Exercise
Exercise is an interesting thing. I can’t think of much in life that is of value that does not involve some sort of exercise. This is, of course, true for our spiritual lives the development of which simply does not happen without time and attention (though this is not exactly linear). And it is true of everything else. We develop intellectually through study. Our living environment is maintained through cleaning, tidying and the thoughtful placement and replacement of furniture and other objects. It is true, most obviously, of gardens and fertile places. It is also true of any other skill we may have, such as the skill of being a musician or a surgeon. Practice and repetition are the key ingredients of exercise. Without these there is no constancy or skill involved. This is the way that God has set up his world. He could have done it differently. Things could have developed automatically, by themselves, but for some reason God wants it to be this way. It is, of course, reminiscent of the beginning of the Bible in which God creates a garden for Adam and Eve. That garden is given them to cultivate and it is filled with animals which they are to name. The mandate goes beyond this also because they are told to fill the whole earth and to subdue it.
The need for exercise is also true of the human body. This can go in two extreme directions. On the one hand, the human body can be so badly neglected and/or abused that it becomes a thing of horror both to the one who possesses it and to onlookers. This can happen of course through extreme over- or under-eating, through addiction to drugs and alcohol, through disfigurement, and in many other ways. Sometimes the possessor of the body has a central role in this process and sometimes it is not his fault. On the other hand, the human body can be so trained as to attain to extreme heights of physical fitness and endurance, and the muscles of the body can be intentionally cultivated as to grow to enormous sizes and levels of strength and power, and the latter particularly in the male body.
It is quite clear that there must be some Christian reflection on the nature of the human body and our treatment of it. This is a big subject but I would like to say a couple of things from my own personal experience. Firstly, it should not be a controversial thing to say that the neglect and abuse of the human body is not ideal from a spiritual perspective. The Apostle Paul calls the body “a temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 6:9) and it is indeed true that God makes our physical bodies his own dwelling place through a miracle of his grace. Paul is talking in this context about sexual immorality but this principle is also surely true of physical neglect and mistreatment. I used to smoke cigarettes when I was younger and (if I am honest) I used to enjoy the occasional puff for quite a long time after I officially “gave up” smoking. I used to hear a lot from Christians around me that smoking was illicit and sinful because it is so bad for you. But what I almost never heard - and almost never hear today - is that, if this is true for smoking, then it is certainly also true for other types of physical neglect and abuse, such as gluttonous over-eating that leads to obesity. I understand that obesity is sometimes brought on through genetic issues, so it is not right to generalise. But there are two things that are important to say about it: firstly, the reason that gluttony has always been considered a sin in Christian tradition is that it sets up the stomach as a false god in place of the true God and is thus a type of idolatry. This is as true of the New Testament as of the later tradition as when the Apostle says, “Their God is their stomach” (Phil. 3:19). It relates to the more general notion that we should not allow anything to master and enslave us in this life but we should subject all things to godly self-control. The problem of obesity is not too dangerous for me because I am naturally skinny but I know how food and drink can offer itself as a kind of emotional comfort when life is difficult or busy. There is nothing wrong in itself with enjoying this, but it is when these things become out of control and extreme that spiritual (as well as physical) difficulties can present themselves. As well as the spiritual problem of gluttony, there is the practical problem which is that obesity is the leading cause of ill-health in the human body and exacerbates pretty much every other health problem you can possibly have. It is the quickest way to kill yourself (without using more immediate means) and, whilst you are killing yourself, you are also making sure that you have less energy, are less mobile, are less comfortable, need more rest and so on. In other words, if our desire in this life is to serve the Lord and to respond to what he calls us to do from day-to-day then to become obese is to limit, perhaps to limit extremely, the extent to which we are going to be physically capable of responding to this calling. It very likely will literally reduce the amount of time we have on this planet and therefore could curtail our ability to respond because we are simply not here anymore. Therefore, it is a very godly thing to do, in my opinion, to have a measured diet that allows for enjoyment and celebration but which does not also lead to obesity and to take appropriate exercise such that the human body stays in good condition. Observing the fasts of the Christian calendar can be helpful in this area, as it teaches us self-control and literally reduces the amount we eat from time to time.
But, in many ways, I am interested here to talk about the other extreme of the spectrum. Oftentimes one does not have to go to extreme lengths to cultivate a high level of physical fitness or muscular appearance. It varies from person to person. But many amateur bodybuilders only work out four times a week for about forty-five minutes or so. A regular practice of this sort can produce impressive results if done consistently for only a few years. In many people, their genetic make-up can make results possible in an even shorter time. Other things are involved as well, such as an appropriate diet, but for many people it is just part of a quite normal routine that produces results over time.
As I have already said, it seems to me an important thing to take whatever steps one can to be physically fit. This does not mean that we are all lifting weights or going out jogging every day, but it means taking appropriate levels of exercise to maintain or increase fitness. It is certainly true that we live in a far more sedentary culture than most that have gone before us and therefore must often take some steps to intentionally exercise in ways that our forebears would not have needed to. Riding a bike or walking short or medium distances instead of driving would be a good example of the kind of decision that could make a positive change in this area.
With bodybuilding and other types of more dedicated exercise, these certainly meet the threshold for maintaining a healthy body. One exercises rational and godly self-control in doing so and prevents oneself from becoming overweight, unhealthy and in danger of a premature death. One can therefore use one’s body better in the service of the Lord from day to day without any of those problems. So that is all very good but there are, of course, other spiritual dangers. A quote from The Screwtape Letters:
Nothing matters at all except the tendency of a given state of mind, in given circumstances, to move a particular patient at a particular moment nearer to the Enemy or nearer to us (ie the demonic forces)…Like most of the other things which humans are excited about, such as health and sickness, age and youth, or war and peace, it is, from the point of view of the spiritual life, mainly raw material.
C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, pp.98-99,100
This is a good thing to think about: whenever we take up some practice or encounter a new experience, or think about something we do regularly, we could ask ourselves, “How might the devil want to twist this experience such that it works for his agenda and not for God’s?” Applied to bodybuilding, I would suggest the following things. Firstly, there is something about lifting weights which gives one a real buzz and is quite exhilarating. Again, there’s nothing wrong with this in itself but, in my experience, it is quite easy to become mentally obsessed with it. I said above that one doesn’t need to spend loads of time doing it, but there is a quality to it which sort of orientates one’s thoughts and emotions towards it. It’s quite hard to describe if one hasn’t had this experience. I have just found that, when I am really focussed on weights, that I think about it so much of this time and almost can’t wait to be engaged in it again. It is like an addiction in this sense. It is such a powerful thing that I have found that it knocks me off my ability to focus spiritually. If I am planning on working out in the morning, I could find myself rushing through my prayer time because I want to maximise the amount of time I have to focus on a particular part of the body and to do the optimum amount of sets. It has a tendency to bleed into everything else and to dominate.
This is quite natural when one considers what one is doing: one is feeding the human body and making it gradually more powerful and dominant. As the body grows in strength and size, it is almost as though it starts to make its own demands upon the rest of life. Again, hard to describe but I’d be surprised if others don't relate. And this leads to the more obvious observation, which is that intentionally building muscle can easily lead to vanity and self-obsession. At its worst it can be simply a pure expression of selfish narcissism. It is iconic of the very notion of sin itself: the vain individual, spending all of his time lifting weights so that he might stare at his muscular body in the mirror and feel delighted in his own beauty and power whilst he neglects the cultivation of his own soul, like Narcissus staring at his own reflection into the river before falling in and drowning to death. So there is a very real and obvious spiritual danger here.
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