Another of my carving students, "BH" offered this "mug shot" as his contribution to the Seven Deadly Sins series. We thought his face would suit either "Gluttony" or "Sloth". As it turned out, his picture suited "Gluttony" perfectly. BH stuffed his cheeks with oven-fresh bread from my wife's kitchen, in order to prepare for this picture. I asked him to give me a wide and cheerful grin, so the resulting picture captures the delight gluttony initially brings those who carelessly over- indulge.
The Sin
The word gluttony stems from the Latin "gluttire", meaning to "swallow or gulp down", but is also understood to mean over-indulgence in any material item. In particular, it has become the sin of those who over-indulge in food and whose bodies reflect that over-indulgence.
But these days the term gluttony must also refer to over-indulgence of every sort. Gluttony is the inordinate desire of any good thing, to the point where reason and moral virtue are left behind.
Like lust, gluttony is a sin of the flesh. It remains a sin because of its tendency to reduce us to the level of animals, to the point where we lack a sense of self-control and we lose our sense of reason - both of which separate us from the lower creatures.
Psalm 32:9 says "Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding..." God calls us to be and act like the creatures He created us to be, stewards of all creation.
Gluttony begins as pleasure and ends with complete enslavement to one's desires to the detriment of one's ability to exercise reason, choose wisely and do what is morally right. Consumerism invites us to indulge without counting the cost of our consumption, especially in the spiritual realm.
