Fat Women?

This does nothing for the female self-esteem but according to this article British women are a lot fatter than their ‘peers’ (if you read the article I urge you to read the comments, some are actually quite funny but not for the easily offended). OK, so British women are fatter than their peers. I assume when they say ‘peers’ they mean in comparison to women in other EU countries such as France, Germany etc. I would probably have to agree. But what can be done? They’ve already banned junk food advertising (like that’s really going to stop people), they have tried to advertise a lot of healthier options and entrepreneurs such as Jamie Oliver are working hard to promote healthy living. They have however, forgotten several important factors one of which is price. The costs associated with ‘healthy’ food far outweigh the costs of junk food. Of course spending a lot of money on healthy food isn't so bad IF the food lasted for more than a week or so. It doesn’t, so this means you need to buy healthy food frequently at a higher price – not very appealing and don’t get me started on the level of taste and flavour….

Secondly, most work involves sitting at a desk in front of a computer for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. After 8 hours of doing that you really don’t want to go home to cook a ‘healthy’ meal. You want to throw something in the oven (pizza?) or order.

Before I go any further I just want to point out that if you read the article carefully (or at all) you would have noticed it said that men are not far behind, so men, you’re not out of the woods either. Plus, men shouldn’t be anywhere near behind as there is no point in a mans life where he needs to be eating for two…

OK so now to blame the REAL culprit for this problem; Me, You, the people who eat junk food.

I suppose it’s a valid argument when someone says ‘Well, they don’t force you to eat it’. True. Very true indeed. Those who manage to keep their weight down or avoid the entire junk food range have a very high level of discipline…not to mention their enjoyment of flavourless food. Can you imagine yourself thinking ‘Hmm for lunch today I’ll have me two cherry tomatoes with two, no make that FOUR (I’m feeling rather ravenous today) leaves of lettuce’. No, I thought not. So what about us (you know who I mean) who love food full of flavour and fat (at a decent price of course)? What are we suppose to do?

I suppose we need to or at least try to exercise a greater sense of discipline…I admit though, I tried that and I spent way too much so it’s back to junk food but in smaller protions if that helps. I make myself feel better simply by stating that a smaller portion of junk food isn’t that bad for you. Right? Good I’m glad we’re all agreed. It may just be easier to eat whatever you like and then couple it with exercise, that way you burn it all off while enjoying that lovely piece of well seasoned chicken. When I say exercise I mean a bit more than the walk to the bus stop and back.

I think you catch my drift…

I'm a Christian, Look UP At Me.

I remember listening to the radio a while ago one Sunday night. It was a show about dilemmas in which people would call the show and speak to the D.J about their problems; the D.J. would then put forward her take on the situation. One young lady called up with a dilemma relating to her spirituality. Her situation was that she was a born again Christian and had vowed not to have sex again until she was married. Unfortunately for her she had already fallen prey to the ‘temptations of the flesh’; in addition she mentioned that she still had strong urges to do it again. Interestingly enough what caught me was not the dilemma but what the D.J. said in passing. It was not something she emphasised but mentioned in relation to her own take on spirituality. She said something along the lines of ‘I am not a Christian because I don’t agree with the way some Christians behave’ – what did she mean by this I wonder. It was not mentioned in an ‘I don’t agree with what they believe in’ fashion but more of an ‘I’ve seen Christians and they don’t act very Christian like’. I, myself, am a Christian and I must admit that I understand what she means.

Lemme explain.

When I was younger I never use to go to church every Sunday and this was because my parents gave us a choice (later on they never gave us a choice but it was fun while it lasted!). I use to always feel bad or inferior when a friend of mine would say they went to church every Sunday, read their bible and prayed every night. The point I’m making here is; Does going to church make you more Christian than the next? I’m sure right now you’re shaking your head. Christianity isn’t about a title but more about your actions and feelings. Ok so there is a hypothetical being who doesn’t go to church or read the Bible everyday nor do they pray daily but yet they act politely, care about others and are generally compassionate for fellow human beings, they do not judge harshly nor do they perform any intentionally ‘evil’ act. There is this other hypothetical being however, who goes to church everyday, reads the Bible, prays daily and can quote a verse from every book of the Bible but is still prone to acting harshly towards others…

…Who is ‘more’ Christian?

I have heard about and seen people, Christians mainly, who tend to look down on others who may not call themselves Christian or who do not do the things that these Christians believe other Christians ought to do. Is this not a form of judgement?

Check out Wikipedia’s definition of a born again Christian:

“Many Christians who are "born again" in this sense deny that those without such an experience are true Christians.

The idea of being born again carries with it the theological idea that a Christian is a new creation, given a fresh start by the action of God, freed from a sinful past life and able to begin a new life in relationship with Christ via the Holy Spirit.”

That’s a beautiful saying there. I’m sure a lot of us would like to achieve this sort of serenity and oneness with the Lord and with ourselves. Hopefully many of us have. However, the point I want to highlight is the first sentence in the definition. This sort of ideology forms a hierarchy and when this happens we then revert back to a non Christian sort of thinking. If we are all equal in Gods eyes why would one Christian (a soldier of God) look down on another Christian (another soldier of God)? Are we not all here to promote the same message? Why would one messenger be more important than another? Furthermore, are Christians Christian because they want to be or are they Christian because they believe they will have a better chance of getting into heaven?

Are you now beginning to see the reasoning behind that D.J’s statement? In her personal life she had not seen Christian attitudes in the people who had labelled themselves Christians.

Many Christians, I find, are Christians because of the incentive ‘Do this and you will get that’. We are human after all; we do things for their rewards most of the time. However we are contradicting ourselves if we claim that we are all equal but yet spiritually place ourselves above others just because we are a born again.

It’s very hard not to judge one another spiritually but no one said being a Christian was easy!