Sugar, A Thought Experiment written by a Serial Idolater
Rev.J Scott Martin
A Spoonful of Sugar
I
hope to write a good thought. I think we have an understanding that
life is good. I want to write down a thought I have been thinking the
past few weeks in hopes that it will help you, the reader, live better. I
feel my life is better for having thought it.
Sugar is a
chemical compound. For the purpose of this essay I will use sugar to
mean glucose, a molecule made of 6 carbon, 12 hydrogen, and 6 oxygen
atoms. The glucose molecule is created in nature by green plants using
carbon dioxide, water, and solar energy to produce sugar and oxygen in a
process known as photosynthesis. All plant and animal life on earth is
dependent on this process for food which is a form of stored energy
necessary for life. It also produces the oxygen we breathe. Fossil fuels
derive their ultimate origin from photosynthesis.
Sugar is Good
I ask therefore; is sugar good or bad? Sugar is good. Without it biological life as we commonly understand it would cease.
I ask; can sugar affect well being? Yes.
I ask; can sugar affect well being in a positive way? Yes, the proper amount of sugar is required for nutrition.
I
ask; can sugar affect well being in a negative way? Yes, both a
deficiency and an excess of sugar can be detrimental to health.
Sugar
is like oxygen in that it is constantly necessary to fuel brain
chemistry which allows thought to occur. As Descartes famously said, "I
think therefore I am". Without thought I cease to live. Sugar is food
necessary for life but sugar is also like a drug in that it produces
pleasure and pleasure can feed an addiction cycle resulting in over
consumption of sugar and significant bodily harm. A person can be aware
of self harm and yet seemingly incapable of escaping the addiction
cycle. Addiction is universally and correctly thought to be bad.
No
doubt you asked yourself why is the author rambling on so about sugar?
Surly this is common knowledge and no one would dispute its content but
neither is it helpful or informative. I picked sugar for a topic because
it has less emotional, social, and religious prejudices than some other
subjects and thus easier to discuss in a logical way. I could have
chosen sex, music, money,the Bible, work, etc. but those topics are far
more complex. More importantly, sugar is fundamental to life. As
fundamental as oxygen or water. Sugar is not only good for my brain but
it is fundamental substance necessary for life on earth. The maple tree
converts energy from the sun into life giving stored energy in the form
of sugar. Life is good. Sugar is necessary for life. Therefore sugar is
good.
use vs abuse
One can not stop using sugar. If you
stop consuming sugar in any form such as a zero carbohydrate diet, your
body will convert dietary or body fat to sugar. When fat stores are
exhausted the body will digest itself to produce sugar resulting in
eventual death by the toxins created in the process. Sugar is constantly
essential. Sugar must be used but it may be abused. Seven sugar cubes
is an approximation of our daily requirements. Ten today and four
tomorrow is not abuse. Twenty a day for a month is abuse. Consistent
extreme abuse by over consumption will lead to impaired brain function,
obesity, heart disease, etc. and thus negate the very purpose which
makes sugar good. The excess intake of sugar is abuse. The excess intake
of sugar is bad. In sugar abuse, sugar, meant to enhance life, is
abused to detract from life.
pleasure
Pleasure is one of
many realities complicating our discussion of sugar. I want to present a
simple idea which means I will generalize.
In a manner similar
to sugar, pleasure is good in that enhances life but also like sugar the
excess of pleasure is abuse. Like sugar it is impossible to avoid all
pleasure. Pleasure can be abused in that it can detract from life. There
are 2 characteristics of pleasure that need be understand to avoid
abuse. One is pleasure diminishes with frequency. The second is that
pleasure is never satisfied.
Give a child 7 sugar candies and
tell them they can only eat one. If we watch them we will see ourselves.
It is much easier to eat none than to eat just one because the pleasure
of one demands repetition but the second cube does not achieve pleasure
equal to the first and thus we feel the third is necessary in the quest
to repeat the pleasure level achieved by the first sugar cube.
A rational being who desires goodness must therefore regulate themselves in order to insure sugar consumption is not harmful.
Life is Good
All of my thoughts this far are based on the maxim life is good.
All things created by God are good
Now
I will make a inference which I think is justified. The use and abuse
of sugar is a specific example of general principle. Good things, good
conduct, good actions, good deeds are those which by their nature
enhance life. It is wrong to utilize a good thing in such a way as to
detract from life and thus subvert and counteract their inherent
goodness. In fact, all things when used correctly are good. Thus the
Christian Apostle Paul wrote.. 1Tim 4:4 Because everything which God has
made is good, and nothing is evil, if it is taken with praise.
Praise
Please
think a moment about praise. Paul means praise as praise to the creator
of the good thing. I think this implicitly means appreciation of the
goodness of the thing for which praise is given and thus recognizes the
use, not the abuse, of the object for which one is thankful.
Motivation
My
motivation in writing this essay is an attempt to understand a paradox
in Paul's letter to the Colossians 2:18 and 3:5 in which he rejects
asceticism and idolatry. Superficially he seems to say it is bad to
avoid pleasure and it is bad not to avoid pleasure. Careful thought and
reading is needed to understand there is no contradiction in the two
verses.
Asceticism
Asceticism is defined as severe
self-discipline and avoidance of all forms of indulgence, typically for
religious reasons. In Christianity a positive example is fasting. For
example Jesus fasted 40 days between His baptism and beginning His
ministry. However; Jesus, himself, seemed to reject fasting as an end in
itself as his critics accused his disciples of breaking some of the
ritualistic fasts of the Jewish religious customs of his day. Isaiah 58
is a strong condemnation of fasting as practiced in the Prophet's day
because the fast was for selfish reasons and a from of pleasure. It is
ironic that fasting meant to avoid pleasure could itself be a form of
pleasure. How? It allowed the worshipers to think of themselves as
religious while they exploited the poor for financial gain. The
acquisition of wealth was pleasurable for them as was the idea they had
forced God into approving of their greed by ritualistic fasting.
Since
asceticism is not the topic of this thought I will state my thinking
without explanation. Asceticism is a tool which can be used for good or
evil but though it appears to have a form of religion it has no
intrinsic value in and of itself. It is no substitute for a right
relationship with the creator.
Idolatry
Idolatry is the
worship of idols. Idols are false gods. If we worshiped sugar it would
become an idol. If we worshiped a golden calf it would become an idol.
If we worshiped a piece of wood it would become an idol. The solution to
idolatry is not to discontinue the use of a good or necessary substance
but rather to discontinue the worship of the same.
Worship is
good if used to worship God. Many people have a vague, inexact notion of
God, but Christianity teaches that Jesus is an exact notion of God.
This in Colossians Chapter One, Paul wrote,
"Who is the image of
the unseen God coming into existence before all living things; For by
him all things were made, in heaven and on earth, things seen and things
unseen, authorities, lords, rulers, and powers; all things were made by
him and for him; He is before all things, and in him all things have
being. And he is the head of the body, the church: the starting point of
all things, the first to come again from the dead; so that in all
things he might have the chief place. For God in full measure was
pleased to be in him; "
In Chapter 3 Paul wrote, "seek the things
above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, set your mind on
things above, not on things that are on earth." Nothing on earth,
sugar, water, oxygen, gold, silver, power, sexual pleasure,work, the
Bible etc. can replace God without becoming an idol. Idolatry is abuse
and is evil. Paul urges us. Focus on God. Worship God.
Behavior Modification
There
are many ways to tell someone how to behave. You can list the things
not to do. You can list the things to do. You can do both. You can
explain principles of good and evil. You can list examples. I think Paul
uses all these methods in Chapters 2 and 3. Sex with a prostitute is
listed as an example of a negative behavior. Singing spiritual songs is
an example of positive behavior. However; the focus and force of Paul's
appeal is to set our minds on things above not on negative or positive
behavior. Paul makes the assumption that setting our mind on Christ will
result in positive not negative behavior. He does not need to list all
negative behavior because the positive principle precludes it. He does
not say, "Do not eat too much sugar." He does say idolatry is evil and
that includes many excesses including the abuse of sugar.
Sugar as an Idol
Is
excess sugar idolatry? In case I have not made a convincing case, think
of this. Why did you eat the second piece of pie knowing it would taste
no better than the first and in fact could be metabolically harmful?
Were you not focused on the pie? the pleasure? Had you not lost sight of
life and the purpose of life? Could you sincerely praise God? I grant
perhaps you could. But, there is a point, for example the fourth piece,
in which it is very very difficult to conceive a positive scenario.
Conclusion
Focus
on Jesus. Focus on good. Use good things for good purposes. Beware that
inherently good things can become idols. Asceticism may be a tool for a
good goal but it is no substitute for Christianity and can itself be
abused as an idol. Idolatry is evil. God is good. Focus on God.
The cure for idolatry is to worship God.
