View from the Pew
A look inside Hawaii's houses of worshipBy Mary Adamski
Saturday, July 14, 2001
When Robin Courson described the weight-loss program to 17 initiates Tuesday, she talked about the desert ahead. No, not dessert. Think of the weeks ahead as "a time of testing in the desert," she said, like the Israelites exiting from slavery in Egypt. Diet plan stresses
God over gluttony"Replace food with God as your focus," the instructor said. Instead of lists of calorie counts or exchange values -- the center of other diets -- the list she provided was of biblical passages.
The course, which will begin July 24 at Calvary Chapel Honolulu, is billed as combining Bible study with the physical goal to shed pounds.
When Courson quoted Paul's first letter to Timothy, "Everything God has created is good, and no food is to be rejected, provided it is received with thanksgiving, the word of God and prayer make it holy," she almost sounded like a cheerleader for eating.
And eating isn't a bad thing, she told the class, it's just that Americans so seldom wait until they are truly hungry to eat.
"We eat to socialize, we eat to reward ourselves, we eat when we're sad," she said.
One woman chimed in: "The moment I get upset, do I grab the Bible? No, I go to the refrigerator!"
"There is a difference between physical hunger and heart hunger," said Courson. "There are so many reasons besides hunger that lead us to eat. There is hunger that's not a physical need for food ... an emptiness we have for other reasons."
The tool for self-discipline in this trek through the desert will be the Bible. They will meet weekly to compare notes, pray for each other and seek satisfaction and distraction from food fixation by reading Scriptures.
"God will fill you," the slender teacher assured the class. "Overindulgence is addressed in the Bible. We don't want that as a sin. Gluttony abuses our relationship with God."
Courson is a graduate of the Weigh Down Workshop, created by Tennessee dietitian Gwen Shamblin. The program, which stresses "God control" rather than self-control, became a favorite in Christian churches. Since 1992 it has spread to be offered by hundreds of churches throughout the country.
Class members left with homework, a list of Scriptural readings, including Paul's letter to the Ephesians: 4:17-24, which says: "In the abundance of his glory may he, through his spirit, enable you to grow firm in power with regard to your inner self ... so that knowing the love of Christ ... you will be filled with the utter fullness of God."
Paul wrote to the Romans, 6:11-23, "Give yourselves to God, as people brought to life from the dead, and give every part of your bodies to God to be instruments of uprighteousness."
Again, in Romans 8:5, Paul set a model for the dieters with, "Those who are living by their natural inclinations have their minds on the things human nature desires. Those who live in the Spirit have their minds on spiritual things."
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Mary Adamski covers religion for the Star-Bulletin.
Email her at madamski@starbulletin.com.
