The Deadliest Sin

Eating is many people's favourite pastime. One hour before lunchtime approaches, the girls in my office would already be mulling over where they should be having their afternoon meal. Let's go for Tim Sum today. Another would interject: No! let's go for Manado food. A third one would say: But we haven't gone to the Batak restaurant for a long time! ....No, I have a better suggestion, let's go for noodles, at Bakmi GM...... The debate continues until 20 minutes before twelve when everyone starts rushing for the door like a pack of hungry wolves. The scene repeats itself everyday.

I believe many people are mildly acquainted with the so-called Seven Deadly Sins defined by the early Church, thanks to the hit thriller Se7en, directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt. Of the seven sins, to me the deadliest of them is Gluttony. Why? Because it is often brushed aside as being rather harmless.

Let's face it: we, the fortunate modern middleclass folks eat a lot more than we should. Probably the root cause of many of our sicknesses are due to overeating and over-indulgence in tasty but unhealthy food. Our eating habits border on gluttony itself. And yet we treat eating so casually, and consider every opportunity or excuse to eat as something to cheer for. It's so-and-so's birthday and he's buying us lunch! And off we go stuffing ourselves silly with greasy dim sum. This casual acceptance of an unfettered appetite for food spells enormous danger for us. Chiefly because we don't see it as danger. Clinically, compulsive overeating is recognized as a serious medical disorder.

I have nothing against the enjoyment of good food. I myself fall victim to cravings for certain types of delicacies at times. But this habit of being overtly obsessed with food and eating plainly for the sake of eating is one that I think is accepted with impunity. We rightly condemn people who drink or smoke. But what about overeating - eating way beyond our daily energy requirements? Why shouldn't there be an abhorrence for unnecessary eating just like how we abhor smokers and drinkers?

Over-indulgence in any of our human desires or impulses becomes a sin. Lust, greed and anger are all sins of extremes. In controllable doses, they are considered healthy, and even necessary. But why are we letting our basic need for food set loose like a lion in the fields? There is a reason why Dante placed Gluttony on the second lowest level in Hell next to Lust in his Purgatory. Gluttony is as primal a sin as lust. Better watch your eating habits: it could be the Devil's backdoor to the corruption of your soul.

By the way, where are we going for lunch?