HOARDERS AND FREEGANS

Recently, I watched a stand-up comedian joke about the television reality show, “SuperNanny.” The joke depicted a stereotypical response to the need for a Super Nanny in a Black family.   The show would take a few minutes because Black folks don’t have time for the how-to-relate-to-the-brat nonsense.  We tend to-and this is a figure of speech for all the alarming literalists who skipped the use of rhetoric in their communication development-“knock our kids out”, plain and simple.  We are not going have a specialist come into our homes, observe the problems,  and tell us how to get down to our children at eye level to get them to listen.  Bada boom, bada bing.  Mission accomplished.

Well, when I saw the A&E reality show, “Hoarders”, the aforementioned joke came to mind.  I thought solely from the perspective of the hoarder’s family members; Who the heck has time to dilly dally with these messy folk and tip toe around their near insanity to get them to donate, recycle or throw away cherished junk when these situations involve gross health violations?  When people live in mounds of things compacted from wall to wall for years, there are definitely other visitors without keys roaming around from all sorts of germs to rodents.  Many of the hoarders do not have working toilets, workable kitchens, or one clean spot within their homes.  As I began to watch more and more of the episodes, one resounding theme became clear:  each hoarder suffered from some form of anxiety, the majority of which evolved from a traumatizing life experience.  So, most of these hoarders are mentally ill.  Then, I realized that they must be handled with care because they are routinely living alone, or with a family member suffering from the effects of the hoarder’s mental illness, while undiagnosed and unmedicated.  Many of them defecate and urinate in the midst of their utter mess, or have to go outside in the middle of the night to find a bathroom.  Just about every episode, someone complained of the pungent odors within the hoarder homes.

Then I reflected upon another group of people who have legitimized gross living:  Freegans.   Although their entire life-choice to opt out of conventional societal living by squelching consumerism (hence greedy corporate gain) may be considered heroic or even admirable, the fact still remains that they strongly advocate and practice dumpster diving.  Hello.  When is the last time you saw a dumpster hauled for cleaning?  Who sanitizes dumpsters?  Who frequents dumpsters?  Rats, possums, raccoons, and the minimalist freegans.

So, depending upon the conscious cause, while many are fighting for the impoverished all over the world to have sustainable primary food sources outside of garbage, others are directing cohorts to the garbage heap-full of all sorts of waste- to salvage wasted foods.

It seems as if the hoarders and freegans may register on very different sides of the respectability meter, while they both have some questionable core issues of chosen filthiness.

http://freegan.info

http://frugalliving.about.com/od/bargainshopping/p/Freegan.htman.info/

The Untouchables-Part 1 Nope, Not A Two-piece But A Bucket, Please

Can we talk? One of the greatest displays of what can be safely dubbed a Jerry Springer experience in an actual church setting was when I witnessed a diatribe against “nasty” church folks who were “hoes” and “not saved”.  There were not enough triages or gurneys to aid the sliced, diced and sauteed during these services because this deliverance speaker just threw blades that hit and killed whomever.   The speaker’s apparent mission, based upon the sole concentration in repeated sessions of explicitly addressing sins of perversion, deviant sexual and gender lifestyles, adultery, fornication, masturbation, pornography, bestiality, seductiveness, homosexuality and my all-time favorite, “lesbos”, was to bring those in bondage to these sins and strongholds into a place of liberty and freedom where they could experience true holiness.  If one could receive this type of ministry, there was only one major problem.  The speaker had to be tipping the scale at about 450-500 pounds.  

Herein lies the problem: A health teacher should be the last person on the staff to have halitosis, a pungent odor and dirty clothes on at 7A.M. in the morning,  unless she is really just there for the paycheck.  Likewise, one cannot be so in tune with God to the point where one sees the fornicator as nasty and has to be wheeled into the building to cast out devils because one is too heavy to walk from the airplane, where one paid for two seats, to the luggage carousel.  Lack of temperance and self-control through over-eating, and defiling the body through gluttony to a point of obesity is not pleasing to God. It is sinful to give heed to temptation to the lusts of the flesh and have sex outside of the marital covenant, just as it is to over-indulge in riotous eating while simultaneously defiling the temple of God, to appease our own lust and fleshly desires.   We are to eat and enjoy nourishing and enriching our bodies, but we cannot lick our fingers to the grave.  Gluttony  breeds laziness, slothfulness, procrastination, disobedience, sickness and eventual poverty.  We know that snorting coke, shooting up crack, or injecting heroin defiles and dishonors our body as the temple of God.  So then, over-eating and its resultant effects that in many cases mirror what drug addiction does to our bodies–due to our own choices–is not acceptable.

Gluttony and its consequential partner, obesity,  is an area that must be addressed in our ministry outreaches, educational programs, and through sound teaching from informed pulpits.  Since Christians are motivated in life by what we know pleases God as we grow closer to the Lord and love one another, the growing trends of obesity in the United States should be recognized and curtailed by inspiration through nutritional knowledge, athletic activities and teams, health screenings and practical pursuits tailor-made to the ministry’s vision, mission and needs.  Oh, and of course, if necessary, cast this devil out too.

Please be careful to note that all obesity does not stem from gluttony, or because of a lifestyle of sin.  Some obese people have glandular or other medical issues that impose massive weight gain.  However, over-indulgence and irresponsible eating can lead to medical problems such as hypertension (high blood pressure), high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, gallbladder disease, some types of cancer, depression and ultimately death.

Gluttony is an area that plagues our churches as so many of our “preachas” that sing-preach with cascading key changes from a skilled organist (and I love this type of presentation), are suffering heart attacks and premature deaths due to compromised health.  God gets greater glory when we are able to live to complete our God-given passions and works for the Kingdom of God.  Because so many of our cultures thrive and take pride in  our own  food–its preparation, its taste, family secret recipes, gatherings–the harmful effects of it are sometimes not as significant when compared to the love and warmth that is often associated with food. A good neighbor brings over a cake or a pie to the newest kid on the block as a welcoming sign, not liquid plumber.  

We cannot continue to ignore or underplay sin within the land that is visibly evident from the pulpit to the backdoor because we honor Bishop Bubba and his anointing. First and primarily, because it grieves God, and also because it is a springboard to diseases that don’t have to be cast out, but can simply be changed through moderation in the content, amount and timing of what we eat and exercise.  Although some things are sensitive, they are not untouchable because of our errant inclination to be more concerned with pleasing people than pleasing God.  Obesity is difficult to deal with especially when we know “its over”, at least stereotypically, when the fat lady takes the mike to sing.  Although many may have been born into families with tendencies towards obesity or even if it became a problem as a result of trauma, or burning in the kitchen, today can be the first day to change one’s life through self-examination and a healthy lifestyle change.  So that I won’t be guilty of being a hypocrite for getting the splinter out of your eye with a beam in mine, it’s time to press the enter button….

See Deut 21:20,21; Prov 23:20,21; Prov 28:7; 1 Cor 3:16-17; 3 John 2; 1 Pet 2:24.

 For a Bible teaching on gluttony, obesity and the purpose of eating click here:

http://www.calvarybiblechurch.org/calvary_review.aspx/2005/03/1

For statistics and facts about Obesity in the US click here:

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/295/13/1549

http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/