Scripture, Food and Body Image

Its day 3 of Eating disorder awareness week and today we look at what scripture has to say about food and image 

Food is a major thread running through scripture. 

The Christian Scriptures themselves are marbled with food: milk and honey, bread and wine, pomegranates and figs, fatted calves and grilled fish, Paschal suppers  for small gatherings and miraculous  picnics for multitudes.

From the beginning of the Genesis account see God telling Adam and Eve not to eat certain food

, namely from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we can read the food laws given by Yahweh to his people in Leviticus and then ultimately the arrival of Jesus as the Bread of Life. 

While it may be hard to find any scripture passage that deals directly with Eating Disorders or the struggle faced by sufferers, one can find a wealth of material that deals with, and comments on, food and eating, along with issues such as personal well-being and care and attitudes that are often present in the life and mindset of eating disorder sufferers.

Proverbs 4:23 tells us to ‘be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.’ Eating Disorder sufferers have long been associated with how the person involved is feeling or thinking. Triggers for disordered thinking can come from a single remark. That single remark can then set light to a fire that results in the person experiencing grave inner torment and can result in the individual no longer wanting to be in contact with people who make such remarks to them.

Indeed Proverbs later comments that ‘thoughtless words can wound as deeply as any sword, but wisely spoken words can hea Therefore while our thoughts can trigger a whole range of emotions, it is important for the individual to remember that who and what they are in Christ as a foundational truth can cut through feelings and emotions and realign the individual.  

Scripture affirms that we are a chosen people (1^st Peter 2:19), precious (Isaiah 43:4), loved (1 John 4:10), His sons and daughters (2 Corinthians 6:18), called (1 Thessalonians 5:24), an heir (Galatians 4:7), belonging to God (1 Peter 2:9), honoured (Isaiah 43:4), accepted (Romans 15:7), set free (Colossians 1:14) and forgiven (Colossians 3:13).  

While scripture makes many positive and insightful comments on the issues surrounding eating disorder sufferers, it also presents some problems for the sufferer when he or she comes to find comfort and guidance. Anorexia is often associated with a desire for perfectionism in life, and in recent years there has been a drive, through all forms of media, to persuade people to seek the perfect body. ‘If I could only look like that then …’ sells, clothes, electronic goods, food and even diets. So what is the sufferer to make of Matthew 5:48?  ‘Be perfect therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.’ Wilkinson observes: 

Most sufferers will interpret this as a command to be a perfectionist, failing in nothing.  But the Greek word for perfection, telios, is not used in conjunction with goodness but with being ‘complete’, ‘fully grown’, ‘mature’, which to me signifies being made whole.

Life is a journey into a deeper understanding of God and the impact that this leaves on our lives. God does not leave us at the point of salvation, but rather embarks with us on a journey of growth and maturity.

We have very briefly seen the contours of the important role which scripture plays in setting in context: body image, the importance of food and food’s impact on our lives, the potential to change our lives, both positively and negatively, and the impact that scripture can bring to bear on the subject of eating disorders.  From an informed understanding of scripture, insight’s can be discovered to assist with a contemporary understanding of someone battling with an eating disorder