Ralph Waldo Emerson - Gluttony

Gluttony is a growing problem in America, youth culture hypnotized by modern technology and loss of guidance has strayed away from Christian morals and tradition. Instead of utilizing prayer and counseling people have succumbed to overindulgence as a way of dealing with psychological and emotional need. I will illustrate the damage caused not only to one's health but the corruption of your soul by overindulging. The collapse of families depending on God for guidance has led to this occurrence, no one can fix themselves, except through God.

Growing up in a Christian home can lead you to live in a biased world of judgment; although you, ”the Christian” are not the one who is judging. It’s a daily struggle to steer clear of the seven deadly vices and to consider God in every decision before you make it. Although it sounds good, the non-Christians of the world choose to validate an answer from a problem they create. According to Ralph Waldo Emerson, “knowledge is the antidote to fear.

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” It’s believed that “ we are said to be irrational slaves to our whims and appetites, addicted to sex, smoking and electronic gadgets(Emerson1)” Modernization in communication throughout the human culture has set a low standard for parenting in guiding the youth of today towards relying more on a device than God. No longer do parents communicate the importance of prayer with their children at the dinner table and or any other family members. It’s just easier to pick up the cell phone or send an email or text, Facetime, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

I’m sure there are more, but you get the point. From these Vices, humans forget how to relate to each other and in turn ignoring God. The family dynamic has deteriorated into a Gluttonous monster, living on who's got the newest gadget, car, biggest house all this self-pride has turned us into a materialistic society with empty souls. Proverbs 23:21-For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe with rags. The problem in today’s society is that people are fear motivated, and lack Risk Literacy(Gigerenzer2) which boils down to technology moving so fast that no one can stay up to date with what needs to be known so as not to be taken advantage(Gigerenzer2.) The manufacturers are well aware of this fact and use fear to motivate the unknowing into becoming the new fool; an example of this is the I-Phone Eight it promises to eliminate all the old problems with the Apple phone. Apple has gone as far even to offer a forever I-Phone, which means every year you can upgrade to the new I-Phone for free, yeah right. The image instilled in people’s minds for owning an I-Phone is an excellent example of vainglory, the financial sacrifices made are enough for a down payment on a car, but they half to have it! People today need to be enlightened, according to philosopher Immanuel Kant, ”Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed nonage. Nonage is the inability to use one’s own understanding without another’s guidance. This nonage is self-imposed if its cause lies not in lack of understanding but in indecision and lack of courage to use one’s mind without another's guidance. Dare to know!” (Gigerenzer15) The Bible states in Galatians 4:2 The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. Which means without guidance from God we will follow our conclusions and fall victim to the wills of desire and the wants of pride, vainglory then gluttony. We will keep indulging until the habit no longer sustains us and leaves us broken with no remedy in sight. Your obsession will become your God if you are not taught to realize your misguided passion.

The Bible clearly states to “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesars, and to God the things that are God’s. (Matthew22:21) Author Deyoung, in her book Glittering Vices, says that fasting is the best remedy for gluttony, there is no need to try to understand why or what. As Christians, we don’t need to worry about figuring out anything, God is with us, and He will guide us in all decisions. The vice of gluttony seems to resonate with vainglory in that whatever your obsessing about to improve your image will eventually dominate your every thought. Bit by bit Satan has been taking bites out of our responsibilities concerning children and our repentance towards God. Modern technology has given us a sense of false security in that we believe we can know everything and learn just as if we were face to face. Not so, cell phones have no love for you and are just an empty vessel that carries an echoed tone, and eventually, you are a number.

There are even phones that have no identity just in case someone wants to do something and doesn’t want to assume any responsibility. There is a false sense of security for this in that people think they got away with something or solved something on their own. Taking credit for achievements for self is mocking God in Galatians 6:7-9Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Human beings inevitably like to prove they’re right by first proving that they’re wrong, the study is good but unnecessary. There was a study done by Jennifer Silk in were she took” 47 youths with the major depressive order(MDD)and 32 with no psychopathology controls (CON)(Silk)” It primarily focussed around the natural environment using answer only cell phones (Silk). The (MDD) students “received an eight-week course of cognitive behavioral therapy and/or psychopharmacological treatment(Silk):” While the (CON) students were given the answer only cell phones, with no counseling whatsoever(Silk). The (MDD) students suffered from anxiety, anger, and depression, while the (CON) students sustained no emotional dilemmas(Silk). The study proved that the cell phone hurts a young person psyche (Silk) and without parental guidance, through God, the youth will be left alone, lost and looking. The destruction of the family dynamic by the cell phone has disrupted the rite of passage and proper parental guidance in the development of a mature Christian mind Another study by Jim Taylor Ph. D. of Psychology Today showing that technology is creating a family divide, first starting in the television shows watched by the youth of today. The television shows such as “Malcolm in the Middle, Tool Time, Family Guy, Two and a Half Men, show parents as selfish, immature, incompetent and generally clueless (Taylor).” The study went on to show that thanks to technology parents only here from or interact with their children” 30 percent of the day(Taylor)” This lack of communication confuses the child and the adult in that they no longer know how to communicate with each other and both rely on communication through technology. There is no longer any head of the household just a kid living with his or her parental units(Coneheads), so the parent loses all power. Once this has established the family begins to disintegrate and move away from God, reading the Bible and going to church are only accomplished by bribery or threatening. The parents can threaten to take away the technology, and unfortunately that usually works. We must as Christian parents wake up! Start doing what God wants us to do and stop just doing what’s easy all the time.

In Proverbs 13:24Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them. Believe it or not, your children will love you for caring, and you and your wife or husband will regain some confidence in yourselves. For God uses suffering to refine, perfect, strengthen, and keep us from failing, suffering teaches us that the God is more concerned about character than comfort(Romans 5:3-4, Hebrews 12:10-11) Clearly, this has shown that gluttony and vainglory are working together to destroy the Christian family through modern technology. As responsible Christians, we are charged by God not only to follow Him, but also to raise our family responsibly. We must not allow modern technology a foothold in our families, instead put God back in control.

Works Cited Coneheads. Directed by Steve Barron, Perf. Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin. 1993. Lorne Michaels, 1993. DeYoung, Rebecca K. Glittering Vices: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins and Their Remedies. Brazos P, 2009. Gigerenzer, Gerd. Risk Savvy: How to Make Good Decisions. Penguin Books, 2015. Hill, Susan E. Eating to Excess: The Meaning of Gluttony and the Fat Body in the Ancient World. Praeger, 2011. 'Obesity Fat Chance.' The Economist, 15 Dec. 2012, amp.economist.com. Silk, Jennifer S., et al. 'Daily emotional dynamics in depressed youth: A cell phone ecological momentary assessment study.' Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, vol. 110, no. 2, 2011, pp. 241-257. Taylor Ph.D., Jim. 'Is Technology Creating a Family Divide?' Psychology Today, 13 Mar.-Apr. 2013, www.psychologytoday.com. Accessed 15 Oct. 2018.