growth hormones, and other hormones like melatonin, testosterone, pregnonolone, and estrogen.

Most gerontologists assert that such remedies don't really slow the aging process.  But what if we found a way to stay healthy and active well into our hundreds?  What if it were possible to actually reverse the effects of aging - to heal arthritis, regain bone and muscle mass, and cure dementia by replenishing brain cells?  Over the past decade, the search for the fountain of youth has moved from legend to laboratory.

Extending life past current biological limits would have enormous social, political, economical and ecological ramifications.  [But] the more fundamental question is whether human aging is a malady in need of a cure.  Should we treat aging as a disease?  Is there anything wrong with hoping to live to  age 150? And, particularly for Christians, is it wrong to want to live past three score years and ten? (Psalm 90:10 KJV)

So far, science has been able to prolong existence, but it has not been able to really prolong life.  I've faced multiple end-of-life situations as a pastor where I had to counsel the family on what to do and what not to do when it comes the the care of their critically ill loved one.  Most of the time, I counsel letting the loved one go - because I don't believe God wants us prolonging our existence here when there is so much more to experience on the other side.

But what about before one gets to that end of life moment where the choice is either death or living in a vegetative state?  Should we engage in healthy living practices, using all that science makes available to us, in order to keep living for as long as possible?  I think the answer has to be "conditionally yes." 

What are the conditions?  I can think of at least three.  There may be more.

• My choices for healthy living cannot take away the choices for healthy living for someone else.  In other words, I cannot think only of myself, but I must also think about how my decisions and lifestyle impacts others - those near, and those on the other side of the planet.
• My choices for healthy living should not become an expression of fearing death.  Paul expressed this point in 1 Corinthians 15, quoting from Isaiah and Hosea:  "'Death has been swallowed up in victory.  Where O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting?' The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God!  He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
• My choices for healthy living should reflect my faith in Jesus Christ, and help others respond in faith, too.  Everything about my lifestyle should indicate my dependence on God rather than self or science.  "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." said Jesus in John 10:10.  My full life is a product of Jesus Christ, never of myself. 

So I've made the effort in 2011 to live a more healthy, and sustainable life.  One result of that effort is getting rid of more than 40 pounds of excess weight.  But it's not been me doing it alone, but Christ doing it through me.

Thor Ramsey, a popular stand-up comedian, built a routine on the Christian response to this question.  Take a look:



Why is this funny?  Because we know not to take it seriously or literally.  Looking at Thor, one can discern that he isn't really consuming "Twinkies for Jesus" or advocating that we should do so. 

So what are your thoughts on this topic?

What does it take to have a "Bod 4 God"?

My wife bought a book a while back called Bod 4 God:The Four Keys to Weight Loss, written by Rev. Steve Reynolds.  "You might like this," she said.  "You ought to take a look at it sometime."

"Yeah, I'll do that," I responded, mentally adding it to the long list of books that I've promised to look at without making a time commitment for actually doing so.  If you could see the pile of books in my office, you'd understand that it could take YEARS for me to actually get through all of them!  So Bod 4 God never really garnered my attention.

And I have to be honest: I really didn't care to look at that book.  Last fall, I had no motivation or incentive great enough to stir me into action.  I was what I was, and I wasn't interested in whether or not I could change what I was.  But all that changed in January 2011, as I documented in my post, "Fresh Starts in More Ways Than One."  Over the last month, I've been motivated and incentivized (is that a real word?) by the Holy Spirit to lose weight, build strength, eat right, and rededicate my body as a worthy temple for God.  So I picked up Reynold's book and started reading.

Steve Reynolds got the moniker "The Anti-Fat Pastor" when Fox News did a report on him several years ago.  Like me, Reynolds is a pastor who's dealt with weight issues all his life.  As a kid and young man, football kept him in fairly decent shape, but he swore off exercise after his final season in college.  He was "good" on that commitment and ended up weighing 340 pounds, became diabetic and was poised to deal with all the other health issues that obesity brings.

Here's what happened next:

Then, with God's help, I found a way to begin taking small steps, and those small steps led to a new lifestyle.  They led to life.  I've lost more than 100 pounds and am still losing.  I no longer need medications for my diabetes.  I now control it through my diet.  Now I really feel good and have lots of energy.

OK, so he's got a good personal story to tell, but will his small steps really be effective for anybody else?  What are these steps anyway?  He offers four:

1. Dedication: Honoring God with your body
2. Inspiration: Motivating yourself for change
3. Eat and exercise: Managing your habits
4. Team: Build your circle of support

Take the first letter of each step and you get D - I - E - T.  I'm sure that's intentional.  It's also true.  This is exactly what I've done in the last month.  And so far I've lost nearly 20 pounds in six weeks!  It must be more noticeable in the past few days because I've gotten many more comments.  And like Reynolds, I'm starting to really feel good and have lots of energy!

In my last post, I opened what I thought was a giant can of worms: overeating = overweight = sin.  Maybe if I'd used that as the headline, I would have gotten a bigger reaction.  What I got instead was a giant collective cricket chirp!  Silence; no comments whatsoever!!  So I'd like to unpack that idea a little more and see what happens...

Steve Reynolds writes:

Christians are the most overweight people group on earth.  We are more overweight than Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and every other religion you can name.  Christians should be the most healthy people group, especially when we consider the physical condition of Jesus Christ, our Founder and Leader.  Jesus Christ was in such great physical condition that he could walk 40 miles [from Tyre to Sidon], not in Reeboks but in leather sandals; and yet his followers on this planet are unhealthy, overweight, sedentary couch potatoes.

Wow!  No holding back there, but blunt and in-my-face.  And if you're reading this honestly, it's in your face, too.  I think Reynolds is right.  As a whole, we Christians do not do a good job of following in our Leader's footsteps when it comes to healthy living.  (Nor for that matter, in a lot of other things, either - but that's a blog post for another day...)

I've started walking on a more regular basis with my wife, but I can't do 40 miles!  I'd like to be able to do four miles!!  And so I'm working to complete a 5k run/walk this coming summer and do it in under an hour.  That won't make me the fastest walker - much less runner - but it will show that I can do more then than I can now.  And I can do it not for my glory, but for God's.

That last sentence is the most important statement that I've made in this post: do it for God's glory.  A "Bod 4 God" requires that it not be about me.  While I might enjoy the attention and compliments for myself, the nice words really aren't for me, but for the One who lives and reigns within me.

I like the approach that Steve Reynolds takes with Bod 4 God.  He includes not just info about food and portion control, nutrition and exercise, but also biblical content to support all of that.  If I just want somebody who can tell me to exercise and eat right, it's not enough.  I need to live right, and that means more than what I eat and drink, or how much weight I can lift.  Reynolds suggests daily Scripture reading, having a special time alone with God.  He also encourages weekly memorization verses, so that the Bible is internalized and brought to bear on our attitudes and appetites.  The end result is designed to  ...

"fill up the inner man.  When my inner man has been stuffed full, my physical man won't be so hungry, and I will have better control over what I eat." 

If you're interested in reading more of Reynold's plan, you can find his book on Amazon, Christianbook.com, or search on "Bod 4 God" on your favorite search website to find it elsewhere. You can also visit his website: http://www.bod4god.org/