Sins with Unclear Boundaries

“The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say,
‘Look at this glutton and drunkard,
a friend of tax collectors and of sinners!’
But wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”

Jesus Christ, Luke 7:34-35

When does your leg become your foot? Look at it. Can you draw a definitive line pinpointing the precise location where leg ends and foot begins?

What about a pile of stones? How many stones makes a pile? I think we can all agree that 100 stones stacked on each other constitutes a pile. Likewise, we can all agree that a single stone or even a pair of stones sitting together on the ground does not represent a “pile”. But what about five stones? Eight stones? When do stones become a pile? It isn’t so clear where the boundary is.

Some concepts defy precise quantification. That is, we all know the thing when we see it, but we are unsure about exactly when that thing becomes that thing. But what about food sins?

Is it a sin to eat sugar or flour? I think that it would be foolish to utter an unqualified “yes”. We might be able to conjure an image of a morbidly obese man sitting at a table, stuffing endless amounts of food into his mouth and say that somehow “He must be sinning”. But what if we change some of the details of the story? What if the man stuffing his face is slim and trim? What if he is eating a piece of wedding cake on his big day: Is that man “sinning”? Most would deny this, I think.

We must be careful about this. Discernment is crucial because black and white prohibitions often do not apply in various situations. More on this in a bit. For now, let’s consider a thought exercise to clarify our thinking.

Imagine that this cake-eating groom had made a vow to God based on a misbelief. Let us presuppose that the man truly believed that for him it was a sin to eat cake and that he made a pledge to the Lord “I will never eat cake again”. However, his wedding day arrived and he felt compelled to have a slice. In a moment of weakness, he consumed the tasty treat. Has he actually sinned?

We know that it is not a sin to eat cake. However, the man has violated his conscience and violated an oath he made to God. So in some ways he has sinned because he believed (in error) that it was a sin to eat cake and yet he did so anyway. If I hate someone and (mistakingly) believe pushing a magic button will kill him. Have I committed murder if I push that button? No murder has occurred, but because I fully believed I would be murdering him by pushing it, have I not in a sense committed murder in my heart?

If you think that this is so far fetched, go read what Jesus said in Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28. Our internal state is what matters to God, not just our actions. The state of our hearts is what Jesus concerned himself with. Consider another thing that Jesus said:

“A man is not defiled by what enters his mouth, but by what comes out of it….
But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart,
and these things defile a man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander”

Matthew 15:11, 18-19

So then the “sin” is not what we think. Generally speaking, I don’t think Jesus cares if you eat cake as long as you do it with thanksgiving. In fact, the sin that we should fear is committed by those who command that we abstain from certain foods (1Timothy 4:3-5). (As an aside, let me emphatically state at this point that I will never tell you it is a sin to eat sugar or flour!)

There are some sins that become so immediately; there is no grey area. You have either stolen or you haven’t. You are either envious or you aren’t. If you are unmarried it is a sin to have sex, period. The bible is super clear about this.

Other sins require discernment. It is not a sin to drink alcohol, otherwise Jesus’ first recorded miracle would require some serious explanation (Read John 2). Yet it is a sin to get drunk (Galatians 5:21). So where is the line? Is this not something that requires discernment? If you are given to drunkenness, then you may decide “I will never drink alcohol again. That is my line”. But if one day you cross this line and have a single drink have you sinned?

A Shift in Focus from Laws to Wisdom

What is required, I think, is a change of perspective. When I set a curfew for my children, it is because I know about some of the things that can happen if they stay out with their friends too late. God has granted me a measure of wisdom (painfully earned via difficult life experiences and countless poor choices) that allows me to foresee what will likely happen in the absence of my boundary. So if my son disobeys my boundary he has not sinned in the sense of breaking a Bible-based prohibition against kids staying out past 9pm. There is nothing in the Bible that says youths should have a curfew. Rather, they are not heeding my wisdom.

Wisdom starts with the principles laid out in God’s Word, adds one’s personal set of gifts, struggles and circumstances, and then charts a righteous path that both honours God and protects one’s soul. Consider the following Proverb. It speaks about the sinful pull of a temptress, but could apply just as well to the draw of decadent foods (and the verses even compare her seduction to tasty food!):

My son, pay attention to my wisdom,
turn your ear to my words of insight,
that you may maintain discretion
and your lips may preserve knowledge.
For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey,
and her speech is smoother than oil;
but in the end she is bitter as gall,
sharp as a double-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death;
her steps lead straight to the grave.
She gives no thought to the way of life;
her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it.
Now then, my sons, listen to me;
do not turn aside from what I say.
Keep to a path far from her,
do not go near the door of her house,
lest you lose your honor to others
and your dignity to one who is cruel,
lest strangers feast on your wealth
and your toil enrich the house of another….
Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife?
Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman?
For your ways are in full view of the Lord,
and he examines all your paths.
The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them;
the cords of their sins hold them fast.
For lack of discipline they will die,
led astray by their own great folly.

Proverbs 5:1-10, 20-23

Let’s break down this passage to see what principles we can apply to our struggles with food.

First, the flesh is vulnerable to her seduction. The context of this seduction might be sex, but it could also be with food, money, power, or illicit substances. Our flesh can be aroused within us and can direct us toward these things.

Second, steer clear. Do not go near the door of her house. Don’t flirt with disaster. You know that you do not want a slice of that cake in the fridge, so why even open the door? Why take the plastic wrap off and smell it? This will only serve to strengthen the pull of the flesh.

Third, you will become lost and ensnared. The word “ensnared” is kind of old fashioned. Think “addicted”. In other words, some sins can become so powerful in our lives that we become unable to stop them. At that point we have become trapped.

Fourth, you will die. Your lack of discipline will lead to your death. You will not necessarily die from the sex or the piece of cake or the money themselves, but you will be put on a path that leads to your physical and/or spiritual grave. The end game is not pretty. It certainly isn’t worth the bit of initial pleasure you get.

So then how can we apply this wisdom to our food struggles? Remember, we want to apply the principles of God’s word to our own situation. We know a few things:

1. Food is an adulteress to us. We have an abnormal desire for food. She is our temptress and we are highly vulnerable to her charms.
2. We have flirted with her for a very long time, trying various diets but secretly longing to indulge our flesh. We have been enchanted by our illicit lover and cannot see the truth of our situation.
3. We are ensnared by food. We have fallen into a slimy pit that we have been unable to crawl out of. We have lost our honour and our dignity to a very messy food fight
4. We can see our impending death (physical and or spiritual) on the horizon. Maybe you are morbidly obese. Maybe you require daily insulin. Perhaps this battle has caused spiritual disillusionment or hard-heartedness within you.

In light of those realities, the conversation is no longer about “Where is the line of sin” or “How much food pleasure can I get away with without suffering the consequences?” No, this is about sheer survival. Remember when I referred you to Jesus’ words in Matthew 5? Let me repeat them here:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’
But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away.
It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away.
It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.”

Matthew 5:27-30 (emphasis mine)

The flesh will rob you of both heavenly and earthly life. There was once a man who, while he was hiking in the wilderness, got his hand caught between two boulders. After a few days of being trapped, having run out of water, he was forced to make a difficult choice. He could cut off his own hand at the forearm to free himself or die there in the spot where he was trapped. Amazingly, he cut off his own hand to save himself.

In the same way, if you have been ensnared by food- perhaps for decades– you may have to make a decision like this to take radical steps in order to free yourself from those bonds. Half-measures haven’t worked so far. After all, the seductress has you in her grasp! If you are on a path to death, then you may have to chop off the hand that is feeding you.

When we get to this stage, we are no longer asking the question “Is this a sin?” or “When is this a sin” but rather “How do I save myself from this thing that is killing me?”

For me, “cutting off my hand” means cutting out sugar and flour. They are like a hand or foot to me; I love them so much. I have had to mourn their loss, just as the unfortunate hiker mourned the loss of his hand.

So regardless of when my leg becomes my foot, one thing is clear: in order for me to escape the deathly pull of food, the foot has got to go.