I criticized moralism related to body composition in my last post. I have some further thoughts on the matter, and this is one of them:
The moralism sometimes works the other way: instead of demanding that Christians meet a standard for “physical health” (appearance), one deems gym culture inherently “unspiritual” or “shallow” or some other vaguely negative thing. Then one’s non-participation in it becomes a badge of Christian maturity.
Obviously, gym culture can be contaminated by pride, exhibitionism, and other things. But these things already contaminate our culture.
Here’s the thing: When you go on YouTube or Instagram and see an “adaptive athlete” showing how he or she works on improving performance, strength, and/or health while missing a limb (or more), suddenly it doesn’t seem that shallow.
(By the way, I don’t do Crossfit and expect I never will. But this stuff is amazing and it is wonderful that they are showcasing such people.)
When you see someone missing an arm or a leg, but practicing lifting heavy, or rope climbing, or some other ability that they can improve through diligent practice, the issue of beach/gym nudism becomes mere “noise.” That is just an accident; the real “signal” is undeniably virtuous. People who could settle in their weakness, instead push against their limits and move them.
But once we realize this, what about those of us who have all our limbs? Is the prize for being “normal” that we can be “spiritual” by calmly accepting the consequences of attrition and just being content to use a walker as early as possible? It seems weird to say that one is being courageous for running a marathon on a prosthetic limb but those of us with two working legs are exercising our Christian freedom by only doing Netflix marathons.
Of course, there is Christian freedom and I am not telling you what to do…
But I am asking you if you are telling yourself to do what you should do or if you maybe are using excuses to avoid giving an important aspect of your life any serious thought.