Proponents of Eternal Security/ Once Saved Always Saved doctrine (OSAS) will use as an example: "We all sin every day because we all "eat too much". Explaining that being obese, fat, overweight is the sin of gluttony. While discussiing OSAS, I had a person tell me that I sinned because I was eating the brownie she had brought for us all to eat that day. At first I was puzzled...she had offered the brownie to me, I didn't steal it. Yes, I'm overweight...because of lack of exercise and a few too many brownies not turned down over a span of a few years ...but how did that make me a sinner? Because in the OSAS doctrine...no one can be "sin-free"...so every little thing must become sin.
For OSAS believers: Overweight = Gluttony (eating too much) = Sin.
Which is doctrinal error of course and is used to excuse other sins and excesses.
The Sin of Gluttony is much more involved than that. Gluttony is a malicious, intentional act against mankind...an evil intent of the heart. The unquenchable need for more. Think intentional lavish, luxurious lifestyle and daily feastings in the presence of famine in your land. Think India. A deliberate and malicious luxurious feasting while other people are starving and dying in your presence...at your gates.
"You" don't care about the starving people and have no intention of relieving their suffering and are intent on enjoying your lifestyle (food, luxury, money,etc.) to the fullest in front of them while they suffer. Even to the point of inflicting starvation and need on people to fund your lifestyle. Marie Antoinette was accused of this with her rumored "let them eat cake" comment.
Past and Current history are filled with such evil persons & dictators. The Bible mentions a possible one....The Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16. This lifestyle not only involves feastings (including specially prepared exotic foods....Some gluttons would deliberately throw up so they could eat more all day long...not to get skinny) but also licentious behaviour, full of rioting & excess in every area of their lives.
In our modern middle-class society, the reason gluttony is connected with just "being fat" is because literature, movies, and political comics (especially from the depression area) historically portray wealthy people as "fat cats". The "evil banker" is always pictured as obese and eating...while the underdog is pictured as thin and gaunt.
Famous Historical Gluttons: Ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus declared,
"Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die." Certain periods in history and
certain regions relished this advice, and gained reputations for being
particularly gluttonous.The most notorious were the elites of Rome in the first and second century A.D. Members of the ruling class of Rome were binging and vomiting long before anyone thought of classifying bulimia as a psychological disease. The word "orgy" originates here, and it wasn't about sex, but rather about profligate consumption of food and drink. These Romans held wildly extravagant parties with dinners up to 10 courses each, and the attendees would lie on couches gorging themselves. Periodically they would excuse themselves to go to the "vomitorium," where they would relieve themselves and then return to the party to eat again.
The Roman ruler Augustus (called Augustus the Tormenter) held a private party commonly referred to as "Supper of the 12 Gods" during a time of famine, where he and his cronies ate all the corn and other grain available. Things only went downhill from there. Emperors Caius Ceasar (grandson of Augustus) and Nero were two of the cruelest rulers the world has seen, entertaining themselves by viewing extreme torture events. They also were both flagrant gluttons, holding incredibly lavish banquets which squandered Rome's wealth.
A later emperor, Vitellius, apparently beat all three of them out for gluttonous behavior. Upon his succession to the throne, he traveled across the country toward Rome with some 60,000 armed men. Along with thousands of other followers, they partied and rioted their way through towns and villages, exhausting food supplies and plundering communities as though they were in enemy territory. After taking up his residence in Rome, Vitellius spent all the wealth of the nation and then severely taxed the residents to raise more.
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